Hot Rocks Creative Diner — Restaurant in Whitby

My partner and I came here without a reservation but the staff worked hard to fit us in. BOOK A TABLE, this place is always busy and goes by reservations. They'll fit you in if they can but no promises (5/5 for effort and professionalism).

The drinks are professional quality. We had the HR Cosmo and Autumn Mule. The mule was delicious, sweet and full of cinnamon. It's a great fall and winter drink (5/5). The HR Cosmo is more bitter than one would expect and the garnishing is definitely not edible (4/5).

I had the Chicken, Sausage, shrimp and my partner had the Spicy Cajun pizza. The pasta was a perfect balance of creamy sauce, acidic sundried tomatoes, and amazing portions of all 3 meats (5/5 perfect pasta). The pizza is surprisingly good with ingredients that you wouldn't expect to work together. The mandarin and sweet potato adds a nice sweetness, the chicken is spicy and savory, and the aioli cools down the heat and adds a zest (5/5 happy surprise).

The atmosphere is nice and classy which makes it a great place to reserve a spot for a romantic and intimate meal. However, on the note of intimacy it is a little too intimate. You do tend to sit fairly close to other tables so everyone can hear mostly anything. Hot Rocks could use a bigger location as I'm sure it would pay for itself (4.5/5 a little too close to other groups).

Final note: The staff are amazing. The waitresses are extremely nice and professional. I made note of the fact that they would step aside with their back to the wall to let you pass and they would thank you for eating there as you pass them, very nice touch. This is a highly professional restaurant with very creative food and drinks....

I have rated 5 stars because honestly I really love this place and I don't want to discourage people from coming or bringing the score down but I have some feedback I want to share. We booked a table July 8th for my fiances birthday and it wasn't as great an experience as we hoped for or like we have had in the past. We really talked this place up to the people in our group who had never been but I think their expectations were so high it was a bit of a let down.

First of all, it took AGES for anyone to even really acknowledge us or ask if we wanted something to drink which was frustrating. We just sat there for a very long time waiting awkwardly for someone to greet us.

Somebody in our group ordered the lobster pasta ravioli, which they were not all that impressed by, also it was hardly warm, almost cold when it reached our table, and in fact most of our dishes were not hot at all. Soup was barely warm!

I also got a pizza with blue cheese, requested extra Blue Cheese and what I received I could barely see any blue cheese at all.

At the end of the meal we also sat annoyingly for a very long time waiting to pay and leave. It had to of been a solid 15 minutes we just sat and waited. I am pretty sure we had to ask someone to bring the bill and wait some more.

The bill at the end of the meal was over $200 I'm pretty sure but our experience almost didn't feel worth it.

I just wish it had been a better experience for that cost, especially on a birthday...

I drove here from Brampton via hwy 407 to meet a friend from Port Hope. That's about 1 hr drive for each of us on a Friday. Approx $30 in tolls for me to get there by 5:30pm and probably $20 in tolls to get home after rush hour. $50 round trip to meet my friend who I only see a few times per year. I normally wouldn't think twice about the toll charge, but I couldn't help but factor it in to this bad experience. The food was fine, not great. But the service.... the service was great until it was terrible. Our blond server was great. My friend and I were still eating when a brunette woman came by and said "We have a reservation coming in 10 minutes." (What does that have to do with us?) I said: "Are you saying you need our table?" She didn't say 'yes', but just repeated "We have a reservation coming in 10 minutes." (Yeah, we heard you the first time. Again, how's that our problem?) So I said: "No one gave us a time limit." She didn't say anything or give us any explanation. It does not say on the website, or in the online reservation app that there is a time limit. The person who greeted and seated us didn't tell us, our blond server didn't tell us and it's not written on the menu. What a rude way to ruin our experience. We just wanted to relax and catch up on a Friday evening. We ended up paying our bill, leaving and spending another hour at the much more pleasant Coffee Culture around the corner. Hot Rocks:...