Rossi's Diner — Restaurant in South Daytona

Rather unremarkable place. My single experience did not leave me wanting to return and, frankly, confused by the high ratings. Maybe I caught them on a bad day, or at a bad time, but as a customer, it shouldn't matter.

First, the food.. I ordered the daily special (stuffed peppers). It was served stone cold. I don't mean barely warm, I mean just out of the refrigerator cold. It came with creamed potatoes that I sincerely believe are the instant kind with a brown grave and steamed carrots. The carrots also appeared to be the cut kind you find in the frozen section. The carrots were the only thing on the entire plate that was hot. The server did pop it in the microwave right behind the counter for me and, after two and after a half minute nuke, the carrots were steaming, the potatoes and gravy were at least reasonably hot, and the stuffing in the peppers were only lukewarm. I honestly believe none of it was homemade, but bought in the frozen section at a bulk warehouse. I also had soup (vegetable) which was only fair, but was at least hot.

Now for the service... I got there 40 minutes before closing. The staff/servers were already very busy cleaning up. It looked like it'd been a busy morning, and perhaps that's when you can get hot food. My server rarely checked back in, but other servers asked me if I needed anything a few times. Also, they chatted in a friendly way amongst themselves, so it seems they all got along. That's why I gave this section three stars. But I didn't give more because no one seemed nearly as interested in taking care of me as a customer as they did as getting cleaned up so they could close. I get it... they had a busy morning and early afternoon and wanted to go home, but if you have a closing time, then the customers in the restaurant should not come second to that time. Otherwise, have a sign posted that there will be no more seating's X-amount of minutes prior to closing. Do the same for the kitchen because dishing up food that was obviously already put away in the walk-in is simply unacceptable.

Lastly the atmosphere... It was meh. Clean (well, being cleaned), but nothing special.

Overall, I doubt I'll ever return to Rossi's, unless it is with someone who likes the place and wants to go. Left up to me, I'll go...

Dont eat or work here! I was a dishwasher for Rossi's for a week. Horrible experience. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND EATING OR WORKING HERE.

Why you should NOT eat here: The dishwashers who work there and were supposed to train me do not clean the dishes properly. Which means you are eating off of dirty dishes constantly. Proper food safety is NOT practiced. -They do not wear gloves when handling food. -They do not wash their hands. -They do not properly clean the equipment. -They set the tubs of food temporarily on the disgusting dirty floor when they are busy which is never properly cleaned as well. They could buy a better deck scrubber and clean it a lot better but the owner is cheap and does not want to spend money on his own restaurant. -Even your drink cups and mugs are not properly washed. Where the food is stored is dirty and not cleaned often if ever. (The walk in freezer) The counters where all your food is prepped is never sanitized, just wiped down sometimes with a dry towel to get the excess food off.

Why you should NOT work here: The boss pays his employees illegally, under the table when he can. Horrible Pay. The boss does not know how to run a restaraunt properly. They hire people who are not reliable and not team players. They will fire you apparently if they ask you to work a double shift and you tell them you Can't. ( At least that's why I got fired. I was always on time and worked hard and fast. When they asked me if I could work a double shift I said I would let them know by 6. When I called to let them know I could not, the boss called me back 10 minutes later and fired me saying "Just so you know you do not work here anymore " ) "You are not allowed to have a break for more then 5 minutes. You are here to work" said the boss the first day I worked with him. The boss is worried about the Dishwasher using to much water... that should tell you something. They won't even fix their leaking ice machine, instead they put boxes down on the ground to soak up the water so when you take them out to the dumpster they are dropping water everywhere.

These are just the things I can think of and learned from other employees in the week I have been there. This place needs to...

We have occasionally visited Rossi’s Diner for over a dozen years, enjoying the homemade flavors and appreciating the fair prices. And those pies! Now that we’ve moved to Daytona, we might eat at Rossi’s more often. But today’s visit was our last. It’s not that the place is getting dingy, but it is. The men’s room hasn’t had a facelift in the 14 or 15 years we’ve been going there and needs a thorough cleaning too. The dining room had a minor renovation a few years ago and attention has been paid to the pandemic. But that’s not it. It’s—please, forgive me—excessive religiosity. Today was Good Friday. The sign under the business’s name was customized for the occasion: He Is Risen. Indeed. Crosses and other Christian images are all around. It’s their business. They can do whatever they like. But the community is not all Christian. It’s Jews, Muslims, nonbelievers... you get the idea. I know they used to have a different message on that sign: something like All Are Welcome. I like that the staff includes a disabled person and a Black person. The Black person washes dishes. In all the years, I’ve never seen a person of color in the “front of the house.” Maybe they’re all family members. We’ll look for another mom-and-pop place for lunch, but we’ll...