MyWorldReviews.com

Riverview Restaurant/Lounge

Long Island City, New York, United States

The Riverview Restaurant is a restaurant located in Long Island City, right along the East River (directly across from the UN building). The best reason to go here is for the view. Although the interior is quite nice, the patio is great on a nice day. The restaurant does have a pretty great view of Manhattan. Unfortunately, trees along the street obstruct some of the view, and during our visit, there was an ice cream truck that played its simple tune repeatedly. Still, the Riverview Restaurant offers slightly upscale food at prices that are reasonable for what is offered.

If you want to enjoy the view of the Manhattan skyline, the "Gantry Plaza State Park" (located right next to the Riverview Restaurant) offers some fantastic unobstructed views.

Dress

Nice casual - jeans and a button shirt are appropriate.

Cost

The quality of the food is slightly upscale, and the prices match. Most entrees range from $20-$35. Salads are between $10-$15.

Service

There wasn't anything noteworthy about the service.

Reservations

When we visited, around 7pm on a Saturday, there were only a couple tables left outside. Most of the inside was empty. If you want an outside table, it's probably a good idea to make a reservation.

Items Ordered

Bread and Olive Tapenade

After ordering, we received a basket of bread and olive tapenade. The bread was a very plain white bread. I was expecting something a little nicer.

Riverview Salad

Cherry tomato, red radishes, sliced cucumber and shallot sherry vinaigrette

The Riverview Salad was a reasonable salad. It was mostly all lettuce. When the description says "cherry tomato", they really mean one cherry tomato cut into two halves. There also wasn't much cucumber. In spite of the lack of vegetables, the shallot sherry vinaigrette was a good dressing that made it an enjoyable salad. It had a slightly sweet acidic flavor.

Crab Cake

Cauliflower puree, frisse, shaved onions red pepper coulis, apple sherry vinaigrette

The crab cake was a pretty tasty crab cake. It also came with a small salad. The salad had pear in it, and was quite sweet. I thought this salad was better than the Riverview salad.

Vegetarian Risotto

Sauteed mushrooms, asparagas and a fresh herb/truffle oil sauce

The vegetarian risotto was a pretty good creamy risotto. It could have used a few more vegetables, but otherwise it was pretty tasty. It was a fair size, although the huge plate makes it look small.

Filet Mignon

10oz. Potato fondant, baby vegetables, tomato compote, shallot red wine sauce.

The filet mignon was a decent steak. It was a little bit tougher than I thought it should be, but it was still not bad. The tomato compote was incredibly flavorful. It had a delicious and strong tomato flavor.

The potato fondant was alright - it was a different way to serve mashed potatoes. It was pretty bland, but the flavorful tomato compote went well with it.

The baby vegetables consisted of baby carrots and asparagus.