Rocco’s Capriccio Restaurant

My chicken Marsala was wonderful as was the bread and pasta. One of my favorites for Baltimore.

I ordered the filetto Giuseppe however the cream sauce on it tasted like velveeta. The ratio of sauce to steak was 500:1 and it was gross.

Adding to my check in… even the wine by the glass is good. No cheap dregs here. I’ll be back next time in Baltimore!

It has gone out of business.

Dinner at Rocco’s is like visiting your favorite uncle’s house and never wanting to leave. NICE!
The Stuffed Veal needs a new name, like «Stuffed Heaven.» This meal is amazing! Veal butter flied and pounded thin stuffed with prosciutto and Italian cheeses crusted with bread crumbs in a wild mushroom sauce. The veal was so tender and I totally cleaned my plate and wanted to just fall asleep into a happy dream. Hello. prosciutto!!! I’m a cheese fanatic and this was heaven on a plate.
I went there with mushroom ravioli on the brain. It’s Homemade Ravioli stuffed with porcini, shitake and Portobello mushrooms in a cream sauce with Gorgonzola cheese. These mushrooms are amazing and could easily be a nice filling lunch meal.
The wine selection is fun and the staff is very knowledgeable. I prefer Maryland made vino, but it’s nice to get an Italian wine in the middle of Little Italy.
My sorority sister (soror) had the lamb and I tried it. It was so tender and you could taste the marinade. Bravo!
Rack of Lamb: Marinated and pan seared served in its own juice with a touch of lemon.

Came here because my friend has a groupon. You walk in and feel like you’ve morphed back 40 years… everything is old school and it smells musty. Appropriately with this «old» theme, our waiter was well over 50. The menu had basics but nothing creative or special.
We had the housemade gnocchi (a bit chewy, sauce was bland) and the spicy shrimp pasta (tasty with a decent kick).
Prices surprisingly expensive given humble surroundings.
Overall nothing special and musty ambience. Will not likely be back.

Bad Food. Good Service. Smelly place.
Service was fast and friendly. The placed smelled old and musty. Food was hot, but the marinara sauce tasted like Chef Boyardee… I take that back. Chef Boyardee would have tasted better…

Overall: Tucked away with all the other Little Italy spots, it’s nostalgic feel is appropriate though possibly achieved through negligence. The food and drinks are standard and unfortunately similar to Olive Garden-​esque chains, though exceptions do exist. Used a groupon that was accepted without question when the check was presented. I wouldn’t return without one.
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Ambiance: ²⁄₅.
Nostalgic, though old and drab. The pasty bar in the front room is unmanned as we enter. Once sat, we take in dingy yet warm surroundings: plush maroon carpet, solid wall colors, sparse paintings and décor. Simultaneously comforting and in need of a modern makeover. 3 – 4 of the 15 tables full during Wednesday dinner. Soft conversation music, Godfather theme and Miles Davis, plays overhead.
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Service: ²⁄₅.
Socially awkward but appropriately present and never overbearing. For the first time in a while, the drink order was just that. no request about appetizers or mains until we were sipping. Not common enough! No bread until food order is placed. Our server seemed unsure of himself but was otherwise competant. Timing between apps and mains seemed long, but the meal was prompt and moved at a comfortable pace.
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Drinks: ²⁄₅. The wine menu is so-​so at best: bottles have some detail, by-​the-​glass almost nothing. Minimal beer and mixed drink options.
Lemoncello Sunrise — The name is brighter than the drink. Simple and refreshing, it’s still too murky and sweet.
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Food: ²⁄₅. Oily, heavy, and occasionally flavorless. There were moments above chain quality but not worth a return visit until Little Italy is exhausted. (Best — Worst)
1) Brushetta Al Pomodore — Thick, toasty garlic bread as base gives crisp texture as contrast to juicy tomatoes. Caper bitterness an additional touch. Onions slightly too prevalent, but most enjoyable portion of the evening.
2) Mushroom Ravioli — rich profile and creamy texture, though never overbearing. Ravioli is oily and slightly flavorless. Mushrooms are well balanced by cream sauce, potent and noticeable though even more flavor preferred.
3) Vitello Alla Rocco — Very oily (heterogeneous, pools) and rich, the mushrooms more hidden than in ravioli. Veal is tough and overcooked, though dish keeps it moist. Cheese dominates as well, tomatoes hidden.
4) Salmon Affumicata — faintly slimy texture from the salmon and goat cheese, though profile balanced by caper bitterness. Not enough smoke for me.
* Bread — Warm and crisp but nearly flavorless. The herbs and oil are relatively plain as well.

