Rocco’s - Restaurant Review

I love Italian food. Whenever I get a chance, I try to make some at home, but last night we went to a family-run Italian restaurant and with the first bite I could feel the authenticity. After the meal I came back home with a warm feeling and desire to return as soon as possible.

Rocco’s, the Italian restaurant is located on Gloucester Road in Bristol, near the Arches and next to a Sainsbury store. Although the  restaurant is right on the main road but it’s easy to miss if you don’t look for it. We went in on a weekday evening so parking wasn’t so bad otherwise getting parking on Gloucester road can be challenging on weekends.

As I walked in through the doors, the first thing that I felt is the cosiness and the warmth of the little place which has lots of character to it. A warm and affable elderly lady, who I think is the owner of the Restaurant came and greeted us in person and showed us to our seat. The interior of the restaurant is decorated with lots of copper pots and pans placed on the wall. There were some hand drawn pictures of Venice on the wall and a huge wooden pepper crusher.  The restaurant could hold around 40 people at a time and the kitchen is visible from most parts of the restaurant.

The stained and not-so-perfect hand-written menu card made me feel like I am in some village pizzeria, in Sicilian countryside. For starters we ordered king prawns on crostini which was served with fresh leaves salad and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. The prawns were also mixed with olive oil drenched sundried tomato's which added extra flavour and dimension to the dish.

For mains we ordered braised beef tortellini in cream sauce and  wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil.The owner offered us with extra parmesan cheese on top and Sicilian chilli oil to go with both the dish. Trust me when I say it was good. Even while writing this I can actually feel the taste of those lovely flavours. Our check was way under £30 for two people but we came out fully satiated and now I can’t wait to go back again.