The Riverhead — Restaurant in Rodney

2 hour wait for a crappy meal!

Our friend booked The Riverhead in advance for a surprise baby shower for her daughter. With having my sisters' wedding ceremony and reception there and the food with service being immaculate I was very excited to go back to that venue.

On Sunday 8th April, I was shocked at the poor service and food that was provided at this beautiful venue. There are so many issues I will have to break it down.

They had placed a booked table of 10 people right in front of the LIVE band, clearly no initiative was used during the set up, why would you place a booked table for a baby shower in front of the blaring speaker. We had to shout to have a conversation with each other and the loudness of the speaker being right beside our table drew all our attention off the mother to be.

When it was time to order our food, there was a sign at the bar displaying 'Food Wait Time - 60 mins' we knew they were very busy and as where were there for a booking, we werent in a rush and was willing to wait. When it came to 60 mins I got up to go to the bar and noticed the sign was updated 'Food Wait Time - 80 mins' how ridiculous! I asked the manager how long it would be and she took me to the bench where you collect your own meal (no they dont wait on you, they use a food paging system), and asked one of the staff how far our tables food is, she assumed I wanted a refund. I understood the pressure the chefs where in so I did not kick up a fuss and patiently waited another 40 mins.

Once the food was ready to be collected 100 mins later, I was shocked at the size pizza I received (side plate size) $24.00 for a gourmet pizza after an almost 2 hour wait you would be beyond starving with no starter options I could not believe the size of the pizza, Sorry guys but that is a disgrace and almost a slap in the face for receiving a small size portion after waiting almost 2 hours for a meal. Surely this was a mistake? My pizza was awfully cold and the cheese had gone all hard.

My nanna ordered a beef burger, she was the last one from the table to receive her food. By the looks of the busyness of the kitchen it seemed her order was the last one of the day. I was beyond sickened by the fact that her pattie was rare inside. Due to the wait for her food, she was very hesitant to take it back and have another one made up., My sister asked them if they can do another and they did, Nana got it to take away, she said it was nothing special, definitely not worth the wait.

The Riverhead, what a beautiful place, but to think that you did not cater for enough customers on a LIVE MUSIC day I am discussed that you never offered any starter options and the lack of communication to the individual tables and no personal touches. I understand the pressure but really.. a 2 hour wait for a pizza the size of a side plate and under cooked beef patty? Come on guys!

DISGRACED!! SADLY I WILL NEVER RETURN and WILL NEVER FORGET...

I have been a regular patron of Riverhead Tavern for some time, often enjoying the atmosphere, food, and service. However, my recent visit on a very special occasion left me deeply disappointed.

I booked a table to celebrate my 19th wedding anniversary, specifically noting this in my reservation and inquiring about any special dishes they might offer for such an occasion. Upon arrival, there was no acknowledgment of our anniversary, which was a letdown given the significance of the day and my prior communication.

The service, which is usually impeccable, was notably lacking. We were not offered drinks upon being seated, not even water. We had to get up and fetch a water bottle ourselves. This level of service is not what I've come to expect from Riverhead Tavern.

One of the most disappointing changes was with our favorite dish, the Scotch filet steak. Previously, the dish included both chips and salad for $42, which we felt was a fair price. However, during this visit, we were told that we had to choose between chips or salad because of a menu change due to food wastage. While I understand the need to reduce waste, I have always finished my meal and felt penalized by this new policy, especially since the price remains unchanged.

Moreover, our order was not prepared correctly. We ordered two Scotch filet steaks, one medium rare and one medium. Both arrived as medium rare. After informing the staff, my wife's steak was taken back to be cooked again, only to return still medium rare. This kind of mistake is particularly frustrating at a higher-end establishment.

The overall presentation and quality of the meal did not justify the $42 price tag. Our total bill for two steaks was $84, which felt excessive given the quality and service issues we encountered.

I have always enjoyed my visits to Riverhead Tavern and hope that this review encourages the management to address these issues. Special occasions should feel special, and I left feeling quite the opposite. I hope to see improvements on...

Rude service.

First the manager at the restaurant told us they weren't taking walk-ins for lunch even though it was half empty. We asked if the bar side was open, she screwed up her face at us and said she didn't know and we'd have to check there.

We checked, they were open, we ordered drinks and fries while we checked the menu to decide what we actually wanted. Partner was keen on fish & chips so I asked if they'd already started the fries or if we could change it (so that we didn't end up with two lots of chips) but bar lady said they'd already started making the chips so we ordered a pizza to share instead.

15 minutes later our pizza finally came, we asked about where our chips were and the waitress looked blank then she said the deep fryer wasnt working at the moment cos they were changing the oil or something.

The pizza was average as, it was soft and tasteless.

And they didn't supply any cutlery or napkins til after we asked for it, even then we had to ask for more napkins as they only gave us ONE (there was two of us!) and didn't give us knives.

Ten minutes after that our fries finally came out, so obviously they had forgotten to put our order through to the kitchen until we reminded the waitress. Which made me wonder why the bar lady had said they'd already started making our chips, when they obviously hadn't, 30 minutes earlier.

Just basically really bad service, and very average pizza which wasn't worth the money, we should've walked out after the first manager was so rude but we thought it'd be nice to try something different as it's a historic pub etc. But really wish we hadn't....