The mill has been my main bar in Blacksburg since 2003. Â It is my Cheers. Â Beer selection is good and the food is good for U.S. style bar food. Â The bartenders are great at mixing drinks. Â My favorites from the menu: Â loaded tots, ham and cheese on sourdough, and the Rivermelt.
I prefer going on non-standard nights unless I'm DJing there with the rest of the Boogieburg crew. Â I definitely stay away during home football games.
I went here with co-workers for a welcome to the team dinner. It was easy to fit the large group since we got there early. Those who all liked the same drink got pitchers, and those like me who liked different things (woodchuck on draft) got pints. there was a small but standard pub fare selection of food (dogs, fries) and i had no complaints.
Review Source:I like the Rivermill. Â It has many qualities that I like to associate with a comfortable dive bar with good bar food. Â There are also a few things that I don't like. Â Lets begin there.
There are no waiters. Â The first time Mary and I ate at the Rivermill we had no Idea that you had to order at the bar, so we just sat until we saw others going up to the bar and receiving service
They are routinely slow. Â After ordering, you might want to order a couple of beers because as soon as you finish the second beer, 20 to 30 minutes later, your food will arrive.
There is a DJ on Thursday nights. Â I associate this bar with a place to grab a good beer and chit chat with friends during happy, listening to 90's throwback and classic rock music. Â But, around time the conversation is just getting good and many friends have gathered at several tables, they decide that a DJ is necessary. Why? I ask. Â The Rivermill does not scream night club to me.
As I promised, the good stuff. Â They have some amazing food. Â No really, the Veggie Guacamole Burger is really good and the tots are perfectly crispy. Â Of course, they don't serve gourmet food but, I don't expect them to. Â My regular meal is the BBQ tacos and if someone will let me, I will sneak a few cheese fries.
They have a great craft beer selection on tap. Â I regularly get a Fat Tire or Left hand Milk Stout on draft and several times a year they do a tap take over; I especially liked the Bell's Tap Takeover.
Because this place is so casual, they don't mind if you rearrange the furniture and move in. Â Its not uncommon for us to put 4 or 5 tables together to accommodate our group.
Rivermill = A OK in my book and I will continue to patron this establishment so long as I am in Blacksburg.
TOTS = the man. We should all try to fight the man and their $2 cover. Â Come to Rivermill instead and play some pool!
They have the most delicious Irish Car Bombs. Â I think their secret is a hint of Kahlua that they put in the shot. Â Along with the 30+ beers they have on tap, you can never go wrong here.
ALSO, is it just me or does the bar tender look like Zach Galifianakis? This place rocks!
Went around 5:30 on a Thursday with friends for the first time. Â Basic bar looking place. Â Nothing fancy, sticky tables, and loud people at the bar. Â The women's bathroom was clean even though my friends warned me before going in. Â They said it was normally not so much! Â We got burgers and the tots. Â Our food was okay. Â One bartender (you order at the bar) was very nice and helpful. Â The other guy was all chummy with the people at the bar but seemed irritated when we had to ask him something. Â Everyone in our group who ordered beers were pleased with them.
The place could use a good scrubbing down and bathroom remodel.
One of my favorite bars in Blacksburg! You can hop in, get a beer and burger, and spend less than $10. I highly suggest the tots whenever you can get your hands on them. Â Thursday nights, the Mill is transformed into Boogie Burg, so you can get your dance on as well. A great place to start a downtown bar crawl.
Review Source:Pros: great beer selection, cheap prices, cool non-frat crowd. Â Laid back vibe, dim lighting.
Cons: the music in this place is plain awful at times. Â It is sometimes as if the staff is trying to annoy the patrons with screamo death metal. Â This used to be one of the best places in town as far as a chill vibe and calm, old school hip hop, but that has since changed. Â Also, this place can get ridiculously crowded sometimes. Â
Conclusion: A great place for a relaxed evening with friends, but there have been nights where I've stepped in the door and turned around immediately once I heard the playlist.
