Riverside Cafe — Restaurant in Mount Vernon

Fiance and I stopped in for dinner here for the first time last night. We got the chili cheese fries for an appetizer and they were pretty good. He ordered the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables and the side of clam chowder and I had the Monte Cristo with a salad.

Portions were great! He really enjoyed his chicken fried steak and the vegetables tasted very good (not like those from restaurants that steam them in a microwave - BLEH!) and the clam chowder he had was also very good. The Monte Cristo was delicious! My salad portion was nice and large, a few onions, plenty of tomatoes (and not just iceberg lettuce - if any) and croutons. Salad was delicious and fresh.

Charity was wonderful and super nice from start to finish. Even after I got a to-go-box for my food and we paid the tab she offered to top off my drink rather than ignore our table the rest of the time we were there; some restaurants stop paying attention once you pay and this was a nice change because I didn't feel rushed to have to leave. The price wasn't bad for everything and we will most likely stop by again the next time we drive...

I searched google for gluten free and found this place. 0 stars- Starting with the parking lot-signage is confusing as it used to be a fast food restaurant with a drive thru. But we were starving- Husband had very dry biscuits (days old or out of a freezer bag) and gravy was definitely out of can. Gravy covered the hash browns it came with too so the plate looked like slop. Not very appetizing.

I’m GF so I asked what was available- they have bread. I ordered the breakfast sandwich at 17.99 plus $2 for gluten free bread. It came with potatoes that were not GF and had the texture of frozen then deep fried potatoes. Coated with MSG… which has gluten. The bacon on my sandwich was paper thin and microwaved - and probably had Gluten in it too.

Service was less that great- if someone orders gluten free ask is it’s a preference or an allergy. Know your products and don’t serve them Gluten. Thankfully it’s not an allergy for me.

The bathroom was smelled like portable bathroom.

Basically extremely overpriced fast food at sit down...

Overall, it was a very good experience. This area of town, near the hospital and professional buildings, brings in people like me, a retirement age.

The building is a very old fast food. Perhaps Taco Bell type arrangement. The fixtures inside remind me of a older Mexican food restaurant, being thick, wood booths, etc. The wall is lined with pictures of senior citizens that I assumed they’re on a regular basis. Don’t go there for the atmosphere.

The food was average. I had a scramble plate that was way overdone and my wife had a traditional Benedict. The eggs for the Benedict were cooked perfectly but there was a lot of hollandaise sauce and it was a little on the sweet side.

Then there was the Service. There’s one waitress she was fantastic. She was friendly to absolutely everybody coming in the door sitting at the table. She was apologetic if things took more than a couple of minutes to serve you drinks and food. He was en suite and that alone would bring me back to...