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La Rocca Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Italian Italian [Edit]
1565 Commercial DrVancouver, BC V5L 3Y1
Neighbourhoods: Grandview-Woodlands, The Drive
(604) 253-1818
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 11:30 am - 10 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Romantic
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
9 reviews for La Rocca Restaurant
9 reviews in English
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Review from Chrissy H.
Vancouver, BC
1/30/2012
This is a great place to dine if you are looking for casual comfort Italian. Certainly not the best Italian in Vancouver but a good menu, decent wine list and tasty pasta. If their focaccia didn't taste like wonder bread and the service (although quite friendly) was more prompt, I would have given them 4 stars.
I had the prawn fettucini with tomato sauce and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of pasta and simple yet solid flavour profile of the sauce. I will say however that it did require some heavy salting (I opted out on the parmesan as I prefer fresh as apposed to power).
My boyfriend who is a bit of a lasagne snob really enjoyed his and would definitely order it again. In his words "it tasted like a real Italian made it'. Which at fist registered as a culturally racist comment but I quickly corrected my line of thinking when I pictured an Italian behind a sushi bar... not a pleasant thought. Valid point and I agree... the food tasted authentic as did the overall ambiance which was fitting to the casual comfort flavour profile of the food.
All in all, I would defiantly dine here again when I am craving a relaxed environment home cooked italian flavour (or at least what I imagine that should taste like). -
Review from Christine R.
New Westminster, BC
Updated - 1/6/2012
I treated my husband to the Vaneats Viva La Rocca dinner package recently, and we simply had a primo night. The food, the atmosphere and the service were all outstanding.
I was a little worried beforehand that the portions would be too small or that there wouldn't be enough food between our two healthy appetites, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Everything, in true Italian style, was generously plated. We started with the prosciutto flavoured with thin slices of orange, garlic, capers and rosemary. I haven't actually been to Italy (I'm so pronto) but this is the best prosciutto I've ever eaten. It's like a whole other level of ham, delicioso.
Next came the main courses - stuffed chicken breast in a sweet Marsala sauce, grilled radicchio, and fettuccine in cream sauce with tiger prawns. There weren't too many prawns, but they were big plump ones. The cream sauce was nice and light, and well, if there's such a thing as bad pasta, I'd like to see it. (But not eat it, obviously.) The chicken breast was well-cooked, though the sauce was a tad sweet for me.
We had to pace ourselves in order to make it to dessert - tiramisu! This is the part where I tell you about the restaurant, and it's a lovely place to linger. Big comfy chairs, candles on the tables, warm stucco-ey walls. (The current Yelp photo doesn't really do the place justice.) We scored a window table, which is great for drinking your wine and watching people and their dogs go by on the Drive. Rat Pack and Michael Buble was on the stereo, though our server said one of the other staff really likes Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and classic rock, so you might hear that too.
Our server was really great too, very friendly and professional, and with a good sense of timing when to offer more drinks, when to clear, when to check in, all of that good stuff. Some other reviewers have not received such good service it seems, so it's unfortunate the restaurant isn't more consistent in that regard.
On this date night, La Rocca rocked it.Listed in: Date Night
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/16/2008 First to Review
La Rocca is a comfortable, unpretentious Italian restaurant on the Drive. I've mostly been here for… Read more »
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Review from Sunshine M.
Coquitlam, BC
12/10/2011
For a long time this was our favorite Italian restaurant in Vancouver. We still like it very much only we are disappointed the menu has changed somewhat and therefore need to find 'new' favorite dishes.
I still suggest giving this darling place a chance though. It is not an upscale restaurant but has great charm of it's own. In the summer the windows open onto Commercial Drive and the people watching is superb. On the weekend your chances of scoring a window table are slim, but during the week they are much better.
The prices are quite reasonable. We have always gone for dinner and have found the server's to be jovial.
If you are on a budget, this is a nice place to take a date as it is not expensive and the tables are candle-lit, yet it does not get overly loud either.
One caveat if you are in a group with someone elderly or disabled: the only bathroom is up a flight of stairs so it might not be a practical choice in that case. -
Review from Mark H.
12/6/2011 1 Check-in Here
Stumped as to what to eat for lunch, we figured we go for Italian as we were on The Drive.
As we looked at the menu outside, the owner came out and sold us on trying out the homemade dishes for lunch.
I've been here several years ago, but forgot all about it. The service had pizazz. The owner sang Italian to some old ladies next to us, and joked with us and other patrons. Always good to see passion.
I wish the food matched the service though. For me, if i'm going to go Italian, it has to be better than what I could cook at home. Pasta + sauce 'aint exactly Top Chef difficult.
The 'free' focaccia bread was cold and kind of tough. I ordered the lasagna. It was alright, but not Miss Italian Grandma good.
Their lunch menu is very short so I was expecting more. -
Review from Robert G.
