Rocabella is doing more business now (summer 2013). They have changed their menu to small plates. Hummus, porc au poivre were fine. I ordered vegetable lasagna, hoping for something resembling a vegetable. Instead I was served a molten, soggy, over-salted mess. Garlic bread was also soggy and oversalted.
Review Source:I am tentatively giving this four stars, because I think it has great potential. Â My husband and I visited here this past weekend sort of by accident. Â My first experience with the food was with the salad which was extremely over-dressed and difficult to eat. Â We were bracing ourselves for a not-so-delightful meal.
However, our entrees were good. Â My husband had a pasta dish which he enjoyed, and I ordered the Mediterranean lamb which was outstanding!! Â The lamb was cooked perfectly and seasoned to perfection. Â My only complaint was that for $31, it was over-priced (the most expensive thing on the menu but the portion of lamb was small.) Â The sauteed spinach accompaniment was, likewise, perfectly done. Â The lamb was also accompanied by a baked potato which totally went to waste.
Our dessert was a sumptuous tiramisu cake. Â Light, creamy and delicious.
In speaking with the owner, he claimed to be struggling with the America idea of  salad, main course and dessert and told us that next week he is changing the restaurant to a "small plates" or "pinxto" format.  If he does so -- and if he focuses solely on the perfection of each plate and not accompaniments, this could be a very successful restaurant.
The servers were very good and overall we had a good experience.
What a gem of a discovery! Â We found Rocabella one day walking around Napa and decided to give it a try next time we had dinner in town, and we are so glad we did! This is our new favorite dining spot! Everything was first class from the time we walked in the door until we walked out. Â The hostess greeted us and said "we have a lovely spot set up for your party outside", and lovely it was, set up under a canopy. We were immediately greeted by our handsome waiter, then greeted by the incredibly handsome and personable chef/owner, who took a personal interest in our orders. Â I could list each dish in detail, but, that would take some time as four of us had appetizers and entrees, but everything was AMAZING! I had the grilled octopus, which is the best octopus I have ever had. Â Octopus I had in Puerto Rico held that title for four years. Â The service and attention we received was Five star, the food five star, even the drinks were five star. Â This is a gem in the heart of downtown Napa. Â Rocabella has ruined every other restaurant that we've been to in Napa, it's just that outstanding!!!
Review Source:Great location, great food, excellent service, a little pricey.
We went here on a Friday night and the place was a bit under-filled. While that may sound like a bad thing, it actually allowed the owner to come out and chat with us. Very nice guy, very good at schmoozing. Really enhanced the dinning experience because he was courteous, yet you know you're being 'sold to' a bit. We didn't mind, and actually enjoyed it.
The calamari was fantastic. Lightly breaded & crispy. It didn't come with or need a dipping sauce.
I'd never had Souviaki before, but was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was. The portions of Souviaki were a bit on the small side, but the lamb and pork varieties were fairly rich. They each came with a side of nicely sauteed spinach, and a twice-baked style baked potato that was incredible. It had pesto in it - enough said.
Dessert was a nice Coffee Tartufo and an espresso. We bought a bottle of wine that was recommended by the owner and complimented our dinner very nicely.
Here's a price breakdown of our meal:
Calamari: $12
Lamb Souviaki: $24
Chicken, pork & lamb Souvlaki: $35
Coffee Tartufo: $9
Espresso: $3
Bottle of 2009 Trinitas Mysterium: $48
(retails for around $20-$25)
Total, after tax = $141.48
Rocabella Bistro Lounge is a romantic place located in the heart of downtown Napa. The atmosphere is elegant, inviting and very romantic. A perfect restaurant for an intimate dinner. The owner/chef is friendly and did a wonderful job pairing wine with the main dishes. We ordered the calamari as an appetizer and it was so delicious without a dipping sauce. For the main course I had lamb, which was absolutely superb. On the side we shared spinach and pesto potatoes, which was perfect with our main dish. For dessert, I ordered the coffee gelato, which was absolutely delicious. To other Napa locals, please note that Roabella Bistro Lounge has dancing on the weekends until 2am and they do not allow a negative element in. So if you would like to go dancing at a classy place, this is the new place to go. Also, Rocabella is much better than the former restaurants (Zins, NV etc..) that used to be in this location. Please give it a try, it would be nice to see more locals in there!
Review Source:Food was great. Â Octopus was yummy. Â Lamb was very nice, Shrimp was excellent. Â Kasseri was delicious. Â Staff was friendly. Â Service was good. Â They were out of a few menu items, but after talking with the owner about their food prep one can understand why they run out of certain items.
