A roller grill assembly includes a roller grill housing and a plurality of rollers that are rotatably mounted in the housing, each roller having an external surface. The assembly also includes one or more heating elements provided in each roller for heating the external surfaces of the rollers and a roughened coating overlying at least a portion of the external surfaces of the rollers, the roughened coating generating friction between the rollers and food items placed on the rollers for effectively rotating the food items. The roughened coating is food-safe and includes roughening particles having a size of between 5 300 microns.