River House Stirling — Restaurant in Scotland

One star because I needed to! MY E-MAIL to head office I wish to bring to your attention my experience of today’s lunch with friends; my first order was for ginger beer and lime which arrived as soda and lime and had to be replaced. For lunch, I ordered a steak ciabatta and a bowl of soup, within moments of this arriving we were asked if our food was okay (apparently this is called a check back, something I only discovered when it came to paying the bill), at this point I had not started to eat my ciabatta so did not reply. My friends did, however, say they were happy with their orders and the waitress disappeared.

On taking my first bite of the steak, I was not at all satisfied. The steak was inedible, very gristly, I attracted the attention of the younger waiter who had delivered our food, and asked him to inform the chef that the steak was inedible. He asked if I wanted him to take the plate back to the kitchen, to which I replied I was eating my soup. No more was said and the waiter left the table. I watched him find the lady who did the ‘check back’ and I presume he was notifying her of the issue with the food.

No-one came near our table after that until we wished to order teas and coffees, my plate was sitting with the uneaten steak and I asked the same young waiter if he had informed the chef, he said he had but offered nothing else.

When the bill came via the ‘check back’ waitress, I asked if the value of the steak had been removed to which I was told “No!" because I had not made her aware of any issues at the check back. ( it was at this point that I found out what check back actually is) and also the plate had not been returned to the kitchen, therefore there was nothing she could do except give me your policy statement and contact details.

I am as you can imagine, dissatisfied for many reasons- No-one apologised for the below standard food that was served. No-one made me aware that if I did not return my full plate of food I would not be given an alternative. No refund/replacement of any sort was offered I left the restaurant hungry

I eat out often and this is the first time I have ever had such as dissatisfying experience. In my opinion, your waiter should have offered to bring a second steak roll to me or to leave my soup and take the sub-standard steak. If I had known your policy from the outset, or if it had been explained to me I would of course, have let him take the plate away to have my food replaced.

We paid over £70 for our lunch today - one course, a soft drink and a pot of tea. I know the cost of living has increased but to leave a restaurant having only eaten a bowl of soup and a roll but paying almost £25 for the pleasure leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I often visit Boardwalk and Riverhouse and have on occasion also been to Duck Bay. I will not be returning and neither will my friends and as you are aware word of mouth is very good or bad for business. Unfortunately after today’s experience, you can no doubt guess that our recommendations to friends and family will not be positive.

I hope you will give time to responding to the above as stated in your policy statement. I certainly do not feel like a ‘valued customer’ nor do I feel that your standards are 'exceptionally high’. These are words on a piece of paper and as it also states on your piece of paper - 'mistakes happen', however, the staff who are customer facing need to be the ones to remedy these mistakes in order to allow your business to have the high reputation it seems strive for.

THE RESPONSE did just offer any refund whatsoever, just a standard apology and a promise to never do...

Hit or miss… unfortunately I always get hit with the miss!

I always regret choosing the Riverhouse, but today was a business meeting so I had no option but to give it another go. Same old experience sadly.

Someone once had a vision for this place, and credit where due, the interior looked smart at the start. But the faux willow trees now look dated, dominating the room with a pre-Covid vibe. Regulars coming back yearly for birthdays must have “spot the difference” photo albums. The menu is equally static, bordering on stale. Prices are high for what is offered.

I cannot do onions (intolerance, not allergy). I asked for the prawn cocktail without onions, assuming it meant in the salad. The server checked and came back to say I would have to order something else. Fair enough, though disappointing. I settled under time pressure for a Caesar wrap. The food arrived quickly, minus my colleague’s fries and with coleslaw that had suffered at the pass. The wrap was generous, but it felt more like a burrito, packed with avocado, drenched in dressing, and layered with Parmesan. If value means sheer bulk, you would be happy. But I prefer quality and presentation, and my wrap with crisps and a few rocket leaves did not feel special.

Normally, I give most weight to the non-food side of hospitality, but here that magic is missing. There is no buzz, no warmth, just service by numbers. The biggest issue was the staff’s manner. Each of the three servers asked how things were, then seemed to compare notes with the others. We ended up stuck in a loop of repeating that the food was fine until pressed further. Eventually, I explained the prawn cocktail issue again. The server told me the mix was pre-prepped for the day. I could not understand why they could not just put together prawns with mayo, ketchup, lemon, Tabasco and paprika. Evidently, prawns were either in the mix or frozen. That might suit a café, but not a restaurant charging premium prices.

This is not a chef problem. It is management. Staff juggle roles as order-taker, busser and maître d’, which never works. A good restaurant has someone overseeing dishes and smoothing issues before they reach the customer. Here, servers just pass messages back and forth, creating awkward exchanges instead of hospitality magic.

Menus are puzzles. Learn the picture on the box and you can swap the pieces with ease. That is how dietary requests should be handled. Instead, here they are barriers.

The Riverhouse should be the best restaurant in Stirling. It has the location, it has the look, but not the delivery. I truly hope management can rediscover the spark. Get the service right, give the kitchen more flexibility, bring back the magic, and you will find me...

I write this review with much sadness and disappointment.

What had intended to be a nice outing for myself with some friends for a birthday meal became an uphill battle to get edible food and decent service to our table.

Upon arrival we were pleasantly greeted and assigned our table with a beautiful view of an indoor cherry blossom and the lake and our drinks order was taken and a selection of lovely bread was provided as a pre meal appetiser.

Next came our orders which unfortunately consisted of items which were poorly advised as seafood (thankfully we didn’t have allergies) as a seafood dish was ordered for myself which I open mindedly tried whilst my friends enjoyed their starters.

Next came the main courses, which were delivered in a good time, my friend and I had ordered steak with our cooking preferences taken, what followed was utterly disappointing and quite frankly shocking from an establishment providing steak on their menu. Myself I had asked for a steak medium well which was not the case as this was well done (if it had been any more well done it would have been cremated) whilst this was edible for myself, my friend was not so fortunate.

The second steak which was ordered rare came out medium well and very undersized, this prompted us to get a waiter and ask for a new steak and at the same time ordering more drinks. The steak was them taken off to the kitchen and a new dish presented, But low and behold we have the same problem but at this point my friend was just wanting to eat as hanger was setting in. Apparently, the kitchen staff have a sheer inability to cook steak to the customers preference. Next our second drinks arrived, and the waiter left us to our meal, it was a little baffling that the empty glasses from our first round still remained on the table.

Upon finishing our drinks and food, we decided to skip a desert due to the sheer disaster we had experienced with our starters and main course meals, we therefore asked for the bill which was not cheap for the horrendous dinner experience we had endured. No good will gestures for the service or mistakes made, no real apology for the errors either.

What had been intended as a nice evening out for a birthday meal was unfortunately dampened by the sheer lack of professional kitchen staff and waiters who has an inability to apologise or clear up empty glasses.

As you can probably assume at this point, I will not be visiting this establishment in the future and would not recommend this to anyone wishing to have a pleasant...