Rocco’s Plum Tomato

Am an avid Unilocal user and was referred by a friend for dinner. Had the best Veal Parmagian ever… met the bald Chef in the kitchen (his name is Rocco; the owner) one of the nicest person I have meet. No wonder this is one best kept secrets in Etobicoke for ovrr 30 years! You will not be disappointed.

Service is on and off. Sometimes good sometimes bad.
I hear the owner is an asshole and works there employees like dogs as I knew a former waitress. Stay away from the calamari. The bald chef is amazing and cooks the best!!!

A friend took me here for a Birthday dinner. I had their excellent veal sandwiches before but never been in the dining room. As we arrived the hostess wished me a happy birthday. We ordered grilled Calamari to start and both of us ordered Rack Of Lamb with a side of carbonara pasta. As we waited for the Calamari we were given a selection of fresh bread and olive oil with balsamic vinegar. The calamari did not take to long and was cooked to perfection as was the lamb when it came. The pasta was nicely al dente. Serrvice was top notch. Polite, not overly familiar, and the man knew the menu well. The décor was also most pleasant with beautiful would carvings accenting the tiled walls. A class operation.

The takeout pizza slices are amazing. Pasta and sandwiches are ok too for takeout.
Dined in one Valentine’s Day and the food was good, but not great for the price.
Might grab pizza slices to go at some point but probably wouldn’t dine in again.

We went for dinner on a Sunday afternoon. Looking at the outside, weren’t sure it was the best. We met a very Italian man with a pizza box in the parking lot and he said the pizza there was the best. We decided to give it a try. Loved the breads in a basket with assorted olives and the balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping. My friend got a great salad with Pasta Faggioli. She wanted more beans in it. My friend and I shared the greek salad and the vegetarian lasagna. (Thrilled they had a vegetarian menu).The sauce was fabulous, the noodles thin and the stuffing excellent. Best meal we had on our weekend in Toronto. The restaurant is older but was rather formal. The waitress made us laugh at her uptight antics. When asked if the jalapeño bread was hot, she said, «taste it and if you don’t like it, don’t eat it». When we asked for more bread, she wordlessly grabbed the basket and disappeared. She did come back but weren’t sure if we made her mad. Then, when we went to pay, we said we wanted to pay individually. She looked annoyed and grabbed the ticket, coming back with our individual costs but scolded us like kids that if we wanted an individual bill, it’s always better for people to let a waitress know before she writes up a ticket. We ignored her and just enjoyed the meal and bread. We found this restaurant with our GPS because we got tired of paying for parking in Toronto and were thrilled we didn’t have to pay for parking and a meal too. Glad we didn’t see these previous bad reviews and we tried it.

I have been coming here for over ten years and the food is consistently great. My favourite meal is the linguine with smoked chicken and sun dried tomatoes. It has been my favourite restaurant in Toronto for a long time and i am never disappointed.

We went to the Queensway restaurant to use our ncrowd coupon we had purchased early. I had called earlier and was informed that NCROWD had gone out of business and that the coupon would only be worth what we paid for it. Under the circumstances, I understood and wanted to try the place anyways. We shared the second pizza on the menu with mushrooms, artichokes, prosciutto cheeses… it was great, with thin crust and fabulous tastes. We also ordered Penne with Bolognese meat sauce that was not on the menu… also a great dish with great flavours. Definitely will be back! Shame on NCrowd for bailing out on this restaurant… I guess you have to be careful who you buy from…

First time at the restaurant and I loved it! The food and atmosphere is great — not too noisy on a weeknight. I ordered an arugula salad to start followed by sea bass and lobster tail as my main. Can’t end off an Italian dinner without tiramisu which was super authentic and delicious. The owner came by to check on our table which gave it a nice touch. Offered us grappa on the house. Perfect end to our meal! Will definitely come back.

I first went here over 10 years ago. Food was good and décor nice, it was busy and service was good:) 10 years later food decent, service poor and décor tired.
I had to get up and get my waiter!!!
However, they did a groupon type deal and I thought, well, the food is good and it was a good deal so I’ll give them another chance.
It was a mistake! They have decided NOT to honour the coupon!!! Too bad for their customers!!! They make a decision to offer and deal and refuse to honour it because, «we don’t make any money on those!»!!!
Maybe do the costing prior to offering a deal next time!!!
Wow!
My dollars will be helping a business who values customers and has better business practices!

Delicious food! I still dream about their Baked Basilicata sandwich.

I have been here a few times, and the service has always been top notch.
They also make you feel like a celebrity :)
The food is delicious, and the portions are big, so there is a good chance you might take some of the food home.
It is very crowded on the weekends, so the seating could be very tight.
However, if you are going on the weekdays, the place is very quiet.
Highly recommended.

The food was so good. I had the gnocchi with Parmesan rose sauce and it was delicious not too filling for the portion that was really big.
I will be going back there to try more of their delicious dishes.
The atmosphere there was really cool and just like how Italy would look.

I came to this exact restaurant in early 2012 and it was very nice. It was an intimate and quiet restaurant. The service was first class and food portions were great. Three years later the portions have shrunk drastically, the quality of bread has diminished, and the atmosphere resembles your local family eatery with bright lights, no tablecloths, and paper napkins. The service is average, but a definite drop off from where it was years ago. The fact that they have lots of customers with Groupons tells me they are struggling. We paid $ 57 plus tip for 3 average size grilled shrimp, four small pieces of grilled calamari, no more than 7 – 8 vegetables drowned in garnish, and a medium pizza which was average at best. We didn’t even order drinks! Sad, but we will not be back given the choice of Italian restaurants close by.