Review Source:I went in wiith high hopes but ended up leaving with a bad feeling about the place. I ordered chicken souvlaki which is a pretty standard dish and is what I order nearly every time I have this style of food. In my experience it typically comes with some sort of a cream based sauce, and given that the potato on the side was very dry and chicken lacking I asked for some. Later when my bill came I found that I was chargd SIX dollars for this sauce. I was charged for an item from the appetizer menu. I should have been warned about this from the server. When they are charging $19 for a plate that contains chicken, a small pile of spinach and 1/2 baked potato I should be able to get a little sauce without paying an additional $6. The sauce was delicious but I do not think I will find myself eating it here again. There are many restaurants that locals in Napa can choose and another great mediterranean, Tarla, just up the road that would not pull this stunt. With so many choices out there and the quality and quantity of what they are giving for a $19 plate this should not have happened.
Review Source:While the food was absolutely delicious, the server we had was atrocious. Our servers name is Courtney, so if you go to this restaurant do yourself a favor and make sure she's not your server. If the owner wants it's customers coming back they should really reconsider Courtney's employment because honestly i was all set to return but may now reconsider. She was occupied with anything but our table. She got our order incorrect, charged us for the wrong order which was $14 more expensive, never came by for coffee and dessert and to top it off when we called her over to let her know she blamed it on short staffing which to her is 5 servers for 25 tables max. Nobody else seemed to have a hard coming over to our table to help except her so I have a hard time believing the short staffed comment.
Review Source:The chef/owner is representative of this place: attentive to details, engaging, but also not 100% genuine.
The food is very good and the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful (and are mostly attentive, save for a few lapses). While the chef/owner supposedly hails from Santorini, Greece, he speaks more with an Italian accent. And his dishes are promoted with well-thought-out stories. The only trouble is we've caught him on a few minor missteps -- e.g., the dessert wine was from Piemonte, not from his beloved Tuscany (and given Piemonte's reputation, this actually short-sold the wine, IMO); the pasta was imported and not made fresh (though still very, very good); the coffee was Lavazza Supercrema and nothing that exotic; the chocolate souffle was not a souffle but rather a molten cake; etc.
These may be minor details. But if you're trying to impress your clientele with details, being 95% honest and accurate makes your customers focus more on that missing 5%. They would do a little better by being a little more transparent (look, I won't flinch if you tell me that your lamb comes from Costco -- just don't tell me it's a secret and you hunt it down at your uncle's ranch) while easing off the pretension by a notch. But you can't complain about a really good meal no matter how you slice it.
Rocabella is my favorite restaurant in Napa, and that is saying something since it is hard to find a bad meal in this area! The food is amazing and unique and the owners are very caring, passionate people! It's hard to find anyone more attentive or who cares more about making sure you have a wonderful experience. The lamb is delicious... never had such good meat! I also highly recommend the au poivre sauce!!! And.... I DEFINITELY recommend coming late on the weekends to catch the dancing! The owner is not only a great chef, but also a talented DJ! You'll feel better about how much food you ate if you dance it off! :-)
Review Source:My new favorite restaurant in Napa!  The lounge ambiance is exquisite - there is even a DJ for dancing on weekends...who is sometimes the owner.  Three of us split almost every appetizer  - exceptional, mouthwatering melt in your mouth amazing!  We had to try a pasta to round out a perfect meal and the Carbonara was a dreamy creamy delight!  Prices are a great value for quality food!
Review Source:Not up to Napa standards. My wife and I just returned from dinner. We had to wait about 15 minutes to get served. We had read that the chef/owner had worked in Greece and was expecting more Greek items. My wife had salmon which at first was overcooked. The chef did cook a new order. My shrimp was OK but the potatoes had too much salt. At the end of the meal we had to wait about 15 minutes for our bill. For the same price there are a lot better restaurants here in Napa.
Review Source:The Filet was awesome. Â And so was the yogurt with honey desert. Â The chef actually came out to the table and explained some menu items and he even served the food! Â The bar tender was kind enough to bring our drinks to our table for us when we were seated. Â Excellent service! Â Never had the head chef come to the table like that before in my life.
Review Source:We loved our first visit to this new mediterranean restaurant in Napa. Â Really good food and not overly expensive, especially by Napa standards. Â Wine selection had many reasonably priced selections. Â Outdoor seating was nice on a summer evening and loved the music. Â Too many choices to eat in one sitting. Â We'll be back!
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