La Rocca ITALIAN RESTAURANT and BAR — Restaurant in Florida

We visited North Port from Tampa Bay last weekend for a dance competition and wanted to dine at a local non chain establishment - we were a party of 8 - 4 adults and 4 kids. I found La Rocca via google search and it seemed perfect! Well....it WAS perfect! During our drive down, we read the reviews. Being from an immigrant family who grew up in the restaurant/catering business was unphased at the negative reviews. The restaurant business is tough, and it takes a special kind of person and family to commit themselves to running a business sacrificing weekends, vacations and family time to serve the public - who often is looking for a reason to complain. We arrived, greeted, asked if we had a reservation (we did) seated promptly and drink orders soon followed along with the food. The atmosphere is what you expect from a family-owned place; it wasn't super fancy but also was very nice. The drinks were the best you'll be served at any establishment and the food was simply AMAZING. I cannot say enough about the food, they could have been throwing darts at me and I would still come back for this food. Nicole, our server/owner/chef's wife - was attentive and we never were without what we needed be it bread or drinks or extra napkins because the 3-year-old REALLY enjoyed the spaghetti :) I'm shocked at the "sticker shock comments, we found prices more than reasonable. Also, don't expect to be treated like the queen of England when you go out to dinner, and you won't be disappointed. The best and my favorite part, is that someway somehow through the course of the evening we invited Nicole and Chris (owners) to come watch our girls dance the next day at the competition at North Port performing arts center - AND THEY CAME! Nicole and Chris - I know you didn't get to see all the girls in person that day, but they knew you were there, and it really meant a lot that you took the time out of your day to come watch them perform. In fact, the whole dance company knew you were there and were so thrilled to perform for you. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we enjoyed our night at La Rocca and our weekend in North Port. La Rocca will definitely be a "must do" when were in town and we hope you look us up if you're ever this...

I just tried to walk into the restaurant this evening at 8:15 on a Friday (10/4/24) evening. The web site says 9 PM, the hours on their door say 9 PM. I walk in with my friend and 1 woman and 2 men greet us and the woman says we are closed. I said, your hours say till 9 PM. We are closed already she said. I had to use the rest room pretty bad and asked politely to please use the rest room. The woman then flat out lies to me and say "they are already locked up for the night". Huh? Locked up? In your building. She totally lied to me. I go back to my car, I look at my phone 1 more time and it shows they are open until 9 PM. I then go back in to show them, see your hours show until 9 PM, why are you closed at 8:15. If you're only open until 8 PM, then advertise that. I just drove 20+ minutes for your pizza when there are 50 options in Venice. One of the men starts barking at me because I was waiting for the woman to come back to tell her. So when I told her, he says "you don't talk to her". Huh? She was the one just speaking for the both of you guys! So then I left because there is no sense arguing with 3 Russians who own an Italian restaurant and they lie to your face and have no business. I really want them to get some business because I hate to see any small business not succeed. How do you not tell people that the kitchen was closed accept for pizza at this time(you should take my idea)? And that it was carry out only. I would have waited and had a beer and my friend would have gotten a drink. You lost out on money, a repeat customer, were jerks and lied and instead got a negative google review. I had a better time anyways and went to Costco and got a large pizza and a hot dog and 2 Pepsi's for $14. You saved me money. I was trying to help a localish small...

I'm almost posotive that all the old geezers who've posted reviews for this place have no taste buds whatsoever. I'm also almost posotive that they have more money than they know what to do with since they don't mind paying $9 for a couple sprigs of lettuce, one sliver of a tomato, and no croutons or cheese on a house salad. Be that as it may, the owner was very polite and our server (who is probably a family member) was very attentive and polite as well. The ambiance is nice and the booths were comfortable. I ordered the Baked Ziti and it was tasty, albeit bland, but the portion size (small oval bakedish) did not justify the $11 price. It was accompanied by the dinner salad (mentioned earlier) and some delicious bread with garlic oil for dipping. My wife ordered the Spinach Pizza Bianca and I can say without a doubt it was the worst Pizza I've ever had in my entire life, whether frozen, specialty, or from school lunches in the Buffalo Public School System. Cardboard is often overused in describing bad pizza so I'll just say it was very much like a roofing shingle. There was little to no Ricotta Cheese and no trace of olive oil or anything else to moisten the otherwise yeasty, hand tossed dough. It was as if they were down to the last few bits of cheese and sparingly sprikled a little on the pizza. All this for a tantalizing $15. Aside from the high prices and bland offerings, we will likely give this place another shot. Primarily because I'm a sucker for locally owned family businesses and Italian food in general. Please don't dissappoint again. ...