River Town — Restaurant in Vilnius

The first night in Vilnius was supposed to be special, so I found River Town on the list of the best restaurants. I was especially convinced by the octopus in the photos, because I love octopus. After a whole day of traveling, we were really hungry. The restaurant was empty, except for one other guest besides us. So it was quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately, it was also terribly cold. Maybe it’s too early to turn on the heating in September, but freezing in a restaurant already spoils the experience by itself.

Although we were the only guests, we waited an hour for our food. They did bring us the bread we had ordered, but unfortunately, it was only dark rye, which my body cannot digest and I really dislike, and focaccia dyed black with ink, with a white coating on top that made it look downright disgusting, like moldy bread. And since people eat with their eyes first, I found its very presence on the table unpleasant. My partner did taste both breads, but he wasn’t enthusiastic at all — in fact, we returned the bread basket just as it had been brought to us. Why is it a problem for such a restaurant to have some regular bread and a bit of butter?

Even though we were alone in the restaurant, with two waiters present, they paid no attention to us — we had to pour our own wine and water. After an hour of waiting, they finally brought me my octopus. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the dish in the photos that brought us here. The octopus itself was soft, but in many places, especially at the tips of the tentacles, it was burned — the bitterness of the burn completely overpowered the delicacy of the octopus. What I really couldn’t understand was the mixture of warm vegetables it was served with. No purée like in the photos, but a completely nonsensical mix of vegetables that didn’t go together at all. Not grilled, just chopped into small pieces, lightly heated in a pan, completely unseasoned, and terribly sour — probably from tomatoes. Here and there, a piece of potato that was  undercooked. It’s rare that food almost makes you cry. This really was a tragedy.

We refused the offered dessert, even though at the beginning of the evening I had been looking forward to Pavlova. By the end of the night, I just wanted to leave. Two hundred euros — and you walk away frozen,...

After being uncertain about whether we would be allowed to River Town with our dogs, we have never been so surprised by a restaurant.

From our enthusiastic and friendly waiter, to the comfortable, welcoming and cozy atmosphere, to of course the selection of drinks and food available - everything was massively above expectations.

We had heard that both the seafood and steak was “the best in Vilnius” and it has to be said that it is quite possibly the best in Lithuania and beyond. Having had steak around the world, the quality of both the ribeye and fillet on offer was exceptional. The Octopus was cooked to perfection and puts a lot of other restaurants to shame. This was rounded off with starters and desserts that, whilst available in most high end restaurants, were tastier than most equivalent dishes we have had around the world. Our dogs were treated to 2 rounds of raw meat that kept them as happy as they could be whilst they joined us.

It’s safe to say that from the many birthday celebrations we have had over the years, River Town played a large part in the best to date.

To sum it up, if you’re in Vilnius for any length of time, River Town is a restaurant that you can’t afford to...

On usual saturuday day, decided to look for new place where to have a superb steik in Vilnius, and google map foubd me a place Ricer town with quite high points. Place located on nice side ride across Gediminas tower. Interior very nice, buuuut steik from Uruguay was a hit, tender, juicy. Will be honest so far its a first Place in Vilnius i had a good steik compare to Asian restos. Vine selection is a separate topic wich amazed me as well, and for finish was Pavlova wich was nice as well not to sweet a must to try. Services is great as well friendly. Menu is not big as in proper high end restos must be source the best and offer it to clients to enjoy. Will come agaib to try additional items from menu. For Owner keep it the same and...