Rocco’s Restaurant

My sister and I stopped by on a Sunday afternoon for drinks and lunch. She had fish and chips. I had raw oysters, potato skins. We both had margaritas. Exceptionally fresh food and condiments. Drinks were excellent. We ate at the bar and the man was extremely cordial and mixed
Incredible margaritas. Our first visit ever. Will definitely return.

Very good service for a busy Thursday. The Pompeii was a complete avalanche of food and above average taste wise. Our waiter was more than attentive and we will be back for sure. Live music on Thursday so it does get a little loud in the bar area.

Love love love the NEW Rocco’s! It’s classy, it has entertainment and the new ownership are one of a kind! I met the owner in the parking lot and he could not have been sweeter! I was trying to find a place to park as it was packed and he happened to be in the lot and flagged me over to a restricted place (next to where he parks!) which was all that was left and let me park there! He joked that he knew the owner but I figured it out! Class act! The food is amazing and the drinks are by far my fav! And even when they are supposed to be closed they do not kick u out they tell u to relax and finish your food and drinks. It’s just a great atmosphere and place to be!

We are locals, ever since their best bartender (Annie)left the service is awful. The current bartender is very nice but she use to be a waitress. All she cares about is leaving the bar. I sat there
For 15min before anyone served me.
Hire a experienced bartender.

I’ve been to Rocco’s twice, and I am generally unimpressed. I feel like this could be a very nice restaurant, but they simply miss the mark.
The wait staff is very friendly (A+), and deserts and coffee are pretty good.
The facility is OK, but could use some updating.
The food: unimpressive.
–I started with a Caesar salad that included a large portion of lettuce, big croutons, and dressing. This is a straightforward dish, but It was nothing special. The lettuce was fine, not super fresh, but not bad either. The dressing was OK, but nothing great.
–I had the rattlesnake pasta which was recommended as their most popular selection. The meal was very oily and cooked to a very high temperature so it was hard to eat until it cooled.
–My date had the lobster ravioli. Again, nothing special. It was served a little cold.
I think the owners should cut down on the menu choices and focus on a dozen or so great entrees instead of lots of mediocre options.
Also I recommend that they put a focus on quality over quantity. The portions are huge, but the food isn’t great. I’d take half as much food if it tasted better.
I hope these guys figure it out because it seems like they are so close. Maybe they’ve just slowly faded over the years, and don’t realize it.

I’ve always maintained everyone needs a few restaurants in their «restaurant rolodex» like Rocco’s for traditional Italian fare, and this would be the card in mine for the Wilmington area. The atmosphere here is pleasant and very friendly, the menu has just about every type of entrée you would expect, your waitress actually brings you your food, and the portions are generally large. A few things that impressed me were the décor (especially the fireplace and the terrace), the wine list, and the hot dinner rolls (as opposed to Italian bread).
It was tough to gauge service, because we were there on a busy Saturday night. We were a larger party, but we were fortunate to be seated immediately. Our waitress was very busy. We would not see her for long periods of time, but when she did get to our table, we would have her complete attention, and any requests were handled promptly.
You get a lot of food for any pasta dish you order, and I feel that is reflected in their prices. Though I would have been equally satisfied with a slightly smaller portion and a small side salad included with my meal. My own entrée, lasagna, was a little smaller than I would have expected for the price. But it contained an unusually large amount of ricotta cheese, and the meatballs did not appear to have a lot of filler (bread crumbs) in them.
Be careful in the parking lot, especially on the north side in the front. On a busy night, a lot of folks will park in spaces that aren’t actual designated parking spaces, making it very tough to get in and out on that side.

It is a great experience being here. Crepes with spinach, mushrooms and sausage are delicious.

Rocco’s has been under new management for 8 — 12 months or so and my recent visit left me very unimpressed.
To start, the rolls which are automatically given were under cooked; I ordered a Mushroom Burger (which comes with French Fries) cooked medium rare, what I received was a burger cooked mid well but the French Fries were perfect. I sent it back & received a burger cooked mid rare but the French Fries were under cooked.
The prices are too high, but the service was ok. It’s a shame because Rocco’s was such a good place; will not be returning anytime soon.

