ROLi — Restaurant in New Haven

We went for their Hungarian night, which as of now is on Tuesdays. As someone who went to Hungary almost every summer as a child to visit family, I've always missed Hungarian food in the US. Even good Hungarian food is very hard to find where I've lived. Hence, I was so happy to find this place. They make things a bit differently from what I'm used to, but still "magyaros" and "hagyományos," just with a bit of some fine-dining and personal touches from the chef, which were welcome. For instance, never tasted that much köménymag (?) in a gulyás, and they may have toned down the intensity of garlic I'm used to on lángos. Nonetheless, these are quite subjective, and the food was still quite flavorful, delicious, and fulfilling—just what I was looking for. I'm looking forward to trying other Hungarian offerings in the future if they switch things up!

My favorite dish was the csirkepaprikás—they nailed it with the flavors and texture. Lángos and fánk can often be too oily for my tastes, but these were perfect without sacrificing the flavor. The apricot jam and the powdered sugar on the fánk were awfully nostalgic for me and reminiscent of the baked goods I'd had frequently in Hungary.

Really, all of it was delicious. This was the first time my girlfriend ever tried Hungarian food, and this place left an excellent first impression.

The ambience inside was interesting and alluring—sort of higher energy for dine dining, yet with the lighting perfect and some elegance. The service was decent, and the waiter and waitresses cut to the chase with their questions and communications.

Will definitely come here again, maybe for their schnitzel night. Gratulálok a...

So we went here on Friday and were excited to try it. We had reservations for 8 and they sat us promptly. We waited about 30 mins and ordered drinks also had to ask for water. We got our drinks before we got water. Then after another 20 mins we were ready to order and just before we did I asked if there were any specials ... There were , the server said most ppl didn't order them so she forgot to mention them , or something to that effect. But we love duck and it happened to be one of the specials , so we had to change our order. We got a cheese appetizer, the steak for 2 and , the duck special. About 30-40 mins later the table next to us , who got there well after us , had been served their app and was getting their entree. I got our servers attention and asked if our entrees app would be out soon , she replied I thought you wanted them all at the same time... This caught me off guard... We ordered a lot of food, why would we want it all at the same time 🤦 she apologized and brought the app shortly after but also the entree shortly after that. The appetizer was delicious, and the steak and duck also but everything was tainted by the bad service. And I get it they just opened recently so it is what it is. We did order dessert also and the owner came over to apologize and comp'd our dessert. I feel like this place is better then the experience we had and will maybe give it another shot...

We had the pleasure of dining at Roli for the first time and it was amazing! We were first introduced to Chef Roland's food when he was at Bruxelles in South Norwalk. We have followed him and are so happy to see Roli come to life.

Gin bowls are some of the drinks they're known for -- very tasty and refreshing. I had a berry based one called Like No Other and my husband had a strawberry rhubarb one.

We started with burrata served with figs and arugula and roasted rainbow cauliflower. We were so excited to eat we forgot to take a picture. The cauliflower dish is something we were introduced to previously and it's such a flavorful dish. Cauliflower might not sound exciting, but I guarantee it's the best you have tasted!

For dinner I had the parmesan crusted halibut special and my husband had steak with garlic butter and potatoes. Our son was with us and he had the kid's burger and frites. That's one thing I really love is it's a place you can take your kid and get amazing food, but know they have something to eat too - thanks for that!

For dessert we had the strawberry tiramisu and sticky toffee pudding which were both delicious.

The atmosphere is fun -- sophisticated yet welcoming and lively. I can't...