Modern Malt

An updated review from last years. We’ve met my mother in law here a couple times for breakfast recently, and every visit has been great. The staff is extremely nice and more than accommodating, seeing as our 2 year old is a bit of a picky guy.
If you are visiting for the first time, I’d recommend their Lobster Benedict. Of all the places, you’d think it odd, but it is absolutely out of this world. Most of the other food we’ve tried has been good, but this is above it all.

Great ideas, lackluster execution: everything I’ve had here sounds fantastic on paper, but we’ve always ended up with average food on our plates.
The poke’s a good choice and I’ve had a decent burger at Modern Malt. Had a modified Bear Republic a while back (chicken, avocado, bacon jam, pretzel roll, hold the mushrooms) that was probably the best thing I’ve eaten there. The Good Morning Vietnam (pork belly, pâté — essentially a fake banh mi) on my last visit was pretty bad — pork wasn’t cooked properly and had an awful black-​pepper rind on it.
The food is a little too expensive to be so mediocre. A bunch of $ 7 plates with full liquor service would make for a great place. Underwhelming $ 13 sandwiches don’t make me excited to stop in here more frequently.

Came in on an early Sunday morning for brunch before leaving town and was not disappointed!
If you aren’t paying attention, you might miss this place so just be sure to look at for their sign as their front door is on the side of the building (not in front). I ordered their general tso’s chicken and waffles and my sister had the eggs Benedict with pork belly. I was hesitant to order mine, but happy I did because the flavor combinations actually worked really well. I enjoyed the sweet and spicy flavors, however it was a bit dry – both the waffles and chicken, but I guess that’s what you have the syrup for, right? The eggs benedict on the other hand was amazing with no faults. The pork belly was cooked just right to have it tender and moist yet flavorful. The eggs were poached correctly, and interestingly enough they used biscuits instead of English muffins which really made the dish filling.
Our server was great as well. She was really friendly and always around if we needed something. The décor is really bright and reminds me of shakes and diners (which they have shakes! Need to try on my next visit) and although we were there within the first hour of them opening, there were a good amount of folks dining as well. I could definitely see this place getting busy later on and will keep that in mind the next time I come by. Overall, a great place for a breakfast or brunch meal.

While the menu at Modern Malt looks awesome on paper, the implementation was sorely lacking when I visited. My companion ordered breakfast tacos that were insanely wet and my roasted pepper soup lacked any flavor. I enjoyed my grilled cheese very much. We also ordered their biscuit item, but we did not record the jams listed on the menu. When she asked our waitress about the items we received, she acted as though we were inconveniencing her day by confirming what we received wasn’t what was listed! I wanted to like this place but that didn’t happen.

Reviews are good. Food & execution not so. I was excited to venture out of Rochester and see Syracuse. Mimosas were week and advertised as unlimited. My food was cold like it was sitting out for a while. I wouldn’t honestly consider coming back here for brunch again.

Not bad, came in thinking there would be unlimited mimosas and was very disappointed to learn that they now lonely do a carafe for 25 $. I had a pork Benedict with the herb red potatoes for 12 $. The potatoes were the best part. We did get a carafe of mimosa and it was very weak and underwhelming. The place was cute and service was not bad.

Very interesting food (in a good way)! The menu was very inticing and we all had a very hard time choosing what we wanted because of all the yummy options. We ended up ordering the Breakfast Piggy sandwich and the Pig benedict and both were delicious.
Plan on it being busy, I recommend calling ahead — unless you want to sit at the bar. The service is nothing out of the ordinary, just as you’d expect at any other restaurant.

We finally got to Modern Malt for the first time. We had jumped on a Groupon deal since this place was on our list to try. Our waiter provided great friendly service! Often times it is rare to find nice service, so definitely a plus here! My husband and I brought our 6 and 4 year old along. A good family friendly restaurant. The waiter brought out the kids’ waters in plastic cups with lids! Perfect!
Our waiter suggested the Back to School and Breakfast Piggy in the Sandwich section of the menu. They both were delicious, but I liked the Back to School (short ribs) over the Breakfast Piggy (pulled pork) since the sauce was soooo good. Definitely get the Tator Tots! They were crispy and you just couldn’t stop eating them.
The only thing that was off was the scrambled eggs that came with my 4 year olds’ order. They had a VERY weird texture. I made my husband try it because I never had eggs like that before. They were gross and he agreed. We normally love scrambled eggs. We were surprised my son ate them at all.
Would definitely come back to try some other menu items, like the general tso chicken and waffles.
We ordered a hazelnut caramel milkshake to go and all 4 of us slurped it up! Plus, the candy in the glass containers near the door is free! My kids were happy!

