Club Rivers — Restaurant in Sydney

I have been aware of and visited Club Rivers numerous times when I was in the area. Back when Helen's was still around, we were loved the calendar vouchers they had for members and the fashionable yet casual vibe of the club. To this day, Club Rivers maintains its excellent hospitality and atmosphere credentials with well-maintained facilities, event hostings and friendly staff always at hand. They boast a comfy lounge in front of the big screen with plenty of chairs and tables that immediately get filled up whenever there's a raffle. This was our aircon sanctuary during the summer heatwaves. Certified by the locals and myself, Club Rivers is one of the best places to be in Riverwood.

One of the reasons we frequented Club Rivers was the bistro which was formerly known as Helen's. But when the restaurant suddenly closed down, we were left to consider its replacement, Malt Barrel. The food was promising until COVID hit, resulting in less menu options and rising prices, precipitating a tragic fall from grace for Club River's dining. Then Mike's Grill arrived to save the day.

Initially, I renewed my hopes for Club Rivers' pub food upon hearing another new restaurant alongside its renovations. Enthusiasm was alight in seeking a good reason to more regularly return to Club Rivers. What could Mike possibly do that could harbour the same fate of his predecessors? Apparently, yes... he could do that.

The food can be easily summarised as a huge letdown. I had no grievances whatsoever looking at the large chicken schnitzel coated in crunchy panko crumbs on my plate. However, I could not foresee the harsh truth underneath the flaky exterior and its terrific texture. The chicken itself was drier than the Atacama and completely bland. Even the gravy wasn't enough to quench the arid meat as I was forced to relinquish finishing the dish. For my first meal back at Club Rivers, I left shellshocked.

Another opportunity to try Mike's again, this time their cheeseburger. The burger eerily resembles McDonald's from the appearance down to the ketchup and mustard they use, but in this case, Ronald does it far much better. While the size seems massive with its wide burger buns, the beef patty is quite thin and small in comparison, obscured by the forest of lettuce. Thus, the composition of the burger was unbalanced with parts simply being mouthfuls of insipid lettuce and bread. Despite being depressingly limp, the buns were buttered and grilled on both sides, giving a rich fragrant mouthfeel. That may be the only leverage Mike has over Ronald McDonald. The exterior of the patty was burnt and hard to chew with the unsavoury taste of ash lingering afterwards. Fortunately, the beef was still palatable though a tad bit grainy and dry. All the flavours were solely derived from the artificial McDonald's cheese and the sugary sauces, nothing more nothing less to an already abysmal meal.

If you couldn't stomach the unappetising main dishes, you can thank the giant pile of lightly salted, fluorescent yellow chips to satiate your hunger. The alternative to the carbs is the colourful salad liberally dressed in mayo but I doubt any of the sides could compensate for the inadequate flavours. More jarring were the (member) prices, $17 for a below fast food quality burger and $22 for a dry schnitzel is unbelievable.

I really wanted to reacquaint with Club Rivers through the love language of food but, alas, it just wasn't there. My apologies to Club Rivers and my critiques for Mike to get a handle on the grill in the future.

UPDATE: I tried out their roasted sweet potato salad. Visually, it was spectacular. Little did I know, their generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar was concealing the fact that they used old, blackened spinach leaves. Big red flag but at least the other components were...

Club Rivers is not as good as it used to be

The specials stay for usually two months. The current special has two lamb dishes not a lot of variety the menu could really do with a refresh. Every day the roast of the day is Pork.

clearly they don’t talk to each other the river gum cafe has soup for $10 yet mikes grill had soup initially for $20 now $16

they advertise Mikes footy specials for origin but it is just the same thing on the menu each week no footy special yes there is wings and nachos but you ask at the counter what are the footy foods and the staff don’t know what you are taking about.

they have new staff who clearly need training on basic customer service i submitted a feedback form on their website end of May 2023 received no follow up so followed up on it myself was told a manager would contact me directly still haven’t received any response yet multiple times when i have come to the club i keep getting told they want to see me face to face but nothing

one of the points in my feedback in May was to regularly clear the tables again today over two hours waiting for our table to be cleared and it was only when we were leaving was our table cleared.

I also mentioned how in the cafe staff do not acknowledge customers waiting which happened again today they were making my coffee and people were waiting behind me no acknowledgment that won’t be long.

Overall the club is good does a lot for the community and has a lot of regulars however standard of customer service from the staff is really letting the club down hence my rating. A year ago the rating would have been higher they really need to give the team a basic training review of customer service

LISTENING TO OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS IS PART OF CLUB RIVERS CUSTOMER SERVICE CHARTER

Your comments and feedback help us to ensure our cuture of outstanding customer service is maintained

clearly that is not the case

Edit - Received feedback and was advised that the club needed to hire new staff which they have now the training begins things have improved slightly but still a...

My husband and i are members of Club Rivers and for the thrid time in as many months our booking of a table on 12/08/2023 has failed with no table allocatted. The record book just said we were near the big TV, however, no table was found and on review of the bookings book there was no table number recorded against our name. As members we feel let down repeatedly by the poor booking service disciplines at Club Rivers. There is seriously something wrong with the booking of tables at Club Rivers as we were not the only people disappointed on the night by the lack of due diligence and sloppy mgt organisation of booking appointments. The supervisor was apologetic and said he would provide some consolation coffee and cake as an apology but he did not turn up and nor did the coffee or cake. Club Rivers booking staff and management do not keep accurate records and the booking process is seriously failing members and the public. Very disappointing and frustrating that management are not listening and dont seem to care, Club Rivers your booking process is flawed, mismanaged and record keeping of bookings is poor and done in an consistent manner. Regards Martin &...