Truly an icon of Portuguese restaurants in the East Ward. Food is prepared like it is made at home

I am crushed. And thankful my parents have passed because they'd be devastated. Grew up in Westfield and every special dinner (birthdays, first communions, anniversary dinners) were here. I was adopted but my parents were autêntico Portuguese (Almeira and Pinto family lines). What's the issue ... I dunno. Change in ownership, management, kitchen. Place used to be lovely and lively and energy filled. This Tuesday? Empty. Literally. I was the only customer (in fact thought they were closed when I walked up). Beef croquettes were all over the place and hardly authentic. The Caesar dressing was SO lemon heavy as to be inedible. Way too sour and tangy. Dumplings were pasty. My seafood "festival" was uninspired and on the smallish side. Our bartender was sweet but inattentive. Spent most of our meal in her phone or watching the TV. And again: we were the only people in here. I MISS THE NOISE! The energy! The joy! Enrique lit up every time he saw my papa. Now? I walked thru an empty dining area to basically beg for service and to give them my money. A classic. Gone. read more

Not crowded early on a Tuesday night. Service fast and friendly. Menu vast. I had the linguine seafood with tomato sauce special and it was good, and incredibly generous with the seafood. How often do you end up with relatively more seafood than linguini?? Portuguese coffee after dinner. I left content and full. It was a good meal. read more

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It's been a few months since we were here - and boy has it changed! In a seemingly good way from our outsider viewpoint. Although we've eaten in the dining room when we've brought friends and family here, we actually really liked the dive bar, neighborhood, family vibe. We always felt at home when we slid into bar stools and watched the dynamic between father, son, staff and patrons - especially if there was a good game on. Needless to say- we heard that the dad retired but wasn't sure what types of changes to expect. We stopped in for a quick lunch and were blown away by the new rehab job which looks great. The menu looks a little different, (we miss the classic garlic soup) but there were still plenty of choices and everything we ordered was delicious. Staff was young and friendly. We ordered clams, steak, salad and enjoyed a pitcher of sangria. Before we left, a regular patron came in that we recognized. I hope that the neighborhood continues to support them. I wish we had a restaurant like this in our neighborhood, it's a treasure. We'll be back soon with some friends. read more

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02.24.24 The interior design of the bar is stunning!!! It flows seamlessly into the dining area which is a 'sea of white tablecloths'. Even the bartender (Costa) paired well with interior space. He was a slightly older gentleman, salt and pepper hair, clean shaven with a crisp white dress shirt and a black tuxedo vest. I started my lunch with a Super Bock Beer and clams casino (3 stars). I chose the stuffed shrimp on a bed of mash potatoes with carrots an broccoli on the side (3 stars). Overall, I had an enjoyable Saturday afternoon lunch and I will definitely return. S.P. read more

If you know, you know.. really all i can say. Been a staple down neck for a long time, and for good reason. Dont miss out on this gem serving up authentic Portuguese dishes that will certainly not disappoint. I loved the old feel and vibe, both bar and dining area, but they have since renovated. The renovation was superb, and they didnt skip a beat! You wont be disappointed... promise! read more

Absolutely, totally heartbroken after the business was sold. All my favorite dishes, Gone !!!! Giant prawns, Gone!!!! Chicken flanbay, GONE !!! Steak and shrimps, GONE !!! The cozy comfortable atmosphere GONE !!!!! Nothing to come back for anymore. read more

Came by here on a Sat night before my flight from Newark. Extremely fast service. The food was surprisingly good. Prices were reasonable for an upscale place and the service impeccable. There is free parking across from the restaurant so you don't need to go hunting! I would 100% go here again. Everything was delicious. read more

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Disappointed since Enrique the Mgr left. Food is terrible and service was even worse!

