B On The River

I like the fact that they have wifi and are open until 9 pm. I usually just get drinks though and only ate a lunch there once. Did not like the food, but could be what I ordered. Mostly go there to use internet.

I go here occasionally on my lunch, and it truly is a charming little place.  Although, it feels like its catering more to women, frankly, with all these cute little shopping goodies....

Regardless, I do like the place...  Nice atmosphere, and a great outdoor patio on the river, which is a plus.  And it's right downtown, which I love.

The food here is very good, not amazing.  However, I always find myself wanting a sandwich combo, with a salad or soup.  That would be very pricey on their menu as it currently is... And everything seems stubbornly A La Carte and quite expensive!

Service here can be a problem.  It seems nearly every time I'm in, something small goes wrong.  The last time I ordered two items to go and a drink.  The gal got me my drink, and after a wait, brought me my order in a bag.  I had walked all the way back to my office before I realized she'd only given me half my food.

As a previous poster said, 'I really want to like this place'!  And I do...  But I've certainly also had my share of problems here, and typically, you can expect a wait to get your order in and finally get your food.

So I had an unusual introduction to B on the River.  My wife and I have recently returned to Elkhart, and we were excited to try the place out.  We wanted to invite family for a birthday gathering on Father's Day, and so we stopped by while walking around downtown on the Saturday just beforehand.

The gal who scooped our gelato let us know that the restaurant would be open late on Father's Day (usually they're open until 5, but she informed us that they would be open until 7).  So, we let our family know where to meet us, and we set the time for 6, and we all arrived the next day to discover that B had closed at 5.  We ended up at Hacienda, and I resolved to give them one more chance.

We went the next day, and experienced standard Indiana customer service, which is to say, terrible.  At least, from the manager.  The barista was great, very kind and helpful.  The manager, however, interrupted our order to ask the barista to take a phone call.  The barista looked a little confused, but apologized to us and took the call, which was an order, which she had to ring up before she could return to taking our order.  Meanwhile, I asked the manager about the mixup on the hours.  She said, "Yeah, the gal who told you that was mistaken."  And then she wandered away.  No apology, no expression of concern, nothing.

So we finished our order, and sat.  The barista came out to apologize because the kitchen didn't have the ingredients necessary for my meal.  She invited me up to the counter to get a refund or change my order--I chose a refund because I wasn't interested in the other options at the time.  When she began to process my refund, the manager again told her to stop, and said, "Before you take care of that, I want to show you something on this terminal."  The barista looked confused again, apologized again, and then went over to the manager's terminal.  The manager wanted to show her how to ring up a drink that another customer was ordering.  While they did that, I waited at the second cash register.  The manager looked up and saw me, and hollered across the store, "Sir, you can go back to your table!  We'll take care of you when you're done eating!"  So I sat again.

The barista brought out the other meal, apologized again, and processed my refund.  And then the manager came out and gave me a free meal, with the comment, "We had a mixup in the kitchen--here's the meal you ordered, on the house."

So why 4 stars?  I've thought about this a bit.  I think the restaurant deserves 4 stars because the food is excellent and because the service we received from the  barista was good in spite of terrible management.  Another reviewer thought the quiche didn't work.  Well, whatever they've done since August, 2011, they've fixed the quiche.  My wife was thrilled with it, and she's fairly picky.  The dish they brought me (eggs with chorizo) was also very tasty.  The location is nice.  I want Elkhart to have more stores like this.

TL;DR: Terrible management, great service, very good food.  I'll go again.