The Pub At Wegmans

Great food and good wine selection ... Wish they sold wine and not just beer in the grocery store!

In practice, a nice restaurant in a grocery store is just as confusing as it sounds. The ambiance is all sorts of mixed up, because the polished granite bar tops and otherwise nice decor contrast wildly with the cases of craft beers stacked up against the wrought-iron fencing dividing the restaurant from the rest of the grocery store. The staff are very nice, but a strange mix of not-quite-restaurant-waitstaff and not-quite-grocery-store-employees. Also, I don't think the Friday night live acoustic music thing happened, unless it was just outside. But is the outside dining area part of the restaurant, or part of the rest of the store? Confusing.

The food is also kind of confusing. We loved our appetizers. Zucchini fries were more fried batter than zucchini, but delicious nonetheless. The mozzarella bites were balls of panko-crusted fresh(!) mozzarella, deep fried to gooey perfection. The marinara sauce they came with was a bit bland, but I was willing to overlook that. The restaurant was off to a very good start, but then came the entrees. While satisfying and by no means bad (albeit a bit too salty), they had the definite taste and feel of catered food, or food from a nice buffet. You know, with a mass-produced, reheated quality to them. I ordered the salmon, which is exactly the kind of entree/salad combo you would get at a wedding. At $11, it was fine. The entrees were not as exciting as the appetizers, however.

And what's more: who are they targeting? Maybe just people amused by the novelty of fine dining in a grocery store. This is certainly not a destination restaurant, but if you're going to Wegman's to grocery shop, why would you need to eat an entire fancy meal there when you can just grab some cheap and delicious-looking prepared food (of which there is plenty, directly adjacent to the restaurant)? So many questions.

A high-quality restaurant in a supermarket?!? Yup... Forget the old adage of never going to a grocery store hungry. But do so ONLY if hitting The Pub.

Although the menu isn't terribly diverse, The Pub at Wegman's serves good food at reasonable prices. Additionally, they offer a full bar, which I assume makes shopping more interesting for those who imbibe and then go grocery shopping (not sure I've heard any advice about not drinking and grocery shopping, so go for it).

I've had a number of items hear from their salad specials, veggie burger and chicken breast. All have been satisfying, albeit a bit over-salted for my taste. Thankfully, the service staff is spot-on with refilling the water glass (or beverage of your choice).