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Rosa's is an Italian restaurant in Port Moody offering home-cooked Italian dishes.
Just had a terrific dinner with friends who had been before and suggested we head there together.
Now I can see why waiting in the rain might get old quickly but sometimes you have to get wet if you want to have fun.
The four of us had a terrific evening with meals perfectly prepared, very nice wine, good chatter with service and attention that seemed right onetime and full of life.
The room was filled with voice and laughter through our entire visit. The service is covered by a friendly and very knowledgable team of..... 2!.....who hustle and have fun delivering great fresh made Italian foods in some eye popping proportions. Ribs were fantastic, canellonni was big and stuffed full of delicious, raviol so good and so big 2 or 3 people would be fed in many other restaurants.
If you want a secluded table with quiet instrumental music, linen table cloths with accented matching napkins and 30 servers Quietly shuffling around this is not your place.
If you want to have a great meal with friends and enjoy the energy and feel of others sharing food old family style then grab an umbrella and be ready to wait outside. But once you get a little wet you'll get a spot inside and it will be all worth it.
I have to say that I really do like the dishes I have tried at Rosa's, the ribs are great as are the meatballs but whenever I recommend this restaurant to friends I ALWAYS tell them don't expect great service because Rosa could care less if you walk out of there liking her or not.
If you don't like waiting to dine out on a Friday or Saturday then DO NOT go to this place as there is always a line and usually about an hours wait. I am not a family member of Rosa's or even a friend but I do really like this place as Port Moody lacks original restaurants.
I would assume because Rosa is very old school Italian that she would never even think to look at websites like this as she has been in business for 25 odd years and "could care less what computers say about the place"...her words not mine when I mentioned the place was being reviewed on-line.
Waited outside in the cold for over an hour. tables became available,staff was not in a hurry to let us in.Extremely slow service.Food was less then mediocre,bread was" run of the mill' not fresh or warm, definitely not home made.The decor was very basic, ambiance was more like a fast food restaurant then an evening out style restaurant. Servers were friendly but host was gruff and unfriendly. Would I recommend this restaurant, absolutely not, Prices were to high to even recommend as a lunch destination,.
I understand that Rosa is an institution in Port Moody and people have been going here for years. But I ask why? And Rosa treats her regulars like gold but come on...I am paying the same price but not getting the same service.
If there is a line up it take for ever to get in as it took us over an hour on a Friday night. Sure you can go shopping down the street and it's worth the trip to do just that but you are not able to leave your cell phone number to get a call to head up there. So you have to stand in line.
The service was good when you sit down next to the ladies from the bowling club there for their weekly gathering. Hi Martha. But after a while they seem to forget that you are there. Odd thing to do to new faces.
I don't know how this place advertises be it word of mouth of paper adds but if it's word of mouth they need to keep the new customers happy.
We had a couple of glasses of water that was needed to wash down the dry pasta with sea food. We asked to split a couple of meals but were not allowed to. You will eat what you order and that is that!!
So we passed back and forth our linguine and Steak. It would have been nice to have all this done in the kitchen but that's life.
Back to the water neither of us drink so water was it. And that was in short supply after the first glass,
The bread was at least a day old but I would make good toast. We should have ordered it toasted I guess.
This is the only pasta place that we now of in this area until we found this site so we now have other options when we travel through Moody.
We've just come back to the tri city area from Toronto ans were looking for some places we can call out own. A neighbour told us about Rosa's and how they had been there several years ago so we went.
First impressions I was thinking that this is a fine little eatery along the dark street in Port Moody.
But after waiting out side for half an hour out side in the rain. Could not leave our phone number and after being seated we soon realized that were were in the middle of a gossip lovers dream location, Rosa's has crammed in as many table and chairs as would fit leaving just enough room to squeeze (balls out boys) towards your table. And whilst waiting you start to hear every thing I mean EVERY THING about your dinning neighbours . I hope that table 4's mother is getting better. And table 9 should just leave him. You know you don't want to listen but....
