Roca Bar — Restaurant in Evansville

Pretty good. Companion and I went at 6:30pm on a Thursday night and sat in the bar. There was only one other table occupied. I don't know how many were in the dining room but the parking lot was deserted. We actually thought they were closed when we pulled up.

The good: Pizza was tasty. We split a large "Round the World" (essentially a supreme). Edges were nice and crispy (maybe too crispy for some). Ingredients were fresh. Sauce is good We both had a draft beer. We also shared some fried pickle chips to start.

The bad: The service. There seemed to only be one server working and the bartender kept having to give her directions ("You have a table in the bar", "Did you take their drink order yet", etc). I don't know if she was new or what. The bartender finally just took our drink order herself and brought our drinks to us. When the server came she seemed annoyed that we were there. When we ordered fried mushrooms as a starter, she came back and said, "We're out of mushrooms.". No, "I'm so sorry, we just ran out," or other apology. I know it's not her fault something's not available but still. No cross-sell, like, "I'm sorry, we just ran out of the mushrooms...but the fried pickle chips are pretty tasty, too. Would you like those, or something else, instead?". It went that way the whole time we were there. Oh, well...

Beer selection was basic. Amber Bock is about as fancy as you're going to get. This is more of a Bud Lite or Miller Lite place.

Bottom line: I'd go back one more time to try a stromboli but Turoni's has better service, better or equal pizza, and they make...

My first visit to the new location was on Father's day, when we arrived there was 4 maybe 5 tables occupied. When we sat down with our group we waited 20 mins before the server brought our drinks. He said he was new and didn't really know what he was doing. The other part of our group ordered alcoholic drinks. After taking their order and after they waited another 15 mins he came back and told them he was under age to serve them alcohol so they went to the bar and brought back their own drinks. We had now been there over 30 mins before he came back to get our order which we ordered a large 1 topping pizza. The place never really got busy but we saw other tables getting their food. He came back to refil our waters and then asked us if we had ordered and we reminded him of our order. He came back 15 mins later to tell us that the machine was messed up and our order was never made. This was after over an hour of our being there. The other part of our group their order as well had not been put in. We decided just to leave as I knew it was not going to be another 15 mins before we got our pizza but the other part of our group stayed. After 20 mins they had not gotten their order and he again told them the machine messed up. No manager came to apologize, one of the owners was there and did not care. The reason for the lengthy post is because we were told on Facebook that they would reach out to make things right. They never did and have deleted our posts on Facebook in which they said they would reach out. Will not see me in this...

Look, most breakfast diner-type places are not killing it with original, amazingly-cooked food. You're gonna get some 2 eggs, choice of meat, biscuit or toast stuff, and there is room in MY life for that restaurant. But that restaurant isn't getting more than 3 stars for food because they're not playing 4 and 5 star menu games. Fair? So three is solid. Food is as expected, fine portions, good value, we eat, we are happy. All good. If you're expecting anything outside of that sort of breakfast experience, well, you might not want a diner. Anyways-- service is polite and on-the-ball with coffee refills. The place is clean, easily accessible, and doesn't feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I could do with less giant televisions on early in the morning, but whatever. This is more of a sports place later in the day. So in the morning? Yeah, there's gonna be an 80-inch LCD hanging over your head with a farm report or some bizarre local news. Not my bag, but not a deal-killer. I dig the place, I will definitely be back. My Dad and I enjoy breakfasts together, and this is our new place, knocking another local joint nearby right out of the mix for us.

Update: I'm adding a star for food, after coming back one night for pizza. It was terrific! It was one of those nights where you're hungry as a horse, and you need to really throw down on something tops-- the pizza HAD to be good, you know? Pleased to report that it was everything I wanted, plus some left over for the following morning....