ButaPub

I went to a party here, all I’m going to say is Korean fried chicken is OMG yummy. Would totally get that again… the wait staff was great.
Try this place!

I’ve been here a few times now and have had nothing but nice experiences. First, the drink selection is enormous almost to the point of being overwhelming. However, the staff knows their stuff and can certainly recommend something.
During my first couple of visits, I just enjoyed a drink at the bar or on the couches, which is such a nice touch. My most recent visit was for dinner with my parents and we were all very happy with our meals. We all split the chicken wings to start — a MUST try if you go here. My boyfriend and I shared a rice bowl for our entrée and it was the perfect amount. It also had great flavor.
Waitress: attentive and friendly; atmosphere: relaxing and comfortable. I highly recommend this spot if you’re looking for Asian-​American cuisine with a flare.

Love the location and the favors. Very nice service and the food was great. This is our second visit and loved both the cheesesteak and wings!

Music was loud but might have been due to the expansive space.
Really enjoyed the pickled vegetables platter, especially the pickled cucumber and kimchi. The pickled platter could have used a vehicle to taste the different offerings on– maybe some mini steamed buns?
The crispy duck buns had a really good savory flavor and the steamed bun was the perfect temperature.
I wish the server had informed us to toss up the crispy squid so the sauce was evenly distributed. I liked the fresh jalapeños in the crispy squid as well.
We shared the sweet and sour meatball Bánh mì– bread was nice and crusty, meat perfectly cooked, juicy, flavorful, and really enjoy the use of cilantro for once! The fresh handmade chips were an excellent touch.
We also got a side of the broccolini, cooked perfectly, just wish they were sitting in less sauce or it had more tofu to soak up the sauce, but still excellent flavors!
Overall an excellent first trip to Butapub, fast service, interesting and tasty new flavors.

Just fu**ing go here… Order anything and you’ll be blown away. Beer, liquor and drink selection is above average. I m in love. Service was a little slow but food made me forget about it. Bourbon donuts to finish us off. Do it.

I got the calamari and pork buns which were both delicious. If you’re coming here for dinner and you’re really hungry it can be a little pricey. Its more of bar food rather than a sit down meal. But still very good

Buta is Japanese and is the japanese word for pig, which truly helps make the connection between the name of this awesome trendy hotspot and the large Vietnamese pot belly pig that serves as its mascot and logo dominance. ButaPub clearly set a goal to be different and offer Rochestarians variety not seen often more than 1hr outside NYC.
ButaPup exceeds expectations and truly makes you do a double take. The mean and lean of this review is quite simple… if you haven’t been here, cancel that movie night plan and get your arse over to BP!
The urban dictionary has a second definition of Buta which is: Butter cooked with marijuana and refrigerated to make sticks. I found this particularly fitting as this place just seems like stoners and drinkers and foodies all got together and put their best ideas together.
Buta Pub is nestled nicely behind the historic German House in the southwedge area of Rochester. This hipster trendy gayborhood is home to some of rochester’s finest craft cocktail houses and craft beer dispensaries. Just a stone throw from the main intersection of South Ave and Gregory St. follow the sound of live music and voices having a great night and you’ll find yourself in front of the German House. Once you find the not so hidden side door you decent down stairs into the main bar area of Buta Pub.
Almost immediately your eyes are drawn to the large image of the Buta that hangs just over the wide selection of liquor and amble taps ready to help you swallow away the headaches of the day. By time you have fully decend the 1.5 flights of stairs the rest of this pub opens up like the main halls of a swanky catacomb-​ish place like you might have seen in eyes-​wide shut, just not as old and still very reminiscent of a modern restaurant.
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Buta pub is huge. A large and uncrowded main dining room is highlighted with crimson red seats. Artfully placed between the main bar and the main dining room is a spacious lounge area with designer furniture that just entices you to grab a cocktail and chill. Either cozy up next to a fire place or find a red leather cozy corner and people watch till your eyes and heart is content. Looking for a more traditional bar atmosphere… BP got you covered. Straddling all three areas is a side bar that offers electronic darts, TV and billiards. This side bar is decorated with amazing art that clearly is available for sale for those who choose to contact the artist– but don’t expect to see and prices next to the artists. If you love the piece youre bound to contact the artist.
Buta pub takes great cues from the historic German house by offering a wide selection of casual-​lets-​just-​have-​a-​fun-​time dancing events. These no pressure casual dancing events give the main dining room a vibe and energy that just makes you smile as you watch the good and bad swirl, twist, and get their groove on.
Now what decent pub doesn’t offer some focus on food? I think this is where Buta Pub shines the most! Once your eyes and ears and attitude have gotten tipsy or drunk off a great atmosphere it’s time to give your tastebuds, mouth and belly their chance to party.
With a nice reminder of the Japanese roots Buta Pub has, next comes the urban dictionary definition. Got munchies? You bet and this place FULLY delivers. Unbutton your pants and go for it. The menu here offers a great selection of classic pub fare done with an Asian twist. Along with amazing Korean BBQ wings and burgers and poutine, visitors have the choice of ordering hefty bowls of Ramen or Phở and beyond.
Remember how I noted that Buta Pub clearly set a goal to be different… They must have also made a equally as powerful commitment to quality tasty food. The food here seems to be in a neck to neck battle with the environment as to which is better or which is most memorable. This deadly combination guarantees one thing for sure (at least in my meager opinion) I will be back again… And again!
Huge congrats to BP and if you read this much of my review I hope you’re on the way to Buta by now.
This place just made my top 7 place to bring out of town guest to. Kudos.
Now let’s see if I can earn that coveted Dukedom!!!