The food is hit or miss. Service is very weak. There are better places in Newark. Seafood balls with passion fruit sauce sounded good but the balls were doughy and not much seafood flavor, the passion fruit sauce was way too sour. Shrimp in garlic were ok. Steak app with cheese was confusing. It's not Portuguese, kind of Brazilian but overall confused identity. read more

We had a few family birthdays to celebrate and decided on seafood. A few Yelp research minutes later we settled on coming here and we are SO happy we did. First of all, our waiter, Carlos, was so excellent. He is extremely knowledgeable about the menu, gave great recommendations & was very accommodating, funny & kind. The food was so good I barely took any photos because I wanted to dive in. We had 4 appetizers, 4 entrees & shared between 6 people. My standouts were the PRAWNS, we had no idea they could be that size & the homemade potato chips. It's now noon the next day and I'm still full! We also got 2 pitchers of the red sangria that was perfection. We had 3 desserts (we are Italian and one person claimed the tiramisu cake was the best she ever had) & the specialty coffees - just get them! The Tony Da Caneca coffee is so fantastic! They have a private parking lot, it's close to the highway and we just loved our experience and can't wait to come back. read more

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They need to find there way. Food menu is all over place. Sangria used to be the best now the worse

For over 40 years I have been coming to Tony's, all special events in our family we celebrated at Tony's. Went there this past Friday and oh my what a difference. Bar empty in a Friday night, you had to wait to get a chance to sit at the bar before. Food mediocre, loud music, and all the characters we enjoyed talking to now no longer there. The classy, outstanding magnificent food Tony's was known for is no longer. The place is beautiful, modern, hip, I guess the new owner wants a new generation of customers there. Good luck to you, as for us it's goodbye, our memories there will be happy ones. read more

Ive been living in New Jersey for over 44 years and most major events like birthday, anniversary, college graduation were celebrated at Tony DaCaneca. At least once a month my wife and i would go to the bar side for dinner at one of the few tables. We enjoyed the old world feel, the great old bartender/waiter & the cast of characters that filled the place. The food was delicious, the shrimp in garlic sauce was the best in NJ. The toasted thin slices of bread with balsamic garlic in olive oil was addictive. The broiled seafood platter was fantastic. And for dessert the rice pudding, ahhhh. But all that is now gone. The place is beautiful now, very hip and modern with loud music and a live singer but the charm is gone. The food was mediocre. The shrimp in garlic sauce was not even close to the original. The shrimp were flavorless and were in a paprika and chili watery soup. There was no garlic citrusy vinegary taste of the old recipe. The waiters were nice. And after the meal they gave us a little shot of port. Nice touch. It was a Friday night and the place was empty. 4 tables with patrons. The bar was empty 1 or 2 people. Before this owner took over that bar was standing room only. I wanted so much for our return to Tonys to be great but it was disappointing. Im very sorry for that. We will not be returning. Good luck to the new owner but i think he changed too much too fast. It kind of feels like he is saying i don't want the old crowd. He should have kept the old chef or at least the old recipes. A great classic gone. We will miss it. read more

Seafood tower was absolutely incredible. We could not finish it all. We were well taken care of by the waiter with perfect service.

It was very foolish of me to originally think that this place, when I first heard its name, was an Italian restaurant in the middle of Newark and not Portuguese, which would've made more sense. Regardless, in the middle of "Blizzard" 2015, my fellow coworker and I made it out here, braving the snowy conditions, we parked in the lot across the street, and entered into the staple establishment. First thoughts upon entering - very classic Portuguese; almost old world. The ambiance was inviting, and the smells from the kitchen were intoxicating. I knew there was something amazing in there, but I just didn't know what would end up on my plate. We sat at a table in the corner, since we had the pick of the litter thanks to the weather; it was a great comfy spot. My coworker started us off with an order of clams Tony Da Caneca style, as well as scallops cooked the same way. He had told me that the reason why the clams are so damn good, is that while the clams are still alive, they pull them open, and stuff them with that amazing stuffing, and allow them to cook just like that. It's just such a simple step, but you can appreciate and taste all the juices of the clam when you bite into it. This appetizer alone is an absolute MUST! Do NOT pass on the CLAMS! The scallops were wonderful too, but something stuck to me with those clams....just get them and you try to put into words exactly what I'm trying to do. For dinner, we both asked for the grilled skirt steak (which I couldn't find on the menu) with a side of ride and beans. It was perfectly cooked, and the rice and beans were an excellent combination with it. To top the whole meal off, we asked for their red sangria. Thinking we couldn't leave without dessert, I was strongly encourage to try the serradua (sawdust pudding) which was crushed cookies in a wonderful custard layering. It was addicting, and no, I didn't share. Sit back, eat, listen to the folk music, and respect the clams. read more

