Editorial Restaurant Review
River St Pier Grill
By Patricia Summerfield
November 12th, 2008
River St Pier is a small bar and restaurant set back off of Velp Ave. and is situated on the banks of Duck Creek. The interior is pleasantly decorated with a nautical theme. There are also large picture windows surrounding the restaurant with a pretty view of various trees and a huge weeping willow on the banks of the wide creek. As you walk in there is a long bar and tables to the side of the room and two TVs hung high above the bar in each corner. The restaurant is bright and cheery due to the large windows and noticeably well kept and very clean. They feature a nice menu with very low prices. The specialty here is that everything is made from scratch right on the premises, from their soups to their fantastic homemade potato chips and onion rings.
I ordered their 1/2 lb. charbroiled hamburger for $4.75 and a large order of onion rings for $4.25. The soup of the day was chicken booyah; I ordered a bowl for $3.75. The service was warm and friendly and the server checked a few times to make sure everything was satisfactory. The soup was made with fresh ingredients and not over salted - one of the better booyahs that I have had, and I have tried many. The onion rings were awesome. They were served in a very large basket and every ring was consistently large in size with a light batter. It was obvious that they change their oil often and there was no grease on the paper lining. There was no skimping on my burger; it was a definite 1/2 lb. made with Black Angus meat, the patty was formed by hand and topped with a melting square of butter served on a grilled bun with pickles and an onion slice on the side. It was a terrific sandwich and, in fact, tasted like a Kroll’s hamburger, but with 3 times the meat (River St Pier also offers a 1/3 lb. burger). In addition their menu features Big Boy burgers, salads, wraps, nachos and Perch on Fridays.
