The River Road House — Restaurant in Town of Rotterdam

The staff was friendly, the bar was smokey, and the food was overcooked.

An unfortunate set of circumstances lead to me coming here, when my initial pick for dinner was closed. Luckily I had wanted to try the River Road House for a few weeks now, so now's a good of time as any I thought.

I called in a few hours ahead of time and put in an order of Garlic Parm Wings, BBQ Wings, Truffle Fries, and a Small Salad. I really wanted wings that night, so I was really looking forward to this especially given it's my one day I get to eat whatever I want. All in total I spent roughly $42, a little steep for bar food but maybe the quality would surprise me?

Well I was surprised, but not in a good way. The wings, which I was shorted on as the BBQ wings only included 7 pieces and not 10, were very over-fried. They were closer to big croutons, with a crispy chicken center. The truffle fries got the same treatment, being the most crunchy french fries I have had in recent memory, and after eating a dozen the flavor just became burnt. The only passible dish was the salad and even that was disappointing, as the leaves were wilted under the top layer which I failed to notice until after I dug around in it.

Now I'm a take-out kind of guy, so my meal was a flop, but I do want to say that the staff I did deal with were friendly and nice. The bar inside has a very local feel to it, almost empty when I stopped in around 4PM to pick up my order, but I bet it fills up later at night. There was also an exterior dinning area, which is interesting, though the season for using that is...

Pasta no good, response worse.

Wife ordered a medium steak and it came well done. I ordered the pasta alfredo with shrimp and scallops. Neither of the shrimp nor especially the scallops would be considered large as the menu stated. The shrimp were tough and lacked flavor while the scalllops tasted like rubber. The pasta was angel hair. How can a restaurant not know that a good alfredo requires a flat noodle? Maybe the problem here is that since the alfredo is not properly made and lacks flavor they feel like using angel hair is appropriate. Even worse was their response. My wife could have asked for the steak to be remade and doubled their food cost but she didn't and they charged me half for the pasta like they were doing me a favor. We eat out 2-3 times a week and I was planning on going back but their need to get $9 out of their pasta dish cost them many future visits. It would have been less insulting to charge me the whole $18. I hope they enjoy their $9 more than we enjoyed our food and I hope they read this and realize that the $9 they got today cost them hundreds of dollars in...

We stopped by for lunch after a long bike ride on the Mohawk Canal-way trail. We decided to sit at the bar. Jennifer was our server and bartender. She was wonderful, made us feel welcome and right at home. We ordered the pulled pork sandwich and oven roasted Turkey BLT. While we waited for our food we ordered some drinks - shout out to Jennifer for making the best White Russian!! The place was friendly, with a nice hometown vibe. Like the “Cheers” bar of Rotterdam Junction. The food was outstanding- not just run of the mill- a big thank you to the cook(s) in the kitchen for making such delicious food! The pulled pork sandwich was smoky, tender and flavorful with a delicious side of coleslaw and homemade French fries (we could eat a plate of those- they were so good). Even the dill pickle chips were tasty and worth mentioning! The Turkey on the BLT was piled high and tasted like Thanksgiving! It came with homemade potato chips and we chose a side of tuna macaroni salad with it. The tuna mac was amazing!! This place is a hidden gem for food, drink, and friendly vibe....