Fun, energetic, friendly, drinking & dancing spot. Ask for Kenny....with live music this place is awesome.
lynnewZ767AV
Went here on the 4th of July for brunch with family. The minute we walked in there was confusion over where we would be seated, even though we had a reservation. Took 5 - 10minutes to finally get seated. There was no crowd, tons of open tables, just a lot of confusion. We placed our order and waited a while for our food to arrive. Some people ordered the lobster eggs benedict and the steak breakfast burritos. When they brought out our order, one person's food was not "ready". This person had ordered the Wethersfield which is simple eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. He also asked for a side of toast. 5-10 minutes after everyone had started eating, his eggs, bacon, and sausage finally came out. We asked about the toast and pancakes and were told they were coming. The rest of the people at the table were almost finished with their meals when the pancakes and toast finally showed up. By that time, the rest of the meal was cold. He sent the order back and a few seconds later, the waitress tried to bring it all back. He told her he no longer wanted his meal and she gave us a look. I explained that his meal came out late and got cold while he was waiting for the toast and pancakes so he didn't want it anymore. Then she gave me a look and took it away. The waitress came out and apologized for the situation, but that was it. No manager ever came out to see what the problem was. We let them know that we did not want to be charged for a meal that was prepared at two different times. The food that was eaten was good, but the service and wait staff are completely mismanaged. If they want to stay in business, they should start putting more time into training their staff. We had heard good things about this place, but after this whole fiasco, we will not go back.
susansU8547OD
Waited for a table any table inside or out though we had a reservation. Waited in the Bar ordered A glass of wine and a non alcohol beer(as we had done before at this restaurant) . They told us they do not stock "non alchol beer". We asked for a ginger ale the waitress said she would see if they had that?. 30 min later we were seated though we had no drinks yet? We were 2 ft from the bar? We took our seats, told the waitress we had ordred drinks in the bar and the name of the person we ordered from. Drinks came 15 later. Ordered food. Food came 45 minutes later. Asked fro Bread was told their was a 30 minute wait for bread? My husband made a face the waiteress miraculously found some bread. When ordering my husband asked for Tabassco, the waitress advised against it for his dish which was already suppose to be spicey. Our meal arrived, his dish was not spiced at all? I had Salad which I had had the last time I was there with Salmon but the plater was much smaller than it was the last time I had which was last November. I know its early so I wish to giv e them a chance but I also have a few other stories. We were told that you do not stock non alcohol beer because it goes bad? I do not think that is true. I would rather have been told you do not choose to stock it. Pretty much every bar in america at least has St. Pauley girl? Now there are several other brands that are popular one brewed in ct is Athletica. I think you need to get with the times. Your hostess staff needs more supervison. Spent 30 minutes another time waiting for hostess to come back to the phone. This dinner was our 31st wedding anniversary. We will not return anytime soon.
Andres C
We visited the restaurant for breakfast/brunch yesterday. We had a reservation and were seated quickly. The outdoor seating is great with a nice view of the river. The menu had many options along with soft drinks and spiked brunch drinks. We all chose the Glastonbury which consisted of eggs, two pieces on bacon, two pieces of sausage, and a large waffle. The food was above average for breakfast, but still your basics. I was happy the eggs were real eggs instead of the normal boxed eggs you get at most breakfast places. The bacon and sausage were also good; not too greasy and the bacon was perfectly crunchy without being burnt. The waffle was pretty dry and a little over cooked. The service was subpar. Everyone at the table asked for scrambled eggs except one person who ordered it omelette style and they gave everyone omelette style eggs. They also gave one person only one sausage instead of the two that it comes with. They also didn’t drop off any syrup until we asked and didn’t bring someone’s coffee until asked a second time. There’s definitely a few places they can improve, but I’d return at least for breakfast and the view.
