Riverina Hotel — Restaurant in Wagga Wagga City Council

I last dined in the bistro a little over 12 months ago. In previous visits It had always been a pleasant experience. Until this evening. The Staff were absolutely lovely. They were friendly, professional and efficient in delivering meals and the clearing of tables. The bistro has a nice relaxed atmosphere although noise really echoed around the dining area making it difficult to hold a conversation. With that said, it was incredibly busy considering it is a Friday evening and we had to wait quite some time for our meals to come out which again is fine and to be expected in this situation. The quality of food was not so pleasant. The "400g" (questionable) T-bone was 1cm thick and bland. The fries were floury supermarket style fries but The Diane gravy/sauce my husband ordered with his steak was delicious. The chicken snitzel was a decent size and thickness. It was tender and had a lovely flavour. The crumb wasn't oily and had a nice crunch to it. Although it was hard around the edges in places which is completely understandable and common ith pub style snitzels. It was still enjoyable especially with the diane gravy/sauce I also ordered. The side dish of vegetables however was just ridiculous. A massive chunk of zucchini which was thankfully steamed enough and not mushy. The broccoli chunk and I do mean a literal chunk that fit in my hand and took up almost 1/4 of the plate was still raw. The very outer florets were steamed enough but any further than that was raw. It also had steamed carrot slices which were cooked fine and a 1cm slice of a corn on the cob which I did not try but appeared to be cooked fine. In my opinion i honestly believe it is completely unnecessary to have such huge chunks of vegetables and I do not know if this was to cut down meal prep time or if it was a conscious decision for the overall presentation. I also do not know if there's been a change of ownership/management or a new chef since I last dined here but the food quality has deteriorated...

Very "Home" style type of meal for the price. Ordered a Riverina black Angus steak Medium rare, and it came out medium. Was still very tender though! Paying $40, I would expect the steak to be on point. Veggies were fresh, mash potatoes were great, but sauce was some powdered gloopy mess, with some pickled green peppercorns added to it. Did not do the beautiful, but over cooked steak justice. Very basic service here. My guest had the lamb cutlets, lamb was very tender, but too much oil on the outside. Maybe fryer not turned up to the right temperature?

Order from counter, meals placed on table and then have to walk up to the main bar for drinks. Meals were a great portion, but I suggest that they get bigger main plates. It was a clumsy mess because the plate was just too small. Easy fix!

Service very basic, seemed to be more content behind the cash register, than walking over to see if everything was OK.

Must be a lack of staff here, as the service felt cafeteria like. No time to spend with customers to share that beautiful country charm. It's a shame. I use to eat here many many years ago. Like 1990's. The place was totally different with an extensive menu and good vibe. Not sure what happened, but they really need to work on the atmosphere. Seems dull...

Was treated disgustingly by the manager here. In town for a funeral and had been driving all day. I left ID at my accomodation but my husband had his. Waitress told us it was totally fine but her manager chimed in and said no. I told him I didn't want to drink, was just hungry at wanted some dinner and whether we could eat in the dining area. Still no. I said ok and obliged and went all the way back to accomodation to retrieve ID and came back. Showed my ID (which legally isn't even necessary as I was with my spouse who had their ID). Was met with the rudest most passive aggressive responses when I politely asked for a table. Extremely confusing..... Was refused dinner and asked to leave after I asked the manager to stop being so rude to me. I tried standing up for myself but he got progressively meaner and meaner, laughing at me and berating me no matter how hard I tried to reason with him. Other patrons were watching this all unfold and tried standing up for me, telling him to stop being so rude and just let me eat. He humiliated me and told me to go eat at KFC next door! So ridiculous and terribly sad what a power trip can do to some people. I...