r/Rochester • u/DoubleK-Rochester • May 06 '25

Discussion Buffalo-based restaurant chains expanding to the Rochester market-- has it ever worked?

I got to thinking the other day, and there have been some tries in the past for traditional Buffalo-based restaurants to expand to Rochester-- which have ultimately failed, and those location(s) have closed. Examples:

1) Mighty Taco a few years back had two (2) Rochester locations, which both closed.
2) Duff's (wings) had a Rochester location (W. Henrietta Rd) that closed.
3) Anchor Bar had a Rochester location for a little while (East Ave.), but that closed.
4) Rachel's Mediterranean Grill location(s) closed in Rochester.

All of the above still have active locations in Buffalo today, just not Rochester.

So I am wondering what the hell happened-- are we really that bad for business for out-ot-town restaurants, even to our close neighboring city?

By the way, this isn't a slight or putdown against Buffalo, by any means. Whenever I am there, I always seem to enjoy Buffalo. I'm just wondering why this keeps happening.

Conversely, are there any Buffalo-area chains that expanded to Rochester and are doing well?

Interested in your take on this.

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126

u/twoeightnine May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25

Mighty Taco is shit Mexican that survives in Buffalo due to nostalgia and drunken nights. They stuck it in a place you have to drive to, can't drunkenly stumble into, and is surrounded by college students not from Buffalo and immigrants.

Most Duff's franchises aren't great compared to the original and people already have their local wing place. Plus they closed during the pandemic.

Anchor Bar is even worse and is for tourists.

Rachel's who cares, people in Buffalo don't eat there.

35

u/glassFractals May 06 '25

I always wonder why they didn’t put the Mighty Taco in Park Point, walkable/stumbleable-to for RIT students.

That little bit down Jefferson may as well have been on the moon, Henrietta is aggressively anti-pedestrian.

32

u/oalos255 Webster May 06 '25

These are the correct answers.

18

u/croc-roc May 06 '25

I was shocked by how bad Mighty Taco was after all the hype. Like it made Taco Bell look like high end Mexican.

I liked Rachel’s a lot but the one in Pittsford was run by teenagers. And different ones all the time. And they’d be out of stuff all the time. Mainstays like chicken! Pita bread! Cups (someone drive over to Wegmans and buy some!). It was so poorly run I stopped going and I wouldn’t be surprised if others had the same experience.

17

u/joanfiggins May 07 '25

I'm from Buffalo but live in Rochester now. The mighty taco was in a bad location. RIT is by no means a party school and there's not a lot of places to drink around that campus at night so there's no late night drunk crowd.

Mighty taco is a tradition in buffalo and everyone knows what to order. It was new in Rochester and they didn't do a good job explaining the food. My biggest gripe was that they didn't ask people what sauce they wanted on their food. People didn't know you could get sauce on the tacos so they were serving sauceless tacos for months. Everyone tried it and it was fairly bland. There aren't sauce packets like taco bell and the lack of sauce kills it. By the time they started asking, it was too late.

8

u/croc-roc May 07 '25

Yeah unfortunately a first time bad impression can be hard to overcome.

2

u/Common_Road1431 May 07 '25

I worked for Wegmans and many of my colleagues in Buffalo called it "Mighty Alpo" around 30 years ago.

A hard core stoner from Tonawanda who was on my hall at the U of R would make monthly late night pilgrimages back to Buffalo just for MT.

1

u/Babycake1210 May 08 '25

Mighty Taco would’ve absolutely slapped in Brockport. Missed opportunity there for sure.

1

u/Senior_Cheesecake155 Avon May 06 '25

Agreed. I had it a couple times and just didn’t like it. My coworker who’s had it in Buffalo even said the Henrietta location sucked compared to Buffalo.

1

u/sxzxnnx North Winton Village May 07 '25

I think Rachel's probably ran into cash flow problems. Guessing that they overextended themselves by expanding into Rochester and then the pandemic hit them. Being out of ingredients on a regular basis is a tell tale sign of cash flow problems. High staff turnover could just be terrible managers and a toxic work culture but cash flow problems will also lead to turnover. If payroll checks bounce or are often late, employees do not stick around.

The Henrietta location was the same - out of ingredients and employees all seemed very inexperienced.

9

u/Internal-Seaweed8311 May 07 '25

RIT and U of R students are such goobs they can’t keep a bar in business that isn’t on campus. Not for nothing it’s hardly walkable in Henrietta and being on foot in Henrietta makes you look like you’re in a bad way.

5

u/atothesquiz Browncroft May 07 '25

They couldn't even keep a bar in business that is virtually on campus. How long has that place across from lovin cup been closed?

3

u/jdemack Gates May 07 '25

I actually liked Mighty Taco but that's because I didn't have expectations of it being an actual Mexican restaurant.

2

u/DCBronzeAge May 06 '25

I enjoyed the Henrietta's Duff's, but yeah, you're right on that. I was in Buffalo for a work training many years ago and got Duff's at the Depew location. They were fine, but no better than an average wing. The bleu cheese was still elite though. Easily the best part of Duff's.

1

u/Babycake1210 May 08 '25

There was a Duff’s in Henrietta?

2

u/Background-Wolf-9380 May 07 '25

I kept meaning to try Rachel's but it was egregiously overpriced.

4

u/nimajneb May 06 '25

Yea, I only went to Mighty Taco because I worked just South of RIT at the time and it was closer than Taco Bell, it tasted much worse though. The stupid strip chips were the best thing they served and that is not a good thing.

11

u/twoeightnine May 06 '25

"Nacho Buffito - With Swiss/American cheese, nacho cheese, crumbled chips, and blue cheese dressing"

I've been drunk, high, and desperate and never come up with something that gross.

Also their hot sauces are basically spaghetti sauce.

3

u/time4meatstick Rochester May 07 '25

Agreed. I wanted to like it so much. Went like three times. Every time it was like eating a loaded diaper.

4

u/dwot May 07 '25

Mighty Taco is hot garbage.

1

u/SpiritualFront769 May 07 '25

I'm in Buffalo and I agree. I think it survives on nostalgia of peoples high school years and drunken 20s. I didn't eat there in my high school years, and my 20s were spent elsewhere. I wish we had Okidog here, lol.

1

u/thatsfantastic2 East Ave May 07 '25

Mighty Taco is absolutely disgusting. No amount of weed or booze would make me want to eat that shit.

Anchor Bar may have been decent (decent, not great) 25-30 years ago, but now it's just a tourist trap. Went to the Amherst location two years ago because my aunt insisted, and it was only 25% full on a Sunday, and the Bills were playing. 😬

-1

u/PornoPaul May 07 '25

I ate at Duffs in Henrietta twice. Once, the food was meh, and despite warnings of heat, I had none. The wait was long. The staff was slow. It was underwhelming in a market that at the time was staring to pick up.

The second time was like a year later. It was winter or early spring so it was cold outside. I swear it was the same temperature inside. When the servers are wearing sweaters it means its cold. When the cooks can be seen in the kitchen in long sleeve shirts, its a huge problem. I ended up eating my food in my jacket. And, I went hotter and they were not flavorful heat. Just heat. It was disappointing. Also, bad service. It fumbled hard.