River Cafe

I love this place. Great atmosphere, wonderful views, and the food is great.

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Of course it's got the great location and atmosphere, but the food was much better than I expected.

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What can I say? A fantastic experience all-around up until the check arrives!

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Easily Brooklyn's finest restaurant. My lovely bride and I dine there frequently on special occasions.

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took my aunt there to celebrate her irthday. The service was slow and awful and they charged me close to 100$ for a little chocolate bakery cake you would have paid 15$ for elsewhere and had the nerve to tell me they had made it as a special order. Yes- probably from 2 boxes of little debbies -stale and tasteless.

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bxgirl, did you just order dessert, or was there more to the meal?

Nope, whole meal, about 10 people.

I was unhappy with our desserts too. At $100 per person (just for food, not including wine) I want dessert that's made by the pastry chef in the restaurant, not delivered from elsewhere and refrigerated. Yuck. But my lower rating isn't for the dessert alone; I wasn't impressed with the food overall. It was okay but it's not better than other acclaimed new restaurants in Brooklyn. At which you can dine for half the price. We thought we'd be wowed and we weren't. Setting and view is phenomenol and service was a little cold but professional. If you have the bucks and want to treat an out-of-town guest who will be thrilled spending the evening gazing at the Manhattan skyline, this is the place to go. But we never plan to go again on our own.

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something do while you're young and still in love

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I eat here at least once a year and it's always a lovely experience. The food is very good if not earth-shattering, and atmosphere and service have always been exceptional for me. I miss the days when they served dinner on the side deck in the summer. That was particularly great. No reservations and shorts!

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I ate there not too long ago and hardly remember a thing about it, which probably says something, other than I must have enjoyed the wine.

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Ah biff- how much wine? Could explain it (was it mogen david? I saw you have a plan for interesting water features)

I love the River Cafe! We eat here once a year for our holiday dinner. Nothing is better than looking through the windows to see the city shining back at you and the food is amazing. It's not just a "safe bet" it's a GREAT BET!

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excellent, excellent, excellent! went to river cafe for my 2-year wedding anniversary and loved it. Definitely pricey, but nice for special occasions and food was delicious.

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In my opinion, the River Cafe is overpriced, over-hyped and more than kind of worn at the edges. It definitely has that "special occassion" vibe almost to the point of reminding me of the food, service and ambiance of wedding banquet type places.

The food is bland and dull, the service acts like you should be "honored" to be there, and the place overall feels very over-worn.

Yes the view is great but for my dollars and time I would much rather grab a sandwich at the bakery, a chocolate treat at Jacques Torres, and have a picnic in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

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My wife and our new mothers-in-law (both out-of-towners) went to River Cafe the night of our wedding. The food was excellent (though quite rich, if that's an issue for you), the service was excellent, the ambiance was excellent. None of us had ever been before, and it was the perfect cap to a wonderful day. I think it is a "special occasion" place, not a "once-a-month" place, but for special occasions, it's excellent.

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This is the kind of a place that you go once, just to say you went there.

The food is not spectacular, but not horrible either.

The views are phenomenal and honestly, its a good place to have a a after dinner cocktail and enjoy the surroundings.

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I've never been to the River Cafe, but let me recommend the waterfront place at the Jersey City Marriott if you want a view... food was perfectly adequate and it's right on the water.

Also, totally empty.

I think this place gets knocked unfairly quite a bit. I recently went there after reading a similar range of reviews as the reviews above. I was expecting the worst and was completely and totally surprised. The food was very good, and the service was attentive and friendly. Is this a cheap night out? No. If you are not someone who likes to spend money on a nice meal don't come here. Can you get a great meal in Brooklyn for cheaper? Definitely. As someone above stated, this is a special occasion place with an amazing view. Not all of us want to have to traipse to Manhattan to get an experience like this.

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