The River Rooms — Restaurant in Belfast

We attended here at the weekend for a 30th birthday party as a group of 13 and to say we were disappointed is an understatement. As you can see from the attached photo we had booked for bottomless brunch from 2:30pm til 4pm and then karaoke from 4pm with cocktail trees included. Private karaoke was requested via phonecall and was confirmed by Keli over the phone. I had called the venue the day before to see if we could set up some decorations. I assume I spoke to Mal, the owner, as the phone was answered with ‘Hello’ and nothing further. I confirmed I was speaking to someone at the river rooms and asked would it be possible to set up some decorations before, he said if we arrived 15 minutes before the booking that it would be no problem to put up some decorations. Some of our party arrived at 20 past and were told that our table was not ready and that they were running behind. We were finally seated 15-20 minutes after our booked time of 2:30pm at two tables of different heights pushed together and quickly put up some decorations while the birthday girl waited upstairs. Upon being seated we were given the choice of 3 cocktails, which didn’t include daiquiris and a aperol spritzes as advertised, and were served in “cocktail trees” (drink dispensers) which again was not advertised as we were expecting to be able to order our own cocktails during brunch. The owner then came down and put karaoke on straight away explained how to work the system and nothing further. When one of our party said that karaoke was meant to be after the brunch the bar staff told us it was up to the boss and it would be turned off in 90 minutes so to make the most of it! 90 minutes later the boss reappeared turned off the karaoke system and then said it was a connection issue and he would put it back on when it was fixed….i find this particularly appalling as I could see the laptop behind the bar and watched him turn it off. A member of our party complained to the bar staff and was told that she would need to speak to the boss but couldn’t because he was on a boat? I went to complain to the bar staff and was informed he would go get the boss, the staff member returned 10 minutes later without the boss and the boss didn’t come to speak to me for the rest of our time there. The “cocktail trees” were removed from our tables at around 4/half 4 and we we were told that was it until I showed them the email that stated we had booked more and they then refilled them and returned them. The food was average, prawns cooked well, but the portions were minuscule, 3 marble sized balls of goats cheese and 3 fried slices of pickles as an example. A member of our party didn’t receive one of her dishes and had to remind the staff twice before it was served to her. As stated in a previous review from a member of our party we had requested a final amount to be paid on the day as we were splitting it between 12 people for there then to be an additional £50 service charge placed on the bill for incredibly poor service especially by the owner himself is to be quite frank laughable. I would never normally begrudge a service charge as hospitality staff work incredibly hard but for this not to be mentioned in any communications especially when we requested information regarding the final amount to be paid is an oversight on the venues part. I understand that this charge was refunded after it had been disputed but given the amount of times our party had complained during our time there I think the fact it was included at all is ridiculous. In regards to the private karaoke room, the individual who booked it had got this confirmation over the phone that it was a private room but this was not the case. When this was raised to the owner the member of our party stated she had no proof as the confirmation was provided verbally and the owner said he understood and that should have never been promised to us on a Saturday. I would not recommend this venue and package to anyone. I think it’s disgraceful to advertise as a place for hen dos ect and treat young women...

We attended here at the weekend for a 30th Birthday bottomless brunch for 90 minutes followed by a 2-hour private karaoke session. We were informed in advance that we could access the room at 2:15 PM to decorate. However, upon our arrival, we were told to wait upstairs as the room wasn’t ready, and they had been running behind all day. At 2:45 PM, we were finally allowed downstairs to quickly decorate while the birthday girl waited upstairs.

We were told that because we were late getting our table, we would be granted an extra 15 minutes at the end of our session and that our bottomless brunch would now start. However, as soon as we sat down, the bar staff started the karaoke. When we mentioned that the bottomless brunch was supposed to last until 4 PM before karaoke began, the barman replied that the boss had started it, and there was nothing he could do. He informed us that we only had 90 minutes to sing, and then the karaoke would be switched off.

The cocktails tasted mostly like orange juice and ice, and the bar was not private; another group was present and could hear us singing karaoke. We had contacted them via email prior to our arrival to get a final price, as we were splitting the cost among 12 people. While we received a confirmed price via email prior to attending, we were shocked to find an additional £50 service charge upon payment. It's unclear what 'service' this charge covered, as the service we received was atrocious.

Furthermore, we were asked to leave 5 minutes before our scheduled end time because the next group was arriving and they needed the table. This was frustrating, especially since we had been told earlier that we would have extra time due to their delays. Overall, we experienced terrible service, tasteless cocktails, and small plates of average food. For around £50 per person, we expected much better. This place has great potential but needs significant improvements in...

We booked for Tipsy Tea, which was afternoon tea with booze. Choice of either strawberry daiquiri or Passion Fruit Martini alongside a pot between the four of us of prosecco.

The food wasn't of the standard I expected for afternoon tea. Having been to multiple across Belfast this one was perhaps the most disappointing.

The warm food was a miniature soup, which admittedly was the nicest part and a bowl of cocktails sausages.

Then out came the tiered food, I was looking forward to this part as I love the scones and beautiful deserrts part of an afternoon tea. Sadly what we recieved did not live up to expectations.

The scones were OK, bit soggy from having been dinged in the microwave, however the most disappointing part was the "deserts". The top tier normally reserved for beautifully delicate deserts and delights was simply a plate of shop bought sweets. The plate had flumps, matchsticks, after eights, a Mr Kipling angel slice cut into four, sweets and four tiny buns that were from a packet.

We booked this afternoon tea for a birthday and really wish we had have went somewhere else as I felt bad for the birthday girl who didn't get the afternoon tea she deserved!

If you're looking for a very basic afternoon tea with little thought that goes into the food then River Rooms is your place. If you want to treat someone special to a nice afternoon tea, pay the extra £10 and go...