I recently hit up the Buta Pub again and it was the bomb dot com. LOVED the orange cauliflower! The Korean beef over rice was SO tender and flavorful.
Very much looking forward to next time.

We ordered the chicken and waffles which in butapub means korean-​style fried chicken in gojuchang sauce, bourbon-​glazed donuts, and pickles. The pairings work absolutely wonderful together, however at $ 20 for just half, it is pretty pricey. (Half a serving is 4 chicken pieces, and 2 donuts)
Their ramen during brunch is still one of my favourites in Rochester, their broth is flavorful, but their noodles can get a little chewy.
Update* tried their ramen the next day during lunch hours and its a different broth, very fatty and thick, couldn’t finish it. Plus was not as spicy as brunch ramen. I think Butapub is a great place for brunch or drinks but wouldn’t go for lunch/​dinner…
Overall very relaxed, friendly vibe, amazing food and drink specials, definitely a place to return to.

LOVE ButaPub. We often bring Roc newbies /​out-​of-​towners here for dinner and they’ve never failed to impress. Everything we have eaten has been good at a minimum and oftentimes is excellent. The menu frequently changes but they keep some key favs on there.
First example: the Oyako Poutine with Kimchi is some of the best anywhere (we obviously always get it).
We also love the bulgogi rice bowl, bulgogi cheese steak, the kale salad, a pineapple chicken rice bowl (which I haven’t seen on the most recent menu =/​), and the burger.
We also have enjoyed the bahn mi, the Korean wings, and a variety of other entrees and apps.
Also you should definitely try their cucumber margarita-​ish drink. It’s incredible!
My husband appreciates their beer selection as well.
Their late night menu (kitchen is open till 1:30) was a godsend when our flights back from vacation were all delayed and we were re-​routed through Buffalo. We rented a car and drove home. When we got there we realized there was zero food. Some average food from other places could have been delivered to our door, but we were willing to leave our house and make the 12:30am run to ButaPub to get a good meal — despite having traveled for the last 12+ hours. If that doesn’t express our love for ButaPub, idk what does. Btw they packaged it up quick and we were home with warm delicious dinner in no time. Highly recommend you try this place!!!