I really enjoyed my meal at Rocco’s. Went there as a party of 4 and everyone enjoyed their experience. Ambiance was nice and the service was great as well.
Appetizer: had the vongole (clams) which were sitting in a nice tomato sauce. Not over the top amazing but good.
Entrée: I had the a special consisting of veal stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella, covered in a wild mushroom sauce and served with vegetables. The dish was great. The veal had a nice texture and a great flavored coating. The cheese was really nice as well. Sauce was delicious and the vegetables were cooked perfectly. She also threw in a side of penne with tomato sauce which was nice. My girlfriend has the smoked salmon penne which had really great flavor but was a tad salty. Just a tad though.
Would definitely return.

I too bought the Groupon but it was before I read the reviews. Lucky me!
The food we had last night was fabulous! The smoked salmon appetizer with goat cheese was superb! The King Salmon I had was the best with a delicate sauce cooked to perfection. My wife who is a very good cook wondered how they cooked it that way — so light and tender like it was puffed with air. The vegetables were perfect too. Her stuffed chicken breast was amazing
Our waiter Victor paid attention but did not intrude our privacy. Whenever I looked up with a need he came right over. That is the best kind of waiter I think.
For those that stated otherwise — I tested them and our water glasses were never less than half full. I am a water drinker and it is one of my pet peeves when I have to hunt down the waiter for more water. Rocco got an A+ on that test.
Yes the place is older and slightly dim with soft old world background music. Not glitzy. Comfortable and romantic.
I don’t doubt the less than ideal experiences that others have posted here but I am delighted to discover this old world restaurant with unique menu. Excellent! It is right up there with Milton Inn in my book at half the price. I am very glad to have been introduced to Rocco’s by Groupon and will add this to my list of favorites.

I had no idea what to expect given the love it or hate it Unilocal reviews, but I was definitely not in love with this place. We went on a Saturday night to use a Groupon. Reservations are highly recommended. I made one on their web site, which was convenient & I received a confirmation email. The bar area/​reception area is tiny so we were pretty crammed when we arrived, but luckily we didn’t wait long to be seated. The décor was pretty dated — kind of felt like Grandma’s house, but that wasn’t an issue for us.
Our waiter was friendly, but overwhelmed. This was a management issue as he was waiting on our entire floor, which we counted to be about 35 people including a table of 6 and a table of 10. Way too many for one server! There was one female helping out (a hostess or manager?) by serving wine and expediting food, but that was it.
The bread was okay, but we really enjoyed the olive oil dipping sauce it came with. We ordered our salads and food and then we were pretty much forgotten about for the next 40 minutes until our salads and a drink refill finally arrived (we had to ask again for the refill). Our food came about 20 minutes later, long after the food at other tables seated after us arrived.
I ordered a pasta dish in a tomato cream sauce with shrimp. It came out piping hot and looked delicious. Unfortunately it was overwhelmingly heavy and loaded with cream, butter and cheese. I order these types of dishes frequently so I’m used to the creamy cheesy sauces, but this was just TOO much. I ate about a third of it and had an upset stomach the next day. Not cool. My husband’s chicken Marsala didn’t look appetizing, but he said it was pretty good. The pasta served on the side with about a tablespoon of sauce was pretty bland.
There are just too many other restaurants in Little Italy that I enjoy to justify giving Rocco’s another try. I will say it was completely packed so clearly there are people having good experiences here, we were just not one of them.

Got the living social deal. Joke’s on me, it smelled like vomit and we had to leave about 2 minutes after being seated. apparently it always smells like that and the food isn’t good enough to compensate for the nausea. living social fail.

