Rocco's at The Brick — Restaurant in Newtown

Do yourself a favor and dine somewhere else. My wife and I were recommended this place for from a reputable establishment in New Hope. As we entered the establishment, we noticed they had a seafood cart on their outdoor patio with fresh shrimp and oysters and a happy hour sign with pricing of $2 for oysters and $4 for shrimp. We asked the hostess if that deal was only for outdoor seating, which she replied yes. Normally, we like to sit at the bar, but we decided to sit on their patio to partake in the happy hour menu. Ed was our waiter, and he overheard our conversation with the hostess and corrected her by saying the happy hour menu is included at the bar as well, but we decided to stay seated on the patio regardless. We ordered everything on the happy hour menu with the exception of one item. We shared the oysters and the shrimp, which were good. We took 2 bites of the cheese curds and spinach dip, which were disgusting. Next came the tacos (2) and wings (4). They were gross and only had 1 bite. The buffalo calamari was horrible, as were the sliders. Our waiter Ed wasn't surprised when we commented on the food. His reply was, "It's happy hour food." It was our mistake from the start not ordering what we originally came to Rocco's for, but that response from a fine dining establishment was surprising. We were having a great day and didn't want to complain to management, but we decided to call the following day, and we spoke with a manager named Antonio. Needless to say, he didn't like our criticism and said they are known as a steakhouse and serve approximately 2500 patrons a week. We told Antonio we weren't calling about how many people they serve, the call was about the horrible food experience. Antonio just said, "Come back for the steak," and left the conversation at that. We did not have a food budget going out but this was literally 115 dollars of crap. The fact that everyone's approach and solution is oh its happy hour food is even worse than the horrible food. They should have told us the happy hour food taste like fecal matter and we would have just gone with the steaks! They are supposedly famous for the steaks but out of the 20 people outside I didn't see 1 person eating a steak. I didn't want to blast them with a horrible review but Antonio's lack of caring and rectifying the situation warranted the review! Save your money and drive the extra 15 minutes...

My husband, my in laws and I went to Rocco’s for dinner tonight and it was one of the worst experiences we’ve had at a restaurant. Ever. Take your money elsewhere. My husband and I have been to Rocco’s atleast 6 times in the past 2 years and have typically had a great experience, but tonight was horrible.

Our server Antonio immediately seemed disinterested in our party tonight. We ordered appetizers, entrees, 2 bottles of wine, cocktails, etc. and the quality was extremely poor. We waited 30 minutes for our first drinks upon arriving, but then had empty drinks for the majority of our appetizers once we finished the first round. It felt like we had to chase down our server to order wine for our entree and he wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that we had empty glasses. The oysters Roccofeller we ordered were delicious, but that was it. After our appetizers, we finally received our $70 steaks that we ordered medium rare but when they came out, they were both extremely over cooked to medium well/well AND we received the wrong sides.

We sent the steaks back because they were so over cooked, and as a result of having to wait an extra 20 minutes for our steak, we ordered another bottle of wine and still, NOBODY CAME TO CHECK ON US. Keep in mind, my in-laws came to visit just for this dinner from almost 2 hours away and after tonight’s experience we will absolutely not being returning to Roccos.

We finally received our 2nd steaks which were also overdone, but at that point we weren’t going to wait for a 3RD steak to be cooked correctly. Overall tonight was just a really disappointing experience on all fronts - the service was horrible, food was mediocre, they brought the wrong sides, had to recook the steaks, and the management seemed to care less about our poor experience. We complained to management who said they would comp our appetizers and a bottle of wine, but then changed their minds and said they wouldn’t comp the wine but could give us a $50 gift card (that will not be used because you couldn’t pay me to go back to that restaurant). We will absolutely not be back to Roccos, and for the money it costs to eat there, I would 100% take your money elsewhere and go to the city or literally anywhere else instead. Do NOT...

I've been living in Newtown for 30 years and have tried the Brick over the years many times and was almost always disappointed. Through many different chefs and themes it was always a failure as a restaurant. When Rocco's first opened at the Brick after the T.V. show with Gordon Ramsey (and the well publicized makeover) I had a meal there that was very good even if overpriced. Then a few months back I went there with a group of 6 people as a pharma company treat so they paid for it and while I had no concerns about the cost (which is what you would expect from an established NY or Philly steakhouse....not one situated in quaint Newtown where there are mostly BYOB's serving similar quality food at half the price) I did have concerns about the food because most of it was not very good....uninspired and poorly prepared. Everyone agreed it was a disappointment. Recently I went back with some friends and had a truly terrible experience. Treated very poorly by the staff when I asked if we could sit outside on a beautiful evening (73 degrees in November!) . We were offered this option 5 minutes earlier but decided to take a table inside and when the other couple showed up and suggested "why not sit outside" I asked the staff to please let us move and even though there were 5 or 6 available tables that would seat our party of 4, the manager came over and said...."No...can't do it....you already ordered drinks". He was truly rude and to make matters worse another patron came over who was clearly drunk and started defending him ("is this guy giving you a hard time....let's step outside!"), yelling and cursing at me and the manager did absolutely nothing to stop it even after the guy hit me in the back of his head trying to provoke a fight. Ultimately we sat at the indoor table and had a reasonably good if overpriced, B+ level uninspired but edible traditional steakhouse type meal. I think there are much better restaurant choices in the area where you can be treated better by more knowledgeable and experienced staff and have a better meal for much less money. Rocco's does not live up to it's pretensions...