Brielle River House Banquets

In a word, the Brielle River House was AWFUL! Based *solely on the food*, my rating is ZERO STARS — they don’t get props for the astounding view, from their remarkably over– crowded outside dining deck. {They should actually feel guilty for serving their sub-​par grub on this spectacular piece of Riverside real estate — what a waste!}.
The two stars I gave are for the staff. The hostess, bartender & our server were wonderful — super-​friendly & good at their respective jobs. We waited for our table at the bar; our Mango Martini & Mai Tai were far better than average & they’re sure not skimpy w/​the alcohol.
Our server was prompt to take our drink & app order; unfortunately, our appetizer arrived well– before our drinks. Although not her fault, our server was very apologetic… we felt sorry for her! The place was packed, but the genius manager/​owner (?) only had TWO bartenders who were serving a «2-​deep bar» AND doing table-​service! On a Saturday night? Seriously?
Back to our «faster than lightening appetizer» (which should have been a clue!), we planned on sharing the Calamari (aka flour-​coated rubber bands)…definitely frozen… shameful from a «seafood» restaurant. Sent it back & ordered the Fried Clam Strips, which were a special, so we assumed they’d be fresh — well, we all know what happens when we assume…
This is a truly beautiful place — they actually specialize in weddings — so, perhaps they fare better in the Banquet arena — who knows? However, if I was considering them for my wedding venue, after experiencing a dinner like the one we were subjected to, I certainly wouldn’t have booked it with these people. What a shame!

The wait is always very long. It’s hot and very buggy there. The food is just average. Very claustrophobic because of the crowds. People go because it’s on the water but honestly the bugs and the crowds take away from the joy of being on the water. My salmon had ridiculous amounts of salt on it. I won’t be going back

I would give Riverhouse 5 stars for food and 1 star for service. The staff is very nice — I just had too many small issues. I have been there twice in the last 2 weeks. First time was for work — they gave me the wrong check… I paid for it and only realized it when I got home. I paid someone elses bill which was probably 50 more (shame on me for not noticing it)… I gave them another shot and took my wife for our anniversary. Nice experience but was absolutely rushed. In and out in about an hour. Appetizers were still in front of me when the food came in.
The good — food was excellent. Had the stuffed lobster — amazing. Lobster ravioli — amazing. Had their wings and calamari for lunch — amazing. Eat on the deck — amazing views.
Again — not a bad experience. Just not ⁴⁄₅ stars.

How About Hours on the Website?
Great place for a drink or snack. Extensive website with information about everything — except when it’s actually open. Three stars a little misleading. View is a «5» drinks a «3» food (other than raw bar) a «2».

Brielle River House is one of my favorite places in the area. It has a gorgeous, huge deck with tons of outdoor seating. It also has an outdoor bar as well. When I came for drinks and food on Saturday afternoon they also had a live band. That mixed with the awesome view was so relaxing.
I had coronas to drink so don’t have much to say about it. My friends and I ordered an assortment of sushi to share and it was yummy. Every roll was tasteful and fresh and the presentation was also on point.
I’ve dined her for dinner in the past as well and remember really enjoying my meal. If you’re in the area, stop here for dinner, or even just drinks. Its a good spot!
FYI — they also host weddings here.

This is mostly on the drinks and location is 5 stars. Great for summer drinks
the apps were good but pricy
did not have the dinner, but the place is so beautiful
I would totally recommend going for drinks with friends or for 2
had nachos and crab cakes, limp crab meat. nachos were good, huge portions

Attended a company Christmas party here and was impress with the atmosphere of the venue. It was a rainy night with no chance of seeing the river through the floor to ceiling window upstairs but the venue still took you to a beautiful place.

Very disappointing. Pretty sure the calamari was frozen and somehow they overcooked it and we got it cold. Had something foreign in a beer and the waitress said «sorry but that’s the manufacturers fault» no other concession. Other than the view there wasn’t must good going on here.

Came here today to celebrate my parents anniversary. We had a wonderful time.
First to the ambiance. We were seated outside and the view was just spectacular. There was lots of traffic on the river so it made for a lovely afternoon.
The service was very friendly and fairly attentive.
For appetizers, we had little neck clams, oysters, and stuffed artichoke. The clams and oysters were nice and fresh. The stuffed artichoke was a special — and it was fabulous! Lots of shrimp and lobster, a rich buttery sauce that was loaded with seafood flavor. If they have the stuffed artichoke — go for it!
For entrees we had burgers, steak sandwich and sushi. All were fresh, flavorful, and cooked (or not cooked :) as ordered. The plates were plentiful.
My mother and I split the Chocolate Lava cake. Another must have if you go to the River House. It was warm, moist, not overly sweet, and the ice cream was creamy and a lovely compliment.
The River House will definitely be on our places to return to!