This review update is coming from an event that touched my heart: 90s Dance Night.
I was pretty impressed with Butapub’s ability to turn the gastropub in to a bumping dance club.
I arrived early with friends for dinner with an 8pm reservation courtesy of Open Table. The place wasn’t crowded, and it was nice to have good conversations without that restaurant roar on a Friday night.
I am proud to say that almost a year later, the pub is still serving up some fresh dishes, and the staff is prompt and attentive (not in an annoying way). The steamed buns, rice bowls, and ramen are still delicious. I got the Panang Curry for $ 12 and even though it is just rice and veggies, it was awesome, almost tasting like meat awesome. I had leftovers too.
Their Dye-​Lan Tequila cocktail was AMAZING. I might have had three of them. Maybe. They were made by different bartenders, and they were consistent. I was pleased.
Back to 90s night though! After dinner when the floor cleared we had a bumpin’ nostalgic time. Some people even came and dressed up as Spice Girls, Grungey, and there was a Saved By the Bell Squad, Dion/​Cher pair from Clueless, etc. I didn’t get the memo and had on all black, but who cared.
I like that the crowd was fun letting loose, with a wide demographic of ages, and cultural backgrounds. There wasn’t any creepers trying to do the lady vulture circling either. I kinda think that Butapub events may become a regular thing in my rotation. AND there was no cover either for this 21+ event.
So yeah, the food is still bumpin’ the cocktails were on point, and after a year they have some solid events. They do a great job posting their events on Facebook as well for trivia nights and bands that are coming.

Came here recently for brunch. I love how big the restaurant is, because then there is never much of a wait. The brunch menu is pretty small, but a lot of good things are on there. I really loved the eggs Benedict. I also had the shrimp and grits which was pretty good. There bourbon glazed donuts were also really good. My only negative is that sometimes the food is too rich.

This place has been on our list of restaurants to check out given the very good reviews… and it did not disappoint. We got a Saturday night reservation via Open Table and glad we did since the place was hopping (could be the Bernie Sanders fund raiser upstairs at the German House created spillover).
Our group ordered some pork rinds ($ 6) and the spices on them were very good but in the end they were just pork rinds. The kale salad was excellent as were all the entrees. The cheeseburger was tasty and moist despite them not cooking it less than medium (something about the bacon in the burger meat) and the fries were nicely crispy. The Korean 1/​/​2 chicken was superb — I don’t know what the secret coating is on it but it is spicy but not too hot. Even the white meat was tender and not dry… One in our party ordered the rice bowl (I forgot its name so see the picture below) which was proclaimed to be excellent.
The beer, wine and cocktail menu had a decent selection. Our server was ok, a bit of a «low talker» and at times very attentive and at other times no where to be found.
We definitely will return to try more items from their eclectic menu including the donut for dessert!

I have been wanting to go to Butapub for months so I was super excited for the opportunity to finally have a meal here. We had quite a few plates so I’ll list them off for simplicity:
Korean style chicken wings: Best thing on the menu. There are 2 seasonings. Try them both, end of story.
Tonkatsu Ramen: it’s kind of like phở but with a serious American twist. The ramen is really good and pork belly was seasoned well. We were surprised at how spicy it was but delicious nonetheless.
Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake): this plate freaked me out at first because the garnish was moving (yes…actually moving). Turns out, the heat from the pancake makes it move. I’m still not sure how I feel about this. Once I was able to overcome this issue and actually eat it, it was tasty.
Double bacon cheeseburger: we had a more simplified version of this. The burger was juicy and the fries were crispy and well seasoned.
Bourbon glazed donuts: I don’t like donuts but I had to try these. I’m so happy I did. Easily one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. So.good.
All in all, we started off strong with the wings and ended great with the donuts. The other plates were good and well cooked but nothing seemed to beat the wings. For future guests, I recommend ordering a few small plates and sharing. They offer a wide variety of dishes.

Bring a Korean here and you’ll get a quizing smile after the first bite. While not authentic, butapub serves a few nicely done dishes.
Their Korean fried chicken, for one, was excellent. For $ 19 you’ll get a half chicken portion with rice, kimchi, and cucumber.
It’s lightly fried on the outside, and soft and tender on the inside. A dish done right. The only thing I wish there was a bit more of was sauce. It’s a nice portion that left me full & may be enough for 2 light eaters to share.
The tonkatsu ramen was good too, but don’t expect tonkatsu ramen. You’ll get something more like a house ramen with their unique, super rich and spicy, broth. It’s different from ramen I’ve had anywhere else, but good nonetheless. Be warned though, this was quite spicy for my bay area taste buds!