Navigator785963
My husband and I tried The River for the first time last Saturday night. We had a 7:45 reservation and were seated right away. The first thing we noticed was how loud it is. The woman who seated us asked if we had been here before, and then explained there is a time limit of 1.5 hours per table. ( I had read that prior)Ten minutes later our waitress came to take our drink order. It was another 20 minutes before it came. The waitress named "A" was nice, but we did not feel that we were given any attention above ordering and a final thank you. We knew things weren't going well in the kitchen when there were shouts of hooray when someone else received their meal after a long, long while. The owner came by at 8:45 to tell us that they were short 2 people in the kitchen. Nice to let us know. Finally at 9:30 our dinners arrived. "A" told us at 8:45 that our food was almost here! Ha ha! Such a disappointment when my seafood linguine arrived and every piece of fish was like rubber. My husband saw the look on my face and he apologized to me. It was my 60th birthday and he wanted it to be special. It turned out to be memorable alright! We left after dessert which was good. Funny thing while we were in the parking lot leaving, there were groups of people talking about the experiences they had had, and they were all similar to ours. I should have gone to our old fish house standby, Elmos Dockside, in Manchester. Never had an overcooked fish dinner there. So, technically we should have left our table by 9:15 according to their timeline, but the dinner was served at 9:30. We won't be back.
judybeans
I was here before and during COVID. It was better before COVID. River is trying to be all things for all people and is falling short. The limited menu attempts to split between pub food and fine dining. Example. Seafood choices. Salmon. Swordfish. Fish and chips. Lobster roll. Out of blue cheese dressing. Almost done with dinner when Guinness arrived. Put creme de menth in the Irish coffee instead of on the whipped cream. Best for drinks snacks and viewing water.
alexmJ9470RY
The first time I went to River, a few years ago, I remember as a fantastic experience. We sat outside, and enjoyed amazing food and views. This time it wasn't that. We were told that a party of 6 can't be seated outside, maximum 4 outside. I'm super empathetic to the service industry these days, as they try to get back to somewhat normal, so we were not put off by that at all. And we were understanding of a slow service, it was obvious they were a bit short staffed. The owner came by to check in on us. The food was Ok. The thick-cut maple glazed bacon we wanted to start with was all out (it was a Friday night). We did a charcuterie board, nice spread. I ended up going big (or so I thought) for dinner, getting surf and turf from the specials menu, for $42. As you can see on the photo below, portions were small. But I guess that left room for dessert huh? Which I definitely enjoyed, tiramisu. Overall, for the money you're spending there, it didn't blow us away (like first time), but also didn't turn us away from it completely. I'll be back at some point, with less than 6 people, to enjoy the outside seating.
virginiae601
My book club (party of 6) met at River yesterday for Sunday brunch. The atmosphere was pleasant. It was a rainy day, so were unable to enjoy dining outdoors. The food was very good, especially the salmon burger and the frittata. We were able to have our book discussion without feeling rushed. Justina, our waitress, was excellent. Will definitely be back.
JenPW20
I’m revising my review because my first score didn’t reflect our experience. The entire experience was average. I didn’t care for my meal. Antipasto salad had little ingredients and a lot of lettuce with too much dressing. Vegetable ravioli had small bites of vegetables and the ravioli had a small amount of filling with a lot of sauce. Trying to save my experience I then ordered the NY cheesecake which I couldn’t eat, my husband had some, it was very dry and didn’t come with any fruit topping. My husband did say his lobster roll was good but a little small. Calamari appetizer was good but way too small. Server was very sweet and was working hard, all staff was friendly.
Tom F
We went to River for the first time and ended up having a terrible experience. The service was extremely slow. Our 1st course (which was awful) came before our cocktails. When I voiced my concern about the food and the service, the manager came to the table. She proceeded to be defensive and argumentative. We ended up leaving at that point. By the way, it's April - get rid of the Christmas arrangements on the deck! Signs of poor management everywhere!!!!
Hadn’t been since covid, glad we went, heaters on covered deck overlooking the river- great flatbread choices, happy hour starts at 3, will be back soon.
richard b
What a total disappointment on Easter Sunday...Went here 1st time in November. . Food and service was great, . Bill around $150.00 Beyond bad this time out. We had called twice to make sure the regular menu was also in effect in addition to the Easter menu. Twice we were told yes. We wanted to make sure before we drove 157 miles. Upon arriving, we were informed that the regular menu was not available. Told the manager we were very unhappy, had come up especially to go to River for both Easter and my wife's birthday. We decided to order off the brunch menu for appetizers. None of the items we loved were on the menu. We then planned to order the leg of lamb Easter specials as our entrees. The order came out after about 20 minutes. My wife had asked the waitress in advance if what she wanted was spicy, she can't tolerate spicy food. She said no. I ordered the eggs, sausage, waffle and potatoes. When I tried the food, it was very cold. For more than 10 minutes we tried to get our waitress who wasn't in the area. We asked a waitstaff person to get her, he never came back, finally we spotted him and he brought Michelle, the manager over. If there was ever a person unsuited for customer service, Michelle is its embodiment. Instead of addressing that my wife couldn't eat hers, she referred to the menu and said it was explained there, where they used the word "zesty" Yes, but zesty can mean many things, that's why we asked the waitress. She had no comment on the cold food. She did reference to us that their website had listed there would be an Easter menu (When we first called, nothing was up on the website, that's why we called to make sure it would also have the regular menu.) We weren't going to drive 2 1/2 hours to have eggs or items we might not want. Michelle was totally blase, we figured if the first round food and service was this bad, we would leave and try to find another place to eat last minute. Most managers would have done something, anything, to keep an obviously unhappy repeat customer. Michelle's answer was "I'll bring you the check.", even though we hadn't eaten anything. We come to Hartford 4-6 times a year now from Long Island. River would have been a regular stop, but there is no chance of us returning and running into Michelle again.