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Strong Portuguese joint on the edge of the ironbound. Nice dining room, great service, strong Portuguese wine list and really tasty food. The clams bulhao pato, flambéed sausage and seafood cataplana were standouts, but all the other dishes we tried were tasty too. read more

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Let's start off by saying that my fiance and I walked out of this restaurant completely STUFFED! Their portions are huge... Now, it took a while for them to actually come by our table and start taking orders. They also forgot to bring us appetizers and everything was apparently brought out together along with the main course. BUT, (yes there is a reason why I was not too upset ;) our waiter came by to apologize and to make up for their mistake, we were offered coffee and dessert on the house. =D Ok, now with that said, let me get to the important part : we had the soft shell crabs as appetizers and my fiance LOVED them. I, on the other hand, was not too crazy about them cuz I thought it was just a bit too much garlic. However, our entrees were AMAZING! My fiance had the Chilean Sea Bass and OMG, every bite of fish meat melted in our mouth and there was just enough garlic on this one. I had their traditional specialty: flounder in a casserole, and the sauce was amazing! However, the flounder itself can't compare to sea bass. Anyway, if you are in the area, definitely give this place a try. I plan to go back and try the prawn next time. It looked great on someone else's plate! lol... PS: an interesting thing that they do here is there's a head waiter who goes around and show people samples of their seafood and dessert. No seriously, he holds a tray of seafood (raw): crabs,sea bass, prawns, etc and goes around each table to display what's in stock. And they do the same when it's dessert time...the waiter takes the dessert tray around and displays what kind of desserts they offer (so that you can make out what each of the dessert items on the menu really is prepared/looks like). Neat, no? =) read more

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Great service and delectable food. I had Grilled Squid and Clams. All other meals were prepared well. A definite bookmark for a traditional, consistently experience. read more

Service was excellent and the food as well! The portion sizes were large enough that we could've split an entree. The only problem was I initially wanted to order the rabbit stew and the waiter let me know that they were out of rabbit so I ordered the duck instead. 5 minutes later the waiter came back out to inform me that the duck he had was still thawing and not ready to be prepared. We did arrive rather early in the day and the seafood dish I ordered was great, however, I left wondering how that rabbit stew would've been! read more

Another mostly excellent Christmas dinner here. Everything was great with the exception of the grilled squid entree. It had a gritty( sandy) thing going on. I've never seen sandy calamari before. Not a dealbreaker as it was taken off the bill. I'll be back! read more

I had Schrimp Creole, but I was shocked the shrimp were not cleaned. The dirty intestinal vein was still attached. This restaurant thinks it's O.K. for their guests to eat shrimp with the intestines not cleaned out. I've eaten shrimp for years, and this is the first time I was ever served a shrimp dish where the shrimp was not cleaned. Chinese restuarants serve cleaned shrimp. Italian restaurants serve cleaned shrimp. Diners serve cleaned shrimp. Supermarkets sell cleaned shrimp. I wanted to send it back, but I was with someone whose family eats there on special occasions, and I didn't want to embarrass him, so I cut open each shrimp, cleaned out the dark intestinal vein, and ate the part I cleaned off with my knife and fork. Yes, the service was very good, but this main dish was disgusting. I wouldn't go back. read more

