River Tavern

“A group of 7 of us came in right when they opened for dinner and they quickly moved tables to accommodate us. We carried during happy hour so our first round of drinks were discounted. A few of us got the garden in a glass cocktail which was unreal! my favorite specialty cocktail I’ve ever drank. I got the sea bass and the rest of my party got burgers. everyone was happy with their meals. my spouse and i can’t wait to be back to sit at the bar and enjoy another night in chester.”

“We went at a quiet time, Tuesday at noon. The carrot curry soup was excellent, but the scallions took away from the flavor complexity. The prosciutto mozzarella pistachio dish was very good, especially the freeze dried sage pieces. Lastly, the burger was excellent, juicy, and greasy with crisp vegetables in the best way, served with homemade ketchup. My companion and I were going to share everything, and the kitchen plated all our dishes separately without us even having to request that. It was very considerate. The interior is clean, and I liked that customers have to walk past the entire kitchen to get to the bathroom. They have nothing to hide, and the focus really seems to be on the flavors here. My one complaint would be that my limeade had zero sweetener in it, so it was just lime water, which isn't really what I was expecting to consume. Anyway thanks !”

“A lovely restaurant with great food and friendly staff! We enjoyed eating lunch and hope to be back soon for dinner! If you are hungry I recommend the burgers. While the other dishes are delicious the portions are rather small.”

“I was very excited to go to the River Tavern for my birthday. The restaurant is cute inside and the back room has a lovely large window to see the outside garden. Unfortunately the evening did not meet my expectations. We sat down at a corner table which alternated between being warm enough and freezing. It took at least 15 minutes for a server to stop by to take our order even though the restaurant wasn’t that busy. We placed our order of an appetizer and two burgers as well as two drinks. It took another 15 minutes for our appetizer to be served, I was surprised it took so long because everything in the appetizer was cold. It was tasty, just took a long time. It was another half an hour before our burgers were served. We ordered medium rare and both burgers were well done. That’s not even close to the same temperature. The server agreed that it was not the temperature we ordered. Did we want to have new burgers cooked? I said no because I really didn’t want to wait another half hour for dinner. Both of the servers were very nice but for the cost of the meal it was such a let down. They did take off half the cost of each burger which I guess is an ok compensation. I’m curious why there’s no restaurant manager anywhere to be found; I guess Monday nights are not a busy night so the customers matter less that night? It seems like it’s very hit or miss at the River Tavern.”

“I was expecting more for the price of the dishes. The bill was $120 for 2 apps and 2 entrees, with no alcoholic drinks. Overall, there was a lack of flavor. The portion sizes were on the smaller side. The appetizer was the best out of the three dishes we had. The pears were a nice touch and brought the most flavor out of all the dishes we ordered. The cuttlefish ink pasta was lacking the brininess and the texture that I expect from squid ink pasta. The shrimp and calamari were bland. The swordfish was clearly frozen from the pack and flavorless as well. The beans were a weird choice to pair with fish. I didn't want to be rude and give them 1 star, but I was expecting a lot more for the amount we spent. There was a reason why the other businesses were busy while this one was empty when we had dinner.”