Red River Kitchen at City House — Restaurant in Saint Paul

It's not what it used to be.

First, some history :

"City House" was formerly known as "Red River Kitchen". It was a partnership between local chef JD Fratzke and entrepreneur Matty O’Reilly, which used a food truck to turn this kinda run down building by the river into a hip, unexpected place to get delicious food.

Matty sold his food truck business to a large catering corporation called "Lancer" toward the end of 2018. I was holding out hope that our new corporate overlords would somehow manage to improve on what was there.

Sadly, it looks like they did not.

After a month of delayed half-openings due to flooding, "City House" (an exceptionally creative name!) has opened with a menu that seems like it is trying to ape Red River's previous offerings. It does so without the flavor or flair that made Red River a hit. Their "Walleye Po' Boy is a bland replacement for Red River's "Walleye Bowl" which was a beautifully seasoned fillet on a bed of wild rice that had a spicy kick. I can't think of anything to say about the Po Boy other than ... it's a sandwich, and I think it had fish in it.

Also of note is that the friendly servers who worked at Red River kitchen are now gone ( presumably a cost cutting measure). Instead you are given a buzzer and asked to walk outside to the food truck when your food is ready. Not a big deal, but if you're dining solo you could easily lose your seat (tables by the river are a particularly precious commodity).

Other than food they also offer a full bar with (admittedly) more beers on tap than Red River ever had. So if you are looking strictly for drinks on the river, this might actually be an improvement.

Personally, I was...

Labor day, was medium busy when we arrived, but most people had their food. We ordered for 4 people, wedge salad, burger, pork nachos, but, fries. It took over 45 minutes to get out food, with me watching them in the food truck window with about 15 baskets of food in front of them and they were staring at the tickets, confused. My daughter ordered a cheese burger with lettuce, tomato. Pickle - which it comes standard, she got a burnt, plain, cold, burger. I ordered pork nachos, no pico- allergy to tomatoes, they put pico on my nachos. My mom ordered the BLT no avocado mayo, she had to tell the woman not to put it on her sandwich. My mom was up there waiting for her food last. I saw the woman in the viking shirt wore her nose with her thumb with gloves on, then pick up a hamburger bun. My mom, myself, and a guy from another table went up to check on our food, side there were so many baskets - we figured we could help them figure it out. The guy got his food, I took ours, they told my mom that she would have to wait longer. My mom asked "can you tell me how much longer? Is been 45 minutes, and I just ordered a BLT." The vikings shirt woman snapped back at my mom " I don't know if you noticed, but we're busy!" There were 3 people in the truck, there were 3-4 tables waiting for food. I scolded her back when she snapped at my mom "I get being busy. But this is ridiculous, it's not complicated food. It's been 45 minutes and our orders wrong!" - if you're wondering if I'm a person that complains about busy restaurant - I worked restaurant for 15 years, I defend service staff and busy spaces. This was awful, and it takes a lot to get me...

We came here on a Wednesday around 11:30 am to beat the lunch crowd. I've always seen this place packed in the evenings. They have a picturesque view of the river and ample seating inside.

Nachos are trying too hard to be a taco salad with how much lettuce they put on it. If you don't mind basic store bought tortilla chips covered with lettuce and a minimal amount of queso, then the St Paul Nachos ($12) are for you.

Absolutely skip on the rosé, it was $13 which is more than a regular 750 ml bottle at any grocery store. Also no tap water available, only bottled water ($3).

The Cubano sandwich (mojo pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles & dijonaise) was amazing, truly great flavor! Definitely star of the menu, but the side of kettle chips were stale and tasted like they came from a three week old open bag.

Overall I'd probably skip on coming back for anything other than the...