10 Rocks Tapas Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Pawtucket

Usually this place has amazing food and service. Saturday night was not the case. I went there for my birthday with my family on 9/25 and my experience was horrible. I had made a reservation 2 days before only to find out the day of that they were having a private event. Turns out that private event was a concert. Due to the event starting at 9 or 930, we were told that our 7:30 PM reservation had a time limit of 1.5 hours. I appreciated the they were willing to change my reservation from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM however I did not appreciate being told about this event and time imposed time limit the day of. When I made the reservation two days before, there were no notes or indications listed about any of these things. Our food took a long time to come out. Usually it does take a while however there were other people who were seated long after us that had gotten their food before us. When our food arrived, it wasn't the same quality that it normally is. Some plates were overcooked and some of our orders came out wrong. You can tell that they didn't really care or pay attention to our table's plates. I didn't receive a side of rice I had ordered with my dish. The waitress said that the kitchen was backed up and she was waiting on it. Needless to say, I never got my rice but saw plenty of rice and other dishes come right out for people who had arrived for the concert well after we put in my our orders. It seemed that the attention shifted to everyone else and we were forgotten. People were constantly eyeing our table to see when we were done eating or leaving, including the manager. Before we received our food, the manager walked over to let us know that there was a time limit and my Dad stated that we hadn't even gotten our food. He then changed his response and said it would apply only when we got our food. When they brought out my birthday cake, I refused to cut it there or even eat a slice. I appreciated the candle but I felt so uncomfortable. There was an overwhelming feeling of not being wanted there. Sitting there as a paying customer just like everyone else and being rushed due to the poor preparation taken on management's end is asinine. If you have an event, you really need to not accept reservations at all for that day in advance and put up the proper notations on any site that you use, including Open Table. Especially since you don't open until 5pm, no one can contact you earlier on in the day. This visit was unacceptable all around. Management did not even offer an apology for anything. They most I saw him was only walking past our table multiple times to see if we had been ready to go. I also did not appreciate seeing these two women, who I assume are in charge of the concert, constantly speaking to our waitress and looking over at us. or pointing to our table. We were there for dinner and not the concert. I am highly disappointed. I would have never expected this from 10Rocks especially not on my birthday. We had a party of seven people and every single person was upset and noticing the same exact things I did. In future, please be better prepared and do not allow any restaurant patrons when you clearly have major event. I have been coming here for years with both my family and friends. This is the worst experience I have...

Now – in full transparency, I have to say that I walked in, and my time at this restaurant was very short (take-out). My friend referred it to me.

Upon walking in, I was greeted by Marcel, whose customer service was A+, as he juggled his responsibilities, but was attentive to my inquiries. Then I met the head chef, John, who took it upon himself to help me understand the menu and what I may want. He seemingly was taking a brief break, but it worked out to be another wonderful customer service experience for me. After I settled on the flatbread pizza with tuna and dates w/ a little tinch of cheese, I heard him say ‘I’m going to take care of this myself for you😌.’

I am finicky about sanitation practices while handling customers’ food, which means that I appreciate when people behind closed doors wear gloves and are careful and I’m meticulous how they handle the food with the gloves (ie. not using the same gloves to check their cell phones and touch door knobs (YUCK!!!!!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺)). I don’t know what happened behind closed doors, but I know when I asked him do they wear gloves in the back, he did not get offended, and he went forward and came out with an awesome looking flatbread pizza that tasted absolutely phenomenal. It tasted just as good as the customer service experience. I will return and update this review if needed, but if there is no need to, I’ll leave it as is … Special thank you to Marcel and John for their phenomenal service, and John, as I said when I called the restaurant back to thank you, this meal was...

Great fusion tapas and local music!

There is a $3 cover per person for nights with local music, but I don't mind paying if the music is on for the majority of my visit, as it is worth the quality entertainment.

Unlike some other tapas restaurants in the area, it is in an odd location (as other reviewers have commented), BUT the location offers easy parking, which is a huge benefit.

My partner and I have been about a half-dozen times. Some of our favorite dishes include the fried goat cheese, pastel de cabo verde (think: tuna wontons), pastel de bacalhau (cod cakes), pineapple shrimp (coconut curry and pineapple), and their cheesecake (made with a cornmeal or something similar), but we are looking forward to trying many more.

My one small complaint is that we have gone to 10 Rocks at very slow times during the day and they seat us at a small two-person table, which sometimes does not allow for all of the small plates to be placed without becoming overwhelming and crowded. We wouldn't expect to be placed at a larger table during dinner or lunch time, but when we were two of the four people present, we were hoping that servers would consider this.

TIP: If you are considering trying this, check groupon or go during restaurant week. We did this to initially discover them to order more dishes and...