Hicks & McCarthy Restaurant

If you want food made without heart then this is the place for you. Combine that with an extremely slow kitchen and you have the perfect combination for a dismal experience. The only thing I will say is the staff is friendly, but would have rather gone somewhere

Went there for breakfast. Eggs were cold. Coffee was terrible. Slow service. Waitress never returned to ask how things were. On a positive note, toast and home fries were delicous. Expensive. Won’t be going back.

H&M is under new ownership and, at least at dinner, it is not a positive change. The menu is now more limited and much less interesting. Last night, the food was ok but a couple of items were unavailable, despite the restaurant not being crowded, and the staffing was also short. Management is only honoring coupons issued before ⁹⁄₁ for $ 5 so at many tables, staff had to explain that to patrons. We were there for «comfort food» and because we hadn’t been there in a while, but we saw the discomfort both for staff and customers.

In search of breakfast we were happy to find this very appealing place, Hicks & McCarthy, In the middle of the small downtown of Pittsford. Although we had somewhat of a wait at the reception desk before we were noticed, we found this a great alternative to a run of the mill chain in a strip mall. We were seated in the cherry room off the main dining room, perfect for a Saturday breakfast. The breakfast menu had a variety of imaginative selections and the food was fresh and flavorful.
The only shortcoming is that they may be a bit understaffed. The wait for food is a bit long. But I can also call it a leisurely meal. If we are again in the area we will return.

The Biscuits and gravy was hearty and delicious. I ordered based on the waitresses recommendation, which was excellent! Also, shared a perfect delicious crispy waffle with my honey. The waffles were seriously cooked to perfection, I would be back just for that. It’s a nice quaint little local place in a small town. Very friendly staff and good selection on the menu but didn’t see a ton of options. Other than that, loved it!

My family and I thought it would be a good idea to enjoy Sunday brunch here. The waitress deliberately held our order from the kitchen to serve all the other guests first. So it was about 90 minutes between the time we ordered and the time the food arrived… cold. I was quite displeased with the service. The new management is a joke. Do yourself a favor and go elsewhere for breakfast. We should have gone to the Depot right down the street for breakfast.

Tea and scones are good, needs to work on training the staff.
Server we had didn’t want to be there and made sure to tell us.

Attended Hicks & McCarthy for their afternoon tea, which was such a delight! We enjoyed finger sandwiches, scones, and tea and were seated in a quiet room by ourselves (because we were there at the tail end of tea service).
I think the service is pretty good, too, but not the best I have ever had.
I’ll be back for more tea and scones, no doubt about it.

We were looking for a place to grab an early breakfast before heading home on our Rochester weekend getaway. We arrived at Hicks & McCarthy around 8:30am on a rainy Sunday morning to try to avoid the crowds and we succeeded in getting a table right away — we definitely beat the brunch rush!
Our server dropped off menus and it was almost 20 min. before she came back to take drink orders. Then another 15 min. wait to submit main orders. We didn’t get our food until close to an hour after arrival which I think is really too long to wait in a near empty restaurant. It did start to fill up as the morning went on but we were the early birds who should have been done and gone by the time the late risers arrived.
I ordered the traditional breakfast with eggs, bacon and side of fruit ($ 8.50) and a tea ($ 2.95). Others ordered the eggs benny ($ 13.50) and breakfast chimichanga ($ 10). I loved the fresh marbled rye toast that came with the meals but the hash brown sides that came with the other meals were all cold.
When we asked for the bill, there was another long wait so we finally just went to the bar to pay which caused some confusion with the servers and another delay.
The food at Hicks & McCarthy was just average and I was disappointed in the service. There was potential for a good homey breakfast experience instead we were just frustrated by the long waits. Pass on coming back.

I went a few months back and was very disappointed with the service and the food was okay, but just. Everyone has an off day now and again so when some friends wanted brunch I said we’d try it again and am I glad we did!
The service and food were great! 2 of us ordered from the breakfast menu and 2 ordered lunch everything was hot and delicious. We’ll be making it a regular stop from now on.

A little disappointed today. Not fresh or fun and we felt like we were a bother to the staff. Kraft macaroni and cheese should not be served as a homemade side in a restaurant!

This time at Hicks &McCartney I had a great time! The menu seems to have changed a bit. Our waitress Robin was so accommodating and nice! She went above and beyond to attend to all of our needs. I usually order hot tea for breakfast and since that requires a tea bag, it means I get just the one cup! But Robin kept bringing me pots of hot water and there were a variety of different types of tea bags on the table to choose from. It was the morning of Easter, so she also brought us a few treats which was very uplifting! Overall, it was a very pleasant experience!

We had family visiting from out-​of-​town. My wife recommended Hicks & McCarthy. I’d never been but I love the location in Pittsford so we made reservations for six. Brunch on a Sunday around 11am. It was super busy as expected due to time and day. We were seated about ten minutes past reservation time, again not bad considering the time.
So far so good… until we had to seek out our server to order coffee and water. She took our drink order finally and then disappeared. She popped back in to talk with a table of upset customers and explained that their orders would take awhile because they «are short staffed as you can see. Everyone called out. You’ll have to be extremely patient» Uh oh. Her promise of «waiting awhile» was accurate as we waited another 30 minutes to place our order then another 30 minutes to get the food.
Let’s not even talk about the coffee and water. I ended up leaving the table to look for water. To make it worse, the food was cold when it came to the table but I imagine that’s because they were severely short-​staffed and had no one to actually walk it over to the table. I promised to never return. Really bad!