How do I love thee, Rivermill? Â Let me count the ways:
1) Â FAR AND AWAY the best draft beer selection in Blacksburg. Â And great deals on these beers can be found on Pint Nights (7-9pm Monday through Wednesday), when ALL pints are $3 and under.
2) Â Best bar food in Blacksburg. Â This includes, for mysterious reasons, some of the best tacos in the entire area. Â The spicy vegetarian and BBQ chicken tacos are especially outstanding.
3) Â Best and most diverse environment in Blacksburg. Â It's still a college bar, but lower-key than most downtown Blacksburg establishments.
4) Â .......did I mention the beer selection? Â Because it's pretty great.
Like most places, it can get pretty crowded with slow service on Friday and Saturday nights. Â But for the great food and widest tap selection in Blacksburg, I can wait.
3.5 really.
The Rivermill is one of my favorite bars in Blacksburg. Attracts a slightly more "alternative" crowd than many other bars around and has one of the best beer selections. As a (mostly) vegetarian, I was surprised by the number of meatless food options. The veggie burgers and tacos are awesome. One can never go wrong with a bucket of their crispy tots.
I have to dock some points for the state of the men's room, which is definitely the worst in Blacksburg. I'd estimate the last time it was cleaned was during Reagan's second term.
Everyone is commenting on the beer, but I really liked the food. Â I thought the bison burger and black bean burger were both really unique and tasty (and lower in saturated fat than beef burgers!) Â Also, not too many places have tater tots, and these were perfectly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside... Â completely addictive.
Review Source:Best 'people watching' bar in town, hands down.
Usually a really good mix of college kids and locals. Â Beer selection is great.
Food is good, but it seems to be important that you know what to order. Â BBQ sandwich and tots is always good though I've been with others who have had less consistent meals.
New felt on the pool tables has  made the back room a 'hidden gem' in town.  No better place to order a pitcher and shoot pool without being consistently run over by drunken frat guys.
Let's see. This is the only bar I spent my money at from 2006-2008. The best thing about this place is the large draught selection, somewhere around 22. They will have stuff from all over, love the Oregon brews. The food is pretty good, even for pub food. Fries and burgers are the best thing there though. The crowd can really vary, especially on Thursday nights when they have a DJ. It's a real laid back place to come and play pool and watch sports on the several TVs. It's got everything I want in a bar, decent music, pool tables, and a great selection of good beer.
Review Source:I finally checked out this place after couple friends recommended it to me. Wow. You must try their burgers. They're all relatively cheap and they taste UHmazing. The patty is juicy and hot, and the way they construct the burger is delicious and well executed. I haven't had a chance to try their other items but I'm looking forward to it.
The atmosphere is pretty chill-- you walk up to the bar and order. The staff are all pretty nice (there's usually like. one person serving food.)
The only thing that might be annoying is the smoking, but personally, I don't really mind. It adds to the laid back ambiance of the place.
I'm very happy to see that Rivermill is receiving a lot of good reviews here. Â This is for good reason. Â
I've been going to Rivermill for a few years occasionally but recently started to heavily frequent this bar. Â Rivermill has one of the best beer selections in town with over 20 beers on tap with some great happy hour deals. Â Bartenders themselves are incredibly friendly.
The crowd varies quite a bit depending on the night.
For the first time tonight I had their food. Â I can't speak much to it since it was my first time and all I got was a grilled cheese with chips but I will say the food quality was really good and that the menu has a lot of potential and the pricing is perfect. Â I will definitely be exploring more of the menu in future visits.
Overall, great beer, good food, good atmosphere. Â Must go.
This is by far my favorite bar in Blacksburg. Â When I lived there I went to dollar pint night (it used to be only wednesday) every week. Â Since, they have expanded it to Monday - Wednesday, 7-9. Â Free darts, $1 pool. Â Very friendly bar staff. Â After I graduated I came back 6 months later and they still remembered me and asked how I was doing/why I hadn't been around.