(07/​29/​2012) Stalwart staple of Little Italy in Baltimore. Went there for Restaurant Week. The menu had more options than you normally get for a Restaurant Week menu, that was a nice change. Started with Prosciutto di Parma and Melon; salty, moist. shaved slices wrapped around sweet ripe cantaloupe, nice summer starter; and the most popular housemade Mushroom Ravioli (Porcini, shitake, and Portobello in a cream sauce with gorgonzola cheese), very rich, unctuous minced mushroom duxelles, not subtle, over-​the-​top flavor. Entrees were adequate and as described, most of it on the salty side. Tried two veal dishes, the Veal Romana (Veal sautéed in white wine topped with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese) and the Stuffed Veal, described as the «most popular and house specialty» (Tenderloin of veal butter-​flied stuffed with prosciutto, asiago, gorgonzola cheese crusted with bread crumbs topped in a wild mushroom sauce. The Stuffed Veal was flavorful, but somewhat overcooked, veal roulade was a little dry and tough; sauce was sweet with Marsala, and with mixed mushroom chunks. Tiramisu for dessert was light and spongy, didn’t have the usual layer of mascarpone/​ricotta/​whipped cream, was soaked in a coffee-​flavored liquid with liquer. The cannoli was shatteringly crisp, coated in chocolate on the bottom, sweetened mascarpone filled. Overall above average from the usual red sauce houses in Little Italy, but not sure worth a return visit with so many other places to try.

Excellent service and pretty good food. I got the penne with smoked salmon and pink sauce: not very complicated (it tasted liked smoked salmon, and I couldn’t really pick up any other flavors), but good.
We also got the special appetizer, a roasted vegetable antipasta plate that was very good.
Three stars instead of four because it’s on the pricey side. We tried it out with Living Social, but I’m unlikely to return when I can go around the corner to Amicci’s for a meal that’s just as good but less expensive, or, if I do want to splurge on a fancy meal out, I can go two doors down to La Tavola, where the food will be excellent.

Wow! Severely underrated on this site! We had a fabulous dinner and our service was fantastic. Matt waited on us and to start we had the two different types of antipasti. We were served a high end prosciutto which melted on contact. The artichokes, mozzarella and roasted peppers were great. But the real show stopper was the fusilli. 2 types of fresh tomatoes and homemade pasta were exceptional. Although big portions, we still had some room for our entrees. The red snapper had a tomato sauce spiked with tarragon and was nice and light. The stuffed veal gushed melted cheese! No room for dessert, but will go back for it!

They are underrated on Unilocal!A must-​try. I used a Groupon deal and it worked fine.
Service: Outstanding. We had a tall waiter with glasses. No complaints at all. We rolled in around 9:25pm on a Thursday night and it was pretty quiet at that point. Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma played in the background. The kitchen closed at 9:45pm but they let us stay until 10:30pm. To my embarrassment and angst, I discovered afterwards I didn’t tip as much as I’d purposed to, it was an oversight on my part and I’ll be sure to tip more next time. Big points to the classy, gracious waiter who did not even mention anything.
Mushroom Ravioli: there were only 3 large pieces in one serving but it goes to show that quality supercedes quantity. The pasta had perfect consistency, the white sauce was specked with mushroom bits, and when the rest of the mushrooms burst into flavor in my mouth, I closed my eyes and let it sink in for a few minutes, not wanting the flavor to part with me so soon…
Seafood Pasta Combo: as the waiter said with a proud smile, the presentation of this dish usually evokes a minimal response of «WOW.» Served on a triangular tray, the tomato-​tossed, heaping linguini noodles were perfectly cooked; I didn’t have the mussels and clams but tried the de-​veined shrimp and scallops – excellent. The scallops were a smaller variety but still very soft and chewy.
Chicken Marsala: never had a better one. The sauce was a fusion of wine and tomato and cream sitting atop several thin cuts of chicken breast. The chicken was cut very specially and I’ve never seen it done that way before but it is THE best. Gives you assurance that you’re eating the choice parts and not wasting your calories. Driplets of tomato and mushroom slices decorated the dish and again, I closed my eyes and just let it take me away…
Overall, not sure why people were so picky about the décor – it was so nice and cozy, and the cuisine is worth it! I would, and NEED to come back and tip the waiter for a wonderful first dining experience.

