Riverhouse Grill — Restaurant in Glen Rose

We were in town this past weekend for a quick last minute trip before school starts up. While exploring Glen Rose & her attractions, we asked about the town's best restuarant offerings. Most everyone mentioned Hammond's for BBQ or a "Mexican" restuarant. Food choices are slim in Glen Rose, and really I wanted something a tiny bit more... "refined" than BBQ. I wanted steak & something local. Luckily, we found Riverhouse on Google & Yelp, the menu & reviews fit the bill.

First off, we were last minute dinner guests on a Saturday night, so we called ahead right as we had one foot out of our hotel door. One of the owners answered & was very gracious in accepting us & squeezing us in last minute.

The drive over was short & scenic as we drove past Big Rock, and as a bonus for me, since I had just gotten a "soft-roading" SUV & was able to drive on grass & gravel in the back of the restuarant to park. There was parking available in the front & side, but seeing other cars & trucks parked in the rear & on grass with a light incline, was too tempting for me to pass up. I don't recommend going this route to get parking for everyone though. So please don't be tempted in your sedan or coupe & have your fender/bumper destroyed & blame this post or anyone else.

Back to the restaurant & food. The exterior of Riverhouse is very welcoming. Step back into simpler times for Glen Rose & step into a beautiful & cozy interior.

We were warmly greeted by the staff & the owner, Kelly/Kelli. They were packed, but she led us into the cozy bar area to let us escape the Texas evening heat. She gave us menus to look over & made us drinks, while we waited for our table to be cleared & setup. This was pleasant & took about 10 minutes.

Looking over the menu, this was exactly what we had wanted and once we were sat, we heard the off item specials & were ready to order.

The porkchop was fantastic, perfectly moist & well cooked with flavor. The cowboy ribeye, medium rare, was huge, cooked perfectly throughout & was not only tasty but hearty. Both entrees were totally worth it. We also ordered the tempura shrimp cocktail, Italian flatbread & a wedge salad with the housemade dressing. The shrimp alone were great, with the cocktail sauce, which tasted a little bit more like bbq sauce was ok. Your taste may vary with the sauce. Personally it the sauce was a bit creamier, possibly served with the house made bleu cheese dressing, it would've paired better for my taste. The Italian flatbread was ok. It wasn't my personal favorite, but my wife loved it. Again personal preference. My wedge salad was fresh, crisp & refreshing. The lettuce was definitely fresh, the red onions were sweet, & the bacon was... delicious bacon. The house bleu cheese dressing was a little light on flavor for my taste. Mixed with the wedge lettuce, it was somewhat watered down, so my preference would've been to either make sure the lettuce was drained of more water, or made the dressing a bit bolder on taste, either more saltier with the bleu cheese, or sweeter to bring out more of the bleu cheese flavor. But again, maybe it personal preference & taste. (The best bleu cheese wedge & dressing I've had would be from Flemmings steakhouse.)

To finish it all off, we had the white chocolate/cranberry bread pudding. It was very good & heavenly.

I forgot to mention the house bread. It was also another highlight. One thing I noticed since moving to Texas is that she takes her dinner rolls & breads very seriously. The house rolls/bread came out piping warm & delicious. In this heat, we didn't mind. It was a cross between an airy roll you'd get at Texas Roadhouse & a biscuit. Delicious.

The service we received was very good & extremely attentive, friendly & welcoming. Definitely that Texan hospitality.

Do yourselves a favor & know there are better, more extensive vacation dining options beyond Tex-Mex & BBQ. I'm sure those choices are good as well, but if you're on vacation, have a bit of time, want something different, local with linen napkins & candles, give Riverhouse...

Pretty bad experience when you are the 1st patrons there with a 5pm reservation (they open for dinner at 5pm) and you find out at 5:50 that your order was never even turned in and you don't even get your entrees!!!! Unbelievable! Salads (1 ceasar, 1 wedge) & shrimp cocktail ordered first. We kept noticing that others who came in after us were getting their drinks, salads, & appetizers. Our salads finally arrive by another server after having to ask for them, only 2 ceasars, no wedge salad. My husband kept the ceasar b/c we were getting hungry by this time. No bread served to us and we had to ask for that too. Our waitress then came by and says “the shrimp should be coming?” After another pass by of her saying the same thing again about the shrimp cocktail, it showed up about 15 mins later. The whole purpose of going early to eat was to make a 7pm showtime for The Promise. Again waiting… no waitress, no word on our food. We finally stopped her the next time she appeared again and asked about our entrees (2 steak dinners). She went back to the kitchen and reappeared several minutes later to tell us that our order hadn’t been cooked. We ask how long to get our food out to us now, so back to the kitchen she goes to return with the word that it will take another 20 mins. We then ask to speak to the Manager. Our waitress tells us that he is also the owner and the only cook, and how none of this was her fault b/c he also had to leave and run to the store to get the shrimp for our shrimp cocktail! Further the waitress keeps insisting she is not lying to us to the point that you instantly know that that is exactly what she is doing. There was no time to wait any further for food that would likely never arrive anyway. We paid our tab to that point and left thoroughly disappointed. "Poor Service" is certainly an...

DISAPPOINTING!!!! I've been coming to Riverhouse grill regularly for past few years. Today had to be one of the most disappointing meals we have had there. Let me explain. First off no one was picking up the phone to take a pick up order, so because we have been there before and it is 5 minutes away I went there in person to place the to go order. Next, the Price charged "$30 market price" for a 8oz sirloin does this mean I just paid $60/lb for a sirloin a soggy side caesar and mashed potatoes???... online $26, Salmon $29 w/ side Caesar Salad sub for veggies says $22 online (without caeser salad) and I believe $24 on the menu, and pork chop $21.50 w/ Caesar salad online $19. Next Salads all soggy and maybe about 4 bites worth with soggy croutons, salad had consistency of cold steamed wet spinach with store bought caesar dressing. Next salmon says white butter sauce.... NOPE it was a soy base sauce, not good if you have a soy allergy, also maybe about a 4oz filet and super fishy taste, so bad my wife couldn't finish it. Pork chop tough as nails. Hostess/waitress not friendly when asking about the pricing being so different. The one saving grace is they at least cooked the steak correctly (hence the 2 stars). This was a big change from the Riverhouse grill we used to know. These are all things I have gotten many times before and have loved I think I even wrote a review praising how great it was then. Within the past few months things have gone way down hill! Unless something changes, prices are consistent and listed correctly, and prices begin to reflect the quality of the food served we will not be returning, which sucks because we used to...