ROCHESTER PUB & EATERY ~ Ottawa, On

RIP - ROCHESTER is NOW CLOSED

I'm still catching up on last week with Dude visiting (having been in China for the past two years), and the night before wet his appetite for wings, so more were in order. He was excited for us to keep exploring places and going off the wing path for some poultry treats that neither him nor I had been to before.


We hopped on a bus, and we headed down to Rochester street, to the Rochester Pub & Eatery. I had never been there before, and I had actually tried to go on Labour Day Weekend, but they were closed. Surrounded by government buildings, I get the impression it would be quiet enough location to justify closing for a weekend. But this was a Wednesday, so our hopes were high that they would be open.


I should mention we were going for wings, but I had no evidence they even had wings. No online menu, no comments online, no menu in their window. Just a guess, but it was a highly rated little pub, so I was sure something good would be on the menu.




The Rochester is an old house remodeled into a pub. The moment I saw the place I knew I was going to like it. One online comment on restaurantica.ca said "This would be a great pub to hole up in during a Zombie attack." I agree. Images of the Winchester from Shaun of the Dead definitely came to mind.



The inside is nothing special - fading paint with nothing updated in years. But instead of looking like crap, it was part of the atmosphere here. It felt homey. We were the first ones in for the day, and our waitress Ashley was enjoying a novel at the bar. When people did start arriving (and the place filled up quick) it was office drones and older locals. Customers were obviously repeats as Ashley walked up to two young government guys and predicted their orders to a T. She was great, friendly service, but let us be at the same time.

Once again, wings were on order for us. Medium for Dude, and Hot with a side of BBQ for me.

We didn't wait long, and I was happy again at a big plate of wings that smelled so good.

The wings come in one pound, but a Rochester pound had about 12 decent sized wings, making me question how other places measure a pound.

The wings were dusted and then deep fried. They came out hot and crispy. Dude's medium were very saucy while mine had the sauce soaked up into the wings.

The wings were medium to large and fairly meaty. Actually, while they could have been bigger, they were close to perfectly cooked wings.

I have to say Dude's wings rocked. Most places mild/medium/hot is just degrees of hot sauce with the heat varying due to the amount of butter added. But here, Medium and Hot were two completely different sauces.

Medium was more like a BBQ sauce, but dang it was good. I have to admit, I snuck several of these wings off of Dude's plate. And they were really saucy too, which I like.

I went with my standard hot. Hot they were not. The spice was as hot as Frank's Hot Sauce gets.

They were pub classic. The sauce had entrenched itself into the skin, but it wasn't soggy. I prefer the wings to be saucy, and I did find a hidden deposit of pooled sauce under the bottom wings, but it was too late.

I also got a side of BBQ sauce for sampling. The sauce tasted like Diana's. It was good, but bottled.

The sauce was cold, which was a contrast to my hot wings that is not my favourite way to go. I think mixing of Hot and BBQ would make some outstanding sauce though. Actually, Medium and Hot would be even better.

FINAL SCORE: What a wonderful little pub. Whether your going for a pint or for wings or fighting zombies, this pub is a great place. The wings were hot, meaty and tasty. I asked Ashley about wing night and she reported sadly no, but Fridays there was 25% off all appetizers, and wings are under appetizers . . . so it looks like I might have to go back on a Friday. Although the price is right in general for the generous wing portion. 6/10

The Rochester Pub & Eatery
502 Rochester Street, Ottawa, On