Rocco’s Ristornate & Pizzeria

Just drove by there today and Rocco’s looks so nice with their new exterior as the shopping plaza is coming along. Even those parking lot there was a pain due to a construction, it didn’t stop people to dine in Rocco’s! Always packed and great food every time! Love this place!

We found this place recently and thought it was a good place to take our special needs child since she enjoys the atmosphere. It was a Saturday night around 8pm with the restaurant half empty. The service was spotty but no big deal. However, our family night out was ruined the two blond waitresses (one in a pink shirt) standing 10 feet away looking at our table, giggling, whispering to one another and giving us sideways glances. Our child was a little noisy but this behavior by these immature «girl» employees really made us feel uncomfortable and ruined our dinner. This was our 3^rd and last visit. Why should we spend money at a place and be made to feel like we are not welcome?

I was taken here for my birthday. I’d never been here before. I read the Unilocal reviews and most agreed the food was good, the service was mediocre. We stood at the register a bit longer than we should have when we first got there as the hostess was waiting tables at the same time. When she finally took care of us another patron approached her as they had been seated for a good while and hadn’t been tended to yet. Once we were seated we didn’t seem to have any more server troubles. They were friendly and the food was ordered and served in a timely manner. They appear to be a server short when the place gets busy and there seems to be a lot of wasted motion. Too many trips back and forth with empty hands or with one objective per trip. With that being said I believe they were doing the best they could! We had a salad and a Large DOMINATOR pizza. All absolutely excellent! Add to that the LIMONCELLO (Lemon infused Vodka shots) and the meal was outstanding! If they would add another server to straighten out the service issues this place would be five stars all day long!

We are here & waited for an hour and 17 minutes. My daughters new «favorite» restaurant because she enjoys looking at the stuff hanging at the ceiling especially the Pinocchio. But oh boy, i know its busy because of the game… This waitress treats us as like a poop. I check im the customer. The people that work here looks like they just had rectal exam. You asked questions they’re face are in pain. Mr. Rocco, you need to train your employee Customer service 101. Get your skills together people! You choose this job, be proud and provide your customers what they deserved.

Pros:
The Dominator is a great tasting pizza.
The calamari linguini is tasty and has plenty of seafood in it.
Lots of TVs. Good place to watch sport games.
Good place for kids. It’s so loud inside that no one can hear your kids scream.
Cons:
The location is random and really deep in walnut creek.
Parking lot gets crowded fast.
There’s not a lot around the restaurant. Go to downtown if you’re looking for a restaurant closer to other entertainment options.

My softball team comes here sometimes after our games. Did for the second time this season last night again. If your team comes after your games, you get one free small pizza with the purchase of another. This works out great for us, it’s always that last small one that just fills us up. And the pizza is great here.
They also have good beer (we had Speakeasy Big Daddy and Sierra Nevada Summerfest last night) along with your usuals (Coors, Bud…).
With the construction there right now the parking absolutely sucks and the pizza can be a little expensive, but outside that, this place is great. Our company used to be across the street and we used to go for lunch sometimes too.

Yes this place has great food, I won’t discredit that. However, they have the WORST service every single time we go in there. I have been multiple times at different times of the day, yet all their servers seem to be the same. You have to get up to ask for refills or to place your order, and be warned that if you ask one of the hostesses (due to your server being MIA) they will give you dirty looks and an eye roll. Maybe it’s because this place only seems to have 16 year old girls working there, but it’s a shame. The location, the atmosphere, and food is wonderful– but even that cannot compensate for the service, or lack of, that you receive at Rocco’s.

Exceptional…
The pizza here is the bomb, don’t bother ordering anything else, although if you do, you wont be disappointed, but seriously, order a pizza!
Kinda pricey, but worth it!
The atmosphere is very well geared for after school sports groups to meet, or a night out with your best buds to watch the game, and have a good pizza with a pitcher of beer. No complaints over than the parking, which can get tight due to the location.

Rocco’s is one of the best pizza joints in CCC last time I was there I saw the man himself Rocco. He is a great guy and a smart business man. He also employs really cute waitresses, which I like a whole lot. So…
Last time I was there I had pizza Insalata and I happened to be there for TWO HOURS. WHY TO HOURS… cause one hour would not have been enough and I had two waitresses take care of me and with out a doubt I must say that Rocco’s Rocks and I finished my whole entire meal.

I have always loved Rocco’s. Been going here since my son was in 2^nd grade. He’s 24 now, my how time flys.
Things I love: Good food, laughter, warmth, friendly service, sports on all T. Vs!
If you grew up in a big Italian family and want the feel of Sunday’s at Nonas then this is the place for you.
Thanks Roccos’s. Your the best!

