New to Rochester? Here is a quick weekend guide! - Caron Koteles RihaCaron Koteles Riha

Welcome!

You have officially moved into beautiful Rochester and you have no idea what to do, lucky for you I have that covered. I have laid out a 48-hour schedule, jammed pack with fun and entertaining activities. Your day begins on Friday evening and ends Sunday early afternoon.

FRIDAY

Friday night: To start your Friday night, you will want to select a fun, energetic dining experience to begin your lovely evening. Main Street and University street is near the luxurious Royal Park Hotel and is a very iconic destination in our lovely downtown Rochester. I would suggest walking towards downtown and starting off your night having a cocktail at an old favorite, O’Connor’s Public House. They have a wide range of cocktails my favorite being “the bee’s knees”. This drink has Beefeater London Dry Gin, House-made Honey Lavender Syrup, Fresh Juice of Lemon Shaken. This is a perfect drink to start off your Friday night when you are preparing for dinner after.

Next, I would suggest going over for dinner at Rochester Mills Brewing Company. This is a Staple in Rochester, and a perfect restaurant, bar and pub atmosphere all rolled into one. I recommend going slightly early to this restaurant, as on weekends it gets slightly busy around nine pm. There is also live music on Friday and Saturday’s and the bands are all excellent, fun live music to listen to during your time at dinner. For orders, to start I recommend getting a beer from the laundry list of menu choices. This is a brewery after all. Next, I recommend an appetizer to order something kind of light and shareable since their dinner main entre options are quite large. Charcuterie board for 2 is an excellent choice. This appetizer is A variety of dried and cured sausage, hard and soft cheese, artichoke hearts, olives, candied almonds, housemade chutney, and baguettes. Next, for an entrée choice, I suggest the brew master’s shepherd’s pie paired with a Pleasures Pale Ale.

Instead of ordering dessert after dinner, I suggest walking over about a block to Dino’s cookie dough shop. This is a new staple in the downtown Rochester Hills area and is absolutely excellent.

SATURDAY

Saturday: Morning: I would suggest for brunch going over to one of Rochester’s favorites, also on the main street, “The Meeting House”. This place does take reservations, so call them in the morning or on their website to save your brunch spot.

For orders, I recommend the mimosa or bloody Mary drink, as well as a coffee if you need a little wake me up.
For brunch, I would order the Classic Eggs Benedict or the Avocado Scramble.
The attire is casual, but some like to dress up for the Instagram picture, or feel of the ambiance of what we love to call “brunch”.

For after lunch activities, Rochester Hills has a beautiful Mansion on Oakland Universities campus. The Meadowbrook Dodge Mansion is an excellent day time activity after brunch, and also is very unique and it has remarkable tours, as well as inexpensive tickets. The tickets range from fifteen to twenty-five dollars depending on which tour you would like to attend. The History behind the once home of the Dodge family is unique and entertaining, especially if you have young ones along with you.

For dinner, on Saturday night you may have to venture a little bit down the road to Clubhouse BFD. This restaurant is an excellent outdoor, fun and lively restaurant and bar in Rochester and Rochester Hills. It is known for its wide selection of beers as well as their diverse large menu.

I recommend anything on the menu at this restaurant and specifically the restaurant’s sweet potato tater tot fries.

Finally, to end your night I would make your way back towards downtown Rochester to Main Street Billiards. Saturday night this is the bar to be. Not only is it filled with locals from the area, looking for amazing fun and bar feel, you also will feel your competitive bone come out, once you step in and sign up for a game of billiards. There is a small cover on some days, depending on which DJ is performing, but no more than five dollars. It is quite large as a venue, but nothing more than your normal bar size. Enjoy a couple of beers here, maybe a few cocktails and have a good time on Saturday night.

SUNDAY

For Sunday, the only recommendation that I have for you is to make your way kind of early to Rochester Brunch House. This is the ICONIC brunch house in Rochester. After many eager years of retrieving a liquor license, this establishment has finally been able to get one. NOT ONLY are you going to have some of the best brunch food you will have in a long time, but you also will enjoy your now available mimosa.

The Rochester Brunch house is just set behind the main street of downtown, and after brunch I recommend walking up and down the street, to explore the wonderful little shops Rochester has to offer.
I hope that I was able to suggest some wonderful options for you, and you can now have successfully planned out 48 hours.