Alexis H.
Yelp
They stole from us.
They took our food to box and stole 2 slices from the pies we purchased. I say this with complete confidence, as I am writing this immediately after returning home with our leftovers. This is the reason they earn 1 star in my book. That's unethical to say the least and taking away food we paid for and asked to have boxed. Whether it was our server himself or someone else in the back of the house, I hope they're enjoying the food they didn't pay for.
That aside, Rocco's wouldn't deserve more than 3 stars. (I was going to give them 3 stars before noticing they took some of our food.) Rocco is good, but not great. We came here for a Sunday afternoon lunch and the place was empty. Nevertheless, service was sloooooow. Friendly, but slow. We ordered many things:
Loaded pizza - This, like much of the meal, was good but not great. It had meatball, sausage, and peppers, but still managed to lack flavor. It's a shame, because it has the potential to be so delicious!
Custom pizza - One of my dining companions ordered a pizza and added a bunch of olives and peppers. He was very satisfied with it and sad it was great.
Caesar salad - The homemade croutons were good, but the salad was small for the price. The dressing was also very sparse. I hate salads that are loaded down with dressing, but this salad didn't have nearly enough.
Chicken Caesar salad - A different dining companion ordered the salad with chicken and liked the chicken and croutons, but agreed that the Caesar dressing/flavor wasn't as strong as it should have been. I will say, however, that both salads were really fresh and green. No gross, wilted leaves in sight!
Arancini - Delicious, but absolutely not worth the $12 price tag based on the amount of food you get (AKA one baseball-sized arancini ball).
"Kids pasta" - Meh. It's some average spaghetti with sauce. There was also randomly a rogue piece of chicken in there (clearly from a different meal) which was sloppy. They didn't have an official kids menu to show, so you're definitely just overpaying for a smaller version of the spaghetti meal they offer on the menu.
When ordering drinks at Rocco's, there are no fountain drinks. Everything is brought out for you in a bottle that you have to pour yourself. It feels very "mediocre pizza joint" esque and it definitely seems tacky given the fact that the establishment isn't cheap by any means.
As for cocktails, they're overpriced as well. You're definitely paying for the demographic/area and not the food/quality. $11 for an Aperol Spritz are prices I expect to pay in NYC, NOT Buffalo.
I will say that all the food was plated and presented very skillfully. Everything was pretty to look at, it just could have tasted better. Lunch was decent, just nothing I am planning to come back for -- especially since they stole from us. If you're going to Rocco's, ask them to bring the boxes to you and box your food yourself.