We ordered a lasagna and Spaghetti Carbonara with a side order of grease I guess. How can you do pasta wrong? It's not brain surgery it's just pasta/. Meat, pasta, sauce, cheese and bread.
But we were thrilled by the older ladies (we guess Rosa) fluttering about chit chatting with one here and one there but forgetting about refilling the water and seeing if we liked the food. I guess you have to be a friend to get that attention.
From what I can tell after reading the other posts if that you like this place or you absolutely don't like this place.
I recommend that if you want to try this place for yourself that you don't go as a group you will not be seated for a very long time, And that you keep your conversation to the weather and shopping and not your mothers heart operation or the size of your boy friends johnson.
Good luck
P.S. Expensive for the food quality but you do get a lot of it.
Rosa's is a nice hole in the wall. small establishment, and always busy. You'll need to get lucky to get a table here. Food is more home cooked than fine dining. It is what it is. Simple food prepared with some love. Most of the food items are good to great. Service is hit or miss depending on the day and mood of your server. Dont expect finer or even casual dining atmosphere or service. But if your nice or perhaps lucky you will get the occasional smile from your server or mama rosas.
Portion size is good and you will often see customer leave with leftover. There are no surprises when it comes to the food. They search for good ingredient. The cooking is simple and effective. Pricing is reasonable. Good luck trying to get a table.
We were the first customers when the restaurant opened at 4pm this past Tuesday. Rosa's brother was our server and he was courteous and knowledgeable about the dishes offered. I ordered the spinach and ricotta manicotti. My dad ordered the baby back ribs with a side of pasta with seafood in a tomato sauce. The server explicitly explained that the ribs are not boiled, but slow cooked for maximum flavor. As we waited, we were served fresh bread (which we polished off). The manicotti was a decent portion and baked with gooey cheese on top. It was so delicious! Fresh ingredients in a delectable sauce. The ribs were so huge that they hung over the edges of the plate and the side of pasta was very generous. The ribs were so soft, they fell of the bone and the pasta had tons of seafood. The tomato sauce was delicious. My picky dad ate every last bite.
By the time we were finished, the tiny restaurant was nearly full. Every patron greeted Rosa (the chef), and seemed to be regulars. The decor looks like someone's granny decorated it, but it's charming. The walls are covered in signed photos of celebrities. Some of the highlights: Ringo Starr, K.D. Lang, and one of the ninja turtles.
Highly recommended!
I went to Rosa's cucina this past weekend and was so excited to go since every other time I've attempted, something gets in the way. My sister and I made sure we went early because they are known to fill up fast.
Food was excellent!! Quality and quantity!! I had spaghetti and meatballs and had enough left over for dinner the next day for both me and my sister! The Anna's salad is delicious and seems to be very popular. Salad with house dressing topped with cheese, salami and proscuitto. Heaven! My sister wanted ribs but there wasn't any on the menu. After we ordered, we noticed a few tables eating ribs!! We asked about it, and apparently, it was part of their specials. Be sure to ask about the specials. We'll definitely return for some mouth-watering ribs.
The restaurant looked like a cabin and I only gave it a 3 because, although it was very neat, the restaurant is really small. Let's hope they find a bigger location soon!!
We joined a line up on Sunday with only a few groups ahead of us, 2 sets of couples and one group of 4. About 45 minutes into the wait we finally saw a table for 4 open up. Just as we were getting our hopes up that we could finally get out of the cold and into a warm restaurant they seated a couple at the table for 4 who were not in the lineup. Not exactly sure what happened there but they seemed to be "friends" of the staff so I guess they got preferential treatment over the customers waiting outside in the cold for close to an hour. WE FINALLY got seated exactly one hour after joining the lineup....had we known it would take that long with the few number of groups waiting we would have abandoned the effort but too much time had been invested to give up.
The gal serving us was pleasant but slow. It took a bit to get our drink and appetizer order in and during the meal we had to ask a couple times for second drinks as the original request was forgotten.
