Rosetta Sydney - The Rocks

A friend recommended Rosetta and we weren’t disappointed! We were a bit worried by the reviews that said the service was poor, but our server was very friendly and attentive. The food was also delicious! Recommend.

Rosetta calls itself a Trattoria . First of all, every trattoria in Italy has a tablecloth not wooden or plastic tables. Rosetta charges fine dining prices for an establishment where most men turn up in shorts for dinner and where the cooking has very little resemblance to Italian cooking. A Restaurant which would not last a week in Italy. My husband ordered Fettuccini alla Bolognese. The sugo bore no resemblance to a true Bolognese sauce neither in texture , colour nor cooking. In fact, the much too wide fettuccini were floating in a pale reddish liquid sauce with no trace of extra virgin olive, long slow cooking or parmigiano reggiano. I, on the other hand, had the tagliolini with crab and chili. In Italy the dish would have had a liberal taste of peperoncino and sufficient salt. mine had neither. Then came the Parmigiana di Melanzane with huge thick slices of eggplant layered with thick unmelted slices of Fiore di Latte (not Buffalo mozzarella) covered with an insipid tomato sauce and practically no parmesan or basil. I have lived in Italy for 50 years and know Italian cooking. In addition, I know how to cook it.

I did not like the arrival experience or the up sell by the staff. The restaurant did not recognize my OpenTable reservation and offered poor seating as though we hadn't reserved. In the end, the food was delicious.

This is a lovely restaurant with great service. The wait staff and wine steward were fantastic. I felt the menu was over priced across the board, for what you receive. I had the Zuppe di Pesce and the shrimp was over cooked and dry, which seemed odd because the calamari in the dish was not. The sourdough bread was fantastic. The burrata starter was great, perfectly ripened tomatoes and burrata that melted in your mouth.

Given a poor table though we were one of the first to have dinner that evening. Gnocchi was pasty.