Riverside Grille — Restaurant in Beaumont

This evening I went with my wife to the Riverside Grille to celebrate her birthday. I made a reservation early last night, and am pleased to say that despite a packed house the wait was minimal, and the food was entirely worth my time.

This is, in my opinion, Beaumont's only really fine dining experience. My friends tell me that Floyd's has gone downhill, and while Koi remains in the date night rotation, it was good to try something a little different this evening. It has been a very long time since I went downtown for anything except jury duty, and so it is pleasant to see that this oft-ignored part of Beaumont is being redeveloped into something legitimately wonderful.

The restaurant is gorgeous on the inside, with a substantial fish tank including a turtle and lovely hanging light fixtures. The booth we sat in was comfortable and cozy. I would say that the music was a little too loud, and made it difficult to hear my spouse's conversation, however, that could well have been because of the full house tonight. My only complaint is the loudness of the music, but that may well be a matter of taste rather than any mark against the restaurant.

Something I would like to note early in this review is the portion size. While there is a certain sticker price that can be shocking when enjoying a fine dining experience, do not expect delicate plates that still leave you hungry when your meal is done. The portions are massive, and that alone is impressive. Many restaurants seem to be skimping out on the food lately, and I can confirm that this is not one of them.

Our appetizer was the seafood fondeaux. If you're a fan of mushrooms, this is the spot for you. I personally love mushrooms, and eat them at every possible opportunity, and so was well pleased. Served in a large skillet with what seemed to be a whole loaf of garlic toast, it was a magnificent, cheesey experience. I cannot recommend it enough.

While I had reviewed the menu prior to arriving this evening, my wife had not. There are a lot of interesting dishes, but we went for what was on the covers this evening. My wife had the Red Snapper Alexander, and I the Redfish Pontchartrain. My wife described her main as "crispy fish, perfectly cooked shrimp, with just the right amount of sauce" and noted that nothing was dry or soggy. For my part, the redfish was seasoned, but not overly so, allowing the flavor of the Pontchartrain sauce and the fish to take center stage. Both were served on a bed of rice with one side. She got asparagus, I got the sweet potato casserole. I don't like asparagus, and so I didn't enjoy the husband tax, but I found my sweet potato casserole to be very tasty with the right amount of sweetness-to-texture ratio.

We got dessert to go because we were so very full. We have not sampled it yet, but I anticipate we will very soon. On the whole, a very enjoyable evening. I am very, very glad that Crockett Street and the rest of downtown appear to be seeing a resurgence. We will certainly return in the very...

My family and I were excited to try a new restaurant because we heard such good things about this place. So we walk in about 5:30pm on Jan 6 and it’s a Saturday evening so a 30 minute wait was inevitable anywhere we would have went, plus we didnt have a reservation, which was fine with us. My problem stems from which the hostess was very rude and nasty with us highkey trying to gaslight us when we asked how much longer just checking because it was people that came in after us, WITH NO RESERVATION MIND YOU, and got seated before us. The hostess was lying to our face telling us that they didnt seat anyone before us that didnt have a reservation but we heard them say they did NOT have one and was just a walk in like us. They were a party of 5 just like my family and we were confused on that part. Next I wish I would taken pictures of the food so yall could see exactly what im talking about, but sadly it was so disappointing and underwhelming that me and family was just ready to pay and leave. I got the redfish Pontchartrain entree and the picture provided on menu, as well as reviews provided on Google and the description of said entree, showed that the sauce was a creamy white sauce. I did NOT get a creamy white sauce, instead i got what looked like some sauce that they threw dirt or at very least a gravy sauce. Which is not what i was expecting and it was very bland, tasteless and overall disappointing. The only good thing on my plate was a loaded baked potato. My cousin got the fried seafood platter and that fish made her throw up immediately, not only that but her food was the last to come out. When it was simply fried food only good thing on her plate was the french fries. My mother got fried shrimp with au gratin potatoes and green beans, NASTY. Green beans were severely undercooked and tasteless, only good thing on her plate was her au gratin potatoes. My auntie got the shrimp alfredo pasta, bland and tasteless. The only thing that we had that was okay/good was the spinach dip. When we were done, full plates was around the table and less than 1/4 of the food was gone. Our waiter asked if we were sure we was done multiple times because he saw how much food was left on our plates. Overall, for a $170 it was very underwhelming, disappointing, and a very disheartening experience for us. This restaurant is a one and done for me and my family. I will say this before I cut this review off, our waiter was good, but not great. He was stretched too thin, he was trying to be attentive but had way too many tables to be as attentive as we would have liked. Hopefully someone see this and make some type of change, give more training...

I brought out of town relatives to the Riverside Grill for dinner on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024. We were a party of seven adults and didn't have a reservation, because their advertising didn't mention the necessity for it. When we arrived, we were told there were no tables to accommodate a party of seven and that the only tables available were already taken and another party was ahead of us. We ordered drinks totalling over $100 and sat down to wait. While waiting, we noticed many smaller unoccupied tables in the center area of the restaurant that were empty and asked if they would put a couple of those together for us, only to be told that they couldn't move tables as it was against policy. I asked for a manager and again my request was denied. This made no sense as the restaurant was not that busy and the center area barely had anyone else around. We finished our drinks and left as I informed them that they just lost what in all likelihood would have been a $300 plus tab. If the point of attempting to revitalize downtown Beaumont is to attract tourist, visitors and people from out of town, this place will never make a go of it. We went to Floyd's instead and were accommodated nicely. My recommendation is to avoid the Riverside Grill. Richard Glenn, owner, Triple G Ranch, Mount Union, TX. 04-24-24 Update. I'm very pleased to report that I received a personal call from Jay Jenkins, owner of the Riverside Grill. He apologized sincerely for the incident of the prior evening and stated that it shouldn't have happened, and myself and my guests should've been accommodated. Especially since it was not a busy night and crowding wasn't an issue. I felt he was sincere and accepted his apology and will give the Riverside Grill...