River Shack Gretna — Restaurant in Gretna

Decided to try this little, big spot in Gretna since I have passed here so many times on the river. There is indoor and outdoor seating. It's sit yourself and then the waitress come to you. Our waitress was Tina and Brandy but mainly Tina. We received our menus and looked them over. Ordered water, lemonade and Arnold palmer to drink. The Arnold palmer was perfect. The lemonade by itself taste more like a powder mix. We ordered the fried mushrooms and spinach artichoke dip for appetizers. The mushrooms were served fresh with a side of "dill ranch". My only downside is they don't remove the gills, which give a bitter taste, other than that, they were really good. The spinach artichoke dip was good but one of the cheeses was very bitter. Not very moist. We then ordered our main course. Mom choice the daily special "Mama Lou's" Fried chicken. It came with 3 random pieces ( they chose breast, leg and wing) and Mac-n-cheese( still cold), which there are NO SUBSTITUTIONS on specials so she had to order a side of zucchini and squash. The chicken was VERY, VERY, VERY crispy. So crispy that it would barely cut with a steak fork and therefore could NOT be bit with bare teeth. In other words it was too hard to eat the skin. However, the breast was perfectly crispy with good seasoning. The inside was ok on the wing but the leg was still red inside which made us believe it was old or cooked too fast. The alligator po'boy was ordered with added grilled onions, dressed with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. I chose the sweet potato fries for an extra $2.50. The alligator did not have any seasoned flavor except for a little kickback at the end of each bite, other than that, it was bland. The bread was awesome though, soft and crispy all in one. The fries were hot, crispy outside and soft inside to perfection. There appeared to only be 3 servers besides the bartender. Trina did an awesome job serving us. She moved to say it was a packed house and she also had a party of 22 behind us. Overall it was a pretty good experience thanks to the appetizers and drinks. The $65.86 bill suggested that on the next go round, maybe stick with something safe like onion rings and seafood Platter. * big bathroom...

I love breakfast/brunch at Rivershack. My elderly friends and I go every weekend and sometimes during the week. Food is delicious and service great. What we don’t like is the music at top volume when we’re trying to enjoy a meal and conversation. Normally, we’ll ask and they adjust the volume to where we can hear each other at the table. Occasionally, the bar tender turns it back up and we have to ask again to get it turned down. Today, the bartender jumped down my throat when I asked her to stop turning it up. “I’m trying to run a bar!” she screeched. Well, “I’m trying to enjoy brunch and the music doesn’t have to be SO loud that we can’t hear each other at the table at 1:00 in the afternoon. (Two people at the bar)I’d be happy to take my money elsewhere.” She proceeds to tell me she isn’t going to argue with me (still raising her voice to me) to which I responded “GOOD!” I do understand she’s a bar tender and most bars have loud music, however, I wasn’t in a “bar” at 9PM. No Manager to step in, the kitchen staff coming out to watch, etc. Pity, not sure I want to subject myself to this again. Went a couple weeks ago with my friend for drinks. We sat outside. The food and service was great! Only one complaint the bathroom smelled like urine so bad that I had to step outside of the bathroom while my friend went. So lots of positive but I have heard several complaints about the restroom always...

It is a Sunday afternoon so yes it is busy...My daughter arrived at noon, the rest of our party arrived between noon and 1 pm. My daughter and I still have not received our meal...a club sandwich, no cooking involved. Half of our party has eaten and left. As soon as I mentioned that I would have to leave shortlt to go tip quirk, our food magically started coming to the table. My daughter and I both having backgrounds in the service industry can tell that the food has been sitting on the line under the heat lamp...On top of all that, when we did get food we were served a classic burger and we ordered a classic club...get the club with mayo, my daughter asked for no mayo, she won't touch it...so...3 hours later she STILL has no food to eat! I'm not impressed...AT ALL! I run a fine dining restaurant that is only open 3 nights a week so we are extremely busy on Friday and Saturday nights. If a guest of mine waited 3 hours for a meal, and then it came out wrong...I, myself, would be at the table at least twice apologizing and at the kitchen making sure the food cane up ASAP! Btw, the server just dropped off our check...OH NO SHE DIDN'T! Those of us who waited for 3 hours did not pay a dime. BUT we still tipped our server... servers are human and do make mistakes... she still has...