The River Café London - Buy Reservations

Me and my three friends visited the river café for an engagement party and although the food was delicious, we experienced poor service in regards to our drinks. I had the coda di Rospo con Vongole to eat and it was absolutely delicious, would come again in regards to the food. However I ordered a simple negroni and unfortunately I had to send it back three times due to the fact that I couldn’t taste any alcohol as it was so weak. At such a fine restaurant I really did expect more in reference to the drinks. The person who was preparing the drinks had ginger hair but unfortunately I did not catch his name. He seemed to not care at all for us as customers and would pull funny sarcastic faces when we would send our drinks back. This also happened to my friends whom had ordered different drinks but still had a similar issue with what seemed like no alcohol in their drinks. Overall I would come again but I would suggest that the management had a word with this employee because the experience of his judgement of us put a sour taste in our mouths during our visit.

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We went for the winter set menu. I thought this was good value until I realised our portions were half the size of other diners. The food was underwhelming.
The tables were very close together and there was little ambiance and a lot of staff standing around chatting to each other.
I suggest going to SAMs 10mins away if your hungry.

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We went for our wedding anniversary and had the excellent value ‘winter set lunch’ menu, 4 courses, all very delicious. Young staff provided efficient service and were pleasant enough.

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We managed to get a table to eat at The River Cafe on the most romantic day of the year.

Packed (as you would expect) our table was already prepared for us and we were sat across from the piano and up close with the chefs working adjacent from us.

Staff were attentive, even though it was obvious they were extremely busy the ambience was good, despite it being generally quite noisy. The piano playing was a lovely additional touch.

We opted for a mussels pasta dish to share, which was really delicious and came with an abundance of mussels.

Then we both opted for two fish dishes: I had the monkfish which was cooked to perfection and had a lovely meaty texture. Whilst my husband had the turbot which was quite light and delicate. Portion sizes were decent.

Pudding was the prune and almond cake whilst he got a couple of scoops of their ice cream.

It was as expensive as you would imagine - it is The River Cafe after all but it was worth every penny.

A lovely restaurant to go to during a special occasion.

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This was my first time visiting the River Café with my Mum and sister who both visit regularly. I had heard fantastic things about the food but was blown away! The pumpkin ravioli and the monkfish were both stunning and cooked to perfection, and the chocolate nemesis was to die for. Our waiter Stathis was attentive and knowledgable, and the food runner (who’s name we didn’t get) anticipated our needs perfectly. Stathis very kindly asked the kitchen to prepare a chocolate plate and birthday candle for my sister’s dessert (which none of us expected!) Thank you to the whole team at the River Café for making our lunch so memorable- we will be back soon!

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I Booked for the same day - Friday morning (10th February) and kicked off with a perfect Negroni at the bar - so civilised.

I was then seated outside in the glorious London winter sunshine overlooking the river Thames and over to what was the Harrods depository.

Then..

A correctly cooked Cornish lobster dish
so elegantly prepared and presented.

A Sicilian pasta course that you would have been impressed with
if you had stumbled across it on the island.
With Sardines , pine nuts,raisins,toasted bread crumbs in olive oil - truly fabulous.

Moving inside for my main course as it was starting to become a little chilly..

A main course of a tranche of Turbot with Puntarelle
which came nice and juicy,another perfect dish.

You could come to the River Cafe without having the Lemon tart
and a glass of Passito from the island of Pantelleria - But I wouldn’t recommend it.

And a pleasant bottle of Verdico….

We are not going to be here for ever!
(Unlike a couple of members of staff that I recognise from the late 80’s)
So go on treat yourself.

See you all again soon I hope.

John

And no I don’t know these people personally.

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We had lunch at the river cafe today, the staff are lovely, the service brilliant, such a shame it was let down by such bloody ordinary food, we had Dover sole and pigeon, the sole could have swam in the oil it was delivered in and the pigeon was under seasoned, poorly cooked and drenched in more oil than the prince william sound, a taste that has barely left me some 5 hours later! The less said about the fennel the better!! Please respect your amazing waiters and bring the food love back!!!

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We had a birthday celebration Sunday lunch here and thoroughly enjoyed it! We last came about 10 years ago.
Here’s my review for Jan 2022 - easy to phone and book (for a Sunday booking), great location, modern decor, tables were close together and i feared the acoustics would be a nightmare for us - not a problem at all - maybe something to do with the ceiling which is rippled (have a look!). Service was friendly and helpful, menu had a super choice (hard to choose!) Good range of wines too.
For us it was a special occasion and we were prepared to pay for a special meal. I would say that it would be easy to share a course (if cost is an issue). The food was really good - fresh, beautifully prepared and delicious (however one of us had the pheasant which was undercooked by along way + served with cold squash - a big disappointment).
I feared on a Sunday lunch that there would be families with unruly kids - not at all, the children that were there, were well behaved and clearly used to going out for meals + a credit to their parents. They could play outside in full view off their parents.
FYI - 12 days on (we’re all vaccinated) and haven’t got covid.
To summarise: We looked forward to it, enjoyed it and will reflect back happily on the memories in the months to come.

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If you are in the mode for good Italian food in West London I would recommend going somewhere else. The food served is very pricy and average at best.

Somehow, the restaurant was very busy on a Tuesday evening where there are a lot of tables crowded together. The staff kept on bumping in to my chair so it was less than relaxing.

The whole table decided to have pasta as a main and was recommended to have the portion as it was. For £28 we each got a ridiculously small amount of pasta. I would have preferred to pay a bit more to get a larger portion but trusted the waiter who said it was a good sized portion. The pasta was ok but nothing special and a bit bland.

Service was not very good at all, We had to wait a long time to be offered to order a drink when we arrived in the restaurant.

It is so disappointing to have this average experience of a place I have been wanting to visit for some time. I will not be coming back since there are plenty of better restaurants that offer good value for money.

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We were really looking forward to our lunch at a the River Cafe - it is an instruction after all. We found the whole experience a real let down. Service was fine - not amazing but did the job. The restaurant vibe is very cramped - with just a few too many tables squished in, though contemporary enough. The menu sounds great, with a hefty price tag as expected. You get a bit of focaccia on arrival and then order from there. The food was nice enough; nothing wow and some dishes were not brilliant. If this was the local Italian that would have been ok; but at those prices you need wow. Unlike other restaurants nothing interesting between courses or nice touches. £10 for two scoops of ice cream without even a wafer just seems to be taking the piss; though it was nice ice cream. If we’d paid £120 for lunch that would have been one thing, but £300 excl drinks and sharing an ice cream for dessert it outrageous. Beyond that the restaurant menu does feel the wrong side of dated - and totally smacks of a restaurant living off its former glory. We won’t be back.

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It has to be said that it really isn't what it used to be in terms with f from is at least . The decor has changed also, and there are number of finishings in lurid bright colors, including the pink oven and the restrooms. The food was good, but really nothing special , with nothing memorable for the right reasons. A dish of langoustines with botlotti beans was a little bit lost for me, eWith the beans seemingly only there as a filler for the expensive leading cast. A red mullet dish with artichokes in the style of fritto misto was adequate, and again, nothing of note. Following this, a gnocchi dish with spinach and kale that looked beautiful with a very natural vibrant green. Unfortunately, the gnocchi, which should be "soft pillows" had quite a tough texture, that disappointed. Another dish of Rigatoni cattiatore, was mediocre at best. OK, I suppose , but not worthy of awards or the £100 per person tag. There are better options in London. This restaurant has run its course, trading on yesteryears glories.

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