Chester's Kitchen and Bar

Chester's is my favorite restaurant here in Rochester. We went there today for their thanksgiving special. The food was excellent, with very generous portions. Service was impeccable and the prices were incredibly reasonable, under $22 for a full Turkey dinner. I've always enjoyed the atmosphere. Even though the restaurant was crowded and all reservations were taken, we were never rushed by our server. If you want a truly enjoyable dining experience, give Chester's a try. Highly recommended.

Another good find in Rochester! My surprise is getting old at this point. In town for a quick weekend trip and needed to force ourselves out for a quick lunch and errands. It was a windy, frigid day but had to be done! Having a gift card also helped Admittedly, my expectations were low but I was wrong.To start, we got the Brie cheese curds. Brie has been a pretty recent revelation for my partner so we definitely had to try this is a fried form. The breading was so light yet had a delightful crunch. It was airy and pleasant especially with the boysenberry (?) sauce. For the main dishes, we got the roast half chicken, and fish and chips. The chicken was so good! I'm usually cautious with chicken at restaurants for fear of it being dry but that was not the case here. Even the chicken breast was pretty moist. The mashed potatoes and asparagus complimented it all well. Couldn't get enough of the gravy so had to get more of that. This all reheated pretty well as well. The fish and chips were also good. I LOVED the tartar sauce. The chips were so good! Nice, fresh, crisp, and perfectly salted. We were raving about those the whole time.Dessert was the banana crème pie. It was an overwhelming amount of whipped cream. The caramelized bananas were really good.The atmosphere was pretty relaxed and casual. Service was prompt and friendly. Food arrived within a reasonable amount of time.

Visit to Rochester, MN led us to a visit to Chester's...and it was good ... with a couple of opportunities for improvement.TL/DR: WONDERFUL host and server team, diverse menu, and food that's solid but not outstanding. Speed of service was fast -- almost too fast as we felt rushed -- but that might be a benefit for some.First off, know that this restaurant is in the mall, so it's not visible from the street...although it is as soon as you walk in. And it's good, especially for a "mall restaurant." Street parking is challenging; but there's a garage (or "ramp" as they call it locally) just across the street, and it was free of charge for us at night.Lovely room and buzzy vibe, and a pretty impressively diverse menu including apps, appetizer and dinner salads (including the hilariously named "I Just Want A Small Salad"), sandwiches and burgers (rant: when did restaurants start calling them "hand helds" or, in this case, "two hands"?!), chicken, steaks, and pasta. There's something for everyone.Service was friendly and lovely...if a little too slow and a little too quick all at once (I'll explain). It took a surprisingly long time for a couple of glasses of wine to arrive -- perhaps the bar was busy, which certainly happens, and we were there at a peak hour. That's the slow part. The too quick: our server returned before the wine came and asked "are you ready to order?" We felt hurried as a result. More on that to come.No bread -- not sure if that's standard or not. We started with the brie cheese curds (we were, after all, in Minneapolis and had driven through Wisconsin, so curds were required by law, we think). They were wonderfully lightly battered fried -- almost tempura style -- and very tasty, if only lukewarm, a surprise considering how quickly (almost shockingly quickly) they arrived.For entrees, we had the tuna poke bowl and the angel hair pasta with pulled chicken. These, too, came surprisingly fast -- almost too fast -- as though the restaurant was trying to turn tables quickly. Entrees were well-presented (poke was colorful; pasta was plenty hot) if a little on the bland side. The poke bowl would have benefitted from some soy sauce and perhaps more of the creamy wasabi. The pasta, similarly, was hot and good...but some crushed red pepper, some more garlic butter, and perhaps some more red wine might have made it more flavorful Nice enough meal with nothing wrong -- but an opportunity to be better for us at least. We speculated it's a combination of being in a small town in Minnesota where cuisine isn't likely to be as competitive of adventurous (sorry locals) and in a town that brings people in from all over the US (Mayo Clinic is here). So, probably safesr to cater to the a more bland palate rather than go big with tastes and spice, and safer (and oddly impressive, if a little off-putting) to bring things quickly and not keep people waiting. We finished off at our server's recommendation with their chocolate cake, which is served with vanilla ice cream (predictably?) and a kahlua chocolate sauce. Huge and good...if not quite over-the-top-have-to-have-all-of-it-and-I'll-fight-you-for-the-last-bite great. More than enough for two after nice portions of dinner.So to summarize, WONDERFUL host and server team, diverse menu, and food that's good if not write-home-because-it's great. And while we found the speed of the service TOO fast...that may be a benefit to some.

