River Canteen

3.5 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  6      Service  2      Value  2     

A group of ten went for dinner on a friday night last month. Service was very very slow, waited over an hour for entrees. Mains were very over priced for what they were, very small servings. The beef was hideous. The bill came to over $1000, we are always happy to pay for good food and good service, but were very let down.

Mar 23, 2010 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  1      Service  3      Value  1     

We went to the upstairs "Up River" restaurant for New Year Eve 2009. At $136 a head, I was expecting something pretty special. For that price, the food was a weak attempt at Nouvelle Cuisine, the drinks were nothing special, the place was understaffed, (but the staff tried hard), but the band. The "band"... The 2 of them thought they could make up for out-of-tune vocals by turning the volume way up.

Any muted applause they ever got was because they had stopped making noise.
It was so loud on the dance floor that no-one danced. Abysmal. The fireworks were good. And almost silent.

Jan 02, 2010 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  8     

Discovered the River Canteen while walking around South Bank on a Saturday afternoon. Balcony dining with worn floorboards, white table cloths and a fantastic ambience. Our meals were good, the service prompt and without fuss.

Having just returned from a 2 week tour of New York with a reputable foodie and seeing some impressive places I was impressed with the standard of River Canteen.

Nov 04, 2009 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

We had been to River Canteen once in 2007 and even though the service was a bit dodgy, the food was quite lovely. My partner and I booked a table on Saturday 12th Sept 2009, for the River Fire festivities. We're not from Brisbane, so we were looking forward to a great night out.

Our first interaction with the waitress was when she walked up to our table and said 'Uuuummmm' then quickly walked away. We assumed that she would quickly return. After waiting 25 minutes to have our order taken, she eventually came back. She took our order and when my entree arrived (a large piece of Chevre Goast Cheese) I assumed bread would quickly follow. There was butter on our table, but, perhaps, that was meant for eating separately from bread as there was no bread in sight.

I didnâ?®t want to eat goats cheese without bread as it's very strong and is not meant to be eaten alone, but had to wait another 30 minutes to catch the waitresses attention to ask for bread. After another 30 minutes, our mains arrived. I ordered a 'timbale' of salmon (Timbale means layers). It was actually a small fillet of salmon (bearing no resemblance to a timbale) and one that had obviously seen better days.

It was clear at that point that the kitchen staff was trying to be fancy by using a French word when describing the salmon. How nice that he has such little respect for his own customers that he assumes that no one would know what a timbale is and he can get away with serving a regular piece of fish. When I took a bite of the salmon it was as dry as an old boot. It was disgusting and inedible.

I could cook better salmon with my eyes closed. I was calm though, and discreetly told the waiter that my salmon was a little overcooked (understatement of the century). They whisked that plate back to the kitchen. I could see the waitress approach the kitchen staff. He flipped out, saying 'What!' and generally being a bit of a drama queen while other people scurried around him.

About 15 minutes later the salmon returned. It was completely raw. And ice cold. And frozen in the middle. My partner and I looked at each other in disbelief. Surely the 'kitchen staff' wasnâ?®t so vain and petty, that he decided to put a piece of raw salmon on our plate as some kind of revenge for daring to send our 'salmon timbale' back? He did. What's more, if we ate the salmon we would have been sick as it certainly wasnâ?®t sushi quality fish and was a clear breach of food safety regulations.

We quickly asked for the manager and told him what happened. He was apologetic and asked what he could do to make it up to us. By this stage the whole night was ruined for us and we wanted to leave. They let us have our wine on the house, but as I had paid in advance for a $75 per person set menu, they wouldnâ?®t reimburse me for the main course disaster. We were both outraged that the chef was clearly so childish and had no concern for the safety of his customers.

I would only return a plate of food to the kitchen if it was inedible and the salmon was certainly that. If the chef showed any maturity under those circumstances, it would have made him want to cook the best piece of salmon we ever tasted. If that had happened I would have been thrilled and grateful and may have returned to River Canteen. This is a perfect example of what sets Sydney and Melbourne restaurants apart from Brisbane ones.

If Brisbane restaurants like River Canteen want to play with the big boys, and become world class, they need to get rid of big girl's blouses like the chef at River Canteen and actually train their staff appropriately.

Sep 15, 2009 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

On a quiet monday night in Brisbane we found that River Canteen offered excellent service and stunning food. It's not cheap but you reallly get what you pay for. One of our party had food sensitivities to artificial colours and some additives and we were impressed to find that we would have no concerns. Recommend it highly.

Oct 14, 2008 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

A pretentious and overpriced menu and the inevitable pretty food on the plate. I like my food hot and all the tatting about with presentation meant that it was delivered to the table on the colder side of lukewarm. Had I been alone I would have sent it back. Mind you, as the portions were so small you could still get through the meal easily before it got completely cold.

The ambience is highly overrated and the bouncing floor every time a waiter passed was tiresome. The service was painfully slow, although they were quick enough to fill up one's glass with ridiculously priced wine. Absolutely awful value for money. The side dishes were a joke, 8 thin, undercooked asparagus at a dollar a stick! Anyone going might want to eat before setting out. My advice, unless you want a pretentious night and have money to burn, don't bother.

Oct 10, 2008 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  9     

Fantastic views of the city centre across the river. Good Mod Oz cooking, nice wine list, helpful staff. They do excellent duck dishes and the recent Truffle Degustation menu was just too good for words.

Oct 07, 2008 

4 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  9      Service  1      Value  1     

We had friends from Sydney arrive for my 30th and booked a table for 14. I have never been so disappointed. The service was terrible, we had to send 3 of the moreton bug dishes back as they were raw. We understood there was a wedding upstairs, but we still expected service for the price that was paid. We had to ask the waitress to take our orders after sitting there for 40 minutes.

Sep 24, 2008 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

Stumbled across River Canteen during a visit to Brisbane and was suitably impressed - excellent food with fantastic service.

My guests (food buffs from Sydney) kept commenting on how far Brisbane has come in restaurants and River Canteen definitely displays this. Excellent!

Sep 16, 2008 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  7     

A perfect place for a languid lunch or dinner. The staff are professional which is hard to find in Brisbane. Our meals were beautifully plated and a taste sensation. The moreton bay bug cannelloni is a must.

Mar 25, 2008