Roko Italian Cuisine, 6801 Parker Farm Dr., is now open for lunch, Monday through Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
 
Owners Jadranko and Vojka Peros celebrated the restaurant's sixth anniversary last month, and decided that the increased flow of daytime traffic in Mayfaire would support lunch service.
 
“We are booked most nights for dinner and many of our customers have been asking if we will open for lunch,” chef Jadranko Peros said. “With all of the new medical and professional buildings as well as more retail, there are more people working and visiting the area for appointments and shopping during the day.”
 
Peros makes homemade pastas and bread each day, a task he admits is very time consuming, but the feedback he gets from customers warms his heart in such a way that he wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
The lunch menu includes a daily homemade soup, salads that can be topped with grilled chicken, salmon, tuna or mahi mahi, sandwiches on fresh baked baguettes and ciabatta, pasta and risotto. All items are $12 or under.
 
Peros, who trained with his uncle in his native Croatia before coming to eastern North Carolina in 1985, said he has not made any changes to the dinner menu, mostly for fear of upsetting his regulars. He will, however, continue to work with Mott’s Seafood, as he always has, to bring in the freshest daily catches and use them to create seafood specials.
 
Reservations are encouraged for dinner, especially between the hours of 5 and 8:30 p.m. and reservations will be taken for lunch as well. Indoor and patio seating is available for both lunch and dinner. 
 
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