Rocco — Restaurant in City of Rochester

We've now been here twice, and we go here when we want dinner to be an evening out. It reminds us of our European experiences; dining is relaxed and take at least an hour, sometimes closer to two. The staff specialize in creating a dining event, with high quality food and personalized service. Both times we have savored a leisurely 90 minute meal beginning with a beverage and doing three courses. I meant both times to get more photos but the food is too wonderful. When it's set in front of you, you dig in before you remember your camera! What you see here are my guilty shots done after we've already dug in-- so forgive the sloppy appearance, Rocco's always presents their food as art and my pics don't do it justice! On our second visit we enjoyed the arancini and raw mushroom with lemon salad. The arancini were crispy on the outside and soft and rich within. You may want to order bread if you get any dish with red sauce, so you have something to sop the remnants off the plate. I am usually sensitive to citrus, and was nervous to order a salad which features it, but the lemon on the salad was somehow light and delicate, more like a soft-midsummer bit of dappled sunlight under a large shade tree, and perfectly balanced the earthy depth of the thinly shaved mushrooms. The romaine and greens were crisp and tart, a perfect blend and presented beautifully on a small oval platter. For the main course I had the home made pasta with clam sauce, and it was unlike any clam sauce I've had before-- it had a depth of flavor, rich and again, earthy, to balance the brine of the sea from the large clams scattered throughout. I was surprised when the dish arrived with spaghetti instead of linguini, but it had a wonderful bite and the right amount of chewiness; as my partner said, 'that's pasta worth saving your carbs allotment to eat!" I had to threaten to stab him with my fork to keep my dinner for my own! The clam sauce was intensely rich and regrettably I had to leave much of the sauce on the plate, hating to waste it, but too satiated to spoon up what remained without pasta to balance it. My partner got the crispy fish over a bed of fennel-orange salad with roasted fingerling potatoes. I'm not a huge fennel fan, but this was a wonderful combination-- our only slight criticism was in the green herbal aioli on the fish, which sits atop the salad, not having a flavor palate that balanced well with the dressing on the salad...but that's personal opinion, and you may not agree. We were both quite full after dinner, but couldn't resist trying the special dessert of the day-- roasted pineapple in masala sauce. WOW! It has flavors of caramel, rum, and butter against slices of deeply caramelized pineapple with a bit of cannoli shell pieces atop to give it crunch and a few charred pistachios to balance the sweetness. AMAZING! Next time I'm starting with dessert. I wasn't drinking the night we attended, as I'd been juice fasting a few days before and was very sensitive to alcohol, so the waitress made me a mocktail. I don't know how she knew my preferences without asking, and I'll be honest, I only agreed because I felt guilty not to order an item where the restaurant makes a good profit, so. I didn't expect much but decided to have an adventure thinking I could always leave it and drink my water as intended. How wrong I was! She returned with something that was crispy, tangy, not too sweet and all around wonderful-- a bit of blood orange, grapefruit, seltzer and lime that I would never have ordered from a menu but found it suited me so perfectly as to be irresistible. It was exactly what I wanted without my even knowing I wanted it-- Natalie must be a mind reader, and if you have the opportunity to be waited upon by her, do it! Be forewarned, it's a small place, where good customer service and excellent food take time, so seatings each night are limited. Even on a frigid February Thursday night, every socially-distanced table was full, so make reservations and come with...

I don't ask for much when going somewhere just professional behavior, good working people, and decent to excellent food but it didn't really happen this time. I've gone to this place a few times so am comparing this to the previous Pizza literally dripping wet with oil and it wasn't even olive oil. My entire hands were full and dripping oil. I'm almost concerned about my health after eating that. Waitress never asked me about my order and didn't look at me while taking orders from my table so since I paid the bill I tipped less than$5 I never tip so low but that person wasn't so amazing at customer service that they earned anything. 😕

This is just an update for the other times I've gone to this place after my review. I tried to give this place a chance but it seems the food and the service declined in quality a lot since the first few times I went there a few months ago. I've never been so disappointed but many things are considered prior to me not liking something. One time I went and being that I had pizza there many times before I knew what I'd be ordering but this time around I kid you not the pizza was so drenched in oil that my hands were not only covered all in oil but also dripping a lot of oil. Come on now that is not normal that is just disgusting. I couldn't eat it at all for the first time.

Also the customer service has declined. The previous waitress listed above is no longer there but the current waitress the last two times never looked at me during the dinner service never talked to me or asked me what my order would be and acted as if I was a ghost she did not see right in front of her. Being that im paying the bill it forces me not to tip good. I like tipping and I tip well so long as the food is decent and there is good customer service. i was in food service before Ive done the job but if you dont respect your customers you won't be tipped. All people know that.

The most recent time I called prior to going whomever answered the phone told me food would be served until a certain time when I arrived and sat down the waitress was rude and said we are no longer serving which contradicts what I was told over the phone. As I was just about to leave to another restaurant she came huffing and puffing because of their own words to me. Whether or not the words said to me over the phone were correct or not is their fault as they are the ones that work there and provide the information to us customers. The rude waitress brought someone else to assist me but was so overwhelmed with how upset she was and stormed off. This is a joke. So of course my tip reflected my service. *note I never was upset or rude and I was literally walking out the door. At that point someone else came around I'm guessing a supervisor and accommodated me much better and...

🚨 TL:DR - CHARGED $270 for tip instead of $27 tip and the manager nor owner ever returned my multiple calls so I deducted stars from my original review of all 5 stars.🚨 I understand that mistakes happen. I would not have subtracted any stars from my original review if I had ever even just received the courtesy of a return call. I left multiple polite messages at different times during their hours of operation requesting this please be rectified. I was told that the manager was not in nor was the owner in any during my calls. Though I left my phone number every time they never called me back. Finally...after my FOURTH ATTEMPT...as a last ditch effort to have a local business correct their error instead of disputing it with my credit card company, a woman (Adriana) that worked there and used to be a manager assisted me. She apologized for the inconvenience and asked me for the information from the transaction. THANK GOD I take pictures of my receipts for budgeting purposes so I could supply her with the exact date and time of the transaction as well as the Clover ID number. My friend and I dined at Rocco on July 15th...I wasn't blessed to speak to Adriana - someone who actually handled it professionally and assisted me with kindness and compassion until 8:47pm on July 29th. If it wasn't for her, the great service we received from Sarah, and the DE-LI-CIOUS food I would never go back. Because of Adriana I am open to one day...maybe...giving them another chance.

Original review - Overall the food and drinks were EXCEPTIONAL! Sarah was a great, helpful, generous, and attentive waitress! I can't wait to come back and try other items on...