We had a delicious meal on our visit to Syracuse.
The menu is based on the classic diner menu, with new twists.
My favorite things were the General Tso’s Chicken and waffles, the salted caramel shake, and their take on eggs benedict.
I love the fact that they have a full bar, because cocktails go great with waffles (as I learned)
The service was friendly and informative, the location was great, and décor was really nice. I will love to eat there again when I visit Syracuse.

To start off, a coworker of mine recommended this place and I saw a discount coupon on Groupon so I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately, I preemptively bought 2 of these codes and now I have a $ 20 credit that I don’t plan on using.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a server named Destinee who sat us down. So far so good. About 5 minutes later she came back with waters and told us about the specials. After that, she was gone for another 5 – 10 min meanwhile we had been ready to place our orders since the first 5 min of sitting down. Slow service seems to be a common theme of this restaurant based off of the other reviews people have put.
My girlfriend and I both ordered the classic burger cooked medium well with fries. So far our impression had been pretty bad due to the slow service and apathetic staff. However, the food here was supposed to be top notch.
15 minutes later, our food arrived. The burger was a decent size but the fries were quite small. My girlfriend and I both took our first bites into the burger and immediately tasted nothing but burnt meat. Our waitress was nowhere to be seen meanwhile the rest of the staff was lounging at the bar. About ¾ way through the meal, she had come over to see how the burgers were. I commented on them being «overdone» and she offered to have them make me another one. I declined because it would be a waste of my time (assuming it would be another 15 min) and a waste of food seeing how I was nearly finished.
After washing down the burnt flavor with some water, we decided to try another thing the restaurant is famous for — the milkshakes. My girlfriend and I split a strawberry shortcake shake. The price was reasonable and the taste was different. It wasn’t necessarily better or worse than a typical milkshake.
Overall, it was a letdown. I believe the popularity it due to the hype of their unique menu items, but if you’re going out for good service and edible burgers, look elsewhere.

Cute décor. Busy and loud, but you expect that in a diner experience!
Attentive waiter, but super slow service. Food was exceptional! we ordered: chocolate chip pancakes, Nutella waffles,
Bear republic and breakfast piggy. All delicious! I loved my breakfast piggy!
We had a groupon which made it an even better deal.
Will be back for sure!

Came here for brunch with a friend.
Service: Our server was Ashley M. It wasn’t the greatest. I had to explain my order multiple times which wasn’t a big deal, but then it came out wrong. The person who brought it to me seemed irritated when I told her it was wrong and explained it again. Another person came out to clarify AGAIN. When it came out, after my friend was finished eating her food, it was right, but there was an eggshell stuck to the potatoes. Ashley never stopped by to ask if everything was ok. I set the potato on my empty plate and when she cleared it she looked at it twice awkwardly and didn’t acknowledge it.
Carrot cake Waffles: delicious
Egged Benedict: pretty good although the eggs were poached so long the yolk was hard
Potatoes: great until I found an eggshell in them