The only decent thing about this place is the lasagna and mussels, the rest of the food is mediocre at best and the way they treat the customers (unless of course you're a friend of the staff or owner) is pretty bad. I won't be going anywhere near this place again....we'll go back to Anton’s on Hastings where they know how to run a restaurant.
I suspect that people who rave about the food here have either never had truly excellent Italian food, or they're friends of the owner. My lasagna was greasy, to put it mildly, and my husband's gnocchi was curiously flavorless. The bread that was served prior to the meal was a joke ... it was clearly a French bread loaf from a grocery store. Maybe we caught them on a bad day, but there really shouldn't be any bad days in a restaurant, from a food perspective.
The service was pretty awful. Our server kept yukking it up with some customers who were obviously friends or family of hers, while we were left wondering for over an hour about when our food might appear. On the upside, our server did keep our drinks refilled. The place was super noisy and crowded, much more like a tiny cafeteria than a nice, cozy trattoria-type restaurant.
I usually don't mind giving a restaurant a second chance, but considering the bad service, atmosphere, and food I won't bother again with this joint again.
When we got to the restaurant it was busy and crowded. We were seated quickly by the one waitress working. She gave us no introduction and left for about 5 minutes to do whatever. We ordered quickly and so the waiting began. We sat there for close to 50 minutes before our food came. I had tried on 2 separate occasions to flag down our waitress to ask what was taking so long but she never paid any attention to us. The one time she spent 10 minutes talking to some friends that had come in and completely ignored us. It was no better with the other older man waitering.
Finally when the food did come it was disgusting. The Spaghetti Ala Carbanara was greasy, dry and tasteless; the bacon wasn't even cut into pieces and some still linked together. The Spaghetti with italian sausage tasted like it came from a store bought can. The pasta itself was undercooked. We didn't even bother waiting around to complain about the service and the food. We already wasted 2 hours just waiting.
Never once did our waitress ask how the food was or even came by to refill our drinks. My boyfriend ended up sharing my glass of water with me because we could not get a hold of ANYONE. They need to learn to treat all their customers equally and not provide the better service to customers they already know.
We will NEVER set foot in this place again.
My family and I have dined at this restaurant twice and both times we were treated poorly. It's not a good sign when you're on your way to a restaurant and start feeling uncomfortable before you even get there. The owner, Rosa, is extremely rude and should not be in direct contact with the customers. It would be best if she managed the kitchen staff and stayed in the back...or she could enroll herself in a course/seminar teaching her about the importance of good customer service, especially since she is the owner! I'm obviously not the only one who feels this way. I hope she visits this site and takes note of the many complaints. It's too bad because the food is quite good. Next weekend I'm going to take the advise of the other posters and visit Nick's on Commercial.
After the most horrific experience at Papa Joe's, we decided to give Rosa Cucina a try. The fate of many restaurants on Hastings is either: they flop within 6 months of opening, they do really well, or they stick around for a long time.
I think Rosa's Cucina is the last-named. I'm sure they do well on some days, but unfortunately I never see a large crowd in here.
We went on a weeknight and aside of us, only another table of 2 and a table of 6 were there. It's a good thing for the diner because it's quiet and peaceful and you get the attentive service, but I sure hope they do enough business to keep them around.
The 2 pastas we ordered were of good size. They were both very tasty and I could tell the quality was much better than that at Anton's down the street.
The service was great. Very attentive and friendly. The ambiance was also just as great. The name is so fitting as the restaurant is just that - Rosa Cucina. Very comfortable and homey with an semi-outdoor courtyard for private parties. I think we need more restaurants like this around.
Our bill for 2 entrees and a half litre of red came to only $30 including tax and tip (the 2 for 1 coupon really helped!).
The title says it all! The food is great the service at times can be slow but look how busy they are, the pricing is great for the amount of food you get! holy cow! The wait is defiantly worth it! It is just awesome if you are going with a family or a date! A little taste of ITALIA!
My wife and I ate here tonight for the first time. I had read a lot of good things about this place and wanted to try it first hand. I've heard there can be long line ups, but we went at 8:30 pm on a Friday night and didn't have trouble getting seated.
