Riverboat on the Potomac — Restaurant in Colonial Beach

We went here on Thursday July 5th in the evening. The place appeared to be ransacked from the night before (4th of July). After we were seated we asked for a highchair. We were informed that this restaurant has only 2 highchairs, 1 of them had no straps. This restaurant can probably seat 200 + guests.

Our server was obviously tired, overworked and slightly embittered as they were not afraid to badmouth the establishment. Our server was nice, but very unprofessional. We even overheard a women ask what were the specials, and he told her he didn't know, but she could walk upfront to see what was written on the board.

Also another table requested apple juice for their toddler, and the server informed them they didn't serve apple juice. The mother at that table said they served their son apple juice a few days ago. When the server asked the manager, he responded with, they haven't had apple juice in 15 years.

Our food was very overpriced and not impressive.

Our table ordered a Seafood Platter ($30), Crab Cakes($21), and 2 Prime Rib ($21).The seafood platter consisted of 4 shrimp, 4 nickel sized scallops, a piece of flounder and a small crab cake. One prime rib was ordered medium rare, the other medium well, they brought out 2 cooked identical. They were obviously not cut to order as they both has a brown crust on the side from a heat lamp or oven. The crab cake meal consisted of 2 crab cakes that were overcooked, about the diameter of a soda can.

All of the meals were served with veggies and a piece of bread that was stale. Also, all the meals came with a salad that was insulting small and had over ripe tomatoes. It would have been better to not get one at all, and offer a side salad for a few bucks.

The restaurant is a very nice place with nice decor and scenic views of the river. Its obvious that the bar and slots are what keep this place in business. This place has the potential to be a nice spot, but is obviously mismanaged.

We will never eat here again, there are better places to get food in...

I went with my daughter who likes to play Texas Hold'em Poker. I sat at a dining table (while she sat at the poker tables) for over 45 minutes waiting for someone to come and offer me a menu or ask if I wanted a drink or anything! The waitress walked by my table, served the table beside me and behind me, looked me in the face several times and refused to come to my table. Finally, my daughter asked the person in charge of the gaming tables if someone would come over to take my order. He went to the waitress, pointed at my table, she turned around and looked at me, and still never came to my table! After another 20 minutes (and the table behind me and beside me were leaving), I finally flagged down the gentleman who was in charge of the gaming tables and asked him if I needed to go to another part of the establishment to get service. He brought me a menu and took my order and brought me a drink. It took another half hour before my food was served. Total time spent waiting to be served and receive my dinner: 1 hour 35 minutes!!! Unacceptable on all levels! I never received a drink refill, my food wasn't too bad, but the crab dip was cold, and a discount for the horrible service wasn't even offered. I don't blame the young man who was in charge of the gambling tables, as he is the only one who served me; but the waitress was the worst waitress I have ever encountered. I will NEVER bother going back and plan to notify all of my friends and colleagues that it is a waste of time to go there. If I am going to pay top dollar for food and drinks, then I should at least receive some form...

Not what these reviews made it seem like.

My wife, two year old son, and I came here on a Sunday at around 11:30 to get some lunch before we spent the afternoon at the beach.

The first thing that struck me was that the inside looks like it’s main purpose isn’t a restaurant. It’s very obviously all about horse or sport betting, as there’s small TVs that line the walls and keno machines everywhere. There is a full bar.

The tables and chairs give me retirement home vibes, and it wasn’t particularly clean, the bathrooms especially. My wife went to the bathroom and there wasn’t even toilet paper. The men’s restroom at one point had a divider between the urinals which had evidently been ripped off and not replaced.

As for the food: it was shocking. We had looked at this place online beforehand and saw a lunch menu featuring crab cakes burgers, and hush puppies. When we sat down our waitress came and gave us plates, because instead of a menu there was a breakfast buffet. At 11:30. This was not on the webpage we looked at, and it appeared that everyone there was having it too. I don’t think a menu was even an option, though our waitress never mentioned it.

The eggs were obviously powdered, the sausage pale, bacon floppy, and the pancakes were uncomfortably dense. The only thing that was even remotely close to being good was the biscuits and gravy.

To add insult to injury, this all cost us $46!!! $15 for a breakfast buffet that would only rival a motel 6 (maybe). It felt like a colossal rip off. I do not...