Rockfish Food & Wine

I’ve never had a bad experience here, in many visits. The menu is simple but good. I especially like the beans and rice, and the oysters. Wine is usually good, if a little expensive for the pour you get. Service is usually very good, depending on the day and time. I recommend this place.

This was a real disappointment. I had heard that a lot had changed and that it was now a very good restaurant. Sorry. I just cannot agree. On a good note, the food was fine. Not great, but, fine. The service, however was brutal. From the time we sat down, it was almost an hour before the food arrived. Waitress, «sorry, it took s little longer than usual». Really! After finishing my first glass of wine (long before dinner arrived), it was a good 15 minutes before she got close enough to the table to order another one. The owner was around, but, never asked how dinner was, nor did she even speak to us after being seated nor when we left. On a good note, the blue cheese salad dressing was wonderful. As l said earlier, dinner was fine. No complaint. Truthfully, had I been judging our server on her quality of service… I would have fired her. Sorry! It is probably obvious, I had high hopes for this place.

Great restaurant great service had reservation and was seated immediately. The food was awesome had the chicken fried oysters. Great Restaurant

Rockfish is always warm and welcoming and its food excellent. But the food is moving a notch higher with its new chef.

Went there for dinner. You get a salad with your meal which is high quality. Great service, great wine selection. They could be a bit more easy going as far as their waiters/​waitresses go but we only went twice. We will return. My husbands pot pie was amazing and my fish was fresh n cooked to perfection.

We used to love this place!!! I’m not sure what happened last night. Our mediocre experience started the minute we were seated at a dirty table. The linen had several hairs on it, we had to ask two different people for silverware. We were a table of four. Two of us ordered several appetizers as our meal while our spouses ordered entrees. Our «appetizers» arrived first with no sign of our husbands salads. Finally about 15minutes later their salads arrived. I’m guessing the waitress didn’t listen when we told her we were ordering the appetizers as our meal. No one refilled our drinks until we asked another server. I had to ask for the cup of soup that I had ordered. They didn’t even ask if we would like another bottle of wine and of course we did! While dinning on our calamari, my friend bit into a piece of HARD PLASTIC. Another waitress spoke with the chef, she then tried to convince us that is was NOT plastic but it was cartilage from the squid… The presentation of the food was certainly not like I remembered. Our waitress was missing in action for two thirds of the meal.
For the very first time that I can ever remember, I tipped 10% instead of 20−25%. I am always telling my husband that we need to support the local eateries and stay away from the chain restaurants. It’s hard to support the locals if this is now the new norm!!!

Rockfish has the best brunches we’ve found anywhere in Roanoke. The food is consistently amazing; the service is great; and everyone there makes a real effort to get to know you. They’ve become our go-​to Sunday brunch and I can’t recommend them highly enough!

We eat here almost every weekend! It’s our favorite Sunday brunch place.
Eggs Benedict are to die for, but pretty much everything on the menu is fantastic. The service is also incredible (Sarah is amazing!)

Great brunch but seems a bit stuffy for the neighborhood. Staff is more than courteous, however.

Wonderful service and wonderful food! We are not the easiest folks to please, with our party ranging in ages, tastes, and diet requirements. So, it’s pretty rare that everyone walks away satisfied. Yet, that’s exactly what happened after we ate brunch at Rockfish on Sunday. Thank you for a great meal!

The service was excellent and the food matched. We went with four friends and everyone loved their meal. Three had the low country crab cakes., one the rockfish, my husband had the salmon and I had the Cuban Black beans and rice. After trying to think of something negative to say, all we could come up with was the bread did not match the quality of everything else.
Also of note is the exceptional wine list, which for the quality was fairly priced.
Highly recommend this place.

By far the best food and service I experienced in Roanoke! Best description of the food is PERFECTION! Last night my friend and I had a hard time deciding so we ordered different entrees to share. We started our meal with the most amazing, delicious, succulent, perfectly cooked, seared scallops! They were served with a bacon chutney and braised kale which was to die for! We then experienced their salad, salad is salad, but… the soy ginger dressing they make in house takes it to a whole new level (the bread is also great dipped in the dressing). We ordered the special of blackened shrimp with Cajon sauce, cheesy grits and braised kale & we ordered the regular menu item of blackened bbq shrimp with fried grits and brussel sprouts — AMAZING! The shrimp on both dishes was cooked perfectly. Even though the dishes sounds similar, the way the chef balances flavor and texture is stunning. The dishes were equal delicious and different from each other. For dessert we both decided we could not pass up the chocolate bread pudding! Again the best suited word to describe it was perfection. The texture was perfectly balanced, the chocolate flavor was rich and strong but in no way overwhelming. A perfect way to end the best meal I’ve probably ever eaten!
In fact, We were so impressed we went back tonight and were not disappointed. We had the mussels fir an appetizer, ever one of them was cooked perfectly, not a one was chewy in any way. The wine garlic sauce was heavenly! The crab cake entrée was equally amazing. There was so much delicious crab there wasn’t much room for fillers, only flavor! The cakes were served with a roumoloud sauce, kale and a root vegetable mash, all perfectly cooked, balanced in flavor and commentary to each other. Thursday is also Soul Food night — we choose blackened catfish and macaroni & cheese. The blackened fish had an amazing char but didn’t taste burnt, was perfectly crispy on the outside while remaining delectable and moist on the inside. There are no words to describe the awesomeness that was their mac&cheese! From comfort food to fancy food Rockfish is worth the drive and money. If this place was in Colorado Springs there would be a line out the door every day! In addition to the perfect food, the wait staff is fantastic. They were knowledgeable, sweet, attentive and fun! They made us feel at home and more welcomed then I’ve felt at a restaurant in a long time. Five star service is hard to find and these folks are a great example of how I wish my dining experiences always were!

