River Grill — Restaurant in Albany

The River Grill restaurant was recommended by a friend of ours so we figured we would give it a try. All I can say is never again. I realize it was a Friday night and busy, but two dinners should not have taken over an hour. We were seated at 7:30, our drink and food order was taken at 7:40. Our house salads and drinks arrived rather prompt (all I can say is that was no surprise considering the drinks were two bottles of Smirnoff coolers and the "salad" was a bowl of iceberg lettuce with one cucumber slice, a sliver of pepper and a piece of onion) Now, 40 minutes later, salads long consumed and beverages almost gone and our meals still hadn't arrived. Twenty minutes later, we flagged down a server (not ours) to see what was going on. She went to check on our food and informed us that they just served a "large" party and ours should be soon. She then disappeared into the kitchen and came back to our table only to tell us that "there were still quite a few orders ahead of ours and it was going to be longer than anticipated." Fifteen muniutes later (a total of 75 minutes in) and we were done! We were finally able to flag down our waitress for the check. Well, you would think after 75 minutes of no service, they would have at least apologized and comped us for the sad dish of iceberg lettuce, but nope! Twelve dollars later for two Smirnoffs and two pitiful bowls of lettuce. We wound up eating at Dairy Queen. At least the service there was FAR better....

This was my first visit and very disappointed. We entered to see all the tables were taken and no direction as to whether we seat ourselves or wait to be seared. Once we found a table, a server handed us menus and took our drink orders. Another server brings our drinks with no ice, but we noticed other tables have ice in their drinks. When we realized there was ice for everyone else, we asked for drinks with ice and the server gave us fresh drinks with ice, thankfully. We order our food and waited 1 hour 20 minutes for our food. Yet, people at the bar who ordered after us got their food before us. My husband ordered the fried catfish and said it was good. My mother order the bourbon glazed chicken and a sweet potato and I ordered smothered chicken with broccoli and cheese. My mom and my orders were served warm but not hot. The 'cheese'on the broccoli was kraft slices melted on top as you can see the square shape of cheese on rhe broccoli. The food was good, but not worth the 80 minute wait! Also, the plates had chips and cracks, which are not safe for patrons.

This is a definitely a local hangout spot as people walked around with their drinks to talk to...

After several weeks of staying at home we ventured out last night to The River Grill for our first night out locally in months. Several people suggested The River Grill so we made the drive to Byrdstown. We sat at the bar and Tammy was our server. The wife ordered the reuben and I ordered a cheeseburger and a couple of beers. Then our server disappeared. We waited a long time for our food, but was enjoying each others company so it was all good. But, we were ready for more beer. Still no server. We had to stop another server to ask for more beer. We finally spotted our server Tammy sitting on the couch in the lounge area. Our food finally arrived (brought by another server). The cheeseburger was average at best and the wife's reuben wasn't good. My wife said she shouldn't have expected much because they even spelled the reuben sandwich wrong on the menu. Tammy finally showed up again but ignored us. I had to ask for the check so we could leave. It was a very disappointing first night out again and not worth the drive to Byrdstown. Next time we are in the area we will probably try it one more time, but it was not worth the drive for a...