When is Rocca in Dulwich Village opening?

[rebeccaben]

Anyone know?? There's nothing on their main website about the Dulwich branch and it seems like they have been renovating for ages.

[Thomas Micklewright]

What is Rocca?

[rebeccaben]

The new Italian restaurant that is opening on the site of the old Piaf (opposite Pizza Express).

[karter]

It's either March or May, think it began with an m.:))

[Loz]

karter Wrote:

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> It's either March or May, think it began with an m.:))

Monday?

[Jah Lush]

Seems to be taking forever. I'll stick with Si Mangia on Forest Hill Road. Love it in there and eat there regularly.

[DulwichGreener]

Next month. So that would be March.

[Nero]

Bit naff that it is taking so long? What are they doing in there? Also naff that there are two ersatz Italian (perhaps the word 'quasi' would be more appropriate?) when there could have been an alternative.

[zeban]

The menu online doesn't look very inspiring (IMO)

[SeanMacGabhann]

I'm going with "faux"

But I'll be giving the new place a try for sure

[karter]

More like quasi but good. Look forward to trying the new place.

[Jeremy]

I think the food at Pizza Express is actually OK, but they seem to have raised their prices by a couple of quid, while running perpetual "special offers".

It would have been nice to see something a bit more ambitious on the site, but given the inevitable sky-high rent, it's hard to imagine it being anything other than investment-minded and safe.

[Jah Lush]

I think you're right about the price hike in Pizza Express. I went there last week for a late lunch and though it was very good turned out a little more expensive than I thought it would be but then we did have a couple bottles of wine and brandy too.

[ladyonabike]

ANOTHER Italian restaurant?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[trident]

Now open

[aspidistra]

ladyonabike Wrote:

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> ANOTHER Italian restaurant?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Dulwich Estate properties are let to the highest bidder. The Estate is not concerned about whether there is any variety in the local offering, or indeed whether properties are let to operators providing anything of much use to the local community.

[VALFR59]

We tried this new restaurant last Saturday at lunch time.

I never went to Pizza express so could not compare.

Food was nice (i've eaten pasta, my husband pizza and tiramisu and our toddler tried chips).

Children are welcoming ( a lot of baby chairs) but no children meal(they prepare half portion of what you want presenting in the menu)

Staff friendly, very typical (all seem to be italian people) But place very noisy.

Just disapointed that it was again an italian restaurant (very often indian or italian restaurant on the area)...I would prefer a new type of restaurant like a good and finest Japanese!

I would recomend it for an informal family diner but no for a romantic diner.

[Karenina75]

I tried Rocca in the Village on Sunday last week - the place was buzzing

Given the dire offerings in the village this really is something a little bit special. Arrived early and a man called Giuseppe took me and my daughter to look at the wood fired oven which was fantastic

We had the homemade bread and arancini to start. The bread was absolutely amazing, the best I have tasted in a long time. For mains we had one pizza and one pasta which you could tell was home made. The pizza was really authentic and full of simple flavours reminding me of the ones I have when I go to Franco Manca in Brixton

You cant compare this place to Pizza Express. Its in a different league and the prices are much much better so you dont need a voucher all the time

[karter]

The pasta is made fresh on site, nice.

[QueenMab]

I went here at the weekend. Absolutely nothing to complain about! There are not THAT many Italian restaurants in the area (unless you're counting Pizza Express, which I'm not), so I'm happy with that.

Pizza bases lovely, toppings good quality, wine nice, good selection on the menu. Hopefully we'll see a specials menu come soon too.

[char1ie]

Ate there last night. Great restaurant with a nice vibe and great atmosphere - loads of locals, service good, drinks cold etc. Food was OK but the pizzas we had weren't as good as Pizza Express, arancini were stodgy and rock hard on the outside - not as good as the ones that Pizza Express used to do. Bruschetta was served on some seriously weighty bread and was OK. All in all we liked it but the food was a bit short of the quality that we expected. The more serious mains look like a good option and it's nice that you can get a wide variety of food there.

Charlie

[fazer71]

Just had Lunch there today 10 May 2011

We had Pasta and Ravioli

Pasta is home made so soft not the highest standard sauce had Zero Flavour tasted like hot tinned tomato awful.

Ravioli meat filling again zero taste or flavour the sauce was bland.

Would never order those dishes again.

And if the Pizza is worst than Pizza Express then it looks like it's a no go zone.

Missed opportunity we need Ask Pasta or Strada

Maybe it?s the water or something in the air in there Rubbish?..

I just don't understand if they can?t make a proper sauce go and buy Lloyd Grossman or similar.

The previous Le Piaf was a 2/10

this

Rocca is a 3/10

edited to add

Past costs pennies it's, disgusting that they havn't made good quality sauces.

Even at ?5 a plate of pasta offers them a huge profit and they charge ?7.00 + . Unbelievable...!

[StraferJack]

another slightly OTT dismissal and also a first post - i see

[JHamm]

Sorry Stafer Jack, this is my first post and it will be equally dismissive. The reason I've registered is I was really disappointed by Rocca. Having been eagerly awaiting its opening I had a really uninspiring meal there. So much so I'll always go to Pizza Express instead, which while predictable, predictably you're not going to be served what I was at Rocca (thankfully).

I had some deep fried parcels with almost no filling or accompanying sauce to start (essentially 4 pieces of filo out of a deep fat fryer). Then some tasteless, unseasoned, uncooked mince (despite saying I was pregnant, 90% of it was raw, the other 10% browned) with literally two 5mm slither of mozarella on top with some salad and chips. It was the worst meal I've had as long as I can remember.

I don't usually complain about restaurants, and perhaps I just chose badly from the menu, but this was really really disappointing. And I won't be giving it a second chance. It's a wasted opportunity for the owners and it's such a shame that something decent didn't open, but I guess because there is such a big captive market in the village they're not so bothered about standards. Or maybe it's just teething problems. Hopefully.

Nonetheless I'm sad to say it's Pizza Express all the way for me now if I fancy something Italian.

[Jah Lush]

I see the friends of Pizza Express have arrived. Do we really need two threads on the same subject? Could admin merge them or shut down this one?