I’m not sure what happened. Upon arrival (I was parking the car) wife told me hostess stood there and stared at her and my family, my wife said «4» and she grabbed menus and tossed them on a table and left.
We waited at least 10 minutes before I tracked down a waiter to get us waters. Finally a waitress showed up. We ordered immediately as we had had plenty of time to peruse the menu.
Food came in about 30 minutes, they were at maybe 60−75% capacity so I’m not sure why it took so long.
My meal was the Eggs 3 ways add a short stack.
When I first ordered this months ago, I was literally a huge plate of eggs, toast, French fries and bacon with the addition of 2 huge pancakes on another plate.
This time is was uncrispy bacon, hash browns, burnt scrambled eggs, and «literally» 3 silver dollar sized pancakes. Not exactly the same 11.00 killer breakfast I had received before.
Kids meals were fine.
Wife’s chicken sandwich was good. Something was odd with her maple and jalapeño? Dipping sauce for her sweet potato tots. I think that the spice «add in’s» weren’t stirred all the way and when she fully dipped her tot into the mixture she got a large dose similar to the «cinnamon challenge» and she was choking and out of breath for a minute. It was pretty scary.
I was told that Diet Coke was being changed and that I’d get one as soon as it was changed. Diet Coke came out and was a little off, I changed it to regular coke and still off. I think the Co2 was gone. I stuck with my water.
I still left a good tip as she was busy bussing tables as well, something they should have a busser for especially to give us the impression that the waitstaff’s hands would stay cleaner if they weren’t handling so many used dishes.
We left and got two pizzas at Peppino’s
I really like the owners story and will still support them at Bull n Bear roadhouse where I always get great service and food.

I can’t believe I never knew this place existed. It came straight out of my dreams!
Modern but retro décor, great service, and unbelievably great food. We had the cannoli pancakes and breakfast poutine. Who even thinks these things up!!! The pancakes were light and fluffy and even better than I had hoped. The poutine was made with tater tots… yes, TOTS… and was authentic and delicious. We will definitely be back, I need to try every single thing on that menu!

I am so upset because Modern Malt has changed so much! It used to be so GOOD. Unique menu, a great specials sheet. Alas this is no more. The only thing that remains is a few of the super nice and attentive staff. Food is blah, where it was once modern with a creative forward edge.
Thanks Matt, we will try again as the seasons change :-)

First things first, the milkshakes here are out of this world. My hazelnut caramel shake tasted like a Ferrero Rocher. It was quite the mouth watering experience. However, out of all the milkshakes, my least favorite milkshake would have to be the Strawberry Shortcake which overall, lacked sweetness and flavor.
As for food, I ordered a Pig Benedict. It was too fatty and greasy for my liking and also way too heavy for a brunch meal, in my opinion. I’ve also tried the Chicken Scramble before which I like a lot better. I also recommend a side of sweet potato tots. They seriously make up the overall experience!
Didn’t have any trouble with wait time during my visits here which is a plus. Clean. Hip. Overall, a solid joint worth trying out.

This would be 3 ½ stars mainly because the food was good, but I had a crappy experience with my bill at the end.
Granted I asked to switch things up and change my poutine by substituting fries for sweet potato tots and making it a side instead of the meal. I just wish the waitress warned me the price would increase like I felt she was suppose to. I was going to ask but she quickly moved on. Found out the price of the side was $ 11 when the regular meal of the poutine (bigger size) is $ 12. I confronted her but she brushed me off saying well u substituted and walked off as I was saying had I known I wouldn’t have gotten it.
I also got the Barney rubble which was really good cause I love fruity pebbles.
The service other than that was alright for our group size of 8.

If you live in CNY, you’ve heard about this place by now. And there’s many delicious reasons why.
Located in the historic Armory Square Neighborhood of downtown, the best friend and I walked in for breakfast one day. Obviously, we got the Barney Rubble and split it. Fruity Pebble encrusted French toast? How do you not try that? Is saying its yabba-​dabba-​do delicious too corny of a joke? Yeah, it is, but it was delicious none of the less. We both also got our own breakfast, which was also amazing.
Came back a second time a few weeks later with the wife. I tried their Otto smoothie, which was a mistake. It was delicious, but filled me up way too much before my meal. We both tried different poutine dishes. She went with a pulled pork topped one, while I went for the buffalo chicken poutine. I love anything with some buffalo sauce on it, and this was just amazing. Fries covered in buffalo chicken, cheese curds and ranch dressing. Awesome. My wife’s was great too, amazing flavor to the pulled pork on top.
They try to use local ingredients as much as possible, which is awesome. I’ve seen some people complain about the price, but first off, it’s no more expensive than anywhere else in the area, and secondly, it’s downtown. If you expect to come downtown and get out cheap, you’re mistaken. Plus, both times I’ve been here, the portions were huge and I wasn’t able to finish my whole meal. I’d say I got my money’s worth.
The whole gastro diner feel is cool and chic, it’s very modern but at the same time has a hint of 50s retro style to it, very nicely decorated with bright blue and orange seats, fabrics and decorations. Service was fast and friendly both times.
They have extended hours for the early starter, or anyone having that 3 AM snack craving. A great addition to the downtown area.

