No one mentioned Taco Bell .:(

Add Marie Catribs (Grand Rapids) to the list!!!

Uno Chicago Grill (Pizza)

We have Chick-fil-A! It's in the OU Student Center, open to the public...

2 sisters

French laundry

How about Sweet Lorraine's (Southfield)...

Downtown Rochester has a fantastic assortment of eateries......in fact i don't know of a more dense area of eateries anywhere.....In fact somebody should take a count...Ok ill do it this weekend....from Royal Park....to the Chapman House.....From Bar Louie to Penn station.....

White Castle...we need a cheap but good drive thru on the north end of town, desperately...there are none....

The ideal casual dining establishment for Rochester would be La Madeleine Country French Cafe, a bakery/restaurant with great dark-roast coffee, pastries and desserts, breads, crepes, omelettes, soups and salads, sandwiches, and elegant French specialties and warm meals in a rustic, cottage-like atmosphere. Check it out: www.lamadeleine.com. It's the perfect meeting place, and no waiters. We have nothing like it at present.

Union Woodshop, zingerman's, sweet lorraine's, in-and-out, la madeline, toast and flytrap

I think we should celebrate the restaurants that we have that are great that make our city the place to visit. My list includes Penn Station, Knapp's Dairy Bar, Downtown Cafe, Kruse and Muer, Rochester Chop House and I am looking forward to trying some of the new places that have opened. Could use a good Mexican (not Sagebrush), Chinese, and perhaps French!

How about Farrells Ice Cream Parlor? Remember that? It was always so much fun to go there - they also served good food - but the icecream was great !
OR- how about: Pizza and Pipes? Remember that? A fun pizza parlor with a huge pipe organ. Words to the songs were up on a screen and you can sing along with the songs! What fun !! Two nice places you can take kids and grandkids to :)

No one mentioned the Waffle House?!?!?! Mmmm....the hash browns!

I like the salad restaurant idea (The Big Salad or Sweet Tomatoes) or a Quaker Steak and Lube (Pennsylvania) chicken wings restaurant.

Egg Harbor. Yum!!

It's obvious - - we need an Original Pancake House!

My vote would be for a Zingerman's deli / bakery. There deli sandwiches are "off the charts" GREAT. No deli with in 10 miles can compare with Zingermans IMO.

I really would LOVE a Cheesecake Factory! I love their food and of course the cheesecake is awesome.

who needs a waffle house or cheecake factory......we have for the budget minded......the crazy greek........and the best collection of pastry treats there is.....The Give Thanks Bakery....which by the way supplies its fantastic goods to the areas finest restaurants and hotels.......and there are other high quality pastry shops on main.....The Royal Park serves the best breakfasts in town. There is a fine little restaurant next door to hungry howies that is top notch.....and for Pizza??? besides HH....there are other hi quallity pizza places.....If you think downtown rochester is missing something.....well.....I for one think those that feel rochester is short on food emporiums are missing something......As a director of the Hermitage Gallery I hear no complaints about eating places and nothing but kudos for the selection of eating venues on main. The 3 flagships of downtown....The Chop House....(they should change the name to Vinces Place....:>)).....Kruse and Muires....and RoJo.s are soon to be joined by 2 more flagships......The Meeting Place and the New French Restaurant in the Chapman house....I hope both meet the challenges of the restaurant business. The Souchi place has brought to town a hibachi type grill and the efforts put out by the owners is a testament to their loyalty to downtown rochester........I could go on and on....as there are so many great places to eat.....

I am budget-minded individual, a college student, and the mother of two boys and a girl. Are you saying that I should be limited to either eating at Krazy Greek, or risking taking my family into Pontiac? Not everyone in Rochester Hills has a white-collar, and not all of us make six figures a year. My fiancee is a disabled Army vet who was injured while serving in Iraq. He's been unemployed since April. It's rare that we can afford to eat out...been a few months actually...but we always find ourselves limited to McDonald's (kids love it, us grown-ups, not so much). For each of us to get a cheeseburger, value french fry, and value drink we're looking at $15.90, approximately. We used to go to Waffle House when we'd visit my brother down south, and there we could all eat a breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes for $1.99 each. You have to understand that not all of us can afford to eat at the "flagship" restaurants you mentioned. We'd like more options as well. Denny's was a great alternative, back before it was torn down to make way for more affluent retail space. I guess I'm just surprised that the majority of the Rochester Patch community is so well-to-do that no one is concerned about limiting the high cost of dining out. We have enough expensive restaurants here, how about something for the rest of us?

Amanda,

I completely understand your concern, but I don't think that the previous comment was intended to insult anyone. We are also a budget-conscious family. We love Lipuma's downtown. And, although this is obviously not downtown, the new Noodles in the Village is very reasonable. You can get a large mac and cheese for about $5 (easily enough for two kids to split), and my husband and I can usually split a more substantial entree, too. And salads are only $1 when you order an entree. We actually just ate there tonight for a very reasonable price!

Maybe other people have ideas on how to stretch the budget when dining out in Downtown Rochester!

Chomp is a great value imo....unfortunately because of the limited availability of store space in a small downtown like rochester high rents prevent a lot of places that you can find in bigger downtowns like royal oak and birmingham.......theres no doubt that dire economic circumstances that changes the lives of individuals will affect what and where they can eat......stretching a budget means eat at home and not feeding growing kids that unhealthy fast food crap.....any educated college person would be expected to know that.