I do not understand why people like Rocco’s, I can only assume it is due to a lack of other choices in Wilmington. My husband and I have been here twice and both times I was unimpressed. The first time we sat in the greenhouse area and it was just all around dirty. The food was fine but nothing special. We waited over a year to return and I have to say that it does seem like they are cleaning it up a bit so that was a plus. However, the food was still just OK. First of all, it is outrageously overpriced and while you do get a large portion its not really worth saving for leftovers. I got a tortellini Alfredo seafood dish which was ok but was more like a soup there was so much watery Alfredo sauce. It was tasty but too soupy. Bottom line? spend your money someplace else.

My wife and I have been loyal customers of Rocco’s for over a decade. Well, *had* been…
The food varied from fair to great depending on what you order. Pizza and burgers were really good, and pretty much anything with red sauce. Pasta tastes homemade as do the meatballs and sausage. Most dishes with garlic sauces are lacking garlic and flavor in general. Portions range from big to really big. The staff are generally friendly, competent, and attentive.
So why not 4 or 5 stars? Simple… the prices! For years Rocco’s prices were very reasonable. Then around late 2014 they started rising… I think the owners might have been trying to improve the numbers to sell the business. Then they did sell the business, and the prices rose again! Also the menu shrunk. The new owners do accept reservations on OpenTable which is nice, but for us it’s now just too expensive for what it is.

Went on Wednesday night took over 30 minutes for food to arrive. The employee’s were more interested in talking to a young child then getting our food to us. NOT ONCE did the manager walk around to make sure that everything was alright.

Dan, I picked up on what you dropped for a review with this place. My observant self noticed some of the FOH staff are more attentive to their own family that come in to eat than the customers that will be tipping their ignorant asses! Quite amusing, I’d say.
Now my meal…
BUFFALO CHICKEN CALZONE
Pizza cooks new or nah? The amount of shredded mozzarella thrown into the mixture of buffalo sauce and chopped chicken was enough to make 10 large cheese pizzas. It seriously looked like someone up chucked chunks onto my calzone. How do I know they use the shredded kind? If you take a closer look… it never melted into the damn mixture. I’ll finish if off in my oven, thanks guy. My side of fries had the look of refried (Is that a word?) over and over again.
3 stars because the place does look pretty chipper.

My husband and I ate here this past Friday. Prices seemed a little high, but when you see the dinner portions, it all makes sense. They are huge. Enough to take home for at least another meal. Veal Parma, chicken parm and eggplant parm all delicious. Best Sausage I’ve ever had. And the have bolognese. Sauce to die for. Perfect mixture of ground beef, pork and veal. Great waitress! Attentive without being obtrusive! Looks like the managers have it spot on. We will be back!

I wanted to take my boyfriend out for a nice date night and I found Rocco’s in an online search. We had a MAGICAL night, better than I ever could have hoped for.
Our waitress was golden– complimenting us, checking in regularly, just incredibly kind and friendly and prompt. I left a big tip, ’cause she definitely earned it.
Our food was SUPERB! What an extensive menu! Something for everyone. I am a big pasta fan, and I order pasta at every restaurant I go to. I can honestly say that tonight at Rocco’s I had the best pasta I’ve ever ordered. My boyfriend agreed. I got the Chicken Broccoli Penne and my bf got the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. We were so pleased that we had the chef come out and we shook his hand and thanked him.
I had never heard of Rocco’s before and now it is my new favorite restaurant. They made a regular out of me!
Love love love it, and recommend it to anyone looking for great service, comfortable ambience, impressive cleanliness, and remarkable food!

I came here for lunch and got a lunch special. While some of my coworkers got the haddock, and it looked delicious, I got the chicken parm. When they served it to me I couldn’t help but laugh. You get a good pound of pasta, not with enough sauce to accommodate it. Then there was a little bitty piece of chicken in the center, was probably ¼ a chicken breast half. The chicken was not great, and I found myself pulling pieces of cartilage or something out of my mouth. They clearly do not trim the chicken properly.
I wouldn’t return.

Went to this place last night.
Sat in the sun room.
This place was disgusting inside.
Dirty walls, carpet, tables, dust all over the WALLS and lights.
How can a restaurant be so dirty.
I can only imagine what the kitchen looks like.
We won’t be going back that’s for sure!

