Restaurant Rod — Restaurant in Cluj Metropolitan Area

Wow! It was getting late so I search local restaurants near our hotel. They were one of the few that popped up and they had great reviews. We were greeted upon exiting our taxi and guided to a table immediately. The atmosphere was cozy with a nice candle lit setting outside but we opted for the more lit inside seating. Our waitress Andrea came right over and greeted us with a smile. We had a lot of questions about the local food that she gladly answered and made some recommendations for us. We ordered the beef tenderloin as our appetizer and the pork neck as our main dish. Both were phenomenal!!! After finishing every last morsel of the tenderloin and sopping up ALL the sauce with the fresh yummy bread, I jokingly told my wife that we should cancel the pork neck and just get a second portion of the tenderloin. Glad we didn’t though because the perfectly prepared pork neck with stacked potato bake as a side brought it to the next level. With all the flavor sealed in from the kiss of a hot skillet, the port neck was fall apart tenderness to die for. The potato stack was very yummy as well. It was garnished with some little long stem mushrooms that were so tasty that I asked if the chef could prepare us a side of just mushrooms. Our waitress Andrea with a smile said it should not be a problem. A few minutes later all hot and fragrant they were on the table. Yummy yummy in our tummy! Andrea was spot on with the timing of the dishes. She carries a beautiful spirit and is a great server. From the greeting to the going Restaurant Rod’s was nothing less than spot on perfection and will definitely be a great memory of...

It was our first lunch outing as a family after losing our beloved mother last month. We are still grieving and decided to lunch outside. Food was okay and our overall experience was disappointing. I feel bad for recommending ROD to my family.

Menu in pdf needs to be scanned using QR code. Romanian and English pdf file were provided but English version was unavailable for downloads. Menu was in Romanian and the pdf file was a big file to download. No pictures in the menu Staff were friendly and good looking with poor customer mindset/service. Did not bother to help until we asked few times to help us with menu. A staff said she has no idea about the menu as she is only a partimer. Everyone spoke very little English and this could have been tackled with nice food images for us to choose our lunch menu. Pork Ribs and Beef Steak were good. My daughter had the 150ron beef steak and waiter raise her eyebrow and made sarcastic noise. We asked for the bill which was around 440lei. Tips were calculated automatically before we could decide on the value of the tip. This is Romania, not USA. Nice ambience and seating arrangement. Kids friendly My had high expectationson ROD as it was recommended by friends. This will not be a repeated...

This restaurant is a good option if you're looking for a modern and welcoming place in Cluj. The interior is spacious, clean, and nicely designed which is a big plus, especially if you’re dining in a group. I hate those claustrophobic, tight-spaced restaurants. They also have a heated terrace where you can smoke, which is great, especially in colder months.

Now to the food: it's ok. Nothing to praise, but also nothing to complain about. It's edible, decent, but not particularly memorable.

As for the service: the staff isn’t unfriendly, but they often seem overwhelmed, and orders can take a long time to arrive. This seems to be a frequent issue, not just a one-off.

Pricing is another weak point. The dishes feel overpriced for what you get in terms of quality. Honestly, most of the food here is the kind of thing you could make at home for a quarter of the price and get the same result. Of course, you’d miss out on the dine-in experience and the atmosphere, which is what Rod is great for.

Overall: a nice place to sit and chat, with decent food. I'm rounding this up to a 4. For the food and service, I’d lean more toward a 3, but the atmosphere is a solid 5, so let’s focus on...