Great that they opened back up after the storm, but service was horrendous. Had to remind the waitress to check on the other food. My meal came out 15 minutes before anyone else's. Food was acceptable. Had to get my own condiments from another table after I had already asked (and waited). Passed by and kept going to another table that she was apparently friends with right next to ours and just about ignoring us. Reminded me of service that you would get from Buffalo Wild Wings..... First place I had left a really bad tip, ever.
Review Source:River Rock's undergone a very quality rebuild, and serves the same great entrees in their new surroundings. My personal favorite there is the chicken wrap with gorgonzola cheese - it's made with a really pleasant sauce but isn't messy to eat. Their bar fare (like the chicken strips and fries) are great at night when sports are on; the service has been just fine all the times I've visited, and I recommend it day or night - this place is popular on the weekends for a reason!. Really great view during the day.
Review Source:The place looks incredible! They really did a great job with the remodel. I especially like that there are 2 bars.
They still fail on the service:
Inattentive; if there are only 3 other people at the bar, why is my glass empty for 10 minutes and you don't even pass by?
Unprofessional; don't play with your cellphone or stand around talking to your coworkers when you should be checking in with patrons.
Unthoughtful; if you bring us a sandwich that we say we're splitting and it comes on a long, huge roll... how about a knife? if I say I'm unsure about trying a new beer, how about offering a sample? if we receive food, how about providing us with the condiments holder?
The BIGGER DISAPPOINTMENT is the menu. First, there are no happy hour specials. They used to offer several smaller sized portions of appetizers for $3 and drink specials. Nope. We can go in for 2 drinks each and a pizza and with tip we're out $50. Sorry, this isn't a $50 place for a few drinks a thin crust pizza. And, the new appetizer selection is boring. You're still a sports bar, I say step it up on the appetizers.
Oh well, we thought we'd be looking forward to having a favorite spot, but this one isn't it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, RIVER ROCK, GET IT TOGETHER ON THE SERVICE!!! Is there anyone there who cares??
The River Rock had over 4 feet of water in it after Hurricane Sandy. They gutted the place and it is back as a true contender. It has never looked this good, even since the Petersons built it in the late 1930s.
Two large bars and outdoor seating, with the dining room partially separated by a wall to block the bar noise.
We had a couple of good meals there recently and have brought friends that enjoyed it.
Place is now PACKED Friday and Saturday nights, one hour wait for a dinner table.
SO now is the time to give them another shot!
Went to check out the new and improved place for dinner Sunday night. Order of events as follows:
-Greeted by hostess. She asks if we would like a high top in the bar area. We politely decline  and ask for a table. This request seems difficult for her to grasp.
-Seated at a table in the private room that was halfway done being broken down from a graduation party. Large parties around our table of two. One group behind us jokes about it taking a half hour for a drink.
-Five minutes pass. Four employees have walked by our table. No greeting, no water. Nothing.
-Eight minutes have passed. I've politely attempted to get the attention of two different employees and was unsuccessful. The large party behind us receives their food. One of three food runners turns his back to the table (he's directly next to us) and EATS A FRY off the tray. This tables food hasn't even completely dropped yet. I'm blown away.
-It's been ten minutes, we get up and walk to the host stand. It's completely unattended. Why? Because the two hostesses are standing at the nearby bar eating pizza! It's 730pm! I walk up to them and request to speak with the manager.
-Blonde older female manager greets us. She was five feet from the dining hostesses. Obviously has no control of her staff. Obviously is in way over her head. We inform her of our (lack of) service and mention the food runner eating off someone's plate. We note that there isn't even anyone at the host stand as they are eating at the bar instead. This wildly oblivious woman nods with a dumb, flabbergasted look on her face and says, "is there anything I can do?" We laughed, declined, and went to squan tavern for a well executed and enjoyable meal.
Go back to being a mediocre bar. The restaurant thing isn't going to work out unless you staff accordingly, appropriately and train them. Show a little pride in the beautiful place you've built. I have never in my life had such a poor dining experience. Never.
I do NOT recommend this place for anything but a cheap beer and a last resort
Never Again!!
The only thing this place has going for it is the location.
