Caneda’s White Rooster

Reviews

• Jason A.

  star star star star star_border 18 July 2026

  My family and I have eaten here.  Being of Cuban descent, I (we) were very hesitant to eat here. As it's never like your grandmother's cooking. I can agree that the service could have been better, nonetheless the food was good. Reading most of the posts leads me to believe that what people don't know will always have poor reviews. Bringing a Cuban restuarant in Tom's River is going to be tough to sell, specially when the folks are so use to the typical Lobster Shanty or Wharf Side. ( I lived there, so hold your comments). I recently made reservations for a table of 11 for this Saturday the 19th. I'm truly interested to see what Ramsey brought to the table. ( He's full of ) Just a word of advice to the impatient folks. Waiting 30 minutes for dinner is common. Specially when it comes to authentic food. Enjoy your appetizer, your beverage and the company your with and the food will come. If your looking to eat and run, then you should go to Xina, where they just rush you out. I was more upset of the pre-made Sangria. Once it arrived, the ice was already melted and sangria was watered down. Making real Sangria (not premix) from scratch, is very easy. Red Wine, 7up, Brandy, orange juice and a ton of fruit cut up. Even better made the night before. Look for my review after our visit this Saturday or join us so we can teach what you don't know.
  
  Very sad to see what Chef Ramsey did to this restaurant. When I visited this place in July, it was packed. My recent visit, place was empty with just three tables filled. The party and myself felt very bad to leave the establishment, however, 9 grown men need to eat.I didn't see anything that needed to be changed on the menu. I think the staff waiting on the tables needed to be addressed. Hopefully @Caneda's White Rooster can recover.

• Kristina P.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 14 July 2026

  I really wanted to love it here as Toms River is in desperate need for something other than Pizza and Chinese food.
  
  I came on Father's day and was delighted to find out the Groupon would be accepted even tho it was a holiday! When we arrived there were about 5 other tables and appeared to be only two waitresses, one of them being the hostess. I chose this restaurant because my father loves Ropa Vieja and we didn't want to drive all the way to Freehold. I was disappointed to find out you couldn't order dishes from the dinner menu, which is where Ropa Vieja was listed.   Also, could have sworn there was something mentioned on Facebook about a special Father's Day surf and turf menu... There was no signs of that anywhere and our waitress didn't bring it up. We waited a good 15 minutes before the waitress took our order, the wait for the food was over a half an hour! My brother and father both ordered the Cuban Sandwich. They both had the same "Meh" reaction and were underwhelmed. I ordered the Shrimp and Grits, which at $16.99 was waaaay overpriced considering you only receive 4 shrimp! The dish was lacking flavor, even with the big cloves of garlic that were in the mix.
  
  Before our meal came out I had ordered a Cafe Cubano which arrived at the table lukewarm and again, bland. The couple next to us raved about the Havana Brew coffee so I ordered one at the end of our meal and I must say, that was absolutely delicious!
  
  If it weren't for the Groupon I would have definitely been more disappointed. Like I said, I reallllly wanted to love it here - especially because the owner seems to be so ambitious and is a sweetheart on facebook - but it just missed the mark for my family.  I would consider giving them another try to try out the empanadas, but only if there was a Groupon involved. :/

• Tina T.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 12 July 2026

  Service below average to say the least.
  The food, steak was over cooked outside felt like rubber, no salt and covered with their green sauce!  (Why not put it on the side??)
  
  The ribs were drowning in sauce, again hard on the outside.
  
  The plates went back full and the bus boy, took our plates, asked if we wanted it to go, we said NO! They never asked how was your meal?
  
  Waitress never asked how we liked everything.
  
  They had tons of staff doing nothing.
  
  We had to ask for water, they placed the bottle on the table, never even poured the water into our cups.
  
  I agree with other reviews, beans and rice should not be poured on top of the rice. Keep separate.
  Owner responded on another review, that's how they serve it, (how do we know?)
  The amount of rice was way too much.
  My husbands family owned a restaurant for 15 years, I have never written a negative review like this for any restaurant. Really Disappointed.

• Ks B.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 1 July 2026

  I had recently been to the White rooster after Gordon Ramsay left he did read decorate, The place is looking very authentic. However The food is just OK at best
  The short ribs look like dog shit on a plate! The presentation is awful. It needed salt. There were only four things on the menu. very limited bar. I have more liquor at my house, for guests!
  The bartender has zero personality. Took over one hour for my food. You can see the training of the staff was minimal.
  This woman used to own the empanada restaurant down the street She should stick to that. if she's not going to improve , She's definitely not going to  make it here.

• Ryan H.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 29 June 2026

  Im from Miami,this is not a cuban restaurant at all. Cubans are a warm loving people. The family that owns this place are just rude and lazy. The funny thing is they know their awful so the beg gordon ramsey to come save them. Sorry no one can help you,its your food its just awful and the kitchen is very unsanitary but we will see that on tv.