Rocca dulwich village

[Daisydaughter]

Tried Rocca last night. Very disappointed with food. Boring dried out starters, macaroni cheese that was burnt (it was supposed to be like that apparently). Generally helpful staff and really smart decor but they must get the food right or yet another Village restaurant will fail.

[Karenina75]

Just come back from dinner at Rocca. Only had mains of one pizza and one pasta

Both very good and the wines are a steal for the quality you get

Served by a fabulous young Italian waiter who was brilliant. Walked past Pizza Express on the way home and they were very quiet. Rocca was full with a queue

[malleymoo]

When I went in the first weekend it opened I was very impressed by the service and the pizzas were lovely . The pasta was however the smallest portion I had ever seen. The pasta my brother was given was so small we thought they had brought a child's portion. My sister in law had 6 pockets of tortellini which worked out at a little over a ?1 for each little piece . Both were still hungry when they finished ! Not really good enough !

[Townleygreen]

Had a great meal there 10 days ago. Pasta portions were good - my friends couldn't finish them in fact! Pizzas were lovely, as were the puddings apparently.

Very good service, wines were reasonable. Will be returning!

[Fidgetsmum]

Ate out here last night. I never normally post bad reviews as I always presume I was unlucky. But...

Seabass was tasty but filleted badly (there were both bones and scales in a majority of mouthfuls) - portion size was good though. The veg the seabass lay on was over-oily and whilst the fennel was still solidly crunchy (I literally couldn't cut it with my knife) the carrots were overcooked and mushy. The house salad was literally lettuce leaves with a small amount of dressing (and a chef's hair as an added je ne sais quoi which rather put me off). Others at the table seemed to be ok with their meals but no one raved about it - except the pizza - apparently that was nice.

Service was good with respect to personality but they did get our order wrong.

Can't say I'll be rushing back immediately, but willing to give it another go. Fingers crossed the teething problems are ironed out - would be nice to have a successful non-massive-chain restaurant.

[joealessi]

I went last Saturday for lunch, under duress i hasten to add as i'm of Sicilian descent and whenever i have to eat in an Italian restaurant, my heart sinks as it's never as good as my mum's or what i cook at home.. And i have to say i was very pleasantly surprised! My friend had Spaghetti Carbonara, which in a large, busy restaurant, is very difficult to pull off as it requires a lot of care and attention; what one usually gets is either dried up scrambled eggs with pasta and bacon, or something drowned in too much cream, but this was perfect, the pasta was al dente and the sauce was as it should be - runny egg with chunky pieces of smoked pancetta and parmesan and a decent portion too, my friend couldn't finish it. My Pizza Margherita was perfect, a lovely dry base and charred around around the edge, the sauce (made fresh) and mozzarella were good too. Our other friend had a pizza with mozzarella, parma ham, rocket and parmesan shavings and again it was perfect and both pizzas were a lot bigger than Pizza Express's and a lot cheaper too. We were sat by the kitchen and i kept an eye on what was coming out and it all looked pretty good. Service was brisk and friendly. The bill was a shock, more like Camberwell, not 'Dulwich Village'. Now the trick is consistency, i'm going again tonight and will report back..

[kf]

I have now been to Rocca twice since it opened and unfortunately I was not that impressed. On the first visit I had to send my lasagne back as it was cold. I then thought I'd give it another chance and went again and although my food wasn't cold the pizza I had was rather bland and the calamari was overcooked. I also felt that they seem to be over staffed as the waiters are constantly hanging around your table etc. On a positive note...the food came quickly and the decor is lovely. However, for the time being I think I'll stick to Pizza Express.

[John247]

I've been three times. Opening night, the food was fantastic. Wasn't so impressed the second time (the pasta was over cooked). Excellent again the third time.

It is clear that this is not a restaurant that will fail. Yes, it has to get the consistency right - that's a challenge for any new restuaurant. Equally, it's clear that they are making huge efforts to get it right. It's also been packed every time I've been.

BTW - the wine list is excellent and reasonably priced.

[Nero]

I went today with my friend who is over from Australia, her two children and her mother. The place was almost full, but the service was quick (though the waitress's English was poor) and the food was tasty, well-presented and reasonably priced.

[dulwichmum]

.

[Frankito]

I went two weekends ago, was disappointed they didn't do a brunch menu at 12. The food was ok, the service was fine. Would I go back? Yes but not rushing. Try Locale, they seem to have sorted out their menu even though the service is slow... I guess you can't have everything... Or can you?

[Indiana]

Been 4 or 5 times already - always had great food, fresh pasta, fast, friendly service and they are very child friendly...no complaints.

Try the calamari - very yummy