My husband and I went for dinner on a Sat night. We were told the wait was 45 minutes to an hour and we could sit outside at the tiki bar and someone will come out and call our name.
My husband went in 45 minutes later and was told our table was still not ready. No problem... until when I went in an hour and 20 minutes later and my name was crossed off. The "hostess" with a flower in her hair and booty shorts said "oops.. I didn't cross your name off! I'll try to get you a table as soon as possible." (There were multiple tables open outside) She sat us right in front of the door even though there were many other tables available. We asked to move to move to the next table away from the door and no one could figure out if we could or not. It was like asking them to perform brain surgery.
After we sat down, they turned on really really bright lights and everyone was complaining.. but they left them on.
Our waitress was nice, but we waited 15 minutes for her to come to our table. My husbands margarita was disgusting and the manager actually came over and said "someone here just doesn't know how to make a margarita! I have to figure out who that is." REALLY? The table next to us obviously had a problem because they all got up and left before ordering anything. We ordered the bacon wrapped scallops for an appetizer. They were ice cold and not very good. We decided to order burgers because we were scared that the other food wasn't going to be good because we saw plates and plates of food going back to the kitchen. The burgers were okay. I asked the bus boy if he could ask my waitress to get me a ginger ale because she disappeared for a while and he said he didn't know what waitress we had.. Â sorry! The dance music came on loud in the middle of dinner.. not a good atmosphere.
I've never been in a restaurant before where I have seen so much food sent back and a staff that has no clue what is going on. The waitress who was working the next group of tables continually brought things to the wrong table and seemed to be lost. I think this restaurant needs to invest in a training program for their workers.
I went to River Rock with my wife, sister-in-law, nephew (10), and niece (5), for a late afternoon lunch. The place wasn't busy, and we had a choice of indoor or outdoor seating. It was hot, so we chose indoors.
The place has a water view: a marina, a concrete bridge, and what I am told are better restaurants on the other side of the river.
The waitress took our drink and appetizer orders and returned with them quickly and efficiently. The fried cheese stick appetizers and dipping sauce were just fine, but nothing special.
Our food orders were calamari pasta for me, chicken salad for my wife, shrimp salad for my sister-in-law, and mini-burgers from the kids' menu (three for the nephew, two for the niece). Soon after taking the orders, the waitress returned to tell me that the kitchen was out of one of the ingredients of my dish, but that I could still get it without that; I went ahead with it.
The food arrived quickly, and everything was correct.
Unfortunately, the food just wasn't very good. My calamari was fine, and the pasta was OK, but the red sauce tasted like something out of a can, and not even good canned sauce; it was runny and seemed to be lacking all the herbs that are supposed to make pasta sauces interesting.
My wife and sister-in-law did better with their salads. The shrimp was over-cooked and rubbery, and the chicken was a bit under-cooked, but the greens were fine.
The kids didn't seem impressed with their mini-burgers; even under threat of "no dessert unless you finish at least one burger each" they ate less than half a burger each. Part of the problem was that they weren't all that hungry, but my nephew said the burgers were overcooked too. I tasted one of my niece's fries, and it was tasty, with a hint of cheese flavor -- probably the most interesting thing I ate there.
When time for dessert rolled around (for the adults only; the kids missed their chance), my sister-in-law tried to order her favorite flavor of gelato. The waitress said they were all out of that flavor, so we decided to skip dessert.
The final step was settling the bill. For some reason, at that moment our waitress was sent to serve  the outdoor customers -- with no back-up, because all the other wait staff were sitting down, apparently on break.
Eventually, our waitress returned inside, delivered our check while two other servers brought take-out boxes for the kids' left-over burgers. It seems they were trying to compensate for neglecting us after we declined dessert.
Another problem was that the food was really expensive, at least for pasta with bad sauce, uneven service, nothing-special atmosphere, and a view that included a concrete bridge.
On the plus side, they got the salads right, our waitress was good (when the manager didn't overload her by sending everyone else on break), and the place seemed kid-friendly.
I won't be back because I don't live in New Jersey, but I doubt my sister-in-law will return either even though it's very close to her home.
