Riviera Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Marine City

We just spent a wonderful long weekend in Marine City, and after many visits to the area, I wanted to finally try the Riviera. What a bad idea. Frankly, the staff members were pretty dismissive and rude from the moment we walked in, not to mention bored, unfocused, and seemingly incompetent.

We were there on Sunday just before noon, and the place was packed. It was so loud my family and I had to yell to hear each other. We asked for a table for four, and asked if we could eat outside since it was such a beautiful day. We were told that they weren’t seating outside today because of the bees, and that there was only seating at the bar right now. We said that we would wait for a table since some members of my family have bad backs, and can’t handle sitting on high stools.

We waited by the front door for 15 minutes, and two parties came in after us and were immediately seated at tables. When we asked about this, one of the staff members claimed that she thought we wanted to be seated near the windows at the back of the restaurant. By “bar seating,” I guess she had meant that there were only tables available in the bar area, and not at the bar itself, which was a distinction that she had failed to make. We were shocked at how something so simple could be miscommunicated, but honestly, it was due to her making assumptions and failing to communicate clearly. We again indicated that we just wanted a low table anywhere in the restaurant, which we felt had been obvious.

She seemed annoyed, and said it would be a few minutes while they cleared a table. When we were finally brought back to a table, it was so loud in the restaurant, I could hardly hear myself think. Then, we were startled to find that the menus we were given only had breakfast options on them. As I said, it was almost noon, and my family and I had eaten breakfast hours ago. We were there for lunch.

No one came back to our table, so I walked back to the front of the restaurant and asked if they were serving lunch because we were only given breakfast menus. By then the staff seemed incredibly annoyed. I was told that they would be switching over to lunch soon, but that it likely wouldn’t be until 12:30pm before they would be ready to serve lunch. We were hungry, and tired of the whole experience by then, so we left.

We went to our usual place, Anita’s, and waited outside with two other families for three minutes for them to open for the day at noon. We were immediately seated outside, our waitress was extremely courteous and friendly, the food came quickly, and it was wonderful. Needless to say, we won’t make the mistake of wanting to try the Riviera again. That is just a waste of time. We’ll just go straight to Anita’s as usual...

The server was friendly and overworked. That’s the best part of the dining experience. There were four of us, two from California, and we are from Ann Arbor. We drove. A long distance to dine at the Riveria, because we have dined at the restaurant before. Unfortunately, for us we had no idea it was graduation day in Marine City, and many happy families decided to celebrate at the restaurant. We each ordered a fish dish, Three with baked potatoes and one with fries. One order of fish was served cold. Cold on the inside and outside! The three other orders of baked potatoes were COLD! There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for COLD potatoes, they should always be kept in a potato warmer. We entered the restaurant at 6:15, we waited until 7:40 to receive our food. It was one EXCUSE after another 1,. Well we are crowded The kitchen staff is backed up. The cooks are overwhelmed. I asked to speak to a manager. A young girl ( 17-19 ?) stated, “ My father is the owner, what’s the problem ?” I explained the wait and she began with the excuses. I explained I wanted to speak to her father, and she has the audacity to tell me, “Don’t raise your voice to me”. I said, “ I want to speak to your father” Again she replied, “ I said don’t raise your voice to me, and I will see if he wants to speak to you “. The father/ owner Eventually made his way over, after replacing tables and chairs. He said, “ I heard you wanted to talk to me”. I began explaining how everything was cold or lukewarm. He immediately BLAMED the server. It was her fault, she never picked up the food from the window. Here’s my question to the Owner. If you or anyone else saw the food at the window, getting cold, WHY WOULDN’T YOU or someone else take it to the Customer??? Why would you allow that? The Owner is FULL of Excuses! No wonder his daughter can speak to customers the...

It was Balynda's 2nd day and I came in because I couldn't access a current menu on Meta, Google or Yelp.

I actually wanted to see what the situation was downtown Marine City, too.

I have a friend coming in from CA and I didn't know if it was going to be possible to have a quiet, enjoyable dinner in town on Saturday, due to #Maritime days.

BUT, since I'm new to the area and do reviews on all the previously mentioned platforms, I thought it would be helpful to have the current info easily available since they will be having visitors.

The venue is newly renovated and the patio is open.

#MissB brought coffee quickly and filled me in on some details and about the area and menu items.

I was thrilled to find out they had homemade corned beef hash, so that made for a quick ordering.

(Unfortunately, their menu did not state that there were green peppers and onions in with the hash.)

I can't eat either of those.

Green peppers permeate any dish #IMHO, and #MissB graciously offered to take them back.

I was a little concerned about her having to do this, but was assured all was well.

(As an #anaphalactic, I have some pretty strict food restrictions. It's really critical that restaurateurs clearly reveal ALL ingredients in their menu choices.)

This was an easy fix for me, though, and I'm gr8ful that they were cooperative and professional-kudos to the chef!

I had my eggs basted well- they were gr8, the corned beef was tasty and the hash browns were crispy.

A win-win-win.

The view of the lake is quite lovely.

Thank you, Balynda.

You were a joy.

You smoothed out the bumps.

Never got ruffled.

Had a smile that went on for...