It’s been a long, long time since we ate at Rocco’s and based on our most recent experience, I’m reminded why we’ve stayed away for so long.
Came in for an early dinner on a quiet weeknight. Ordered: fried calamari appetizer ($ 11.95), shrimp risotto ($ 18.95) and a pepperoni pizza ($ 15.95), not on the menu but made for us as we had our little one that couldn’t eat the spicier pepperonata pizza. We also ordered beers (Sleeman) and a milk.
Service itself was slow and non-​existent. No water refills, no checking in. I’d hate to see what the service would be like when this place is full.
Food came out steaming hot. We had to really dig apart the risotto to cool it down. The calamari and risotto portions were pretty big. But quantity doesn’t really mean quality here. The calamari rings were small and thin, most likely from a frozen bag.
We use to come to Rocco’s back in the day when Toronto wasn’t brimming with choices for innovative Italian fare. Times have changed and so have our expectations. While waiting for our bill, I steadily made a list of all the other places we’ll be going to instead.

This place is a little pricey but for a good reason. The best I’ve had here were the broccoli soup, that chicken linguine with the cream sauce, and of course, spaghetti with meat balls. There’s the right ratio of meat to pasta, unlike other places which offer too much pasta and barely any meat. They’re also very generous in their sauce.
The starter bread with the balsamic vinegar + olive oil is so good that it leaves less room for the main course. I’m a small girl so I always end up taking food home from there, including the bread. The service is pretty nice, never had a problem with the servers or the food coming too long.
I like the interior of the place, very romantic and quaint. My boyfriend and I love coming here.

My 7-​year old son said after his dinner: «This is my new favourite restaurant. Can we come here everyday?»
We came for Sunday evening dinner at 5pm for first sitting, because we had our 2 young kids with us. The staff are as nice as they are good-​looking (Wow! Every single one of them were gorgeous)…but the best thing about the service was that were very attentive without being overbearing.
The food? Very good. My husband says you can always tell a restaurant’s calibre by their steak alone, and while it was a rib-​eye (not his favourite), he said it was very good. My chicken Parmegiana was tasty and my kids devoured their Margherita Pizza very happily. Did we mention that we also ordered the grilled Tiger shrimp and the fried calamari appetizer? (We were hungry that night… plus we had a Groupon) We even indulged on dessert — a slice of strawberry shortcake and a slice of the Triple chocolate mousse. I don’t know where they get their desserts (do they make them? I don’t know), they were delicious.
Rocco himself made an appearance at another table, and there was a private party in the back room — it was busy, but the service was great. The décor was… interesting…but somehow it all worked as a great setting for the entire experience.
We will definitely be going back — my kids have already asked when. It’s a family-​friendly «upscale casual» spot — pretty hard to find.

Had eaten here once before earlier in the day, and liked it, but I must say, it is much better at night because of the atmosphere improvement when there’s a crowd and live singing. As soon as I stepped in the second time, and saw/​heard their live jazz/​Sinatra style crooner, I was impressed. He wasn’t too dominating, just in the back, but very nice to listen to…
Anyhoo…
Great service. If they aren’t a family, they act like they are. Greeted immediately with passion. Server was enthusiastic but not annoying. Attentive but not over-​bearing. :)
Interesting atmosphere with random wooden sculptures on the wall, Italian artwork, bricks on one wall, tile on another, but not tacky.
Two rounds of breads with oil & balsamic, with olives.
Wide menu selection where I’m sure anybody could find something they like. Had a special insert page with a $ 20 special where you could get salad, entrée & dessert. So I did. Very good Caesar. I’d forgotten to request no bacon bits (vegetarian), but fortunately it didn’t come with any and was flavorful enough to not need any. My gnocchi was good… semi-​bland, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. Lemon blueberry cheesecake was very good. I left feeling satisfied but not too full… basically just right.
Got a $ 41 bottle of pinot grigio. Forget the name but was good.
Definitely go back here. Our neighborhood doesn’t have a ton of selection for decent sit-​down restaurants, so I picked it because I didn’t feel like driving far. But for a local «chain» that has a few in the city, it’s decent.

I came here for dinner with a couple of girlfriends. It’s delicious. They serve bread at the start, with balsamic and olive oil. Yum. I had the caesar salad which was tasty and not overly garlicky. I also ordered an anglotti stuffed with butternut squash. It was to die for. I will definitely be coming back.
Sorry for butchering the work Anglotti…

I’m rating their takeout sandwiches.
Loved the veal. Boyfriend had the chicken. We were both stuffed, and we have large appetites. For 6 and 7 dollars respectively, this is a hell of a lot of good food for the price. This place has destroyed the possibility of unsettling for Subway.

I have been here twice, and I was quite happy both occasions. The look of this restaurant is extremely unpretentious on the outside, but the interior décor is artsy and playful. I wonder if someone related to the owner is/​used to be an artist. I ordered pasta both times, so I can attest that the pasta is authentic Italian. The pasta is al dente; the sauce is rich and tasty. I particularly love their tomato sauce the most, with the basil sauce a close second. I think Rocco’s make their sauces inhouse. For the fresh pasta lovers, I think Rocco’s use dry pasta, however.
They serve a good wine selection, nothing pricey, but decent dining wines. The wine is priced reasonably by the glass. (I have never ordered a whole bottle here).
Service is friendly, though I find they can use an additional staff. There are complimentary bread and olives.
Rocco’s opens on Sundays. It is very, very popular in the neighbourhood.