1/22/2012
I very badly wanted to give La Rocca 4 stars because they are the mainstay of Italian restaurants on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, the once-upon-a-time undisputed heart of the city's Italian community. However, their being a fixture on Commercial Drive doesn't mean it has held its appeal.
I've eaten here 4 times - once solo, twice with a Cuban-born childhood friend, and once with my cousin from Italy. My childhood friend insisted (!) on going here when he came to visit me in Seattle, but he'll devour any Italian food, and my cousin, visiting from overseas, said it was "ok." I'm going to go with my cousin's 3-star "ok" since she is an outstanding cook and food connoisseur. My experience at, and opinion of, La Rocca aligns with that of my cousin.
I think what has happened is that La Rocca has rested on its laurels. They need to raise the bar a little bit and get solidly back into the 4-star strata. -
Review from Jasmine O.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 11/19/2011
Because I like to stay close to home sometimes and because I really wanted to take my wife out for dinner last night, I decided to return to La Rocca as our last dining expeience was amazing (see my first review) and it's in our neighbourhood.
Very disappointing.
I reserved our table for 8:15pm through the link on the yelp page just to ensure we got a table but when we walked in there was only 2 other tables. Strange for a Friday I think.. There was an older guy in regular if not dirty clothes at the bar sitting and eating something who got up when we entered and seated us, who knows who he was...
We sat down and got our menus, and were asked within a minute if we knew what we wanted. We didn't but I ordered us some red wine. She came back with it like it was already in the one litre pitcher and poured it for us in WHITE wine glasses (I saw the red wine glasses at the bar) then left with it. I had to call out to her to bring it back (are we sharing with the guy at the bar?) and she came across to me like I had struck a nerve. She apologised though, and asked if we were ready to order...
So we did... We got our food in 5 min flat. Completely different pasta dishes came to us in minutes! What? I was instantly suspicious. I then had to call her back to ask if she could turn off or turn down the radio which was so static-y for one, and was a rock station, for two. It's an italian restaurant!!!
I also had to ask her for some bread which we had gotten first the last time we were here...
Our pasta was good though... well mine was luke warm and could have been better... I was scared. My wife quite enjoyed hers. I guess that was the best part.
The waitress was kind of cocky and wayyy to comfortable with us. I felt like we should have been at bons off broadway or something. Not cool.
There's more but I'm exhausted thinking about it. We probably won't go back.Listed in: The LOST list
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/8/2011
My wife and I came here tonight for the first time, although we pass by it everyday and it's so… Read more »
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Review from Troy M.
Vancouver, BC
11/27/2011
I have been going to La Rocca for years, and I even know the names of the servers and been inside the kitchen for a 'tour' . The food has always been great and the service friendly, not to say outstanding.
I cannot believe somebody can be so ignorant and be amazed (or scared?) because their food arrived in 5 minutes in an Italian restaurant.
That's the point of Italian pasta dishes, you ignorant! The pasta is precooked (everywhere, even in fine dining restaurants like Lupo, or Cioppino's), and flushed into boiling water right before tossing it into the sauce (which is mostly made right away). Italian cookery is simple, honest and it reaches your palate, punching you with natural, earthy flavors, barely extensively cooked.
Get schooled, or go to a French restaurant, if what you want is to wait for hours for your food (?!?!)
We are blessed to have in our neighborhood a place like La Rocca, reasonable priced, cozy and with very good food. -
Review from Wayne T.
Vancouver, BC
12/27/2010 1 Check-in Here
First glance on the menu had fairly reasonable prices but their menu online is years out of date so don't bother looking at their website.
Shared the mussel appy. 1/4 of the mussels were served unopened but were tender and well flavored.
The veal entree was good but very small portion and the kitchen forgot the capers. The pasta entree was luke warm at best and not very good.
Won't be making a return visit. -
Review from Vancouver D.
Vancouver, BC
1/16/2011
I was not impressed with this place, the minute I arrived. When I came in the door, the owner & all the waitresses were hanging out at the bar & no one greeted me with a smile or any kind of welcoming behavior. The appetizer was good, but the entreé was not. When I asked the waitress for a fork, she gave me a bit of a dirty look. She should have noticed that when she took away the empty dishes after we finished the appetizers, that she was taking away my fork as well & should have brought me another one when she brought the entreés. But what impressed me the least was the owner of the restaurant. When my friend was finished eating, the owner picked up some of the dishes & tossed them noisily onto each other right in front of my friend. He asked how the dinner was. As I had my head down eating, I didn't notice that he was addressing me. Since I didn't answer, he said in a loud voice "Hello! How is the food?" The manner in which he said this was rude & aggressive. Then he tried to rush us out. Later, another waitress (not ours) apologized to us for the owner's behavior, saying that he was stressed & to not let him rush us out & that we could stay at our table. That is absolutely terrible that the waitress should have to apologize for the owner's actions! I will never set foot in this restaurant again!
