Rosemarie's Cucina — Restaurant in Clinton

So let me start off by saying I am the product of Italian immigrants from Naples. I was raised on old world cooking from the old country. I don't call mozzarella MUZZ, I call it mozzarella. I grew up in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. I speak Italian and love my culture and the fact that my family expresses love through cooking and getting the family together for meals. All that being said, this incredible little hidden gem nestled right in Clinton was the most wonderful surprise since moving out here. I found it completely by accident by strolling through the town and met the chef, Paul. Paul was kind enough to tell me about himself and his love for cooking. There's something you can immediately pick out with a chef. Their passion. Paul wasn't doing this for a pay check, you can tell that his true love in life is cooking. It really reminded me of how my grandfather (also a chef) used to talk. Then I had the pleasure of meeting Marie, and she also told me a bit about herself and how the restaraunt was named after her mother. She's the pastry chef and the face of the front of house of the restaraunt. Again, the passion was evident, and the kindness was beyond incredible. So after meeting them I decided to immediately make a reservation for the following Friday for the wife and I. Fast forward to that Friday and we were warmly welcomed. So here's the reason why I brought up my upbringing, when I tried their food, I was blown away. Truly, I can't stress it enough, that first bite of the crab cake sent me through the roof with how delicious it was. Crispy on the outside and flaky and full of flavor, it really blew away my expectations. Then came the risotto balls. Again, blown away. We also got to try Marie's fresh baked dinner rolls and they instantly transported me to my 6 year old self eating my mom's semolina dinner rolls and I knew right then and there that this place was special. I then topped off with a main entree of the filet mignon and my wife and the rigatoni in vodka sauce. The meat was seared to perfection (I like my steaks medium rare) and the vegetable medley it came with tasted fresh and cooked beautifully. The port base of the dish was incredible and married everything together beautifully. Chef Paul is truly an artist with his cooking, Marie and her bread and kindness reminded me of my own Italian upbringing, and as cliche as this will sound, Marie and Paul and their cooking truly made me feel like I wasn't out eating, but rather enjoying a meal at a family home. I can't even begin to express how good the food was, how it made me feel right at home with my own family, how their kindness, warm demeanors and absolute attention to detail shown brightly in each and every dish. It's laughable to say that I went home full and very happy. Probably one of the best Italian cuisine I've had in my life. They made my wife and I lifelong customers with that one meal, and I know that I'll be visiting with other friends and family for years to come. If you're looking for a low key, comfortable and relaxed place to eat with your family where you will be literally treated like family and enjoy AUTHENTIC Italian food without the useless frill, do yourself any favor and go to Rosemaries Cucina (Rosemaries kitchen for those that don't speak Italian haha) I promise you will not be disappointed. And don't forget to try Marie's cannolis, they're the best I've ever had and would bet anyone who knows a good connali that they won't find better. Marie, Paul, if you see this review, thank you from the bottom of my heart for serving us such an amazing meal and an unforgettable experience. As I've said before you guys made my wife and I lifelong customers, and more importantly, friends and family! We'll see you soon! Buon fortuna!!!!!

(I would've added a photo of the beautiful plates of food we ate earlier in the night, but any Italian worth their salt isn't wasting time on photos, we were hungry and went right...

I read great reviews about Rosemaries Cucina and planned 2 months in advance to dine here with my friends enroute to Massachusetts from the auto train in Lorton VA. It did not disappoint! I was welcomed like an old friend.. " Marie look.. it's the ladies with the 2 months reservation " lol. Paul is a charmer and a fantastic cook and Marie, who named the restaurant after her grandma who taught her to cook, is the sister you always wanted. We started with an order of meatballs with a delicious gravy (my term, maybe you would call it red sauce but I'm Italian.. it's gravy 🙂 ) The meatballs were perfect..just the right amount of tenderness and flavor. Paul says it's because " it's simple..I always soak the bread in milk and I use kobe beef. " I'm not saying they were better than mine, but they were better than mine LOL Homemade fresh baked rolls were crunchy on the outside and soft and billowy on the inside. Salads were fresh, crisp and delicious with a beautiful Caesar dressing. We had the spinach fettuccine dish with the peas and prosciutto in an alfredo tomato sauce.. it was our of this world. Creamy and flavorful and cooked perfectly al dente. A couple of us split dishes and still had enough to take home. We didn't try any of Marie's homemade desserts but I hear they are out of this world. I will make it a point to go back again and I will definitely leave more room for dessert. It is BYOB so we enjoyed a lovely bottle of zinfandel with our dinner. As others have said food is served in take-out plastic containers which I did not feel took away from the flavor of the food but I did not like eating the meatball off of a very expensive paper plate. I would have preferred plastic or a small plate . Marie explained to me that they changed to this format during covid. I think if they go back to linen tablecloths and regular dining they would be swamped and you wouldn't be able to get in for months so maybe if it ain't broke don't fix it. What a wonderfully joyful...

We had a horrible experience here from start to finish. Don't listen to any of the positive reviews. This place is a joke. First of all the entire restaurant has three tables in it. Second of all they serve you dinner in small to go containers!! I was shocked at this and so was the family sitting by us. Can't they afford to buy actual ceramic plates to serve their food on??! They also give you plastic utensils. The waitress there is also the co owner. She is completely clueless. She made so many mistakes it was laughable. By the way our pizza and appetizer came to $49!! Anyway the so called chef there apparently doesn't know what roasted peppers are. He gave us regular pieces of pepper on our pizza. The waitress asked us if we would like some bread to go with our dinners. She never told us there would be a change for it! I've never been to a restaurant where they asked if you wanted bread and then charged for it. Then she charges us for drinks that we never even got! We brought our own drinks since it's BYOB. Then she charged us more for our food then what the prices said on the menu. Needless to say we brought all this up to her when we got our bill. She got the "chef"/ owner over and he started arguing with us and getting nasty. It was extremely uncomfortable and very unprofessional. Everything was THEIR mistake but yet the owner never apologized or admitted to any wrong doing. This place won't be around much longer. A lot of bad attitudes, cheap atmosphere and mistakes galore. The only nice person that works there is a high school girl. I feel sorry for her. Don't waste your time or hard...