Next time the narcissistic bartender (Phil) offers you or your party a free drink, be ready for an insult. When I told him that it wasn't nice to hear, he said "I say what other people think". He then went on to comment about the Olympic Games in Japan and how "we bombed the shit out of them." Classy. Another case of a big fish in a small pond. read more

Paella, seafood, sangria, flan, all fine....Nice weekday night out ! The service was A+. Friendly setting, we sat in bar area but still white cloth. Ample dining area as well. Will return. read more

Consistently great service and food. They are currently updating the restaurant and it looks beautiful

I cant claim to be an authority on the Ironbound district by any means, and in fact my experiences here are pretty minimal. I have no reservations however in declaring this place not just an Ironbound intuition but no less than an American one as well. This is at least as far as the homey bar room area is concerned. I cant speak for the white table clothe dining area that takes up the glut of the square footage, other than to say that it harkened back to a simpler, earlier time in a lovely yet heartbreaking way when I walked thru it the first time I visited after being (correctly) directed to said barroom area. Oh that barroom!!.. Dark wood surrounds classic 20th century folk-art murals of dreamscapes of fantasy nautical Portuguese settings. The TV will be on, hopefully sports rather than news, it should stay out there, in the present, not here in the chrome-filtered old neighborhood of yesterday. What a dazzling panoramic cross-section of this distinct corner of America, Newark-style on display. It seems so so wrong to order anything non-Portuguese here but those pizzas and penne vodkas and burgers you spot the regulars having look pretty damn good in spite of that. Nevertheless you obviously should order the Portuguese items, likely starting with the clams in green sauce. From there you can move on to more clams this time with the classic Portuguese pairing of succulent chunks of well cooked pork and crispy potatoes all bathed in the traditional and exceedingly delicious "alentejana" sauce. That same sauce seems to bless many other traditional dishes including the wonderful rabbit stew. These dishes and many more are all included on the insanely low priced "businessman's lunch" menu during the day. Pair these with a glass (or few) of some of the likewise insanely bargain-pried yet excellent sections of fine Portuguese wines offered by the glass for 5 bucks a pop and you will eat like the proverbial king on the budget of a Newark pauper (which would obviously be even more broke than the average pauper). The barroom is a wonderful throwback in every possible way. Best of all is the service, on each occasion I had the pleasure of being served by a old-school bartender of the highest order. His rapport with the many regulars and attention to the importance of the mostly forgotten tradition of the buy-back only solidified my love for this place and brought a tear to my eye thinking of how little time we now have left to live in a world where establishments like this exist. read more

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Not bad , very nice spot with great food . Wine selection is amazing . During lunch you can have an amazing buffet . read more

Review strictly of the bar/small dining area: The waiter was super attentive and made sure we were taken care of on a busy football Sunday night. We didnt have to ask for a thing as he already had it coming. Next round, water, bread... All done. Garlic shrimp. Steak sandwich. All amazing! I'll be back for a different variety of food. and update my review. read more

I don't give 5 stars very often, but this is one of the best Portuguese restaurants in Newark's Ironbound section. I haven't been back here in 8 years because I don't work in the area anymore, but had an excuse to go yesterday when we had an event at NJPAC. We had a fantastic lunch. Among us we had the broiled Lamb Chops, Pork Chops, Mariscada in Green Sauce, Veal Madelena and Grilled Squid & Clams. Everything was very well prepared for an incredible price. The most expensive lunch entree was $16 which included soup also! For dessert, the Almond Cream Cake is to die for. This is a white napkin and tablecloth restaurant, but very affordable like most places in the Ironbound and the service is great. A drawback is that it is hard to find set way back in a residential area, but they have free parking in the lot across the street, though street parking isn't hard to find. Great for parties as well because there was a christening party in the other room and service was never lacking. Thursdays for lunch is a good time also because they put out a great buffet spread. read more

