The Grille At Riverview — Restaurant in New Smyrna Beach

Started great, ended with regret. Main point: food quality and service does not match the upscale prices or ambiance.

The brick columns, wood beams, and tufted black booths are gorgeous. 70’s/80’s hits in the background lend to an overall cozy and relaxed vibe. Wine list is long but offerings by the glass are limited. My Paloma cocktail arrived with a salted rim which is not listed in the description, but with a straw I was able to avoid most of the unwanted salt. Hubby’s dirty martini was made correctly and we appreciated the blue-cheese stuffed olives. Escargot with mushroom caps and toasted bread was delicious—absolutely wonderful, giving me great hopes for our entrées.

My pork chop was nicely cooked, not dry, but there was less than a tablespoon of dijon sauce for a whole inch-thick, bone-in chop, and it was on the bottom so rather awkward to allot. The mashed potatoes were (and I know this sounds weird) hard. When I scooped some up with my fork, they’d roll right off in one solid clump. A nice touch was the red peppers alongside the green beans (the Chef’s Veggie) but most of the green beans were grossly undercooked, unable to be pierced with a fork.

The “line caught” grouper description gives the impression that it’s fresh but when I asked Hubby how it was, he said “tough as meat.” I tasted it and it was on par with how chewy my pork was. Grouper ought to be flaky and tender. It’s not swordfish. Our waiter came by to check on dinner (which someone else had delivered) and we informed him that the grouper was tough. He replied that he’d have to talk to a manager and departed. Not quite the reaction/response one expects at an ‘upscale’ spot.

The manager did the right thing by comping the grouper. Hubby ordered a caesar salad but the dressing lacked any flavor and was also skimpy, like my dijon sauce. After the grouper issue, the waiter barely stopped by and when he did, his eyes were on the opposite end of the dining room and he’d leave mid-conversation. This happened a few times, the most striking was when he asked if we wanted dessert. We asked which were homemade. He said he thought all of them were, then said he’d be back. When he returned (after our drinks were long gone, I’d made a trip to the bathroom, and another table had been seated and served their dinner) he asked if we wanted dessert. I ordered a pot de creme and would have loved a beverage to accompany but he raced off and when he delivered it, did so in equally fast and disregarding fashion.

The pot de creme was a disaster. First, the pot was served on a plate drizzled substantially with chocolate syrup and the spoons were set directly atop said syrup. I picked up one, got chocolate syrup all over my hand and, since our waiter was incognito, I washed my hands and my spoon with the cup of water atop the table. Half the pot was filled with whipped cream, also drizzled with copious amounts of milk chocolate syrup and topped with the driest, smallest chocolate cookie imaginable. The creme was milky and gritty; disgusting and after a few bites, we left it alone. The waiter returned, said: “I’ll get this out of your way,” took the plate, and left. No question on whether we liked it, if we wanted something else, if we wanted coffee or other drinks. Nothing.

Almost $120 for the bill. Only 1 of us got an entrée, and it was below enjoyable. Also be forewarned (as we weren’t) that there is a percentage fee for using a credit card. Now, if we’d been advised of this, we’d have happily payed cash. As a small business owner with 20yrs in the restaurant biz (FOH, BOH, Managerial) I would never charge a customer something without advance notice, and I wouldn’t pass on credit card processing fees. That’s tacky. Besides, at $40 per entrée, $10 for romaine lettuce, and sub-par food, the markup at Grille Riverview more than covers their...

My family and I recently vacationed in New Smyrna. We had some amazing restaurant experiences, unfortunately the Grille at Riverview was not one. This is our third time there, every time the experience has been lack luster. However, we gave it a third try because the first two times were Mothers Day and tried to understand that the issues with service and food were a result of the crowd. We had a 5PM reservation, we were seated right away at the outside patio. Only one other table was out there (probably because it was sweltering, but that was our choice). It took 15 minutes for our waiter to acknowledge us and bring us water. Service overall was extremely slow. If it was busy that would be one thing and I get not rushing an experience but that was not the reason. We were there for two hours. Finished eating our main course an hour and ten minutes in. It look 25 minutes for our desserts to come out (literally a brownie sundae and a scoop of raspberry sorbet, nothing elaborate). Then another 20 minutes to get our check. We really wanted to go so we all had our credit cards out in preparation of our waiter coming because we knew it would be another 20 before he returned. He took one of the cards then left without the other two so then we had to wait even more. As far as the food goes, some was good. My dad had the BBQ ribs special, loved it. My brother had the linguini and clams and my sister in law had the Oscar Mahi, both were good. I had the Salmon pasta that was supposed to come with a dill cream sauce. There was zero dill flavor anywhere in that dish. The pasta also tasted like it was sitting awhile. The cream sauce was not creamy it was pretty solidified and the salmon was way overdone. I barely ate any of it. I ended up giving the salmon to my husband who ate it. For appetizers we had the calamari and the shrimp tempura, both were okay. I had also asked if a salad came with my meal. The waiter said well it does because that meal is on our “Sunset Menu” but because it was the weekend it wasn’t included. I could have sworn when I looked at the menu prior to coming I saw Friday was included but I wasn’t going to make a scene over it. Sure enough i checked when I got home and it was M-F 4-6PM. So instead I got charged $9 for a side Caesar salad. Overall, this place is nothing to rave about. If you are in New Smyrna there are much better places to dine. It does have a nice view so if you do go maybe just stick with...

My mom wanted to go here for mothers Day. We had to drive around for 20 mins before finding parking (far away). We had my elderly and disabled grandparents with us. We were sat upstairs, not an easy trek for my elderly grandparents who use a walker and cane. It was dark upstairs. The menu was not what was listed online. We had all looked at the menu online beforehand, but were presented with either the buffet (down stairs) or ordering off the menu, which was nothing like what is online. My niece had the buffet, and most of everything was gone and not refilled. My husband and I ordered prime rib with green beans and mashed potatoes. The green beans were a mix of raw and cooked green beans. They did bring us re-made ones. The prime rib was overly fatty, the potatoes tasted like boxed potatoes and it lacked seasoning and flavor, as did the sauces. Both my husband and I ordered an alcoholic drink. Those were tasty. I ordered a 2nd, and it was awful. I did not drink it and told our waitress it was not good. We were charged for the unsatisfactory drink ($14). My niece went to the restroom to find someone had diarrhea all over. After eating a little and packing up the rest of my food to go home, I began to feel sick. Now I am not accusing them of making me sick as I do have a sensitive stomach to foods, and I think there was just too much fat in the prime rib for me. There was a line going out of the bathroom. I had to run outside and vomit in the bushes. There were people everywhere and it was humiliating. A lady pulled out her cell phone and proceeded to film me. I texted my husband to pay our portion and come outside so we could leave. He was quite shocked to see our bill be $160 (for just 2 people). My husband paid and met me downstairs so we could leave immediately. We will not be back. The food was awful, the menu was not what it is online, the buffet was empty, the bathrooms too small especially when in an emergency, and the price was ridiculous. My brother in law did not even eat as there was nothing of his liking on the very limited menu. I wish I had followed suit as we wasted our hard earned money on that “meal.” My mom, whom we were celebrating, was disappointed with the...