Giannina S
Food was good, but not amazing nor worth price tag in my opinion perhaps bc as others have shared the service was poor. The hostesses weren’t particularly welcoming. We had tacos, mahi mahi, short ribs, and calamari, and again, the meals per ce weren’t bad. Our waitress came across as either inexperienced or uninterested in doing her job. I asked for tartar sauce for the calamari. She informed me that they only had red sauce, yet my husband’s fish and chips came with tartar sauce, so clearly the kitchen had it. She forgot multiple items, we had to ask multiple times when she could be seen, she brought coffee without spoons, didn’t check on us throughout the meal, and unfortunately, the list of goes on. The manager came by the table, and we were so aggravated by then that we just wanted to get out of there!
ajmineola
An elegant but casual waterfront restaurant and bar. Spacious and exceptionally clean offering both indoor and outside riverfront seating for pleasantly calm views overlooking the Putnam Bridge and Connecticut River. Menu offers wide range of selections and all made on the premises and deliciously fresh and abundant amounts yet very reasonably priced. The staff were exceptionally pleasant and helpful. Overall enjoyable relaxing atmosphere. Well worth the trip.
corduroykid
Our first two times, pre COVID-19, were a bit spotty. This time was great across all three axis of a restaurant: ambiance (now safety), food and, service. All three were superior. The calamari was very fresh and properly breaded. The Caesar salad was a bit overdressed for my taste but very on point for flavor. Crab cakes were also well prepared and with no filler. So a clear winner.
Fun, energetic, friendly, drinking & dancing spot. Ask for Kenny....with live music this place is awesome.
Went here on the 4th of July for brunch with family. The minute we walked in there was confusion over where we would be seated, even though we had a reservation. Took 5 - 10minutes to finally get seated. There was no crowd, tons of open tables, just a lot of confusion. We placed our order and waited a while for our food to arrive. Some people ordered the lobster eggs benedict and the steak breakfast burritos. When they brought out our order, one person's food was not "ready". This person had ordered the Wethersfield which is simple eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. He also asked for a side of toast. 5-10 minutes after everyone had started eating, his eggs, bacon, and sausage finally came out. We asked about the toast and pancakes and were told they were coming. The rest of the people at the table were almost finished with their meals when the pancakes and toast finally showed up. By that time, the rest of the meal was cold. He sent the order back and a few seconds later, the waitress tried to bring it all back. He told her he no longer wanted his meal and she gave us a look. I explained that his meal came out late and got cold while he was waiting for the toast and pancakes so he didn't want it anymore. Then she gave me a look and took it away. The waitress came out and apologized for the situation, but that was it. No manager ever came out to see what the problem was. We let them know that we did not want to be charged for a meal that was prepared at two different times. The food that was eaten was good, but the service and wait staff are completely mismanaged. If they want to stay in business, they should start putting more time into training their staff. We had heard good things about this place, but after this whole fiasco, we will not go back.
Waited for a table any table inside or out though we had a reservation. Waited in the Bar ordered A glass of wine and a non alcohol beer(as we had done before at this restaurant) . They told us they do not stock "non alchol beer". We asked for a ginger ale the waitress said she would see if they had that?. 30 min later we were seated though we had no drinks yet? We were 2 ft from the bar? We took our seats, told the waitress we had ordred drinks in the bar and the name of the person we ordered from. Drinks came 15 later. Ordered food. Food came 45 minutes later. Asked fro Bread was told their was a 30 minute wait for bread? My husband made a face the waiteress miraculously found some bread. When ordering my husband asked for Tabassco, the waitress advised against it for his dish which was already suppose to be spicey. Our meal arrived, his dish was not spiced at all? I had Salad which I had had the last time I was there with Salmon but the plater was much smaller than it was the last time I had which was last November. I know its early so I wish to giv e them a chance but I also have a few other stories. We were told that you do not stock non alcohol beer because it goes bad? I do not think that is true. I would rather have been told you do not choose to stock it. Pretty much every bar in america at least has St. Pauley girl? Now there are several other brands that are popular one brewed in ct is Athletica. I think you need to get with the times. Your hostess staff needs more supervison. Spent 30 minutes another time waiting for hostess to come back to the phone. This dinner was our 31st wedding anniversary. We will not return anytime soon.