I really wanted to be able to give them 5 stars, but can’t because they made a «promise» but didn’t deliver on it. When my husband told me they had bananas foster pound cake french toast, there wasn’t even a question of us not eating breakfast here!
And then they delivered my plate. It was not bananas foster at all! Bananas foster is made by frying up some butter with brown sugar and some rum and creating a heavenly sauce, then adding the long halves of the bananas to fry for a bit in the sauce. It also wasn’t pound cake, but regular french toast, with homemade caramel topping and sliced fresh, raw bananas. My heart sank.
For that reason alone, I can’t give them the stars that I’d love to.
Even though I feel it’s a bit of a cop out and slightly false advertising to call what they served bananas foster, in the end, it was still the yummiest french toast I’ve ever had to date.
My husband ordered the sweet potato cakes (really pancakes) — OMG, delicious!!!
Son ordered the frittata de jour — also very good.
Home fries on the side were ok, not great. I make better home fries. Considering how creative and delicious the items are on their menu, this is one that should have been very easy for the cooks to do well.
Still, I would go back and eat again any day… just now I know that if I order the «bananas foster» what I’m really getting is sliced bananas w/​caramel sauce (lazy man’s banana foster).

My order, sweet potato cakes, was just not good. The sausage was strange and there were no caramelized onions to be seen. Also, they are PANCAKES, not POTATO CAKES — so don’t let that trick you.
Luckily, my husband’s monte cristo was good and he agreed to trade me.
Service was fine, but not as attentive as I’d like.
Also it smelled weird throughout the restaurant and the bathroom smelled really bad.
Sorry, I really wanted to like it.

Oh Pittsford.
If I knew I should be dressed in my sunday best in order to have speedier service, I would not have come here right after a crazy workout in my sweaty best!
Foods were good. Cooks allowed us to modify our orders based on what we liked. I had some kind of breakfast wrap with sundried tomato tortilla. which was not tomato colored, or red.
I liked the eggs benedict. Everything else was standard brunch, which I easily like, but again. In my book, you get 5 stars for being different, awesomely delicious and prompt. 3 stars for good, but not outstanding!

Brunch is awesome, dinner is ok. But there is a cute waiter omg he is so damn cute and his legs are so fuckin long. How can we not give him 50% tips? Somehow old people come here a lot. Anyways cutie i can’t stop looking at you~
Btw desserts are fantastic!

Unfortunate experience following other pleasant ones. Perhaps it was an off night. I took a friend for her birthday dinner.
The friendly server brought us butter and bread, the butter was peculiar. Two small containers held very different experiences, one was whipped and the other hard and lumped at the bottom. We questioned if one was mayo, but upon actual inquiry were told it had just settled and was probably packed at an earlier time.
We ordered soups, lemon artichoke was good and as expected. The creamy french onion was served cool with a crisp cheese fritter, sadly lacking the customary croûton or melty cheese.
She ordered a salad and kept commenting on how large other dishes were that came out of the kitchen compared to her offering, although she enjoyed the mix of flavors.
I ordered the battered tilapia, the coleslaw was great, vinegar fries were bland but I requested additional vinegar and spruced it up myself. The fish was the biggest disappointment, there was twice as much batter as fish and the batter was reminiscent of pancake batter, dense, moist and almost flavored like buckwheat.

They have a liquor license now and are serving dinner.
They also have (per their website) a new menu:
Having learned all that, we went to try them out for dinner having done the brunch and/​or lunch several times before.
The Poutine was decent enough, in both flavor and quantity, and made for a nice appetizer after running in on a cold rainy November evening. The chill had to be kept at bay as the restaurant itself was rather cool. Oddly the place was nearly empty on a Monday evening at 7pm. Which is in stark contrast to trying to get in during the noon lunch or the weekend brunch when it is packed full.
The entrees, a «Warm Spinach Salad with Steak» and «Chicken and Biscuits» were both decently sized and tasted fine. Nothing fabulous. As the entrees are served without any side dishes the price –quantity –quality ratio seemed a tad off, not terrible, just kind of an o.k. meal for what it was and what it cost. A-​OK for diner.

We enjoy their brunch as a change up from the Erie Grill and Highland Park/​South Wedge Diners. It’s definitely nicer than diner food, so we almost always prefer it, especially when going with my parents. Prices are lower than Erie Grill as well.
We love their stuffed french toast, though I usually ask for strawberries instead of bananas. The sauce served on/​with the french toast is absolutely delicious and decadent. It’s a very rich meal. The french toast itself is well-​battered and perfectly crisped.
Huevos rancheros were a good addition to their menu, and the beans and sauce are delicious. I also love the avocado topping they add. However the tortilla is too crisped — more like a chip than I’d like it to be. My egg was fine, but not perfectly cooked according to instruction. I asked for fried, over medium. But I got one that was extremely soft and runny. I was bummed but still enjoyed the meal a lot.
Husband had the breakfast combo, which came with choice of meat, eggs, and 2 pieces of french toast (yum!) and potatoes or fruit. (Husband loves the home fries). We had to pay $ 2 extra for real maple syrup, otherwise you just get the fake stuff. Fake syrup is gross to me, so it wasn’t an option not to get the real stuff, although it retrospect maybe we should have asked for their house stuffed french toast sauce, which is delicious. Alternatively we saw another family who brought their own maple syrup — very smart.
Dad had the fruit plate, which is fantastic. Lots of pineapple, melon, grapes, strawberries & raspberries. Don’t expect the same selection in the fruit cups that come with the meals (although it’s a good alternative to home fries).
Brother had the Cali Benedict, which he really enjoyed.
Setting isn’t as nice as the Erie Grill and things seem a bit worn (trim needs repair & painting, bathroom floor is cracked in a spot, bathroom ceiling needs repair, etc.).
Chairs aren’t very comfortable, either.
Tea selection is not good (we bring or own for that reason). Teapots seem to have gotten smaller, too, which was a bummer.
They’re good about refilling water glasses or giving the table a carafe. Also good with coffee refills.
We will definitely be back.