River Wild — Restaurant in Albemarle

I don't usually leave negative reviews but today I believe it warrants it. Several of us(8) met down there today for the 1st time and ate together. We all sat at 3 different tables in the same area. The food was ok but the service was terrible. We all had to ask our server multiple times for condiments and I even had to get up and walk over to the kitchen entrance to get A-1 that I had asked for everytime 1 of our other folks got their food. We all ate and got our bills and because we were viewed as a group of 7 or more because we all knew each other and sat in the vicinity of each other we were charged 18% automatic gratuity on everyone. When the last plate of food was sat down we never saw our server again until she brought the bills out. Everyone's drink glasses were empty and had been. I had made up my mind that my tip was gonna be the same as the service, none. Then we all noticed the forced tip. We explained that we all just sorta met there and decided to sit in the same area at different tables and they literally grabbed a menu to prove it was on the menu of a group of 7 or more. I always tip no less than 25% if the service is decent and more if it's better but to not even offer a refill to anyone because you're guaranteed to get a tip regardless of the lack of service is absolute the worst you can do to customers. We had several walk in while we were explaining things and several said that it's always been like that when it comes to service and the only reason they keep coming is the convenience of the bar in reference to where they live. This was our 1st time and I doubt we'll be back. Restaurants need to get back to where servers earn their tips. Can you imagine making $30-40/hr or more and not even have to refill drinks??? The whole "we're just busy" falls on deaf ears. Either the restaurant needs to hire more staff to handle busy days or place more experienced servers in areas that are more highly trafficked. River Wild, you can...

I was really looking forward to visiting this place. The sad part was it was a let down. The food was good but the mayo on my river burger was no bigger than an m&m usually places put to much mayo but I could not even tell it had mayo on it. Like I said overall the burger an fries were good but we only saw our waitress 2 times the whole time we were there well 3 my bad. Once when she took our drink order and again when she brought our drinks. The next an final time we saw her was when she brought our food. That was it. There were 8 of us an my brother asked for a1 which he never got so he went an found it himself from another waitress. None of us ever got a refill not a single one of us. We waited for our check so we could pay an leave I asked the hostess about getting our check she assured us our waitress would be bringing it soon an asked whe we saw her last I said he'll it was 1942 the last time she came to our table. So she assured us within 5 minutes she would be there. I never mind leaving a tip ever but they automatically added in a tip because we had a party bigger than 7. And I'm usually ok with that if we get good service but I shit you not we never saw our waitress again after she brought us our food. And we had to choke it down because not a one of us ever got a refill or asked if we needed one or anything. Needles to say We wont be back. Absolutely the worst service of anywhere I have are at. It was so bad we had to threaten to leave without paying if she didn't bring our checks. It was by far the worst service I've ever experienced. And we were automatically charged a tip that was not in anyway deserved. I ALWAYS LEAVE AT LEAST A 5 DOLLAR TIP AND SOMETIMES MORE! My bill was $20.84 so I gave her 21 an said keep the change! Why because they already charged me a tip on my bill for the crappiest service I...

Would love to give a 5 out of 5 but My family and I arrived walked to the door first thing we see is beer can laying in front of the entrance door. We walk in waited for the hostess to finish with another family. When she returned she picked up her phone and started scrolling. She didn't a knowledge we were standing there , I had to place my hand on the table in front of her before she would even a knowledge us standing there. She continues to scroll for a few seconds longer . She then acted as we were bothering her. She placed her phone down acting aggravated spoke to me with an attitude Asked if we wanted outside or inside we stated we would like outside, she then informed us it would be an 30 minute wait. Which would have been fine but one of my daughters had to get to work . She then stated there was a booth ready, we stated that would be fine. She walks us to the booth ( which had not been cleaned yet) we asked if it could be cleaned off, as she placed the menus on the table and started to walk off, her response was "Fine give me a minute". We were fine waiting for the booth to be cleaned of course. The server was very nice. Now the food Spare ribs were ordered but what came out as spare ribs Was Not spare ribs It was pot roast which we very fatty and wasn't tasty at all. The food has went down hill, I'm sorry to say. The menus were falling apart. Very disappointed. The server is the only reason for the 3 star service. Not worth the travel or the prices they charge for misleading...