Stretching a budget when dining out in Downtown Rochester. Decisions decisions. First weigh yourself and check your BMI.....blood pressure....cholesterol........then ask yourself if you would be healthier not eating anything after 6pm.......we all know the answer to than one dont we......my cardiologist who is a vegan said it best......"walk more, eat less"......and of course its not possible is it. sigh

You want cheap and imo fairly healthy stuff.....is why you see long lines at the TACO BELL on Rochester road south of town eh?

We lost what probably served the best food for the buck.....2 sisters.........for the budget minded I learned something important that has stuck with me from when I was in the Air Force....you could not believe how healthy you can eat on a budget.....eggs ....very cheap.....chipped beef on toast....very cheep....pork and beans mixed with cooked ground beef....cheep.....pasta of any kind (fattening tho)......dinty moore beef stew in a can ....finding food is not a problem in this country is it......there but for the grace of God we dont live in those countries who have vast populations of the starving...sorry for straying off topic......i gained 5 pounds just talking about food....i just love to eat......and its all Vince's fault.....LMAO

I posted a comment earlier in this thread about trying to remember that we are all people with feelings and lives and families. But there are (obviously) always going to be some people who disregard this fact. Amanda, you seem like you meant well. Some people can just not be reasoned with. My advice (if it means anything) is to carry on and ignore these hurtful comments. Please know that they do not represent the majority.

Thank you Meredith. I'm not trying to be rude, or at least that wasn't my original intention. Some people just really irk me. I know that my family and I are poor, and that makes us a minoroty here in Rochester, amd it seems like that really makes people feel like they have the right to tell us how to live, or behave financially...as if we are in the financial situation we are due to some personal fault or lack of foresight. Probably think we're outsiders who moved here by opportunity. However, I have lived in Rochester since I was 14 (I'm 32 now).

And frankly, it surprises me that a man with such an overtly public presence would have the gusto to run off at the mouth like that. Usually trolls that go on public forums don't use their real names. Everyone with the internet can find out where this guy works, where he lives, the names of his children, his ex-wife's name, etc. People should really learn to better conceal their information before they go flaming strangers on the internet.

accept my humblest apologies if what is said insulted anyone.....it was not my intention at all....its just that i found it irritating that somebody would come on this thread to complain about things in Rochester and advertising their sad circumstances to support their complaints.....as if that person was the only one with personal problems....if you want suffering just ask the business owners and landlords about the misery they went through this past summer and the years it will take to recoup.....yup some people really irk me to.

Don,
I was not on this thread to complain about Rochester, merely to suggest that there are those of us here who would enjoy cheaper fare. Nor did I assert that I was the only one with personal problems, ffs I have NO idea what part of your sphincter you pulled that one out of. I was speaking on behalf of all of us in Rochester who aren't the "director of the Hermitage Gallery", and don't have an ivory tower from which we speak down to those beneath us. And seriously, you're going to put aside the problems of those in Rochester who are barely getting by in favor of the woes of business owners and landlords? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm as hardcore conservative far-right leaning, Rush Limbaugh loving as they get...but when families are going through tough financial times (which will likely only get worse, thanks to the sheep that re-elected the Stalin look-alike sitting in the White House), it's hard for us to push past that and focus our concern upon the small business owners that don't cater to us anyway. I think I irk you because you have assumptions about me that simply aren't true. Whereas you irk me because you are insufferable. Touting your job title and pridefully displaying the fact that you are on a first-name basis with certain restaurant owners? I'm guessing that everywhere you post on the internet, the first thing that you do is make sure everyone is fully aware of your standing in the community, career, and connections. Not getting enough affirmation at home?

Thanks, everyone, for your comments - I agree there are so many great restaurants in Rochester, and I love that this started out as a fun discussion about "what could/might be," from fast food or upscale dining options. We'll see if any of the restaurant owners out there are listening to potential Rochester patrons! Thanks, also, to those of you who have tried to keep this discussion on track; remember, it's not about personal attacks.

Despite the fact that one can fix meals cheaper and healthier at home, we all have a desire to dine out and have our meals prepared for us. One of the unfortunate truths about dining out though is that most times value does not equal healthy and healthier food made from fresh ingredients often costs a lot more. Even fast food is expensive now! Through investigation out of necessity (budgeting while paying off school and credit card debt) my wife and I have found that you can eat at many of the restaurants in the area on a budget. Many places offer specials on different nights and some even have free kid days. You just have to know where to look. To name a few: Penny Black-kids eat free on Sunday with the purchase of an adult meal, Bravo-$3.95 happy hour appetizers (big enough for a meal) between 5-7 and 9 to close (bar area only), Rojo- $1 taco Tuesdays (chicken or beef), King's Pizza for best value (online specials). You may never see a Waffle House or a Rally's in Rochester due to the high rent and the crowd the area is trying to cater to, leaving those who make less out in the cold or stuck with less desirable options.. Some of my favorite restaurants you would never see in Rochester like Allidin's and The Polish Village Cafe in Hamtramck (good and cheap) and The Bucharest in Detroit (good and cheap) and they are in some not so nice areas compared to Rochester.