Aside from the good drink specials, they also have the best cheese fries (they bake them and add jalapenos and bacon) Â Delicious! Â The rest of their food is pretty good too. Â I consistently got the BLT with cheese fries because it was cheap and effective. Â Cheers,
The food doesn't bring me back, but the beer selection does. Â Which, when you think about it, is probably why you go to a bar anyway, right? Â Someone said the tots are good, which is true (Hey, give me some of your tots!), but the drinks are even better (did I mention the beer selection?). Â
Best chill bar in Blacksburg.
Awesome. awesome. AWESOME. Pint night Mon-Wed 7-9pm $1 domestics, $2 imports on draft. Not to mention a fabulous menu. I personally love the tacos and the spicy bean dip. The rivermill tots are the perfect snack. This place feels like a community. If you start to come around enough, everybody knows your name. They have some great music here, not your top 40 crap or jukebox oldies hits, but some actually good indie music. Darts and pool, some video gun game (that never gets played) and great atmosphere. This is the only place I'll miss when I leave BBurg.
Review Source:This place has a great atmosphere (except for the smoking), and has a great beer selection. Â They're carrying the brand-new Shooting Creek local brews among others.
The food is about as good as possible... Â This is one of those places that would have micro-green salads and free range meat if it were on the west coast, but being stuck in Appalachia rather limits what's available and affordable.
Definitely a grad student and postdoc hangout. Â Relaxed and fun.
During my senior year at Tech, this is what my credit card statement looked like most months:
The Rivermill: $12
The Rivermill: $12
Sharkey's: $6
Cellar: $15
The Rivermill: $12
The Rivermill: $12
Yup...I was there most every night of the week and would just take advantage of their $3 jack & cokes. Â Sure, I would be on my ass three drinks in but I had a freaking great time along the way.
Rivermill is my favorite bar in Blacksburg--- great crowd, good music, and just an overall great place to hang out with your friends and shoot the shit. Â I know how crowds can vary in Blacksburg bars semester by semester; I really hope that Rivermill can stay true to it's roots and not start serving the douche-bag crowd (if you go to VT, you know exactly what I'm talking about).
Rock on, Rivermill.
Good place to play pool on weeknights or during the afternoon / early evening hours on weekends. Â Usually not too crowded then. Â They also have darts which is fun. Â
They have awesome bean dip and bean tacos! Â I order it every time I go. Â The bar can be a little slow to get a drink once it starts getting crowded. Â Only over 21 crowd allowed in the evenings. Â And this is more of an "alternative" crowd so you usually don't have to worry about "frat packs" here. Â I enjoy this place.
The management of The Rivermill describes this establishment as a "third place", like Starbucks once was. They try to create a place where anyone and everyone can go to enjoy a great selection of beer. And I think they succeed. No matter who you are, you're welcome at the Rivermill.
Great nightly specials including Pint Night, Bomb Night, and awesome chips and salsa on Friday. Fantastic food - you must try the buffalo cheeseburger. It's a local recipe that you have to taste.
Rivermill is my favorite bar in town. I will miss this place when I leave town. If you're ever in Blacksburg, stop by for a pint - you won't regret it.
Dear Rivermill, I want your babies because...
- Your atmosphere is the best
- The people that go are the best
- Your alternatively hot bartender is the best
- The beers you have on tap are the best
- Your bouncer high fives me when I walk in
- Your bouncer high fives me when I leave
- I always have a good time here
- I don't feel like I will randomly be pelvic thrusted by a sketchball here
...and for that I am completely in love with you.
Pretty much my favorite bar in blacksburg. I like the chill laid back environment, the many tvs with various sporting events playing (or animal planet on rare occasions) and the various beers on tap and in bottles. Not too fratastic, more townies and hippies are here to keep it chill. Â
Wednesday nights are pint nights, where most beers on tap are a buck (the cheap stuff like bud light) or two (for the good stuff like sierra and stella). Â But you gotta catch it from 7-9pm on wed. Â
The only downsides of the Rmill are 1) the smokiness, since it is located in the state of Phillip Morris and smoking inside is legal; 2) crowded-ness on friday nights and it's hard to find a table and 3) stickiness on tables. Â But definitely the most chill place to hang out in the wonderful town of Blacksburg.
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