The River Cafe Review

Intro
The River Cafe - Highly Recommended (for a celebration only)
1 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 522-5200

For my wife and I's one year anniversary, I figured why not check out the River Cafe. I've heard the place is romantic and supposedly has solid food. Funny, when I was looking to the chowhounders for help, they all said the food is solid and not like the shitty Tavern on the Green. They were definitely right. Overall I give the restaurant a 85/100.

Our Menu

1) Amuse - Watermelon with goat cheese and mint
2) River Café Oysters *
fishers island oysters glazed with lemon ˜ pepper hollandaise, caramelized onions, smokey bacon and wild sturgeon caviar
3) Foie Gras Two Ways *
add classic pressed terrine with fig jam and banyuls wine vinegar; poached roulade with coffee, date and almond crust
4) Maine Lobster Special *
with poi, fried taro, and grapefruit
5) Colorado Rack of Lamb **
house cured lamb Merguez sausage, golden fondant potatoes,mint and mustard seed glaze, lamb jus
6) Atlantic Halibut *
light almond crust, Catalonian Romesco sauce, sweet Spring onion purée, stuffed baby eggplant
7) Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory *
Vanilla, Chocolate, Better Pecan, Strawberry
8) Coconut Bavarian**

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Good looking dish, but average flavors. Watermelon wasn't as juicy or as sweet as I was expecting. If it were sweeter, the dish would have made more sense with the salty goat cheese.
2) I've been craving oysters for a while and these were quite fun. Slightly cooked, buttery, smokey from the bacon, a nice sweetness from the caramelized onions with a nice salty pop from the caviar.
3) With all the foie gras I've eaten in the past, I'm pretty picky with anything foie gras related now. The terrine was OK, but not that much flavor. The roulade was pretty good though with the interesting almond crust and coffee.
4) I saw lobster on the menu and couldn't pass it up - these were very good. Simply cooked where it's nice buttery and soft. Not sure what's up, but I'm really digging simply prepared lobster rather than the ones served at the higher end restaurants. Suprisingly pairs well with the thick poi - taro puree.
5) I think the last three expensive restaurants I've been too, I've ordered rack of lamb. These definitely hold up - albeit slightly salty. Perfectly cooked though - tender, juicy and full of flavor. The sausage was fun too, but surprisingly the thinly sliced haricovert kicked the dish "up another notch." Slightly crunchy and a perfect compliment to the lamb.
6) A fun dish. Moist halibut with a great combination of the rich romesco sauce and sweet eggplant. Would have been a great dish if the halibut was warmer than room temperature.
7) The River Cafe also owns the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory which is where they get their goods. Vanilla and Strawberry were OK, but the Chocolate and Butter Pecan kicked massive ars. Huge flavors and solid textures.
8) Basically a coconut creme on an angel food cake with coconut shreds on top. This totally worked and had a great combo of textures - chewy shreds of coconut, creamy filling and a nice light cake. Great dessert.

Overall Restaurant Experience (85/100)

• Food 8.5/10 – Very solid food with a few great dishes all plated nicely. Quite surprised since I didn't expect much. Bread they served was very good as well.
  
• Service 9.0/10 – Server was very accommodating and they have an army of people looking after each table. Another bonus - they passed my pet peeve where they cleaned up the crumbs after each course...something Le Bernardin never did.
  
• Atmosphere 9.8/10 – You really can't beat the atmosphere for a celebration. Looking out to the water at Lower Manhattan and underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Simply beautiful. The crowd consisted of a bunch of older couples (50's and up) and a couple of large groups. The only minus points they get is the spacing is a teeny bit cramped - you're basically sitting right next to another couple. Made reservations 4 weeks in advance for a Sunday and there was only 1 spot available at 6:30...bad economy be damned, this place still packs em in. Btw - make sure you ask to sit near the window. They have booths where you can sit side by side, but you won't be able to see the view. Also, another plus is they have valet parking.
  
• Price 6.0/10 – Tough one to judge here, but here are my thoughts. For the food, the price is a rip-off. You can go to other restaurants in Manhattan where you'll have much better food for the same price. However, for a celebration, the atmosphere is really perfect so you're definitely paying more for that. I paid $95 for 3 courses and got jacked by the lobster which was $54 friggin dollars...albeit very fun to eat, it's more of a $36 dish in my opine.

Closing Comments
Probably will never go back unless it's a big celebration for someone, but it was still a great time and a memorable experience. And yes, the chowhounders were right - food is very solid but it's more about the overall experience.