Rossitto's - Branford

First: The Good! Rossitto?s is a small, independent, Chef-owned restaurant and we ALL should know by now that I am HERE for that. I am ALWAYS rooting for these kinds of places. The Eggplant Parm: Honestly? Excellent. Everything Eggplant Parm should be: paper thin layers of perfectly cooked Eggplant, baked with mozzarella and a Good Marinara. Well above average Marinara. Eggplant Parm is NOT EASY. So it is HIGH HIGH praise if I?m telling you The Eggplant Parm is Excellent. Fried Mozzarella App: heavily breaded triangles of deep fried Mozz with the Good Marinara. Also, REALLY good. Not your frozen, terrible, mozzarella sticks!! Chef-Made Tiramisu for dessert: Excellent. Tiramisu is SO good when it?s good and so not worth eating when it?s not. This is REALLY GOOD. However. We?re at 3 Stars. Because: The entire place is giving your Italian Relative?s Basement in the 1970s. Don?t play with me. I was IN those basements in the ?70s. Rossitto?s even, somehow, SMELLS like those basements when you walk in. I mean?Yikes?? The decor is Basement Horrendous. Really, as if not a single person here ever looks around and thinks, ?We should DO something about this!? They should. It?s bad. I ordered us an assortment of appetizers from the Specials menu. Which was printed in MINISCULE font on half a sheet of printer paper that someone then cut, presumably with scissors. Please, SPLURGE, print in a font size we can READ and use an entire sheet of paper. Fried Mozzarella (reviewed above). Fried Polenta: When it was delivered to the table it was indistinguishable from the Fried Mozzarella. We had to cut into them to tell them apart. Fail. The polenta itself was nice and creamy. The extreme breading on the outside was the error. Clams Oreganata: I can?t give you any points for a dish that is entirely NOT the dish named on the menu. The clams were perfectly nice. In a broth with garlic and onions and parsley. They were NOT Oreganata???? ? Buffalo Cauliflower (it?s a THING around here apparently). Buffalo Sauce and Bleu Cheese were VERY good. Cauliflower was okay. Definitely over fried/greasy. We then got the house salad that comes with your entrees. Which is fun. It?s family style, already dressed (HEAVY on the Balsamic). Pretty good. As mentioned above, I got the Eggplant Parm. It is served with Penne. I upgraded to Penne alla Vodka. Because if I see Penne alla Vodka on a menu I?m gonna try it. It was terrible. Like REALLY bad. The Penne was overcooked. So right there I?m pretty much taking away ALL your points. Look. I grew up in the kitchen with my ACTUALLY Italian Grandmother and my First Generation Mother. Who were/are both intuitive cooks. And I?ve been to Italy. More than once. More than twice. I rarely eat Italian food ?out.? Because I cannot tolerate poor quality Italian food. Do not serve me overcooked pasta. I just canNOT. I?m not sure what is going on here. But this Vodka Sauce was not Vodka Sauce

Chef Rossito hosted a gathering for my daughters christening. I was extremely happy with the service. The food was amazing. I had the salmon and it was the best I?ve ever had. Everyone from the gathering was very happy with both the food and the service. This place is really a hidden gem! Thank you Chef for hosting my gathering.

We stumbled on to this restaurant heading back to NJ from providence. Food was excellent, service was amazing and accommodating! They got our food quick bc it was late and we were still 2 1/2 hours from home! Highly recommend going out of your way to make it here!

The staff were incredibly helpful and friendly. We enjoyed a lovely patio space that was perfect for our dog. The Espresso Martini was delightful, and the Lasagna was simply delicious. I couldn't get enough of the red sauce!

We discovered this restaurant around two years ago while driving back to Connecticut from Rhode Island. Since then, we've had the pleasure of dining here two more times, and each visit has been fantastic. The staff is incredibly friendly, and the bartender knows how to make an excellent Old Fashioned!