Wine selection great but the food was awful the hummus had no taste the filet was order med well but was rare in the middle and crunchy on the outside scallops and spinach were tough. Shrimp was the best part of the meal. Seice could use training.

Usually a good place. Attended their Anniversary Dinner and was not impressed nor amused. Came in 15 minutes late for a price fixe meal and was not included in the starter. Utterly amateur!

Loved our brunch here. Menu is expansive, prices are reasonable and portions are on point; you’ll leave full, but not comatose. Service was friendly and the setting was nice. We got the crab benedict and vegetable frittata and both were fresh and very delicious! Can’t wait to come back.
On a side note, the Grandin neighborhood seems to have all the excellent things that downtown lacks: a comprehensive grocery store, a movie theater and a GOOD coffee shop. Not to mention, Grandin’s restaurants are all excellent (Local Roots, Rockfish, Grace’s, Pop’s, etc) and better than the food I’ve had downtown. It’s a small neighborhood, but everything they have is top-​notch!

Mussels were delish! Such a great dinner!

We went here when we were passing thru Roanoke on our way home to NJ. We were staying in Salem and it was 7 miles, but well worth the drive. The soup was great, root vegetable. I ad crab cakes and my husband had mussels and both were great and our waiter was very good. It waS the highlight of our trip from Nashville

I recently went to Rockfish with my boyfriend and 13 year old nephew. It was a last minute decision to stop in for dinner before a movie at the Grandin Theater. Even though we did not have a reservation, everyone on the staff was very gracious and helpful. Not only was the service excellent, we had a fantastic meal with perfect timing on everything we ordered. My nephew ordered a cheeseburger and sweet potato fries. The meat on the cheeseburger appeared to be freshly ground from high quality beef. It was perfectly cooked. My boyfriend and I shared several appetizers for our meal, including a salad with scallops, salmon tacos and crab cakes (with the perfect amount of crab and little breading). I look forward to returning to Rockfish the next time we are in town visiting family and having a leisurely meal and sample more items from Rockfish’s well-​rounded menu.

This is one of the last couple of restaurants that I have to sample in Roanoke, almost completing my quest to eat at every restaurant in Roanoke. I had been wanting to try this place for awhile. However, it was kind of a letdown.
I had the coconut encrusted mahi while my friend had the duck breast. The fish was a little on the dry side and it came with a kiwi lime salsa. The dish was served over plain white rice with some green beans. The dish was ok but what pissed me off the most was… the portion size. It wasn’t very much and I was still starving afterward. My friend’s duck breast consisted of two very small pieces of duck. It was almost comical. The duck tasted alright but there wasn’t very much of it on his plate. We sampled 2 of the desserts; the chocolate chip bread pudding and the mocha truffle torte. The bread pudding was really dry. The torte was pretty good.
The service was good and the staff seemed friendly enough. Overall, I was disappointed with the price to food ratio.

Went there on a date this past Friday.
The food was excellent– enjoyed incredible homemade soups (they let have a cup of soup instead of salad with the entrée), a wonderful beet spring greens salad, and two entrees — the Rainbow trout and the Pecan Crusted Pork with Carolina Mustard Sauce.
The pecan crusted pork was unbelievable and the mashed potatoes were velvety with big chunks of potatoes. The asparagus cooked to perfection. A must try! Their wine selection is impressive and even the bread they serve with dinner was delicious.
On the down side: the fish dish was a bit dry and the atmosphere leaves a little something to be desired but overall we had a wonderful experience. Our waitress Erin was knowledgeable, prompt and friendly, the food was largely impeccable and we felt everything was reasonably priced. The chef was also very open to make edits to our food based on our dietary needs.
I will definitely go again, especially for the soup and salad…