Rocco's Little Italy — Restaurant in Portsmouth

It was good. Not great, nothing to write home about, but I was good. I read on the website that you get free garlic knots at the table when you 'dine in', so I thought it might be more restaurant-y, but it was just a tiny pizza joint with a couple little booths in a very small shop.

There didn't seem to be any 'dining in' possible because when we sat at a table, no one said anything or came over. I got a paper menu and went back to the table, but had to order at the counter like you would at any pizza parlor.

No garlic knots mentioned by the staff, I didn't bring it up because I'm not gonna be the person to heckle the teenager behind the counter about my free bread haha but if I'm being honest, it was one of the reasons I chose this place over others when searching for a pizza place in the area.

Anyways, free bread or not, it's not the reason for the 4 stars. Or at least not all of it.. the service was not great. Was like a handful of young kids standing around chatting but no one seemed interested in speaking to us. Like at all. Like I felt weird initiating an order at the counter like I was encroaching on their personal space or something. The food was good. The menu had a lot of options, and prices were not too high, they seemed fitting for what we got. The 'atmosphere' was that of a tiny dive-ish pizza place. It was very small, like handful of tables and walk-through-the-kitchen-to-get-to-the-insanely-small+bathroom...

Updated Review: I’m so sad to update my review from 4 stars to 2 especially after the kind comment from the owner on my original post. Tonight I wasted a total of 40 minutes from having to drive there and back home 4 times because I received the wrong order. I get it, mistakes happen but when I called to tell them about the mix up the girl on the phone was not apologetic AT ALL and had a “oh that sucks” attitude. When I arrived back to pick up the correct order and give the wrong one back the boy at the counter also lacked good customer service skills. I mean the least they could’ve done was either refunded me or given me free garlic knots for the mix up considering they wasted 40 minutes of my time driving in the dark 9 months pregnant. Not sure if I’ll come back after tonight’s experience which is a bummer because the owner seems like someone who cares about his customers but unfortunately I did not feel that tonight from his employees.

Previous Review: My husband and I loved the pizza from here. The crust was cooked to perfection! The garlic knots on the other hand were not great… the bread itself is good but the flavor is unbelievably bland. They’d be so good if they had an actual...

Overall - yep 5-stars which means we would be back when visiting Newport. Not a large place but the flavors and service were great. Ok so a little hot of a breakdown: Food quality - having been pizzeria owners in UT and feeling like our garlic kjots were pretty awesome we get a bit picky when it comes to knots. ROCCOS did awesome. Fresh garlic - nicely proofed before par cooking and just enough cook time to brown the tops but keep the fluff. Marinara sauce was wonderful and with the fresh parsley and garlic and olive oil mixed it was a fantastic start to the meal

Antipasto salad was loaded with it all. Small salad was huge. The blue cheese dressing was sub par but I’m partial to my Grandmas recipe.

The pizza was more traditional crust - so not a Neapolitan style but done well. Love the crust and sauce flavors. Not too bold but bold enough. Loved the lasagna pizza and we did Florentine on the other half. Good white sauce and not too cheesy.

Server - really polite young man. Not a ton of charisma but super helpful kind and prompt. Was good to engage with and complimented a great meal.

Only thing I’d suggest is a little more cleanliness to help the local atmosphere. Nice...