River’s Ridge
Located off Ridge Road in Richmond in the former location of Graffiti Grill is River’s Ridge Restaurant and Bar. On a Friday evening, the bar was in fact hopping with quite a crowd, while the dining room, adjacent, was far more tranquil. Diners ranged in age, many in their senior years, while bar drinkers were a younger, middle-aged crowd. The restaurant had recently been featured in a local mail/circular, and we decided to try it out.
With such good-sounding “starters,” we couldn’t pass up some favorites, such as short ribs and calamari. The calamari is a good test, and yes, they can fry good calamari here. The batter used was a little thicker than necessary, but it was tasty. This is a 2-or-more person appetizer. The crunchy coating and the (too) thick spicy dipping sauce would be great with a beer or sparkling wine.
The short ribs were tasty, but I didn’t much care for the presentation… with too much else on the plate, it wouldn’t have been a starter anymore. Portioned with some creamy polenta, it could have been a small entrée. You got 4 nice sized short ribs without bones. They weren’t “falling apart,” but they were tender and had a great flavor.
The half-roasted chicken is a very plentiful dish. Big pieces of chicken, ample roasted potatoes and other vegetables filled a plate. The chicken meat was well-spiced with herbs, but lacked adequate salt. The roasted vegetables were similar: needed more salt.
The veal special was a veal chop topped with crab meat. The crab was fine, but the mashed potatoes lacked real flavor and adequate fat for my taste (something creamier would have been ideal). The veal chop was good, but not stellar. Since I had made one two days earlier at home, I thought it would have been good to compare. Mine was thicker, easier to chew, and far more tender (and less well-done than the one at River’s Ridge).
We were stuffed at this point. Service was good at River’s Ridge. If smoke bothers you, you may not like the crowd at the bar. I’d like to return some time.
What I was disappointed with was the price of the special. The server told us the veal special was $22. When I compared that to the price of other entrées that sounded good (all above $20, but all less than $30), I chose the special because it sounded like a good deal.
When the bill game, whoops, it was $32. Sadly, I only discovered this after coming home. The dish I had would have been acceptable at $18. But for $32, you could do much better.
If you go, might I recommend the starters as small entrées? They also have a few soups and you can order salad to go with your regular entrée. This way, you might save room for dessert.
River’s Ridge has potential.
2 Responses to “River’s Ridge”
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XS
Said this on January 18th, 2009 at 7:26pm:That is too bad to hear. Is it a bait and switch tactic?
tom
Said this on January 18th, 2009 at 8:00pm:FYI - There is no smoking allowed at River’s Ridge.