We need a good Italian restaurant in downtown Rochester…again. One of my favorite dining spots – Fortessa – mysteriously and suddenly closed last week.
The food was superb (especially the osso buco), the prices were reasonable, and the atmosphere was upscale yet relaxed. We had been dining there regularly since it very quietly opened over a year ago, and celebrated my 49th birthday there.
Business was very slow at first but then picked up steadily, especially after the only other downtown Rochester Italian restaurant – Andiamo’s –- switched to the company’s “Rojo” brand (think over-priced tacos).
John and I enjoyed a holiday dinner at Fortessa just a couple of weeks ago and the place was so packed we had to eat at the bar. The staff was “in the weeds” and it appeared business was booming. All of this apparent success in spite of a big marketing void; they never had a website, did not engage with social media, and were not interested in hiring yours truly.
So it was quite a shock when I heard last week that the place was closed, according to Rochester Patch. Naturally, I had to take a drive by to see if indeed it was true. The place was totally dark, not a stick of furniture inside, and a sign on the door simply read: “Fortessa is closed.”
I felt an obligation to immediately post this on my Facebook page for the benefit of all my foodie friends. My sister Suzy was the first to comment: “OMG! I just bought a Groupon deal to Fortessa! How could they close?!” Which then made me panic for a minute wondering if I had any unused gift cards…nope…phew!
As a PR consultant, I was very curious to see how Groupon was going to handle my sister’s dilemma. I am happy to report that they did immediately give her full credit on her account, which was very smart on their part because Suzy is a Groupon addict and pissing her off would not have been good for business.
But I am still curious about what happened to Fortessa. This secret departure is really troublesome to me, especially as a publicist of restaurants. If they are thinking about resurfacing under a different name, they should definitely refund any unused Fortessa gift cards, but I’m not hopeful since there is no way to reach anyone.
Fortessa was truly one of Rochester’s best kept culinary secrets and they have departed as quietly as they arrived.
I had found both a website and facebook page for them. At one time they had several photos up of restaurant and the staff but those are down now as well as most of the comments on the facebook wall. The website says down for maintenance. We were very disappointed. It had become my favorite restaurant and I had bought a gift card just before christmas which I don't think the receiver has used. In fact we had an event planned for there this past weekend (luckily had not put down a deposit) but only found out days before that it had closed. For atmosphere, it could not be beat, especially in the summer overlooking the water. Also had the best trained staff I have seen almost anywhere - totally high quality. My mom liked it for a quiet place where you could hear each other talk. Very big loss as you stated for Rochester and very hard for anyone to come close to replacing it. Great food, great service and great ambiance - literally, nothing was missing.
Posted by: Debbie | 01/11/2012 at 07:54 PM