RedRocks Old Town — Restaurant in Alexandria

I have eaten at RedRocks in Alexandria at least 45-50 times in the past ten years, so I know it well. The quality of service has deteriorated substantially; the wait staff is ill trained. When I ate there in mid-July I had several bad experiences. There was no soap in the bathroom, despite directions attached to the wall about how to wash one’s hands properly. I asked to speak with a manager and was referred to a person who then put soap in the bathroom. I asked for a refill on my iced tea but was given like-warm tea with negligible ice. I ordered a calzone with Kalamata olives, which the menu indicated would be an extra $2.00. When I was ready to pay, I was told that the total cost would be $24. I asked to see the bill and was again told that the total was $24; the waiter twice refused to show me the bill. I persisted and was eventually allowed to see the total cost on the waiter’s hand-held calculator. I was charged $2.50 for the olives. When I asked the waiter about the discrepancy, he said that $2.50 was the correct amount. I then asked to see the menu, which confirmed the $2.00 cost for the olives. The waiter said that the menu was wrong and that I should pay the higher amount. RedRock’s online menu also shows that olives as a topping are $2.00 extra (as are several other possible toppings). I again asked to see the manager but was told that there was no manager, despite there being one earlier. The waiter should have corrected the error once he saw the price on the menu, but he insistently declined to do so. He eventually agreed to do so grudgingly but only because of my persistence. Of greater concern is the fact that I have now been overcharged for the Kalamata olives three times this year. The previous overcharges are what led me to ask to see the bill last week. I was told on the two previous occasions this year, most recently in May, that the discrepancy would be corrected. It obviously has not been. This suggests that RedRocks has also overcharged many other people and that no effort has been made to correct the overcharging to ensure that the prices shown on the menus are the prices that patrons...

My wife and I love a good pizza, especially if Neapolitan is in the title, so we tried RedRocks a few weeks ago while in town. Overall, it was a nice experience and a solid four stars. She had the RedRocks sausage and I felt like eating more calories with the Pepperoni! The fennel sausage, fontina cheese, and sweet and hot peppers were a nice combination. A minor complaint would've been, of course, more sausage! Although my pizza was relatively boring, I will say that pepperoni was very tasty, with some being a bit charred and some cooked but soft. I like that in a pep pizza! Both tomato sauces and cheeses were plentiful, fresh, and tasty. The crusts were also both excellent, with a nice combo of slight char on the bottom, crunchy edges, but softer as you got to the middle. The bill was reasonable since we also had couple of glasses of Chianti and Sangiovese wine. Our server was decent, but young and not very attentive. We had to keep asking her for water, extra napkins, and the final bill. So with those service limitations I'd normally round up to 5 stars because everything else was great with a very nice casual vibe inside. So... why only 4 stars? The restaurant was boiling hot! Well, actually not boiling, of course, but hot because the kitchen is open with that pizza oven going full blast. We asked our server if they could turn up the AC colder or turn on more of the overhead fans. She said they were mostly broken. It would've been more enjoyable with a comfortable temperature, so we ate quicker than we wanted to because we were so hot. Again, everything else was really good, but people were leaving early for the same reason we did. Fix the AC and everyone from staff to customers will be more...

So my family (parents, sister, girlfriend) went here on a whim, around 9:00pm on an idle Monday evening. It wasn't very busy, maybe a dozen or so people hanging out.

RedRocks has an upscale feel, without making you feel uncomfortable if you in casual attire. Open, clean, sleek. We were sat by a hostess; not unpleasant, but she mumbled and dropped the menus on the table before walking away which made me think "wow, what's her problem?"

The food was reasonably priced for what you get and it didn't take long to arrive. The items ordered where: Margherita D.O.C. pizza, Beet Salad, Meatballs Al Forno, and Carne Calzone. Each item was quite good, the calzone was massive and the pizza was easily shared.

The ONLY complaint I have, is that our waitress seemed to forget about us a lot. After taking our order, we never saw for about 45 minutes. After requesting refills on all of our drinks (alcoholic, water, & soda) she disappeared again for another 20 minutes. We were completely finished and had been chatting for about half an hour while waiting for our check to arrive. She was nowhere in sight so we flagged down another waitress who found her. I honestly think this was a one-off occurrence and that if I went again things would be far better (service wise).

Overall, I would go again and recommend it to...