Matt Ruffell

Probably the best old school Italian restaurant in Rochester, NY. Expensive but excellent. The pork based sauce has a great flavor. All meals are well prepared. Only issue is limited seating.

Lindsay Hart

Wonderful dinner, great service. The atmosphere is intimate and cozy. We sampled a number of items from the menu and all were delicious. The homemade ricotta with charred bread is a must. Reservations are needed unless you want to sit at the bar.

Leigh Morin

Absolutely fantastic!! Will definitely be back!! We arrived right as they opened, so thankfully we were able to get in without a reservation, but it was packed by the time we were leaving. Probably the best cocktail I've ever had, definitely without a doubt the best octopus (so tender!) and best lasagna ever!! Would recommend to anyone!!

+2

Kevin Markman

Nice atmosphere with friendly staff and owner and welcoming regulars at the bar as you walk in. Good specials and knowledgeable waiter who was their chef before. Food was solid but toast was overcooked and burnt. Serves until 10 so good for a late night dinner.

+2

D. McDell-Hernandez

I visited Rocco for the first time last Friday and loved it! Amazing food, cocktails and service. I ordered lasagna pizzaola and asked for meatballs on the side. All star dish and the sauce was perfect. My friends let me taste their dishes-- smoked pork chops with sauerkraut and cod with creamy horseradish sauce. They were outstanding!

+1

JueJue

The appetizer was the standout at this restaurant, truly the only highlight. The pizza was average, and the lasagna was disappointing with no meat. The service was exceptional, and the table setup was charming, with a nice brick wall as a backdrop. However, the atmosphere was overwhelming—tables were packed too tightly, so you could hear every conversation around you. The loud, chaotic vibe made it unbearable. This isn’t a place I’d return to for a date. We ended up getting a much tastier pizza elsewhere, and the high prices here didn’t match the food or ambiance.

Amy V

I haven't been here since pre-covid. I feel like this place used to be nice like 10 years ago. Our waitress, Joanna, was miserable, " I'm sorry. Are we bothering you?" The food was subpar, everything was expensive for what you got. The atmosphere was nice. The oysters were good, overall I felt like it would have been better off if we had gone to Chipotle, at least I wouldn't have expectations.

Loafus Crambuckle

The food was ok, not worth the price. The service was subpar and we never got an opportunity to get more drinks but it was a busy night. The worst part was how LOUD the restaurant was, the kind of volume that makes your ears ring for an hour after you leave. They really need to invest in some sound dampening foam or something for the walls.

SO LOUD and so cramped. I get that that comes with being a restaurant in the city but I probably would've tolerated that kind of noise if the rest of the experience was good. The starters: List of appetizers longer than the entrees, which is good for the appetizers but they're all far too small for the price (~15 each) and it's definitely not worth it when you already have to pay $20+ for each meal. There's no fresh bread to start which is a huge disappointment for an Italian restaurant. Non-chain establishments almost always have free bread, even if there's no refills. Instead, there's the thin crunchy breadsticks (grissini) that taste like nothing. The drinks: not a big selection if you don't drink wine, understandable for an Italian restaurant. What's not understandable is $3 for approximately an ounce of soda in a glass completely full of ice. 3 sips to drink the whole thing and NO FREE REFILLS. Thank God the waitress didn't come back a third time because she did not inform me that they charge for refills! What a scam considering the amount of liquid in each glass! The food: Terrible and overpriced. The menu is so small and underwhelming and doesn't do anything to describe the meals since their meals are either extremely vague or in Italian, despite definitely having space to do so. The pizza tasted good but was made poorly and seemed rushed with 50% thick outer crust and the crust under the sauce and cheese bring so thin that it's soggy after the first few slices. The pasta was undercooked and the sauce tasted weird but in a way I can't really describe. Maybe it was made with a weird mix of vegetables or something but it's probably just a personal preference. The service: What I found most disappointing was the fact that I only had a few bites of my meal before deciding it wasn't worth being full of food I didn't like, and that plate sat in front of me for about 30 minutes before the waiter asked if I wanted a box without caring whether I enjoyed it or not. Maybe she was unaware of how small the portion sizes are, and assumed I ate more than a few bites, coupled with the fact that she barely ever came back to check on us. Overall, I was severely disappointed. The parking was hell as well, but I don't even want to get into that considering there's already just so much wrong with this experience.

Shylah Davies

Worst services I have ever had. Very disrespectful and rude. My soup never came and when I asked about it. I was told, "you never said anything when I came back to check on you". Waited almost an hour for the food and was we had a time limit at the table and when that time was up, we needed to leave. My friends ordered what they thought was spaghetti and meatballs, but was a rigatoni and meatballs. They asked if they could change it to spaghetti and the waitress was dismissive and disgusted by the request. Things only gor worse from there. We spent good money and as a paying customer, we didn't deserve the disrespectful treatment we received. I will never go here again! What was a great time with friends turned into an unpleasant dinning experience.

Carolina Marcus

We have been coming to Rocco for many years. It’s always been one of our favorites, a place we’ve celebrated birthdays, etc. Tonight we left and will never come back. We had a horrifying experience. As I took a bite out of my daughter’s lasagna, I felt something pierce the inside of my mouth. I promptly removed said object, which was a piece of steel wool. We immediately told our server, and she frankly couldn’t have cared less. She was utterly dismissive and rather disgusted that we dared even complain. Basically a “That happens from time to time, they do have to scrub the pans you know..” My husband and I explained that we truly did not mean to be alarmist, but as physicians, we know well that swallowing steel wool is extraordinarily dangerous. People could die, and in the best case scenario, emergency surgery is all but guaranteed. This was my fifteen year old daughter’s lasagna that the object was in. “We’re here for her birthday, we explained. Don’t you understand this is really scary? You shouldn’t be serving the lasagna to anyone here.” Anyways, it devolved from there. Be careful, folks. Stay safe.

Olivia

We were really disappointed with our visit. The food didn’t match our expectations in either taste or presentation, especially considering the high price point. The menu lacked clear descriptions, so we were surprised by what we received — and not in a good way. The garlic bread was burnt and bitter. Almost every dish came overloaded with salad, including the grilled octopus (a very tiny portion) and the white fish, which was unexpectedly deep-fried in mostly batter and tasted off. If we had known that every main came with so much salad, we wouldn’t have ordered a separate salad appetizer. The pasta was overly salty and lacked flavor. While the service was friendly, the overall dining experience just didn’t justify the price. Unfortunately, we won’t be returning.