Riva St Kilda

Posted by: jacpar | 16 January 2011, 5.23pm

After reading the online reviews for Riva, I was very apprehensive about celebrating my husband's birthday there. However I am so glad I didnt take any notice of the comments as we loved the place. The service was very attentive but not intrusive, the food was spectacular (we had tasting plates for entree and dessert, and they were sublime)and our individual mains were delicious. The views are to die for, and extremely good value. We are pretty fussy when it comes to dining, and Riva St. Kilda ticked all our boxes. I cant believe some of the reviews, esp the recent ones. I observed how the waiters attended to others and all seemed to be extremely attentive. Many celebrities were spotted and the regular diners received the same attention as they did. Will definetely be back.

Food:			Visit: Sun 16 January 2011 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: st kilda local | 3 January 2010, 12.14pm

I note that all the reviews listed here are at least one year old - Yes, this restaurent used to be good. We went here expecting to pay a bit more than usual but reap the rewards in tastiness and service...DOH! Silly us!
Firstly, we were squeezed in the middle of two large tables with each person sitting on the table side being bumped by waiters and patrons squeezing past all night - most distracting when trying to eat a meal and also hellishly loud.
Our service was terrible - with the menu's not placed on the table for 15 minutes after sitting - our wine, which we had already ordered did not come for 20 minutes either - which left us sitting there, gasping.
When we were ready to order food, we waited and waited for a waiter - eventually we managed to call one over - who took our order with a large delivery of bad attitude -(how dare we act so impertinent - and what did our last slave die of?)
The food came out quite quickly - which was refreshing - however my seafood linguini - was so bland and boring that Ramsey would have been throwing it back at the chef. - I eat seafood lingini all over Melbourne - and that would have been one of the worst -the seafood pieces were palatable however the linguini was still a bit crunchy and there was no sauce or flavour to speak of - no garlic - no onion, no wine, no chilli and a tiny bit of parsley and about three small pieces of fresh chilli which had no heat or taste at all.
The only flavour I could discern in this badly cooked pasta was butter and floury pasta - it was truly awful.
Three friends had the veal samboca and received a dogs dinner of a meal - the veggies should have been separate from the sauce however, in this case - it should have been named veal stew as everything was mixed in together in a rich mess - a pub could have done better.
We were discussing this disappointing meal and decided to call the manager over and tell him our experience. I was informed that the seafood linguini was their most popular dish - I invited him to try it himself - which he declined - he apologised for the fact that we were disappointed, cleared the table and went away.
Later a waitress confessed to us that we were not the first to complain about the pasta.
Meanwhile sloppy service was the order of the day - we had to help ourselves to our own wine from the wine table and no one seemed to notice. Later, we declined dessert figuring we would be just as disappointed - and were then offered free coffee which we also declined.
We wont be going back - plenty other good places to visit in St Kilda/Elwood.

Food:			Visit: Sun 3 January 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: jesswah | 6 January 2009, 8.13pm

Top quality food, service, decor & view makes up this full package. Very classy setup, the mains were very nice but the dessert was unbelievable. We got the tester with lots of small portions and they were to die for. Right up there with any other restaurant in town for fine dining.

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Posted by: peainapod | 30 April 2008, 9.55pm

My husband and I went here for dinner after we had a look on their website. We really enjoyed our experience. It is a beautiful location and the food was outstanding. We ordered the bread for entree and I had a seafood linguine and my husband ordered a steak. The food is also very reasonably priced, I can't wait to go again.

Food:			Visit: Wed 30 April 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: Jacqui B | 13 October 2007, 7.27pm

Riva does well at delivering fresh tasty lunch with friendly service. The stuffed zucchini flowers were scrumptious. The setting is hard to beat.

Food:			Visit: Sat 13 October 2007 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: Unregistered user | 1 April 2006, 10.47pm

Great location, especially for watching the sun go down, but bring your sunglasses!! Bookings are taken at particular time slots (6 or 8pm on the night we went). Food is YUM! The antipasto platter was scrumptious as was lamb for the main. Different twist on the gnocchi, also very YUM!

Food:			Visit: Sat 1 April 2006 Mealtime: dinner
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