Food was good.
Waiter was good.
The 2 employees taking booths apart to clean them and take down holiday décor around us as we ate was classless. There is a time and place for it. Before you open or after you close.
Will not be returning.

The first indication that there was going to be a problem at this place was when I called in the take out order. The girl taking the order was remarkably reminiscent of Eric Cartman in the episode where he went full retard to win the special Olympics. I asked 3 very simple questions about the menu all of which were answered by DER, DUH, DOY Uh… I don’t know. No, I’m not sure let me ask just an amazing amount of confusion that was actually visible through the phone then her yelling out to someone in the vicinity the question I asked.
The actual placing of the order was a monumental lesson in patience. I’d like a Caesar salad with grilled chicken… silence followed by… Uh salad? Uh chicken? Uh what ?? Uh OK a salad with chicken. Well since I was getting a garden salad with chicken also so I decided I should let her run with that and start over with the Caesar. Needless to say it was a Rushmorian task to order.
So after all that I decided I definitely needed to check the order when picking it up. The girl takes my card and I start going through the order. I started doing a double take on what is provided and what I am being billed for. Surely there is some mistake I ordered the «entrée» salads it looks like these are side salads and the upsell to chicken is $ 7. This looks like a half portion of chicken. One of the waitress goes out back then comes out and says I just talked to the manager and that’s the right portion. So I’m over $ 35 for two tiny salads and a small pizza? Yeah I say I’m all set just rebate my card I don’t think this is appropriate pricing. They say they will rebate and at that point the manager comes out and starts explaining how the portion is fair, and how this is a full service restaurant not a take out place and it’s never been a problem for anyone else and most annoying of all defending the $ 7 chicken that is 6oz by her scale but in real life more like 4oz.
While she is talking there are 3 – 4 staff standing around her including Cartman who every time I glance at throws up this ridiculous fake smile. First of all I have been to other restaurants in my life, I’m not restricted to Wilmington and Rocco’s and I have worked in numerous restaurants so I know the portion and pricing are way out of line. If you are charging $ 14 for a salad it better be A. Enormous or B. The best damn organic fresh salad I have ever had at the size you are providing. One or the other, quality or quantity. Needless to say both the size and the quality were mediocre. Second of all you’re the manager talking to a customer about a complaint so tell your flying monkeys to go sweep or clean something (desperately in need of a cleaning everywhere you look) review the menu (Cartman) or just go stand in the corner. Let the boss handle the boss work. Third if you want to say you are full service not take out then don’t offer take out. If you are «full service» then you forgot my dressing, bread and utensils so your full service sucks.
At this point its 6ish, I don’t want start the process over again somewhere else so I take the food and go but I’ll never get anything other than a pizza, which wasn’t half bad, from here again. I go home and open my $ 14 salad with no dressing, no bread, no utensils provided and served in styrofoam container and start to thumb through my phone looking at other comparable «full service restaurants». I’m saying maybe I have become the old crotchety a-​hole who wants to pay $.25 for Coke and thinks dressing and bread should come with a salad. Every other place I look at, Newtowne, Garrisons, Bertuccis Not your Average Joe’s, Kitty’s all upsell at $ 3 – 4 for chicken. So while I may be the crotchety ol A-​hole I’m absolutely right in this circumstance. I should by all rights give 2 stars since the pizza was good but just can’t pull the trigger on it. I have eaten here before and this place can be summed up as a townie nostalgic place where if you went here with your kids or as a kid I’m sure you love it but the reality is this is basic food that is overpriced.

This place has recently switched up some staff and now they’re getting back on track. I usually get the fisherman’s platter which is expensive ($ 23) but comes in a huge portion and I either split or take home and enjoy the next day. I love their buffalo fingers, as an appetizer or on their gigantic salads. It’s a family styled restaurant, but I think when it’s quiet they should start seating in the front of the restaurant by the natural light first, rather than up by the bar/​kitchen.

Pizza — unexpectedly good. Everything else… meh.
Tip: DO NOT look at the ceilings in the greenhouse. The black stuff stuck to the stucco around the HVAC vents will turn your stomach. Not a «clean» place by any stretch.
The «Kitty’s» of Wilmington. Says it all…