We visited the restaurant for breakfast/brunch yesterday. We had a reservation and were seated quickly. The outdoor seating is great with a nice view of the river. The menu had many options along with soft drinks and spiked brunch drinks. We all chose the Glastonbury which consisted of eggs, two pieces on bacon, two pieces of sausage, and a large waffle. The food was above average for breakfast, but still your basics. I was happy the eggs were real eggs instead of the normal boxed eggs you get at most breakfast places. The bacon and sausage were also good; not too greasy and the bacon was perfectly crunchy without being burnt. The waffle was pretty dry and a little over cooked. The service was subpar. Everyone at the table asked for scrambled eggs except one person who ordered it omelette style and they gave everyone omelette style eggs. They also gave one person only one sausage instead of the two that it comes with. They also didn’t drop off any syrup until we asked and didn’t bring someone’s coffee until asked a second time. There’s definitely a few places they can improve, but I’d return at least for breakfast and the view.
My husband and I tried The River for the first time last Saturday night. We had a 7:45 reservation and were seated right away. The first thing we noticed was how loud it is. The woman who seated us asked if we had been here before, and then explained there is a time limit of 1.5 hours per table. ( I had read that prior)Ten minutes later our waitress came to take our drink order. It was another 20 minutes before it came. The waitress named "A" was nice, but we did not feel that we were given any attention above ordering and a final thank you. We knew things weren't going well in the kitchen when there were shouts of hooray when someone else received their meal after a long, long while. The owner came by at 8:45 to tell us that they were short 2 people in the kitchen. Nice to let us know. Finally at 9:30 our dinners arrived. "A" told us at 8:45 that our food was almost here! Ha ha! Such a disappointment when my seafood linguine arrived and every piece of fish was like rubber. My husband saw the look on my face and he apologized to me. It was my 60th birthday and he wanted it to be special. It turned out to be memorable alright! We left after dessert which was good. Funny thing while we were in the parking lot leaving, there were groups of people talking about the experiences they had had, and they were all similar to ours. I should have gone to our old fish house standby, Elmos Dockside, in Manchester. Never had an overcooked fish dinner there. So, technically we should have left our table by 9:15 according to their timeline, but the dinner was served at 9:30. We won't be back.
I was here before and during COVID. It was better before COVID. River is trying to be all things for all people and is falling short. The limited menu attempts to split between pub food and fine dining. Example. Seafood choices. Salmon. Swordfish. Fish and chips. Lobster roll. Out of blue cheese dressing. Almost done with dinner when Guinness arrived. Put creme de menth in the Irish coffee instead of on the whipped cream. Best for drinks snacks and viewing water.
The first time I went to River, a few years ago, I remember as a fantastic experience. We sat outside, and enjoyed amazing food and views. This time it wasn't that. We were told that a party of 6 can't be seated outside, maximum 4 outside. I'm super empathetic to the service industry these days, as they try to get back to somewhat normal, so we were not put off by that at all. And we were understanding of a slow service, it was obvious they were a bit short staffed. The owner came by to check in on us. The food was Ok. The thick-cut maple glazed bacon we wanted to start with was all out (it was a Friday night). We did a charcuterie board, nice spread. I ended up going big (or so I thought) for dinner, getting surf and turf from the specials menu, for $42. As you can see on the photo below, portions were small. But I guess that left room for dessert huh? Which I definitely enjoyed, tiramisu. Overall, for the money you're spending there, it didn't blow us away (like first time), but also didn't turn us away from it completely. I'll be back at some point, with less than 6 people, to enjoy the outside seating.
My book club (party of 6) met at River yesterday for Sunday brunch. The atmosphere was pleasant. It was a rainy day, so were unable to enjoy dining outdoors. The food was very good, especially the salmon burger and the frittata. We were able to have our book discussion without feeling rushed. Justina, our waitress, was excellent. Will definitely be back.