I’ve been so many times but today for some reason it was soooooooooo good!!! Great place for a late night dinner after church.

I am really disappointed with this establishment. We were there for a hosted luncheon. the back room was disgusting! We had to ask them to sweep. The tables and floors STICKY. The table menus looked like a child put their food all over them. The room was not private. ppl kept walking through our meeting while our host was speaking to use the restrooms. They didn’t even try to tell the ppl to go around. It was horrible. They never offered our guests drinks. cleared tables… pasta was HORRIBLE. service was HORRIBLE. this was a bad venue… if you don’t care about cleanliness or good service… this is your place. The pizza was bland and the crust unmemorable. Would give it NO STAR’s… the staff were all RUDE and acted their age…

I have tried gluten free pizza that my wife has brought home from other places and have not been impressed.
Tonight she brought a sausage one home from Rocco’s and it was great!
She would only let me have one piece.
I don’t usually ask for more. Next time she needs to get a bigger one!

The 5 stars is because I’m addicted to their spaghetti and meatballs. I’m even more addicted to the spaghetti and meatball price during lunch time.
I usually order for pick up. Be careful when doing so, some people that take the order are very… Confusing to say the least.
The kitchen closes between 9−10pm, I believe, so plan accordingly.
Service is fine while dining in the bar area. I like the snacks they put on the table. You can also get FREE pizza as long as you buy some drinks/​beer.

I don’t know what happened the evening we came here for the first time… it was a terrible experience!
We came with our basketball team for our end-​of-​the-​season party. There weren’t enough seats in the room where the older male mgr/​owner? placed our group, so he showed the rest of us to a table in a nearby room. 3 sets of parents ended up at the extra table while our boys stayed in the main team seating room. Cool…
Until we waited 20 minutes, and no one came by. We started being proactive asking random servers for water & other beverages, as well as asking if someone could please take our order. We had hungry boys in the other room so at the 45 minute mark, I was pretty upset! I asked another random server if maybe ordering to-​go would be faster? She said no because the kitchen is backed up regardless. I go check on my boy to see if he would rather wait or just go eat somewhere else… and I see that several parents & kids in the main room are EATING!!! They have drinks, soups, salads, & a few had pizza already! WTHeck man?!
I flag down a server who is resetting a table nearby, and ask her if she can please take our order. She promises to send our server over asap! Another 5 – 10 minutes, NO JOKE, and another parent goes up front to see what’s up. FINALLY a server shows up, she’d obviously JUST CLOCKED IN because she was surprised to see how crowded the restaurant was… so basically these other servers were making us WAIT for her to show up for her shift!!! WOW.
After we ordered, I went over to let my son know that he’d have food in a little while, and a few parents are LITERALLY packing their leftover food in take-​home containers! I tracked down our server & requested that our food be served in to-​go boxes because we were ready to leave. By the time we got our food, several families had already left. So much for a goodbye party & conversation!
At this point, it didn’t even matter how the food tasted (it was mediocre), we were simply eating out of starvation/​frustration & hurriedly so we could LEAVE. Needless to say, we’d NEVER come back to be treated like that!
We ordered 1 large combination & 1 large pepperoni along with beer/​soda = good chunk of change. NO apologies, NO offer to comp a beverage, NOTHING! And worse yet, the same server who continually ignored us & kept lying to us about sending someone over was the person taking my payment up front (so she KNEW FIRSTHAND what we’d just suffered through!!). I was super annoyed that she wouldn’t even acknowledge the situation so I asked for a mgr, and like magic she says, «I can take $ 3 off for you.» Oooohhh, really!!! Well thanks because waiting an HOUR just to order is precisely what I was hoping for. (Maybe it was $ 6 … I forget, it was $ 3 or $ 6, but either way, too little & too late).

Some of the best pizza around. Probably the best. I give 4 stars because the health inspections have had a few dings. They’re not the worst but they had some ongoing minor pest issues… it looks like the construction in the plaza may be contributing to the issue.
The Pizza itself is an old-​school pizza parlor type definitely Americanized. They also make other Italian food. A basic Italian menu which is pretty good the only tip I have is if you don’t like heavy toppings, ask for light toppings as they bunch a ton of toppings in the center of the pizza versus an even spread.

Best place in the area for sports and pizza.
Despite the lack of check-​ins on my part, Rocco’s has almost become a Sunday Football tradition amongst friends and family. Plenty of seating and sectioned off rooms to fit any sized party.
There are TVs all over the place, so you won’t miss your favorite team/​sport on the tube. The servers can put a little more pep in their mood/​service, but I’m pretty sure running around this place can wear these youngsters down.
Their pizzas are great! Crust is the right crisp, to where you know if left on the slab a little longer, it would be burnt, so it’s perfect timing.
Great daily deals and happy hour.