2 stars reflect great service. The lack is the 3 other stars are for the poor food that came out of the kitchen.
My partner and I went to Modern Malt on Sunday for brunch. It was packed, and had a 1 hour wait. We left our name, went out and came back. Once we came back, we were seated within 15 minutes. Not a bad wait at all since we were able to get other things done in between.
When we ordered, we each got a Bloody Mary with both kicked up. It was a fantastic drink! Good amount of alcohol, but as a previous reviewer mention, I wish it was in a larger glass like other Bloody Marys. I love Bloody Mary drinks that are spicy, and this had the perfect amount of kick. Highly recommend it!
Now this is where the experience went downhill. For the food, I ordered the breakfast poutine. I love tater tots, eggs, and anything smothered in gravy. Needless to say I was excited! The dish comes out and looks fabulous. Luscious and coated in the perfect amount of gravy for my liking. It took one bite for me to realize that this beautiful mountain of food was a pile of pure salt. After 3, maybe 4 bites in I couldn’t take it anymore. I ate the eggs and cheese curds but the salty gravy destroyed the dish. Whoever was in the kitchen either doesn’t have salt taste buds or didn’t bother tasting anything that went out of the kitchen. The waiter came to the table to check on us and quickly offered to get me a new dish. He recommended the BBQ poutine, which was good, but after the salt assault, I couldn’t eat more than an eighth of the dish. I ended brining the rest home.
From here, I bet you can predict what happened to my partner’s dish. My partner ordered the Fried Oyster Benedict. It was their daily special and sounded great. Bloody Mary hollandaise, fried oysters, spinach, all on a house made biscuit. If you think gravy with a heavy hand of salt is salty you’ll never imagine how salty fried (slightly fishy tasting) oysters are with extra salt on top can be. Add to that the fact that the eggs were cold and the biscuit was warm, it was a very odd combination of poor seasoning and poor timing.
Based on the food and typical long wait, I wouldn’t come back to eat. The server was great, and the drinks started the day well, so I might stop in just to sit at the bar and let the bartender show me his magic. Food wise, I’ve never had such a horrid meal of pure salt. Don’t eat there if you want an appetite throughout the day.

I have given Modern Malt 3 chances to impress me, and I have been let down on all 3 occasions.
Firstly, this place is way understaffed or something. There are not enough people working to sit someone when the place is dead. I have had I wait 15 minutes (25 minutes most recently) when there are clearly open tables. I can usually overlook this detail and chalk it up to newer employees, but it is not okay to do this consistently. I think the waitresses bus their own tables which may be to blame for the lack of any speed. It doesn’t help that no one seems to know what is going on. Is there a manager in the building? There is no sense of urgency whatsoever. Also, taking call aheads is ridiculous for groups less than 5. It looks shady and you end up holding tables while customers are already there. Figure this out.
The food has been very inconsistent. The first time here, I ordered a burger with the fig jam. The burger was sorely over cooked, dry and lacked any flavor. The tater tots seem like something you can prepare at home. The fig jam was decent but nothing to write home about. My girlfriend ordered the pork and knife sandwich, and it was very good. But, it was served with egg and cheese on top of it making it a sandwich you cannot eat like a sandwich. Upon returning, we have now tried the General Tso’s Waffle, Pig Benedict and the Barney Rubble.
Waffle: very basic. Not particularly crunchy how a waffle should be. It also didn’t pair well with the spicy chicken. The chicken itself was well done, but honestly it shouldn’t be served with a bad waffle.
The pig Benedict: valiant effort that falls on its face. Pork belly is extremely hard to work with. Modern Malt demonstrates how pork belly can be too fatty and is easy to over cook.
The Barney Rubble: best thing I’ve had here. Sweet and well cooked. The sauces served are good. Definitely worth ordering. A very safe choice.
I will not be coming back here because of the poor service, extremely long wait, mediocre (at best) food, and disorganization.
3 strikes, and you are out!