A little taste of Bonchon in the heart of Rochester.
A late night eats search led us to ButaPub, which was quite the interesting experience for me, having never really gone out in Rochester before. The kitchen closes at 11 on Saturdays, and we got the last order in before they turned the place into a dance floor.
We got an order of the calamari, brussel sprouts, kimchi poutine, and the soy garlic wings. The calamari and sprouts came out first, although the wait was pretty significant. The flavors were pretty unique and each dish had a winning aspect: the kick of the calamari and the goat cheese on the sprouts. One common complaint around the table though was that they were both way too sweet. It’s common across many of the Asian fusion restaurants I’ve been to, but why is the default flavor sweet? Asian foods is probably some of the least sweet savory food I’ve eaten. The bottom contents of each dish were basically inedible because they had been soaking in he syrupy sweet sauce for too long.
The poutine was definitely the table favorite, and I was glad to see this one wasn’t soaking in sugar. Fries were crispy, cheese curds were ample, gravy was a-​flowin’: only change I might make is more kimchi, but aside from that, it was a good choice on our end.
Lastly, the wings. Again with the sweetness, I really wish they had warned us before. Soy garlic is understandably a sweeter option of chicken wings, but I was so torn eating it because the chicken was actually fried quite well. The syrupy sweet sauce was close to ruining the experience, but nonetheless we prevailed.
I paired everything with a saison which was the perfect choice to wash everything down. Their draft list covers a good number of local beers, and I was impressed with their limited cocktail menu. As we were wrapping up, the DJ started playing heavy bass beats from speakers that could’ve afforded to be upgraded. The noise forced us to leave our booth that was too close to the speakers.
I’m lucky I have so many option in NYC, but if in Rochester and you’re craving some Bonchon-​style wings, ButaPub has got you covered.

I am going to go against the grain here. I was not that impressed. For Rochester, I guess the menu seems exciting but if you travel at all — it’s just not that great. We went this past weekend. We did not have a reservation so we were seated at one of the tables against the wall and the light above our table was so bright it was like we were being interrogated. For a nice dinner out on date night it was just too much. I almost asked them to dim the lights it was that bad. We did an early dinner — around 6:00 — and right about the time we left, (7:30ish) they dimmed the lights in the dining room. Apparently for the early birds they just don’t seem to care about the ambiance.
I read some of these reviews prior to going so we ordered the pork steam buns, rice bowl, Brussel sprouts with goat cheese and the korean fried chicken to share.
Pork Buns were good but overstuffed. One piece of pork belly would have been enough so you could have at least tasted the sauce and cucumber. It was good, but a little hard to bite into and the pork belly overpowered the rest of the dish.
The rice bowl was good but underwhelming in the flavor department. The Kimchi was good but there wasn’t enough of it in the bowl to season the rest of the dish.
The brussel sprouts with the goat cheese was actually the winner from what we ordered. Really well seasoned, the goat cheese was a perfect merriment to the shredded roasted veggie. We devoured it.
What I thought would be the best, the Korean Fried Chicken, was actually the most disappointing. The outer fried layer of the chicken was so thick and hard you couldn’t even get your fork into it to lift it off the platter to your plate. It was over cooked and the skin was chewy. We ordered the ½ portion and we only received legs/​thighs, no chicken breast at all. So the chicken was all dark meat and pretty greasy. It came with a couple sides of rice, kimchi and marinaded cucumber. It was all just ok — We each ate one piece, took the rest home and ended up just throwing it away.
We had one glass of wine and one beer. And here is where my buyers remorse kicks in. We spent $ 80.00 with tip on this meal. For two side dishes, an appetizer and a main course to share. No dessert and only one drink each. Completely overpriced for what they are serving.
We probably won’t be back. I wasn’t that impressed with the menu. Service was ok. She never asked us if we wanted another cocktail, only refilled our water glasses once. I think it’s trying to be a trendy gastropub but the food is underwhelming and the prices are high to try and create some sort of trendy vibe.
One thing I thought was disheartening was that beer is served in Genesee tumbler glasses — my husband had a Genny Lite and the guy next to us had a Magic Hat glass — but ZERO Genny items are on tap. Way to promote Rochester! #FAIL
For Rochester I think it’s probably pretty amazing for some. The patrons were very diverse which was actually nice to see in Rochester but if you travel at all — it’s a mediocre play on Korean BBQ and bar food.