I consider myself a bit of pizza snob since I lived in New York for a decade and tried all the good pizza there is to have in Manhattan, Brooklyn and even Staten Island. Oh and I have pizza in Italy too but we all know that the pizza here we get in the USA is far different from the ones in Italy for the most part.
We came here since this is one of the very few places you can get good pizza in Walnut Creek and let’s be honest, this is going to be better than Domino’s or Little Ceasar’s right? We got their Hand Thrown PIzza, which means thicker crust pizza and I was prepared for the change because New York or Napoleon Pizza is on the thin side. I was pleasantly surprised to find they were very generous with their toppings, cheese and just portion in general. The crust is thicker than what I like but it is still very good. I will come back for more especially since they have specials all the time!

1^st time stopped over here. wanted to see what its all about.
Didn’t get to try the pizza wish i did but everyone i was with had ordered pasta tonight. I had ordered the Tri Colore Porcini Pollo. It was good but nothing specatacular felt like it needs more chicken and flavor to it. it said house specail so i figured it would be really amazing. i noticed the party i was with wasn’t really to impressed with there pasta either. i tired a couple bites of there and wasn’t too impressed with there food either.
I did also order some cheese and tomatoes Caprese. I felt like it could of been better i definitely have had better tasting Caprese at other restaurants. cheese was just to hard and it didn’t have great flavor either need better sauce. I did try the wings too those weren’t so bad they didn’t have bones in it which makes it easier to eat.
Had a nice dinner environment with lots of Tv’s, great place to come to catch a sports game. Prob should order pizza next time if i come stop by not a fan of the pasta. Carful for parking looks like there is lots of contraction going on so parking seems to me limited.

Rocco’s is a great family pizza and Italian restaurant. There is a large dining area on the right that has TVs airing sports games around it. There is a party room in the back that can be reserved for events. When I was younger we used to have our Basketball and Soccer Team parties there! To the left of the main entrance there is a bar with high tops and bar top to sit at where you can order the full menu and some beers while watching your favorite sports team. This area is open seating and can fill up. Every night of the week there are specials with discounts ranging from beer, wine, to food. Some nights they even have live music in the bar section. Rocco is a big supporter of the community and very involved in donating to the schools and allowing fundraisers at his restaurant.
My 2 favorite things to order here is the Chicken Gourmet Pizza and the Chicken Risotto. The pizza just the right balance of chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions, and white garlic sauce. The Risotto is a huge portion that is packed with flavor. I also enjoy their BBQ chicken salad and will often share one with the table before the pizza or pasta because the portions are great for sharing!
An area for improvement is to improve the quality of the dining area with new chairs, tables, and utensils. Some of the chairs have been taped in the corners and after so many years being successful I think it’s time for an upgrade.
The staff is friendly and often local high school and college students. Our server last night (pint night) was a little slow to tend to our table but it was busy. The night was advertised as buy the advertised beer with pint glass for $ 4 and refills would be $ 3. I think our server was confused because she said after one refill we’d have to buy another pint at $ 4 to get a second refill. Seemed odd and not to be what was advertised but it was only a dollar difference and already a good deal so we didn’t make a fuss.
*It is still open during the construction!

Its my first time here, I like the atmosphere, it’s the type of sports bar that you come too after a long day at work or just to catch a game on the tube. It’s not too often you catch bar nuts or chex mix in sports bars now on and they have that here… Awesome! I like having something salty to counter the deadening that alcohol can sometimes do to the tastebuds.
One thing I don’t like is when I’m actually at a sports bar to watch sports and the television or televisions are on silent while music is booming… To me that just annoys me, and here they’re no stranger to that, good thing my Yankees weren’t playing because I would of left. Aside from that, the service is great here, and based off that alone I wouldn’t mind visiting again one day.
In conclusion, this bar is full of funny quotes and sayings and memorabilia everywhere. So here is one «The Meaning of Life is to find your Gift. The Purpose of Life is to give it Away» — Picasso

It was pretty busy when we walked in, but it really died down by 9:30pm.
And while I was waiting for my food…
There’s this one girl that works there. She needs to either get a Servsafe Food Handlers Certificate cause she kept standing around talking to customers near me and scratching her back under the shirt. And more… And when she cough, she doesn’t cover it with her shoulder or nothin, just turns away where they have a pile of unfolded pizza boxes where they would pack their pizza to go. Sucks for the person who has that box. Luckily I didn’t get a name .
Anyways. About the pizza.
I ordered the Dominator combo pizza and added black olives and basil .
When it came, I was pretty disappointed that the basil wasn’t cooked with the cheese. Instead, it was just thrown on top.
The pizza overall was okay. I honestly had way better.
It was pretty salty too. To the point where it started to hurt my lips.