Mom and I went here for a weeknight meal. I had purchased a LivingSocial and was pumped to try a place in Little Italy that I had not ever been to. We pulled up to the door and thankfully there was valet because it was rainy and gross out!
The location was cute, it is a refurbished row-​home so narrow rooms etc but it was a nice cozy feel. The interior was older but warm and we sat in small table by the back window.
Victor, our waiter was phenomenal. He immediately greeted our table with a smile and took our drink orders. We both had a Pinot Grigio which was delicious. I wish I had asked the name. Warm bread and olive oil was brought to us. I wasn’t as impressed with the bread as much as I normally am at Italian restaurants but being the carb-​addict that I am I dug right in. Victor rattled off the millions of Chef Specials for the evening. My eyes widened with every word. So many delicious appetizers that I wish I had a bigger appetite that night or I would have indulged in that!
We both ordered Veal. My mother had a veal chop that was stuffed with prosciutto and cheeses. It was the consistency of a juicy pork loin I had never had veal that thick but it was very good! My dish was incredible. I ordered the Vitello Alla Rocco. It had much similarity to the Veal Marsala but it was in a creamier sauce with gorgonzola cheese. The veal was thinned to perfection and just melted in my mouth. The sauce was so good I wanted to lick my plate when I was done. A great choice, if I do say so myself! (don’t you love when that happens?)
For dessert we split a chocolate chip cannoli– as much as I didn’t need it. It was worth it.
I was very impressed with Rocco’s and intend to go back very soon! If you go, request Victor he made our night fantastic!

I have to say that I was not very impressed with my meal here. I ordered the gnocchi and it was lacking to say the least and very expensive to boot. For $ 16.95, I got a serving of gnocchi served in a soupy marinara sauce and while I did eat it all, it was more out of the need for food than because I was in love with the dish. For that price, they really could beef it up a little more. Add some egglant and some mozzeralla. Throw a little red wine and some more seasoning in the sauce and it would it have been great. Maybe I should have gone with something a little more bold than the gnocchi.
As it was, I walked away still kind of hungry but full of carbs. There was an extensive list of specials of which I was very impressed our server remembered and I did like their olive oil dip for the bread.
There is no shortage of choices in Little Italy. And next time I probably will try another restaurant.

To preface my review, let me start out by saying that we went on a Saturday night at 7:30 and the place was indeed full. It is a small, quaint restaurant with about 12 – 16 tables, based on how they were arranged. We didn’t need a reservation, but we had one, and after hanging around the bar area (which is also tiny), we were seated. The place is just what you would expect it to look like and I was impressed with the décor and ambiance of Rocco’s.
Now, based on other reviews, I expected to be wowed. Maybe not blown away with the place, but certainly expected something impressive for the $ 85 spent there for 2 people. Unfortunately, I left feeling like it was wasted.
To start, the service was poor. I understand that it was a Saturday night, but really, it was just bad. I sat there watching the tables on either side of us, and they just looked like they were waiting forever. And then it took us forever to get drinks, place the order, get checked on, etc. The service got better towards the end because the place had cleared out by 9:45.
The food: This is where I was most disappointed. I feel that most places can make a red sauce very simply and have it taste good. However, some places struggle with a simple white wine sauce that actually has some flavor. My wife ordered the stuffed veal, it was good and she enjoyed it. I also tasted it and it had a good flavor to it. However, from my experience, my linguine with white clam sauce was bland, tasteless and boring. It had no flavor, even though it was loaded with chopped clams (I’m pretty sure from a jar). It wasn’t too salty, if anything some salt and pepper couldn’t have hurt.
Our appetizers/​salads were good, but I expect them to be — you can’t really mess up a caesar salad and calamari.
Bottom line, from my perspective, and based on my experience, I would shy away from the white sauces and stick with the easier to make marinara sauce. I’m sure this restaurant does many of the dishes well, I just didn’t experience it.
I think there are plenty of other options in Little Italy to check out before committing to this one.

Had such a wonderful expieriance here! So memorable and such nice service. I also like the previous reviewer had the lamb osso bucco but mine was perfectly moist with a mushroom sauce and killer rissotto. My husband had this amazing pasta and seafood dish! We shared a cannolli and rum torte to die for! Everyone should come here :-)