Rooftop at Riverside — Restaurant in Bonita Springs

It is sad that this place had so much hype and delivered so little. The place is a new 2 story building in downtown bonita with 2 indoor bars, a satellite bar outdoors, 4 food trucks. It offers a family friendly environment with several play areas for kids(outdoors, sandwiched between high trafficked areas which makes it difficult to get around), several TVs(indoors), and a surround sound system. It has a pretty view from the ‘roof top’. I tried the sliders from the Butcher’s food truck, although it had a good texture and flavor, it left much to be desired for a $7.00+ tax price tag per slider. Later we tried the pizza truck, and again, it was underwhelming. Pizza had a very tasty flavor combination, on paper (garlic, goat cheese, chives among other things). Sadly it tasted like a slightly moist piece of cardboard for a price tag of $18.00 + tax for a small personal pizza. Another thing that stood out was all of this food trucks ask you to select a tip, which you couldn’t opt out of unless you wrote 0.00$ manually, between 25% 30% and 35%. There are many reasons why this is offensive to the customer, but that’s another topic. Ice cream truck was pretty good. ⭐️ The whole operation is lacking sitting space for eating costumers, we had to sit on the floor to eat. Once a table opened up we sat and a kind employee came and bussed our table and he also put a smile on our faces. ⭐️ The indoor’s decor lacks character and it looks semi industrial with extremely low ceilings which makes it all looked very cramped and uncomfortable. The sound system also needs to be revised, during our visit, we walked through the upstairs and noticed that different instruments of the same song were coming out of different sides of the bar. This could be very cool, if done properly. However, as we walk to the outdoor patio, upstairs, all we could hear was a woman’s voice softly reading a poem..but as we turned the corner the instruments out of the other speaker. It was strange, yet interesting to experience songs chopped up in this manner. I hope this place fixes it’s minor issues soon, as it is recent. Best of luck neighbors, and don’t forget the quality of service, products, and attention to detail that all of your competitors have brought...

The typical “have to give the one star to leave the review but really it’s a -5 star. Been twice. Both experiences were not great but the second attempt was the motivation for this review (I usually don’t do reviews). We waited 45 minutes for one beer, one water, one cocktail and one diet soda. It took over 20 minutes just to have our order taken. My wife actually attempted to buy straight from the bar but was told we had to order through our server (that said … we continuously watched others go in and grab orders and return to the roof deck). We were finally told our order would be straight out (by our server) but then he proceeded to return inside to fill waters for another table (I only know this because I finally went inside to see what was going on). Once I saw this I flipped. I told the rest of our party that I was done. Headed downstairs and asked to speak to a manager. I very nice woman listened to my concerns and promised that she would address the issue. We were out of time (and patience) at that point. I requested that she cancel the order and credit our credit card (Yes! They took the money at the time of the order!!!!). I am still waiting to see if that money gets credited … if not I will definitely attempt to reclaim it by contacting our credit card company.

I would never in my life recommend this establishment to anyone … not even my worst enemy!!! Brutal!

So just a little more information … newly opened only a month and a half ago. We were told they were short staffed. During our second visit the place was may 3/4 full. Clearly it is a staffing issue but I also feel that there is a huge management disconnect here. The place looks sensational … far from it. Too bad. Lots of potential. I have read the other reviews … “new operation working out the kinks” … that doesn’t work for me. You can work out the kinks in a matter of a few weeks. This is a matter of finding the correct employees, training, and management being present 100% of the time. Also … pay your employees fairly … not sure what the pay is at this place … but keep your employees happy … part of the team … respect the management. Hope they get it...

I think The Rooftop at Riverside is such a great asset to old Bonita/Bonita Springs however it could use some tweaking. The food trucks offer a pleasing selection of foods - savory and sweet, and while enjoying your food the live music adds to the experience plus there are games and activities for all the family. But, what I'm not keen on is the lighting inside the building and around the bar, it is far to bright in the evenings, it definitely needs to be dimmed to create atmosphere and ambience - no one looks good under what can only be described as interrogation lightning! Soft lights or side lamps would only enhance the setting and attract more people. I was in there this past weekend, yes it’s September but there are plenty of year round people living in the area or willing to drive to have a fun day or evening out - it’s obvious that the owners have created a neighborhood Gem but inside and outside should be packed all year round and making it atmospheric with small changes to mood lighting could make that difference. Just my opinion - I want Rooftop to be a resounding success as I love my...