Riverside Grille — Restaurant in Pleasant Valley Township

I've grown to like this part of Bettendorf more over the past year. I have lots of memories of Sports Fans from when I was in high school, there's a few really great new restaurants nearby, and there's a farmer's market running in the summer just a few blocks east on several days. On a recent recommendation from a coworker, I decided to try Riverside Grille tonight.

Though I'd driven past this building multiple times, I'd never gotten a good sense of how big the place is until my visit tonight. I parked in the free public lot right nearby, and walked a little to a lot farther than I thought I would have to the restaurant. Not a big deal, just a bit of messed up perspective on my part, perhaps?

At any rate , I soon made my way inside through the fairly large vestibule. Like, seriously, it's big enough for three chairs and an ATM. It was a Tuesday, so no waiting for this guy. I walked right into the dining area, noted the "sit anywhere you like" sign, and took a seat at the mostly empty bar.

The space is new, this much is certain. There's darker stained wood laminate covering the floors, an unfinished ceiling plenum with visible supports and HVAC ductwork (REALLY shiny ductwork) throughout, and suspended accent lights hanging throughout the space. The ceiling and a good portion of the walls is painted black, with some of the surrounding walls painted a bluish grey through the remainder of the dining area. There are also some metal covered pillars at intervals with riveting (or riveting patterns?) across the dining space as well. The aesthetic of the space comes off as sharp and, frankly, interesting. The elements present a space themed around industry by the water. I personally liked it.

What I wasn't a huge fan of was the overall noise level of the space. Riverside Grille has made the conscious decision to play louder than necessary music (and uninteresting pop music at that) throughout the dining space. The end result of this is an environment not geared towards quiet, meaningful conversation, but rather half screaming at the people in your dining group in order to talk. Partially to be heard over the music, and partially to be overheard over the mass of other people in the space consciously or otherwise doing the same thing. It's a choice that some places make - I personally think it is detrimental to any kind of meaningful evening spent dining out.

I ordered a Patty Melt with fries for my meal. This was completed and in front of me within 15 minutes. Both were great! The burger was still moist and tasted like beef and the onions were sufficiently reduced to have extra sweetness but still retaining texture. The fries were extra crispy - something I'll always enjoy as a compliment to any meal.

If it weren't for the noise level, I'd likely return here again for another burger or sandwich. Honestly, the food I had tonight was good enough that I'd consider ordering as takeout, just to not have to eat in the space. If they'd lower the volume of the music, the dining experience would improve...

Had an unfortunate experience with the food. Ordered to go on a late Saturday afternoon. Got the buffalo chicken sandwich and fries to go. Got home and opened my food and unfortunately the lettuce, tomato, and onion that should have come with my sandwich (as described on their online menu), was missing. But that’s ok. I had that stuff available at home. Sadly when I looked at my chicken, it seemed to be a frozen, pressed chicken patty and not a real, hand breaded chicken breast. Also, why is the hot buffalo sauce sweet? But I digress. I would have been totally fine paying $14+ for this meal if I hadn’t gotten a cheap, crappy frozen patty. It’s not difficult to hand pound and bread a proper chicken breast. When I called to ask the manager if I had perhaps gotten the wrong piece of chicken on my sandwich, I was informed that that is indeed what they use. She also didn’t seem to care in the least or ask me if there was a problem with my food. I will say, the fries were great and the Bleu cheese and ranch dressings were fantastic. It would be great if this place cared a little more to do things the right way, a couple extra steps and you have a fantastic sandwich. I’d be happy to come in and teach the cooks how to make this, as I said. It’s quite simple. Not worth the $14. Could have had a McChicken for just a...

Too many bad experiences due to their poor ability to listen to the simplest of things. I stopped dealing with this place 3 years ago because of poor customer service and had no business returning today as I saw the same exact result. The previous time I was on the phone and someone handed the phone to someone else, saying "I can't understand what this guy's saying". I don't have an accent and spoke very clearly. I explained something multiple times and in different ways, only to find out they weren't listening well. Today was the same issue. The excuse was that "Its very hard to hear over the phone". Ok, so then don't say "Ok" after I've re-explained something extremely simple to indicate to me you heard and understood me if I'm still gonna come there and find out that's not the case. I understand the average midwesterner tends to not listen or process information very well, but stuff like this is so unexcusable and disrespectful. I will not be returning and I mean it this time. And I shouldn't be doing this much, but I just had to let this be known. Usually when customers have bad experience issues, they don't tell the Manager or leave bad reviews, they simply...