I’m revising my review because my first score didn’t reflect our experience. The entire experience was average. I didn’t care for my meal. Antipasto salad had little ingredients and a lot of lettuce with too much dressing. Vegetable ravioli had small bites of vegetables and the ravioli had a small amount of filling with a lot of sauce. Trying to save my experience I then ordered the NY cheesecake which I couldn’t eat, my husband had some, it was very dry and didn’t come with any fruit topping. My husband did say his lobster roll was good but a little small. Calamari appetizer was good but way too small. Server was very sweet and was working hard, all staff was friendly.
We went to River for the first time and ended up having a terrible experience. The service was extremely slow. Our 1st course (which was awful) came before our cocktails. When I voiced my concern about the food and the service, the manager came to the table. She proceeded to be defensive and argumentative. We ended up leaving at that point. By the way, it's April - get rid of the Christmas arrangements on the deck! Signs of poor management everywhere!!!!
Restaurantji Recommends
Hadn’t been since covid, glad we went, heaters on covered deck overlooking the river- great flatbread choices, happy hour starts at 3, will be back soon.
What a total disappointment on Easter Sunday...Went here 1st time in November. . Food and service was great, . Bill around $150.00 Beyond bad this time out. We had called twice to make sure the regular menu was also in effect in addition to the Easter menu. Twice we were told yes. We wanted to make sure before we drove 157 miles. Upon arriving, we were informed that the regular menu was not available. Told the manager we were very unhappy, had come up especially to go to River for both Easter and my wife's birthday. We decided to order off the brunch menu for appetizers. None of the items we loved were on the menu. We then planned to order the leg of lamb Easter specials as our entrees. The order came out after about 20 minutes. My wife had asked the waitress in advance if what she wanted was spicy, she can't tolerate spicy food. She said no. I ordered the eggs, sausage, waffle and potatoes. When I tried the food, it was very cold. For more than 10 minutes we tried to get our waitress who wasn't in the area. We asked a waitstaff person to get her, he never came back, finally we spotted him and he brought Michelle, the manager over. If there was ever a person unsuited for customer service, Michelle is its embodiment. Instead of addressing that my wife couldn't eat hers, she referred to the menu and said it was explained there, where they used the word "zesty" Yes, but zesty can mean many things, that's why we asked the waitress. She had no comment on the cold food. She did reference to us that their website had listed there would be an Easter menu (When we first called, nothing was up on the website, that's why we called to make sure it would also have the regular menu.) We weren't going to drive 2 1/2 hours to have eggs or items we might not want. Michelle was totally blase, we figured if the first round food and service was this bad, we would leave and try to find another place to eat last minute. Most managers would have done something, anything, to keep an obviously unhappy repeat customer. Michelle's answer was "I'll bring you the check.", even though we hadn't eaten anything. We come to Hartford 4-6 times a year now from Long Island. River would have been a regular stop, but there is no chance of us returning and running into Michelle again.
Food was good, but not amazing nor worth price tag in my opinion perhaps bc as others have shared the service was poor. The hostesses weren’t particularly welcoming. We had tacos, mahi mahi, short ribs, and calamari, and again, the meals per ce weren’t bad. Our waitress came across as either inexperienced or uninterested in doing her job. I asked for tartar sauce for the calamari. She informed me that they only had red sauce, yet my husband’s fish and chips came with tartar sauce, so clearly the kitchen had it. She forgot multiple items, we had to ask multiple times when she could be seen, she brought coffee without spoons, didn’t check on us throughout the meal, and unfortunately, the list of goes on. The manager came by the table, and we were so aggravated by then that we just wanted to get out of there!
An elegant but casual waterfront restaurant and bar. Spacious and exceptionally clean offering both indoor and outside riverfront seating for pleasantly calm views overlooking the Putnam Bridge and Connecticut River. Menu offers wide range of selections and all made on the premises and deliciously fresh and abundant amounts yet very reasonably priced. The staff were exceptionally pleasant and helpful. Overall enjoyable relaxing atmosphere. Well worth the trip.
Our first two times, pre COVID-19, were a bit spotty. This time was great across all three axis of a restaurant: ambiance (now safety), food and, service. All three were superior. The calamari was very fresh and properly breaded. The Caesar salad was a bit overdressed for my taste but very on point for flavor. Crab cakes were also well prepared and with no filler. So a clear winner.