River Lights Cafe — Restaurant in Milford

We have come to this restaurant quite a few times and had a decent experience - Typical diner-type food and breakfast menu. Quality is average. And before our experience this weekend, we always had good service. This past Saturday was nothing short of a nightmare.

We walked inside and went to the counter to ask to be seated outside since the only tables left inside were two-tops and we were a party of three.

A young blonde girl seated us outside...Where we sat for 10-15 minutes before a different girl came out and asked if a guy had seated us, to which we said no. She proceeded to say she would then be our server. She took our drink order and disappeared. Another ten minutes go by and we finally get our drinks (which my boyfriend said his coffee was cold, and the mug was dirty, so he wondered if it was leftover from a different table) and she takes our food order. A couple minutes later a server who's nametag said his name was Jonathan came out and proceeded to tell us he had to split our tables. We were outside and our table was made up of two tables, all the other tables were individual. And all but one were EMPTY. He kept on telling us they shouldn't have been put together and we had to move. He then made my boyfriend get up and made us all sit together at one overly-crowded table. Then he left. The table behind us mentioned how messed up and rude it was, especially since they were not busy and there was no one waiting for tables.

While waiting for our food, we saw another table that had been seated outside and been forgotten go inside to ask for service. We also had a couple get seated next to us in which the same thing happened, they were seated by one girl and then another server said she'd take over. The Jonathan server then came over to them and said he could take them, and they told him they had been taken care of already. The guy then asked Jonathan if he could bring his dog out, since he noticed the table behind us had their dog. Jonathan huffed and said the other table shouldn't have had their's and the guy proceeded to say he didn't want to leave his dog in the car if he could have it outside. Jonathan then said he didn't have time for him and stormed off. Later on, we also heard Jonathan complaining to a table that he had a large table inside and "didn't have time to serve them" (the table he was talking to).

This Jonathan kid needs to be FIRED. He was absolutely awful and rude to everyone. HORRIBLE worker.

Our server finally came out with our food, which we scarfed down just so we could leave this nightmare of an experience. My boyfriend had also asked for a coffee refill, which the server proceeded to spill all over the patio table and it went through the holes and onto my leg.

This place needs a serious management and server revamping. Get rid of all but the kitchen staff and get all new servers. There was no communication, the servers had no idea what they were doing, and service was the worst we've ever experience, especially the Jonathan kid.

We will NEVER return and suggest no one else go either unless staff changes.

Side note: If you have allergies, as my son does, and alert the staff, there’s an extra 3% charge from what I understand...

This is a nice place for breakfast or lunch. It is right next to the river and they have a huge menu. Service is very fast, I counted like 6 people working in this medium size operation so they are ready. You can eat indoors or out.

UPDATE: I was in at around 10:45AM, I had no trouble ordering, the place was dead but I was at that lull between breakfast and lunch. Before I departed the lunch crowd was filling the tables. Lucky I was pre-11AM for it allowed me to take advantage of the “Sunrise Special”: and I selected 2 Eggs over EZ, 2 French Toast (you could get Pancakes); 2 Sausage links (now I asked about the sausage and the nice waitron advised them over the patties. One is also afforded the option to select 2 Bacon, Ham or god help me Turkey Bacon). In order to make a post on this group, I had to also make the obligatory purchase from à la carte menu: a side meat portion of Habbersett Scrapple. I do believe it was done on the flat top without deep fat involvement! The whole deal was very fast and friendly. Food was done as requested and the local talent both helpful and pleasant. My only warning is for a few months road work has been underway on the road in front of the place and depending on what way you approach your arrival may be delayed by up to 2 or 3 minutes; yeah I know this Delaware beach...

My family went Labor Day. It was busy but the waitress pushed 2 tables together and we were seated pretty quickly. We waited about 10 min for drinks another 5 for the woman to get a pad and take our order. About 20 min later the ladies behind us ask a different waitress where their food was as they had been waiting 30 min since ordering. Another 10 min goes by, their food comes. It is wrong and apparently cold, but they eat it/and box some and leave- that table was never cleaned. After an hour we were provided with coffee refills, but no cream. We ask about our food as it’s been an hour. The waitress comes back says they lost our order, but she put it in and it will be out in a few. Another 10 min goes by and a gentleman comes out says they lost our order and now the kitchen is “too backed up to make it?” I was like what? I never heard of such a thing? He basically said the computer was broke and it would be at least another hour/ we went to McDonald’s- in this case I would not recommend eating local. Once at McDonald’s we read other...