Hot Rocks Creative Diner

Oh for dog's sake, the last review made me laugh out loud. International Traveler going on about a mediocre restaurant in a strip mall in Whitby with all 5 stars. Give me a break.

Honestly this restaurant is fair at best. The food is decent but the portion sizes are abysmally small. I guess they are trying to be French Cuisine snobs but the menu doesn't reflect any style. It's just a hodgepodge of trying to be all things to all blandness in Whitby. The wine list is gutter (think everything under $15 in the LCBO but over $40 when served here) and it would be nice to find a restaurant in Whitby that knew something about beer. I guess I will have to keep looking.

The servers are about the most unfriendly in Whitby and may be ex workers of the Tap and Tankard. Honestly, you're a waitress and this is Whitby. You're not impressing anyone Darlin'.

I hear they have taken over the gastronomic equivalent of a Rapid Lube (Krebs, which has recently slammed its doors, thank God) and are in the process of creating another wildly overpriced addition to their chain. Let them. Toronto is only 40 minutes away where I can get better food in a nicer atmosphere for 1/2 the price of these well worn out "institutions".

How about something original instead of another boring strip mall restaurant? Five star plants fool no one. Amazing how many of the restaurants that had these strange flurry of 5 star reviews have recently closed their doors . . .

Having the privilege of traveling internationally and dining in some of the best restaurants in the world, it was a pleasant surprise to find such a high caliber restaurant in Whitby Ontario. The service in this establishment is world class and each and everyone on the serving staff should be commended for the overly pleasant and professional approach that I would compare with any staff anywhere in the world. Each one of the team treat you as if they personally owned the place and you were their number one customer. Having experienced many different dishes at Hot Rocks over the passed year or so, it would be hard to define which we loved more. The California cut beef tenderloin is superb, and definitely well worth the price of under $30. The pizza is absolutely outstanding as is everything we have ordered to date. Great selection of wine, beer, and beverages of all kinds. Hot Rocks is by far the best eating establishment in the Durham region of Ontario, and far beyond.
This is one restaurant that should not change a thing... just keep up the great work

Great food, really friendly servers, and nice atmosphere. My husband and I have been to Hot Rocks probably 5 times in the past year, and have never had a bad experience! Very consistent food, and VERY good! Their salads are AMAZING. And the spicy Hawaiian pizza (we get it without the meat)... yum!
Definitely one of my favourite spots to eat in Whitby.

I have driven by Hot Rocks many times, and always wanted to go there to try their food. After reading some great reviews about it, I decided to check it out with a friend. The atmosphere is great, and the place is very nice inside. My friend and I both ordered the Make Your Own Pizza. It was definitely the best pizza I have ever had. I love that they use a wood burning oven to make the pizza, it had such amazing flavour. The prices were a little over the top. I didn't realize they don't have free refills like most other places and the waitress failed to mention this as well, so two glasses of iced teas cost about $6. They also don't specify on their menu that the Make Your Own Pizza starts at a base of only $2.99 but it is ONLY the crust, you have to pay $1.99 for sauce, $2.99 for cheese, and then anywhere between $1.99- $2.99 for each topping. So if you have several toppings on your pizza, it gets to be fairly expensive pretty quickly. The portion sizes were quite large, the pizza had 6 slices. The waitress was ok, she was not very personable, and she didn't come back to ask if everything was ok with our meal. I also had the rocky road cheesecake for dessert, and it was soo good, I highly recommend trying it! I would recommend this restaurant.

After hearing the big hype about how great Hot Rocks was especially as its "sister" restaurant is The renowned Shrimp Cocktail we were expecting to have just as well of an experience there as we have had at The Shrimp Cocktail.
Unfortunately we were completely flabberghasted by the service at this restaurant. It was my grandfather's birthday and we had made reservations for 8:00pm. Upon arrival we were informed that the previous customers were still sitting at our table and that we would have to wait.
After waiting 20 mins with still no offer for another table or even a drink my Aunt approached the waitress angrily asking what the hold up was. The waitress' boyfriend was sitting at the bar and bumped in on the conversation accusing us of being very rude and ignorant.
The waitress later, went to the table where the prior customers were and informed them that we were making a "big deal" about them still being there and he came into the bar and attacked our family accusing us of having the mentality of "GM Workers" and that we should go to "McDonalds". After words exchanged among parties, we finally decided to leave in search of a much better restaurant. As we were driving away the waitress and her boyfriend were outside giving us the fingers and yelling stuff at our vehicle.

Later we contacted the owner to complain about such terrible service we received and his attitude pretty much said that it was our fault and not the fault of his employees.

We will never go to this restaurant again. Absolutely horrible!

I've been bringing friends here for years. Chef's may come and go, but the core values of this restaurant don't change. This is an upscale neighborhhod eatery. A good selection of foods designed for a sophisticated palate. The pulled pork at lunch is excellent as is the Russwich. The pizza's are great but don't try a pepperoni pizza here, go for something a bit out of the ordinary. The service is usually attentive and non intrusive, but sometimes they can be swamped on weekends.

First time visit. If I were to sum it up in one word, it would be "pretentious," so I wasn't surprised to see others here describe it the same way.

Crab cakes were cold, pizza was ordinary, rainbow trout had nice flavour, but at about $29, it was over-priced.

I don't have a problem paying the restaurant's prices, but I expect some interesting flavours and the food to still be hot when it arrives at the table when paying $100-120 for a meal.

I read some of the mediocre reviews in this space, but since my family and I had visited once before, we decided to bypass those reviews and make our own decision. Boy were we glad we did. The food was excellent for Manhattan standards, which makes it out of this world for Whitby! The service, so severely criticized in other reviews, was instead friendly, attentive, prompt and non-intrusive. Our waitress specifically mentioned the dessert, the key lime cheesecake, and she was right on the money. The restaurant decor was tasteful (the rear section seems more elegant and formal than the front, but both were enjoyable). My only caution was that the menu will dent the credit card in a way one might not expect in Whitby, so only budget reasons will keep us from being regulars. But every other aspect of the experience will ensure we save our money for future visits.

Over priced! Lacks atmosphere, service does the basic of the job but makes no effort beyond that. Time for a career change I think. For those dollars I expect to at least be humoured once in a while. Won't see my hard earned dollars.

Atmosphere is poor and the wait staff is unfriendly. Not rude, but they do not help at all. Laughed at the utter pretentiousness of the place. They were bragging about carrying Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay ($10 at the LCBO) like it was the best thing in the world. Must be because they were charging $45 a bottle. Food was good I will admit but the portions were miniscule. Prices were outrageous. Beer on tap is badly handled. I used to do work with beer taps and distribution and they do not handle the product properly. Many in our party complained that the beer was flat and/or sour. Kinda like the place in general . . .