Riverside Restaurant & Function Centre — Restaurant in Inverell

I visited here twice in the same week (19/3/25 & 22/3/25), both times the food & service were excellent.

The 1st visit was a morning tea for a Legacy group (13). There was a huge variety of slices, cakes & muffins to choose from, including 4 gluten free items.

I had a hazelnut latte, ham, cheese & tomato toastie & a chocolate & caramel ANZAC slice. I was particularly impressed with the coffee & slice. Others in our had a variety of drinks, slices, muffins & toasties. Everyone was very happy with their food & drinks. We were all served quickly.

Our Legacy group has our monthly morning tea at a different cafe every month. The Riverside is the group's favourite due to the great service, food & coffee. This was our group's 3rd visit & we will be back again soon.

The 2nd visit was birthday party for my mother. My father had his party at the Riverside in 2024 & we were impressed enough to return. There was 45 in our group. We had a nibbles to start, followed by alternate drop main course. We chose the meals we wanted when we booked the party. The main course dishes were fish & chips, chicken with a creamy sauce & roast beef. The main course dishes were very filling. The beef was very delicious, moist & tender. The fish& chicken were great too. The kids meals were roast beef & chicken nuggets. Even the kids meal were a good size. The vegetables were well cooked. The meals came out quickly & the whole group was served in a very reasonable time.

Dessert was the black forest birthday cake which was made by the restaurant. The cake was the best I have had in many years (perhaps ever!) and everyone agreed. A few of our guests were gluten free & they chose a dessert from the range of gluten free items in the cabinet. The price per head was very reasonable.

I highly recommend the Riverside Restaurant for all your group functions, whether they be morning tea, lunch or dinner. The service is great & they will try their best to accommodate menu...

I understand that Riverside is a training ground for hospitality initiates through Tafe .. I commend this incentive and highly regard those that served us an evening meal recently. The front of house / manager … however was not courteous in his treatment of some of the guests at our table and openly made judgements about their food choices and taste in cuisine. He was truly arrogant and not someone I would consider appropriate to lead or teach trainees in the manner required for hospitality. Hospitality is about service and this means finding out what would serve your guests well rather than entertaining your own puffed up ideas on what “food” should be or what tastes guests should have. The food was ok but I was in Inverell for an event and was more interested in the company I was with than an evening of gastronomy … the 2006 Shiraz however was great !! I have owned and run a successful catering business for over twenty years and to me, Hospitality and eating out is not about the maître d’s ego … he is not doing any of his trainees any favours. Upon our departure I quietly suggested that he be less judgemental And mentioned that he had made a few guests at our table feel uncomfortable with his judgements about their simple tastes. He did apologise but because I wasn’t prepared to listen to why he behaves in that way … he asked me to leave 🤷🏻‍♀️ … to get out !! I’m not local but I can’t see myself going back...

I'm confused with all of the good reviews. I have quite a few years of hospitality experience, and my expectations were not met what so ever. The atmosphere on the deck is nice however we were sitting inside, tables and chairs seemed very old and waay out dated. My first bad feeling kicked in when we were given menus that were starch white, typed up on Word and printed and laminated. Simply words and no character. Our "thick shakes" tasted like milk with chunks of ice which I'm assuming was very old icecream. They were sent back. My husband ordered fried eggs, bacon and toast. What looked like half a rasher of bacon, burned bottom eggs, cold toast smeared with thick butter. I couldn't believe my eyes and felt sorry for him. Either this chef isn't a chef, or he needs to go back to school. The owner needs to put more money and effort into the quality of their food and drinks. Wont...