Old River Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Belize City

Based on the online reviews, we decided to give Old River Bar and Grill a try for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype IMHO. service was generally OK. We had to repeatedly ask for plates and silverware, and had to go find the server the last time… she had forgotten about the request a few minutes earlier. A manager stopped by several times while we were there. And on one occasion he has to go find food we had ordered that had not been delivered.

Food and beverage quality was also just OK. We each had a flight of drinks, one flight of margaritas and one flight combo of amaretto sours and moscow mules. All the cocktails were super sweet, and seemed a bit light on the alcohol. A round of gin martinis was more on point.

We started with the shrimp ceviche. Very good, but by far the smallest portion of ceviche we had been served in the city in several day. Tasted great, just super small portion which was light on the main ingredient… shrimp. We also had the loaded chicken tostadas. These were decent size, but just OK on the taste scale. Some Marie Sharp hot sauce fixed the taste issue! LOL

Overall, cute place… great location on the water’s edge at the bridge downtown Belize City. But the odd stuff…. They turned off the Olympics in favor of a video loop of the restaurant’s cuisine. Bizarre… cannot imagine any guest asked for that. Perhaps worse…. The tab comes with a 10%+ “service charge” added to the bill without flagging it to make it obvious to the unwary diner.

Then, the “suggested tip” scale is based on the pumped up bill total, which included the unmentioned service charge. Our $128 tab ended up at $160 with all the add ons. Suggested tip scale based on the $160. See pic attached. Very bad form in the service industry. You suffer through an average at best dining experience, then if you’re not attentive enough, you get shafted on the bill. Not good karma for a restaurant. We...

Decided to stop in for a quick lunch. The customer service was excellent. The staff was courteous and very professional. The seats are way more comfortable than I expected. Personally, I think it does a great job in establishing its own identity knowing your basically in the heart of the city/downtown. I didn't feel like I was in Belize City. I got the chicken quesadilla. I was surprised by how well the chicken was seasoned. It took about 20/25 mins to get the food. The kids meals are fairly priced. Pricing on regular menu items are about what I expect compared to other places I dined at. There are a couple that jump out at me as a bit expensive but I will try those when I go back to see if the prices are worth it. I would definitely recommend it. Seems like a great place to unwind after work with friends. I did notice that the workers had to cross through the dining area to get the storage are but I guess that's more of a building design flaw. Service charge was included in the bill and I didn't ask if it's automatic or once you jump a certain price (food + 2 Jameson w/ coconut water ended up just under $60 with service charge). I don't recall how often that occurs at other high end establishments; but I didn't mind because of the really great service. As a rule of thumb I always say "expect to spend 100 per person, so you don't gotta count your coins. If you're out in the city shopping with your partner or kids and want to spend a quick $20 or $30 then this place may not be for you. Overall, it was a nice experience and I was pleasantly surprised by how much it did not feel like I was eating in downtown Belize city. Again, seems like a great place to unwind after work with friends and get some great pics in the evening with the boats in...

The food was good, but unfortunately I had no time to enjoy mine. We thought close to an hour would be enough time to order and eat something before we had to catch our water taxi, and my husband got his chicken wings in 15-20 min, decent time considering they were a little busy. But half an hour after ordering my 3 chicken tacos still hadn’t arrived. Meanwhile 2 tables that sat down 15 min after we got there already had their 9 tacos, but my 3 still weren’t done. I stopped someone to ask about them finally and they checked but I guess they gave mine to one of the other tables and never made mine because they STILL weren’t ready. Then our waiter finally asked how things were, clearly not even aware I had received no food yet. And they still weren’t done. We finally got them 10 min before we were supposed to be at the water taxi. It wasn’t until they realized I was not tipping their poor service that they stated they would have given my husband a free beer if we weren’t leaving right away. I guess that was supposed to make up for me not getting my tacos until we almost didn’t make it to the water taxi before they left (and were late). I not only didn’t get to enjoy my tacos, I couldn’t finish them on my own and what I did have I ate much faster than I should have considering the stomach surgery I’ve had. I wish we would have just stopped by a food...