I've never tried so hard to be a regular at this local place only to be disappointed every single time. Â The service is painful and the management of the restaurant is real nice, but has absolutely no restaurant training, proving that running a restaurant is not something anyone can do. Â Every time we were wronged by this place the management paid for our food. Â As I said, very nice, but I'm at the stage in my life where I rather pay for food and have good service and a good experience. Â I will be back because I like the food and the views, but I will expect the worst until something changes.
Review Source:This review is for the outside eating area only... definitely not inside. A friend and I went for brunch (didn't get the brunch buffet, it looked awful) We sat outside, ordered drinks and sandwiches. We had a great view, the food was good and our waitress was friendly. When the staff accidently cleared our drinks when we left for a moment (told the waitress we'd be right back) they gave us new drinks very quickly. I would come here again just for the pretty outside deck.
As for the inside, it would definitely get one star. The place smells like a dirty bar (pee and cheap booze). I can't imagine eating inside.
Take it as a sign when every Yelp review is 2 stars. The place has a great location right on the marina but that is it. Â
Food-The food was okay. Edible but not great. Â My burger was cooked to specs. Â A friend got the veggie wrap and said that it was just okay. Â Same thing with the tuna melt sandwich, mussels, and shrimp. Â Food is about what you would expect from Friday's.
Service-I understand our server was a girl in high school but it was absolutely horrible. Â We waited forever for our dirty dishes to be taken away and never even got asked if we wanted refills. Â
I wanted to try something different down the shore and won't be returning.
Oh boy...this sucks. Because I really do enjoy the bar scene here, great DJ's, good music, drink specials and always a fun time on the weekends. However, to go for actual "dinner" in the dining room is ehhhhhhhhhh not so fun.
The dining room is boring. Like Kohl's dressing rooms are more pleasing to be inside of. One of the curtains which hides the area where they make coffee and fetch sodas was actually falling off the ceiling - it was pretty freakin distracting - and so tacky. Our server was very nice but the actual service sucks. Last night...we were a table of 7 - there were only 2 other tables being waited on - and our drinks, bread, appetizers and food took forever. Food was mediocre - no actual complaints, except that a burger which was ordered medium-well was brought out medium-rare, more on the rare side. That's annoying. My fish was cooked almost on the dry side, the "scoop" of rice was oily (i took about 2 bites of it) but my vegetables were delicious.
For their bar I give them 4 stars - for the restaurant I give them 2 - so we meet in the middle at 3. We would never go back to River Rock for an actual meal, but we will continue to go for the bar scene, cocktails and dancing.
The guys on my softball team refer to this place as "Stinky's Bar and Grill" and I think that pretty much sums it up.
Good location and waterfront atmosphere - Â fine for a beer after a game or work etc. Â However, I'm not a fan of their food. Â Had several owners in recent years and the inconsistency shows. Â
Had dinner on their new deck last night - beautiful view and setting. Â Food and service was awful though.
I'm sorry River Rock Grill, you just don't make the cut and unless I'm desperate, I don't think I'll be back. Â Here's why:
First, you need to rethink the list of beers on your menu OR invest in a Sharpie marker so that you can cross off things that you don't have. Â There were six people in my party. Â 5 of us ordered a different beer and you had none of them. Â We only ended up with the beer that we got b/c I'm pretty sure someone ran across the parking lot to the liquor store. Â For a "sports bar" on a Saturday night, that's just sad. Â
Second, not everyone wants a bowl of soup and maybe they just want a cup of soup. Â I don't think soup cups are expensive. Â You should invest in some. Â
Third, roasted clams are not the same as clams on the half shell. Â Roasted clams are cooked. Â Clams on the half shell are raw. Â
Fourth - the roasted chicken looked like it came from a Cornish game hen as it was on the small side. Â And speaking of small, the sliders should be labeled as 'Mini sliders' (another use for that Sharpie marker!). Â
I must say that our waitress was a good sport and we could tell she was getting frazzled from the lack of support from the bar and/or kitchen. Â And my burger was cooked to order, which is a plus for me. Â
Overall though, I was pretty disappointed in the experience. Â Maybe if you rethink your beer list and menu, things might improve, but I can confidently say that I won't be back.
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