Rocco Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

My friend and I were in town for a show and I found Rocco's as it had good reviews and we love a good steakhouse. We sat down and complimented the restaurant and noticed how nice it was. We were greeted by our waiter and we got some delicious French martinis. We we’re off to a good start! We then ordered Caesar salads as our appetizer, they were just “ok.” The croutons were stale and the dressing a bit acidic, but not terrible.

For our main courses, I got the surf and turf, my friend got the rib eye. We got creamed spinach and lobster macaroni and cheese for our sides. The creamed spinach was terrible! It tasted like dirty water and had barely a hint of cream or cheese. Almost immediately after it was served, we informed the waiter that it was really terrible and politely asked them to take it away. We assumed that since we clearly did not eat any of it, and since it was gone from the table in the first five minutes, that it would be removed from our check. No such luck…then things got really bizarre.

Our steaks and lobster tail were very good, we were still very happy despite a mediocre salad and inedible creamed spinach. Next, one of the many waiters working our table came to clear. He was going noticeably fast picking up plates etc. He hurriedly grabbed the melted butter that was served with my lobster and spilled it on my Louis Vuitton handbag. He apologized and we tried to reassure him that it was an accident (despite his carelessness) and at the time I didn’t think too much had landed on my bag. Upon further inspection, my friend realized that the butter had stained the cloth portions of the bag where the hardware is connected to the leather.

The waiter that had spilled the butter brought us a complimentary dessert of key-lime pie and an assortment of pieces of fruit. While we appreciated this gesture, we planned on ordering the crème brulee for dessert. When our main waiter came over, I thanked them again for the complimentary key lime-pie, but mentioned that I had planned on ordering crème brulee. In one of the strangest encounters I’ve ever had in a restaurant, he began discouraging me from ordering the crème brulee, commenting about how “big” it was. I could not help but question his intentions from discouraging us from ordering this. Never did we ask for the additional dessert to be complimentary, but we simply do not like key lime pie and had already been looking forward to ordering a specific dessert. I was so taken aback by him that we did not order the dessert.

My friend decided that my bag is too nice to be ruined. She went to the hostess desk to discuss what happened. The waiter who spilled the butter approached my friend and was glaring at her while she tried to explain. It was clearly an attempt to intimidate. The waiter, who had been running around all night was now frozen in one spot watching my friend. Totally not okay. I can’t imagine that if it was a man complaining that the waiter would have engaged in behavior like this. The hostess was very apologetic and kind and said she was sending the manager over.

The manager came over. Whole time he stood there smiling and didn't really seem to care. He gave me his business card to send the bag to be cleaned and he would reimburse but at this point we were so uncomfortable by the whole thing that we just wanted to leave. We will never come back. I wouldn't recommend it either. Both of us work in jobs where we work with people in the New York area. I would tell them to...

To be completely honest the food was great, nothing special. Very disappointed to have my server walk up and take the bread that me and my wife were eating away when we had it on our plates without saying a word. Then we received our dinner which came out fairly quickly and was presented nicely, wasn’t asked if we need anything else. Again, just walked away when my wife wanted to order and additional side of mashed potatoes. So, we decided to be patient since there was a large party next to us that also needed their service, but after 25 minutes of making on and off eye contact with our server he never walked over to asked how the food was or if we needed anything else which at that point. I needed a refill on my drink and had to get up and ask for my server. Once we received our side we asked if we could speak to the manager. After another 25-30 minutes trying to be patient we realized our waiter wasn’t getting the manager and was avoiding us. At this point we are both beside ourselves and we’re completely disappointed with our experience which was expecting great food and service from a 4.8 star restaurant and a 4 hour drive to our hotel then to the restaurant for my wife’s first experience in NYC. The icing on the cake for this bad experience was; having to ask again to a different server for a manager in which he responded “what’s the problem”, and made my wife very uncomfortable because the server then appeared seeing have try to explain what was going on in front if the both of them like we are trying ti confront her then I had to ask the both of them to grab a manager! After an hour of trying to get a manager he finally came over and when we explained our problem with the service all he said was he will talk to them about it and said they never have complaints there which I find that hard to believe after our experience. After talking for a little bit he offered a dessert which my fiancé didn’t want because she was upset with being put in an uncomfortable position of a different server grabbing our waiter to ask what is wrong when we asked for a manager twice. Felt very disrespected and very unhappy with my wife’s first...

Came here last night - 12-30-22 After a rough start upon arrival at our reservation time (seemed like they forgot a table of 7 was arriving, and lady at check in area was rude and lied to my face about what was going on) However, the rest of the evening was lovely.

Once we got situated in the dining area, the service was very good. Our main server made sure we were taken care of and when he finished his shift during our meal he even introduced us to the server taking over.

One person at the table got the surf and turf (steak/lobster tail) and the tail was over cooked. They replaced it (of course) and second time around no issues.

One person was vegetarian at the table and our main server even stated they could cook something off menu if we wanted. Excellent service considering some comparable places will just repeat what is on the menu.

Highlights were the seafood tower, German potatoes, and steak. If you get the arugula pear/apple salad - also keep in mind to eat it with a little of everything - the dressing might taste a little sour if you just eat the arugula - but all together it is nice.

The mood was energetic last night with several birthdays (we counted 3 or 4) and the staff does an amazing time singing for the birthday guests.

Bar cocktails are great also!

I know people like to compare restaurants (I mentally compared this restaurant to my experience at Gallaghers) and my conclusion was - a few things I liked better at Roccos and a couple at Gallaghers.

Would definitely go back to Roccos based on food and dining room service. Front service (again) needs better communication and someone who does not lie to you. Plus, she was coughing - with no mask or into a napkins. Not even disinfecting her...