Rocky & Carlo's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Louisiana

I had heard for many years the legend of the Great Macaroni and Cheese at Rocky's. But it was only when my home was flooded and I could no longer create the creamy, sweet concoction for myself at home that I decided to visit this mecca of formaggio. I could not believe the wonder that my mouth beheld when I took the first bite. Delicious. I think not. More than that! Love at first bite. I ordered the Macaroni and Cheese for my entree and was given the option of two delectable sides. I chose the baked macaroni and the mac and cheese. Both unique and delightful. I had only red gravy to drink. You must try this dish. After I left Rocky's I went straight to my mother's house and beat the hell out of her. She should have known...she should have known...

In all seriousness, the mac n cheese was most likely the best item on the menu barring the unsweet tea that came in a handy take-home cup. I ordered two crab cakes, a stuffed artichoke and a cup of gumbo. The gumbo was lacking the necessary layers in the base (and I hardly believe the roux was homemade) and the broth was near store bought. I will applaud the crab cakes for being more crabby than cake, which is very rare but the consistency of a tender flaky crust to moist fluffy center was far from perfect. Now to the hard part. I don't like to often completely fail a restaurant on the basis of one dish on the menu but to the tune of life or death, believe me, this is necessary. The stuffed artichoke seemed harmless by appearance with its crust stuffed topping and lemon wedge. But as any good chef/cook knows, you have to properly clean an artichoke before preparing for cooking. Not only were the tips of the choke leaves not trimmed, but the thorns were not cleaned out either. The base could have been cleaned up a little further and the stuffing was simply bread crumbs, parsley, and lemon. I was absolutely discouraged and disappointed at first bite and this left me pondering what other simple but rudimentary culinary tasks had they overlooked.

My table mates chose the catfish and baked macaroni and cheese and I tried a little bite of everything. The catfish was acceptable and the mac n cheese was well....mac n cheese. If your momma didn't make it, it really doesn't matter.

If your mom is busy or no longer with us and you're craving mac n cheese, may I suggest a little dive about 7 miles back into Violet, LA called All Saints Cafe. Friendly and fast service and very healthy portions. Their mac n cheese beats Rocky's any day of the week and...

UPDATE JANUARY 2020 My friend had the spaghetti and meatballs and I had the veal Parmesan. My friend who likes to eat here was disappointed this visit, because the sauce was watery, as if the spaghetti was just quickly drained, which left quite a lot of water in it and dumped into the sauce. The veal Parmesan was very good. It was a plus and a minus this time. I even saw signs of a little seasoning.

UPDATE: DECEMBER 2019 My friend had the spaghetti and meatballs and I had the crab cakes. This time even my friend the dedicated da parish R & C customer had a complaint. The lunch was not only lukewarm, but the sauce was watery, as if the spaghetti was hardly left to drain and just dumped into the sauce. You would think being an Italian restaurant and being in business since the sixties, would have better quality control by now and come up with a way keeping the food hot; but they cook a big batch and dump into the trays, etc. I hope management reads this and takes steps to finally correct these problems,even more important now that they charge on the order of the higher end restaurants. When you pay that kind of money, everything should be in order.

I had the crab cakes and they were pretty good, but barely warm as is most anything I have eaten there. Sometimes you get lucky if you're there when they dump the hot food into the trays.

UPDATE: Update: 8/5/19. On my recent visit I did find something other than their mac and cheese to be good. They have a very good muffuIetta, so I have upped my rating to 2 stars for 2 good things to eat there. 5 stars for the muffuletta. I tried the potato salad. It was bland and a little dry.

In about the past 3 years, I had the fried shrimp and macaroni and cheese, and spaghetti and meatballs. The shrimp were okay, macaroni and cheese usually very good, spaghetti and meatballs sauce had a bitter taste and wasn’t well seasoned. I also tried a roast beef po-boy. It was okay, but not worth getting it again. My dedicated da parish R&C friend once got an artichoke and it was dry. They don’t even have fountain drinks. Seems like a thriving business there since 1965 would have them.

The food here is on the bland side. I like well seasoned food. Why do I continue to eat there? It's because my friend likes eating there. I’ll stick with the Mac and cheese and...

TLDR: HUGE portions, okay food.

We went in to have lunch at this restaurant at the urgence of everyone we've met who is from the area. Let me tell you, they were not lying about the HUGE portion sizes! We love supporting small, local businesses and this one has been in business for decades, reopening after hurricaines, COVID and even a fire! Kudos to them for reopening and not calling it quits! As for the food itself, we thought it was okay. We were expecting GREAT food based on what locals have told us. We were especially excited about the Mac n Cheese, which was good, but surprisingly not creamy at all. It had a nice flavor and had a crispy layer of cheese on top, but we found it dry. However, sides of brown gravy and red gravy are often paired with this dish and we skipped those, so this could be why we found it dry and we weren't "wow'd." We also had a mountsin of onion rings, gumbo, veal parmaesan, meatballs and lasagna. The desserts were good too, but you could tell they had been frozen (or that their fridge is kept VERY cold.) Again, it was all okay, but we probably won't be going back, despite it's very close location to our home and enormous portions. I would recommend this place to a family who is looking for a LOT of food on a budget. One large lasagna is like half a 9x13 pan. It was oozing out of the to go box, so was the mac n cheese and the onion rings! The restaurant itself seemed really clean and the employees were attentive. There is more parking out back, so try that if nothing is...