Law's Restaurant — Restaurant in Riverside

I really wanted to love this place, but sadly, they missed the mark for me on my first (and what may be only) visit. I went on a Friday night relatively early, and the best way I can describe it is CHAOS. They're understaffed right now, so I get it, and I'm not even going to bring up one or two of the negatives connected with that. But staffing ultimately comes down to management. But the place was packed, and apparently that's all that matters. For the food, there were pros and cons. I grabbed the sirloin entree, and the prep was good, but the portion was very small, probably a 4-oz cut (the menu doesn't specify weights). At $20 for the plate, the pricing is acceptable, especially since it includes a cup of an excellent soup that they called 'lobster bisque' but is probably closer to a lobster chowder. The prime rib was a good portion, priced right, and well prepared, if a little salty. Both plates would have been improved with a bread option, but that's not available. Some cons: I ordered mushrooms for my steak, but they never came, and I was never actually able to see the bill, so I don't even know if I paid for it. But at $1, I don't really care. I do care that I never got a steak knife (or any other kind of knife), despite asking multiple people for one. I had to borrow a knife from one of my table mates before my steak got cold. But what happened later might help me understand why it was so hard to get a knife. They had to serve the water in paper cups, and they apologized for it, but, still. And it never got filled. A thousand drinks came out of the bar, but never a pitcher of water. Did I mention that the steaks were a little salty? Yeah, I needed some water. But the place was so crowded, our server only made it out to our table twice, once to take our order and once to collect payment. We saw food runners and a busser, but they rarely made a sideways glance our way. It was so loud on the patio that the only way to communicate was shouting. And we had no idea that it was karaoke night... which, apparently it is every night. But there was a private party on the other patio, and no room inside, so there was literally nowhere else to sit. And then a fight broke out! (is that why there were no knives to be had???) We had to leave, so I pleaded with the busser to locate our server. She came, but I never actually saw the bill on the hand-held device, just a total. But after almost 2 hours in the restaurant, we were so desperate to get out of there, I didn't...

I've don't usually write reviews unless it's necessary. My husband and I had dinner at Law's on the 4th of June. Let me say this first. The food was great. Ok but this is how things got started. We are black. The way they're set up you can see the guest as they are walking up. Why when we get to the door it was LOCK? You can see on both of their patios people (white/mexicans) on both. We were knocking no answers. So this Mexican lady on one of the patios said...the door is lock? I would let you in this way but it has a big sign saying the alarm will go off. We said no problem. Then at that time a white waitress came over and didn't look our way and started to talk to the Mexican lady, I was saying excuse me, excuse me she wouldn't look my way until the Mexican lady said they need you. She said to us kinda firmly..someone is on their way to unlock the door. Then a young white lady opened the door and said to us...Why didn't they open the from the patio? I told her what the girl said about the alarm. She said that thing doesn't work. I said she didn't know she doesn't work here. So they seated us on the patio where the Mexican lady and her friend was eating. We were the only couples on that side. The white waitress waited on her and another white young lady waited on us. I thought that was strange. You needed two different waitresses for such a small area? Well, anyway, she was very very nice. I asked her did they offer military discount she went and asked that same waitress and she immediately said NO! So when we finished our meal and our bill was $61 we left a $20 tip. We should not have put the tip on our credit card. We should have gave cash and placed it in her hand. We'll long story short. As we were leaving getting ready to get into our car I looked back and noticed the white waitress who wouldn't come near us at all cleaning up Our table. And she looking at me with a dirty look. A few days later my husband said to me they took the $61 but the tip didn't come out. We believe that white waitress alter our bill and the nice lady didn't get our tip because she probably told her that we didn't leave one. I not resting until I get this resolved....

One star for having a nice sized outdoor patio. Unfortunately, someone at the other patio started smoking marijuana, which drifted to our side, therefore making the patio not good for dining after all. We chose this place to have our Thanksgiving lunch because we wanted to support local business. What a disappointment. The Thanksgiving meal, which was $25.95 each person, was a very small half plate portion and disgusting. Nothing tasted freshly prepared, all boxed or out of a can. The "housemade" stuffing tasted like rancid cooking oil, canned green beans, no evidence of red skin in the mashed potato's, 3 pieces of canned carrot was supposed to be black pepper roasted, french dinner roll was not french, cheap quality roll and not warm, no evidence of rosemary butter rubbed turkey, just one processed turkey slice, no evidence of Applewood smoked flavor or brown sugar rub on the one small slice of ham either. You're better off picking up a precooked meal at the grocery store. Cheaper and better quality. My mom asked for extra gravy, to help the sad mashed potatoes, and she even got charged extra for that. Got nickel and dimed on everything and our barely edible meal tab cost $200. To top it off, we brought the issues up to the server, who was less than helpful. We asked for the manager and our server said she was the manager. I asked for the owner, but she said he had left. She did give us 10% off, but that was not sufficient for the substandard food we were served and the lack of service. The head "chef" did come out and apologize and said himself the stuffing was bad and he threw it away, but once again, that apology alone can not make up for our $200 bill and still being left hungry on Thanksgiving. I will say my uncle ordered a steak off the regular menu and he said it was good, even though he got charged extra for a side dish that was included according to the menu. When questioned, the server/manager would not remove the charge and used the excuse that the upcharge is on the new menu (no where to be seen)....