Every entree ordered by our party of six was exquisite. The blueberry and strawberry lemonades were just as good. From the moment we walked in to the time we left, the service was on point. We never had to call our server, as he was always coming by to make sure we were taken care of.The ambiance was pleasant and soothing.I will be back whenever I'm in town again.

We came back for my birthday and it was really great. The Blackberry Jalapeno Burger is a favorite and the Brie cheese curds make it excellent.The rest of our group raved about the Ribs, Prime Rib and salad. The dessert flight was a great choice for our group of four. The Banana Cream Pie is a don't miss. They also gave us a Sundae for my birthday.Great service too. Make a reservation as they are popular.

I feel like I've practically lived at Chester's for the last year as my mom has spent a lot of time at Mayo Clinic and we always go there for lunch or happy hour. The space is large, but feels inviting and cozy once you get settled in a booth.Very friendly and accommodating staff. My mom can't eat dairy and she asked for a dish without cheese, but didn't realize that they used milk in the dish's base. Even though it wasn't their fault, the staff member immediately took away the dish and brought my mom something without dairy and didn't charge us for it. Everything I've had here is good. I usually get the tuna bowl or cranberry walnut salad. They have good deals for happy hour.

Chester's was the best place to dine in Rochester. Our server Gavin, was top notch. He offered excellent suggestions, he was quick, chatty, and even offered us new seats in the shade, out of the blazing sun. If this doesn't tell you how wonderful of a waiter Gavin is, I'm not sure what will. The menu at Chester's has everything. I wanted to go light. I got the Melon & Prosciutto salad. My companion got the Jambalaya. For my cocktail, I got the Sunflower Sage.The Sunflower Sage was a refreshing, but tart blend of gin, st. germain, lemon juice and sage.My Melon & Prosciutto salad was absolutely delicious, and I love the way it was styled! Everything was in little balls, the watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, were all cut into balls, with the addition of colorful cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls. It was topped with delicately cut pieces of prosciutto. This was super summery, light and delicious!The Jambalaya was a huge serving that thrilled the senses and the appetite. I could not leave without dessert. The banana cream pie called my name! Get it? My name is in it twice?!First of all, Gavin never told me, what a large serving this was! Oh my gosh! This was so, so delicious! The banana cream is so fresh, and I was in heaven with each spoonful! The crust was walnut based, not at all hard, but so flaky and divine. This was so large, that we couldn't have it all, even shared. Gavin kindly packed it for us with spoons, so I had it (for breakfast) the next morning.Every single aspect of Chester's was outstanding. From Gavin's service, to my tasty cocktail, to my colorful salad, and of course that absolutely heavenly Banana Cream Pie! If you're in the Rochester, Minnesota area please stop by Chester's.

Clean and friendly!! Good choices on menu - some fun combinations of flavors. Ordered fish tacos and the salmon healthy bowl with my mom for lunch. Reasonable prices too!

Food and ambiance. Service was spotty and slow. Ate at the bar and never really knew who our server was as they all ignored us.

We enjoyed an early dinner service on Saturday night. Wait staff were friendly and checked in often with us. I got the "double cut duroc pork chop". The Gouda hash browns that came with the meal was the best part! I do wish the sauce all over the plate was served on the side as it made the hash browns soggy. Pork was cooked great and apples added just the right amount of sweetness! My husband ordered the "oven roasted half chicken". Overall he wasn't impressed as the chicken was bland and asparagus was lemon heavy. The dish did come with a very large portion of mashed potatoes-which were also underwhelming. Overall, we would go back and maybe try other menu items.