I haven’t been here in a while but was really in the mood for some ramen. I ordered the regular ramen was disappointed from the start to realize they didn’t have a veggie option.
Regardless I ordered the pork based ramen and I could smell the ginger and the spices but for some reason could not taste any of those flavors!
The broth was almost thick like it had gotten fatty with the pork cut in the soup. I would have to say the best part was the cabbage and pickles
I was pretty disappointed with the dish and will definitely not be back for ramen at this place.

I enjoy ButaPub every time I visit! Food is incredibly tasty. The poutine (esp. when they serve it with a fried egg) is on point! Great burgers, too. They have a good selection of beers; however, I would advise against ordering a craft cocktail. They’re fine, they’re what craft cocktails are supposed to be, but at $ 10 – 12 a pop, I don’t think they’re worthwhile.
ButaPub is also located in a cool space. The lighting, low ceilings, red/​black décor, and comfy seating are particularly nice. Not my all-​time fave place in Rochester, but a consistently delicious one I like to frequent!

The first time I went to ButaPub, I left dissatisfied. The food was underwhelming and the service was spotty. I decided to wait a little and return later since the restaurant was pretty new when we went the first time.
In this second visit, I must say things have improved. There are still flaws, but things have gotten better.
We ordered a few dishes and shared them, and most of them were good, a few were great.
They were out of the Kung Pao Squid, and we were all disappointed.
We did get the following dishes and shared them:
Tempura Fish Tacos: they were good. But they needed something, the richness of the mayonnaise, avocado, and fish needed a contrasting flavor. More lime juice? tomatoes? pickled onions? Something like that. Otherwise one taco was enough richness for me.
Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake): This was the highlight of the meal. The combination of textures and flavors was on point. Really good, we all loved it. Perfect dish to share.
Heirloom Tomatoes with prik nam pla: This was a revelation, the flavors of the fresh tomatoes mixed with the fish sauce were wonderful and great treat. However, the amount of tomatoes was a disappointment, we didn’t get to share much of this dish.
Korean Fried Chicken: We ordered the whole chicken since there was 7 of us at the table, The sides were good, I preferred the pickles over their kimchi. But the sauce for the chicken was not great, the sweetness of the sauce muted all the other flavors, to the point that one small piece was all I could really enjoy. I understand that most people love sweet tastes, but candied chicken ain’t tasty. Also some pieces didn’t feel were done well enough.
Oyako Poutine: Two of my friends ordered this, and I must say I was impressed. I love fries with egg yolk (a reminder of my college hangover cure). The combination of flavors made this poutine rich, without being too rich, something that too many poutines suffer from.
Sichuan Style Broccolini: When I ordered this, I was warned that I would be spicy. They lied to me. However it was still delicious. I must confess though, that I love greens, and bitter greens, so the bitterness of the broccolini was a plus for me. Naz B. and I ate most of this dish, and we were both very happy with it.
I had a Pimms Cup for a drink (OKay three). It was really good!
Service wasn’t as bad as the last time we went but it was still bit spotty. Also, there is a trivia game on Wednesdays (and music), and it gets super loud in the space. When I left I had a headache from all the noise.
Because of the noise issues and the unevenness of the dishes and service I am giving them three stars. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go again, there are some great highlights in the menu, and I would definitely go back for the Okonomiyaki, broccolini, and Poutine (and the Pimms Cup, who am I kidding). I would just avoid any night they have music or trivia, since I prefer to eat and talk with my friends.