Visited last Friday night with two friends. The place offers parking at a lot across the street. The food is good, quite, classy place. You can dress up or down. My favorite was the warm bread with olive oil mix. We ordered salmon, and paella and it was all delicious. Dessert was also very good. read more

5 minutes from the airport hotels and phenomenal food & service. Sitting in a residential Ironbound neighborhood Tony's has white tablecloths, Chrystal and excellent service in a quiet restaurant. Casual attire acceptable, the real star is the food. The menu covers both seafood and meats in true Portuguese recipes. The mariscada mixed seafood in green salsa (butter, herbs and sherry) is amazingly good . I had the baked scallops a la Tony appetizer which was equally great and unique with a whole small lobster, 2 stone crab claws, mussels and tons of shrimp This is a real find and one I will come back to every trip I make to Newark! read more

Tony Da Caneca - Mariscada en Salsa Verde - Portuguese Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Food was delicious and the service was excellent! Vegetarian paella is vegan and very tasty.

Great place to bring the family. Great service and banging sangria. A bit pricey but the food is worth the money.

I am the son of Tony Da Caneca Chef Jose Dantas Fernandes! My Father is a legend in Portugal and in the USA for being a great companion and a great cook (Chef is a title!)! read more

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Finally came back after years away . Great veal as usual . Steaks on point . Great service from costa and phil at the bar . This place is an Ironbound legend . read more

I have so many good things to say about my first experience at Tony Da Caneca. When Fernandes couldn't accommodate our party of 10, we changed our dinner plans to Tony Da Caneca's and it was the BEST. Great atmosphere (we were super impressed). Their seafood and meats were fresh and tasty. The presentation was amazing with skewers of flaming meats (just wow)! Their specials were delectable and the prices were so reasonable. I have an onion allergy and they actually made me a special Paella without onions just for ME (it was so good)! The Sangria was great. We ordered pitchers of the red sangria and the white sangria and they are both excellent. Their special coffees and desserts were amazing. Everyone in our party had such a great time and we enjoyed everything. The bill was so reasonable, too. Great atmosphere, great food, great service, great prices and free parking. The staff went above and beyond, too. I lost my cell phone so Phil and the staff searched high and low for it and Phil even came out to my car where he found it in-between my seats!! I hugged Phil because I was so overjoyed. He was very kind and helpful. This is such a great restaurant with the best people working there. I will be a customer for life and highly recommend Tony Da Caneca to everyone. You will absolutely fall in love with this place. read more

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This was one of the few places my father felt at home after moving from Fall River, MA where there were lots of Azorean restaurants.

Worst food poisoning of my life. Went to Newark for the first time to visit the Portuguese markets. Found this place on yelp and the seafood looked good. Little did I know that a few hours later I'd be puking my brains out. Got the seafood dish with lobster, clams, muscles, shrimp and scallops. I didn't eat any closed shellfish either. Had the baked scallops as an app and the dessert was the thing with "saw dust", aka cookie crumbles. Dessert was great. Everything else was meh. I would not recommend. I spent NYE in bed sweating and throwing up their BS food. ‍ read more

One of my absolutely favorite places to eat while either going to NYC, NY Yankees game or NY Giant's game. I have to thank Kevin P Leddy for introducing my son and I to this wonderful cuisine!!! Born and raised in Central New York, this was totally different from Central New York. My parent's visited; I took them there, they loved the food. I'm approximately 175 miles north, but will be coming back. read more

Came on a Sunday noon on my way to the airport to grab a quick lunch. The place was empty at first, but I guess people start rolling in after church around this area. Service is top notch and all the waiters are really attentive and welcoming. Great for small to big groups. Phenomenal house bread and the garlic infused olive oil for dipping. I ordered the fresh grilled squid and literally got a plate full of squid. It was absolutely amazing! The pork chop was also great. read more