The restaurant is tiny, it only seats about 40 people or so, but it's quaint and rustic looking.
We were given bread and butter pretty much as soon as we sat down. We started out with the Anna salad, which had prosciutto and salami and cheese on a salad for about $7. It was good, nothing special.
I ordered the 16 oz t-bone steak with spaghetti and meat sauce for $21 and my wife had the meat canalonni for $14. My steak was huge and came out just as I ordered it, medium rare. I was very tasty and tender. The spaghetti, which turned out to be linguine, but who cares??...was al dente and had good flavour. My wife's dish was baked and topped with cheese and was quite a large portion...she only finished 1/2 of it and took the rest home. I had a few bites and it was really tasty.
We finished off with a large piece of tiramisu cake...very good and not too sweet.
The service was attentive and Rosa was walking around the room, serving food, clearing tables and being an excellent host. she is very talkative and friendly to her patrons.
Food + one glass of red house wine came to $64 after tax and tip. I'd have to say that everything said about this restaurant in the previous reviews that i have read on this forum and in the newspapers is true...it's downhome, rustic italian cooking at it's finest. I'll certainly go there again and recommend it to anyone that is in the tri-cities area.
If you know the owner and she likes you it would seem you can do no wrong and she will do all she can to make your night.
But as for new faces like ours it was different.
The water glasses were never filled unless you asked.
The food was ok but for the price and the time it took to wait out side.
The bread was old and the pasta was just getting cold when we got it.
When we go out to a restaurant and pay the same price for our dinner on a Friday night I would like the save service and quality. Not the cold shoulder and food. Thank you
Rosa's is like eating mama's home cooking - in her rec room. The food is delicious though the menu selections are limited. Service is soooo slow. Fake brick/stucco walls are decorated with photos of famous people and sports pics. Plastic-covered tables are small and very close together. There's a happy/loud atmosphere and you get a lot of food, but this certainly won't be the place for every occasion or group of guests.
I've been to Rosa's a few times with a co worker who just adores this restaurant. I personally don't get it, I enjoyed the food but it wasn't anything spectacular. The service is just horrible. You can get away with that if your food makes up for it, it barely does. I thought I was the only one that thought Rosa was rude, but I'm not surprised to see that it's not just me. I feel that she saves all her excitement and good manners for wealthy people and local celebrities. I was there when someone that she preferred came in and her attitude was completely different, I've never seen her speak to anyone so lovingly or politely. Not all of her staff is that bad, some are friendly. But as long as Rosa is the way she is, it won't make much of a difference. My friend argued that these people are on their feet all day and you can't expect them to be cheery, A LOT of restaurants have staff that are on their feet all day and they still are friendly and inviting. I've had rude customers yell and curse at me , but you still have to treat every diner as if they were the first of the day.
This was just my experience though.. others, like my friend, just adore Rosa's.
45 minute wait, 3 people, shared the meatball appetizer, which was really great. I ordered the Spaghetti Carbonara, it wasn't very good, used standard italian bacon instead of guanciale, which was disappointing since they charge $15.95 for the dish. My two friend had one good dish and one average dish. Service was fine, our server was fine considering it was full house, but we got some attitude from the owner even though she didn't serve us at all, I assume the newspaper clipping with a picture of the owner smiling was photoshopped. I might go back, but only for the meatball dish, and only if I become celebrity, they seem to treat celebrities well there.
went to rosa's once before, and had to wait outside, but recently this friday night waited ouside for almost an hour till our group of six were getting numb from the cold. Was the wait worth it? well .... I ordered the veal chops with vegitables, the waitress didn't bother to ask me how I wanted it done so I guess I shouldn't be surprized when it came, a grey over cooked sorry piece of veal, the vegitables were not inspiring either... no flavor, nothing to say this was italian. I am first generation italian and I know what moma's is like and this was not it. The waitress really needs to get a personality, because the service was unatentive and unintrested. But still people line up.. amazing! also amazing is if any of the peoples pictures on the wall acually ate there hmmm. the only good thing about the night was my wine selection, a nice chianti.
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