Acme Bar & Pizza

Acme Bar & Pizza on Monroe Avenue in Rochester: food at five, service at five, atmosphere at four. The four on atmosphere is the honest score for a bar where the main event is the pizza and the energy of the room rather than any specific visual identity. The room does what it needs to do and the pizza is why you're there.

The pizza is good. Not in the way that CNY places like Pontillo's or Avicolli's are good — it's a different tradition — but the Monroe Avenue version is made with attention. The crust has structure. The toppings are applied correctly and not skimped. It arrives at the right temperature and holds at that temperature because they're not cutting corners on the process.

Service at five for a bar that gets busy on a Friday night and still tracks the room. The staff at Acme are the working reason the bar functions as well as it does — I've been here when it was at capacity and the drinks still came out right and on time. Monroe Avenue has this whole thing where you can walk from the waterfall to a cocktail bar to Acme all in about four blocks, which is the kind of evening a November requires.