Jcs River Run Bar & Grill

Food was mediocre at best.  Meh.

Like most of the food of Waddington....meh

We were four musicians performing in a local bluegrass festival, arriving late evening to our hotel. We needed to eat, but a few phone calls to the local places listed on Yahoo indicated that 8 pm in Waddington was late to be trying to find a place to eat (and this on a Friday night!). We did hone in on one place who  said they were open until 10, so we hustled in our van and went down there. When we pulled up to the place and saw what it was there were groans of  "oh god, it's a bowling alley!." Assuming the worst, I got out to check out the menu; there was a lot of action at the outdoor bar, they advertised frozen mojitos, and amazingly enough the menu looked very decent, with the specials board advertising fresh perch platter, some steak entrees, and pasta items featuring seafood. I guess the place isn't a bowling alley any more but have converted a few lanes to the restaurant part and houses a fitness center next door.

We were seated inside in a very no-frills but comfortable room, and our super-friendly waitress (Tammy?) came over promptly to make us feel welcome and take our drink orders. We were giddy with delight at having found a place to eat when it didn't look like that was in the cards, and were somewhere rowdy with a lot of questions, and she fit right in and took it all in stride. I had the fried perch platter which Tammy recommended because it was local, and man, was it good! Crisp, tender filets of perch friend up just right. They had a soup they called a Southwest soup, ground beef with some mild southwest flavorings, very hearty and nicely balanced. My husband had the scallop and bacon pasta bake, also excellent, and no skimping on the scallops. There are several other varieties of these pasta bakes, very unique-sounding. My bass player had the seafood stuffed flounder but said my perch was much better, likely because the perch was fresh. The salads were crisp and fresh, the beer was cold, the frozen mojito was frosty, the food was tasty and filling, served up with a nice fresh-baked roll--what's not to love? I'm a food snob, and very picky about what passes for good food at many run-of-the-mill places, and this place is beyond the pale for sure. Apparently a food critic came all the way from Watertown--about an hour away--came by and gave it a very favorable review; it's hanging on the wall as you walk in. We liked the place so much we came back on Sunday--with Tammy as our affable waitress again--before we headed home. This time I had the walleye platter, to compare it to the perch (very good, but the perch was a scoche better). We got an order of poutine for the table, love that stuff! The gravy was perfect.

Waddington is right across the river from Canada, and a very pretty stretch of road, for the record. There is a new crepe place right in town but we didn't get a chance to try that; the boys are not much for crepe-eating I'm afraid. But JC's is a very welcome addition to this little town; pickings would be pretty slim without it. It's definitely the place to come to if you want a nice dinner instead of just burgers or run-of-the-mill diner fare.