River Rock Pizza & Pasta — Restaurant in Nevada

River Rock is a local favorite inside the Aquarius. I noticed quite a few folks placing pick-up orders (and with good reason). The wait was excruciatingly long, I think the staff underestimated the amount of orders they placed all in one shot.

My issue with River Rock is that they allowed people who weren't even dining-in to place orders at the front and let them request they have their food delivered to them at the Splash Bar! This was unacceptable and a disservice. I'd understand if customers were picking up, but this was not the case. You could imagine dine-in customers being seated promptly, thinking they'll get their meal soon, only to realize the bar next door is FILLED with orders ahead of them. I was mad.

My table and I waited 2+ hours to receive our food, we were seated immediately which makes this all the more shocking. Sadly, all the other dine-in patrons experienced this, including a woman who walked out and a family whose children fell asleep at the table waiting for their pizza.

How was the PIZZA? I'm not going to lie I had high expectations given the wait time and I was not disappointed. This was the only saving grace, it was excellent. We ordered two delicious pizzas and an antipasto salad. I HIGHLY recommend the Margherita and Veggie pizzas. Both had authentic ingredients. The Margherita was my top pick but the Veggie wasn't far behind. The Veggie pizza had cheese that tasted like ravioli filling! I would eat them again.

I also really enjoyed the live entertainment. We got to enjoy the last leg of this avant-garde singer with an amazing voice and kazoo skills. I could listen to him all night, he was so sweet! Very personable with the customers!

Overall, the aesthetic of the restaurant was super cool, it was Italian meets rock concert. There’s quotes from classic rock songs on the wall and trendy decor. I heard they had revamped it from its previous look, bravo!

Service was meh, our server forgot to refill our drinks a...

Staff was walking crazy fast to serve everyone, super hard workers. I got the short rib pasta and honestly, it's the best pasta dish I've ever had. Beef was fall-apart tender and sauce was perfectly rich and flavorful without being overpowering: really highlights the mushroom flavor and the perfect amount of herbs to compliment it without overtaking the flavor profile. So much better than a lot of places that are twice the price. Similar prices to cheesecake factory too, I think maybe a bit cheaper than both of the Vegas locations, but a million times the quality. Must-try and I highly recommend the short rib pasta. Also nibbled off my family's alfredo and salmon, the alfredo was perfectly balanced, which to me means not too creamy but very buttery and rich. Salmon was also good but I think the pastas really won. 10/10, absolute best quality Italian food you can get in southern Nevada without shelling out two months worth of gas.

Edit: Wanted to note on the quality of the pasta noodles themselves too. I don't have a refined enough pallate to exactly distinguish what they use, but the texture is much chewier than any dried pasta I have ever tried. They either use a much higher quality pasta than what you can usually find in stores or they use the store quality and work some absolute magic on it. First time experiencing such an addicting pasta texture despite being a food science nerd and knowing how different pasta qualities are processed. I also think they emulsify their sauces with the pasta water instead of a powdered starch, based on the textures of the sauces. Another win in my book because in a fast-paced kitchen environment it can be easy to go a little too high with the temperatures and mess up the emulsification. Great...

This was last week we went .. So the manager was very nice 😊 . We got cheese 🧀 sticks as an appetizer. And a white pizza 🍕 as the main meal. Unfortunately, the pizza did not have any flavor. The manager came and spoke with us because yes it was that bad and she replaced our pizza with a pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni pizza was not good only the pepperonis Were good but It’s like they use a frozen dough and their sauce and cheese is not good. and the pizza was like $21 which is crazy because if I knew what I know now I would not have paid that .we will not be going back there but the manager was very helpful. She did what she could to help us. Our server was not friendly. She didn’t ask us how everything was. She didn’t ask if we needed anything. She didn’t ask us what we wanted to drink. The guy that sat us automatically gave us waters which is what we drink when we go out to eat anyways, but she didn’t offer anything else. She was very unfriendly and non-personable. I did not want to give a bad review but I have to be honest with the public. Unfortunately it’s not the place for us. Don’t be fooled by the pictures because it looks like it would be good and it looked like that when It showed up at the table but I am somewhat of a food connoisseur and it was not good. And I only gave it three stars because the manager was amazing. Otherwise I would’ve...