Let me start by saying the only reason this place gets 1 star is because 0 is not an option. This was possibly the worst dining experience we’ve ever had. There was not one aspect of the meal that went without an issue from the moment we sat down. Where do I begin? I’ll just take it from the top.
When we sat down, one of our chairs was soaking wet and immediately soaked through the pants of one of our guests. It was then 10 minutes before out waitress even acknowledged our existence and took our drink order which arrived promptly 15 minutes later. It was at that point we finally put in our appetizers. The appetizers took just under 30 minutes to get to the table. We would have gone through 2 rounds of drinks by then if our waitress had remembered we were there. She actually had come back and taken our dinner order because the apps were taking so long. When the appetizers arrived the crab cakes were all filler. I only found 1 piece of crab in mine.
We then waited about 45 minutes for our dinner to arrive. Needless to say, it was cold. My girlfriend ordered a chicken Caesar salad that ended up coming out with absolutely no dressing. 3 of us ordered filet mignon sandwich which all had burnt buns and were not cooked the way we ordered at all. The filet mignon tasted half way decent but as I mentioned before, was cold by the time we got it. They offered to take it back but we were so famished by then that we were willing to eat it cold in fear of waiting another 45 minutes. The pepperoni pizza was greasy and the veggie wrap that was ordered had to be opened up to be eaten because some of the ingredients were inedible.
We then sat there another 20 minutes after we finished eating for the waitress to realize we were done and to even ask how we were doing and if we wanted the check. Now all of these things could be understood if they were super busy. But by the end of our meal which was only 730 at night, there was only one other table near us. So it was impossible to not have noticed that we were done eating and ready to leave.
To top everything off, the men’s room was right in line with everything else. It was so damp and musty that they had a dehumidifier running full time in the middle of the bathroom. The garbage was also OVERFLOWING.
Needless to say we will never go here again and would actively tell people to avoid it at all costs. The slogan they have on their business cards is «specializing in occasions to remember» and let me tell you this is an occasion that will forever live in infamy.

A Sunday Brunch disappointment. There was not much food selection for a $ 29 buffet and what was there was average at best. The best part of the meal was the 2 Bloody Mary’s I had.
A carving station with 3 meats (loin terribly overlooked). One omelette making station (can’t mess that up). The balance in chafing dishes
Well done French toast, crêpe like pancakes, un appealing scrambled eggs. There was a salmon dish and chicken, vegetable medley and something else that I can’t remember. One fruit bowl and small table of deserts.
Our waitress was very nice and attentive. Ambiance inside is very plain hence why I’ve only been there in the summer when you can sit on the deck overlooking the water.
I hope to come back in the summer and write a rave review but I will promise that was the last brunch in will ever eat there.

Had lunch here today. First the positives:
1 server was very nice
2. Location on river nice too
Now to the negative. The food is not very good! It’s is expensive and it really wasn’t good. Asian Calamari forget it. Rubbery and out of a box with a bottled hoisin sauce.
Crab and Shrimp Chowder watery and no pieces of crab or really corn in it. Avoid it.
Hamburger was decent, hard to mess up a
Burger though.
I wouldn’t go back to eat, maybe to have a drink…

Location is great!
Staff is very friendly and alert!
Food is not as good as a restaurant with a physical setting like this should be serving.
Don’t get me wrong, the food tastes alright, but that is just it, unfortunately.
If they improve the food so it becomes better, this could be the best place in Brielle, Point Pleasant, Manasquan area.

Loved the waterfront atmosphere and the band!
We visited on Sunday and had to wait a few minutes for a table.
Service was fast and friendly.
We liked the casual burger/​sandwich menu options as well as the pricier entrees.
I will return to the deck!

I wish I visited the River House more time throughout the summer. Every single time my friend said to come here, I downgraded him as a lesser friend. We finally came here Friday mid-​day on a voyage of drinking to find out The River House is a really nice place. Too nice to be on the voyage of day drinking around the shore towns.
The view of the water is really beautiful and I can only imagine it looks even better around dinner and sunset. While sitting at the bar, I drank something green and frozen, but it was delicious. It went down like a dream. I also ordered the Buffalo Chicken Wrap with sweet potato fries, which were equally as delicious. The wrap was large, fresh with lettuce and tomato, but also packed a punch with some serious buffalo sauce heat. The sweet potato fries were really crunchy and needed absolutely no ketchup (something I normally do).
Overall, I would definitely bring a date here if I was back down the shore for a night. It provides the perfect shore town experience with good food. If the Buffalo Chicken Wrap was that tasty, I can only imagine what the rest of the menu tastes like.

This is one of my favortite spots that I go to in the summer to sit outside and get a light bite to eat. The pizza we ordered was good but the new item on the menu I ordered, Treasure salad/​seaweed salad was discusting, too much of the salty dressing that they overpoured on my salad, with about 5 leaves of lettuce and warm seafood on top. I couldn’t believe that this came out of the kitchen the way it looked, maybe they have a new chef or cook in the kitchen, who knows.
I never expected much of this restaurant over the years, we just like to go there for being outside and enjoying the view. I don’t think the owner cares if he is serving good foof or not, he figueres people will still come regardless because of the view… oh well!!!

Beautiful views and a very good meal. Even though the place was busy, we did not feel rushed. Between the four of us, we had sushi, seafood sampler, and a sandwich as well as flounder. Everything was great. I highly recommend. Also no stink eye as mentioned below, but I guess because I am a local.
Also, was happy with the bar after dinner. The wait staff and bartenders were very polite. This is a great place and I will go back despite the high prices.

Had dinner here with friends despite the mixed reviews from here and it has it’s good and bad but they were packed for a Saturday.
For the price point, my expectation was higher even though it’s by the water, this is no Spanos or 709 in Pt. Pleasant for sure both in food quality & service.
We have a party of 6 but we were lucky & got a table right away.
Appetizer: Fried Calamari — fresh, tasty & fried perfectly, Hawaii & spicy tuna roll, both were decent but over priced
Main course: Catch of the day special — Halibut with ½ stuff lobster, Grouper, stuffed Brazillian lobster tail, Chilean Sea Bass. The risotto was dry & tasteless, Chef Ramsey would have sent it back before it hit our table, all the fish were over cook & dry, luckily they were served with a sauce.
Drinks: They have a drink special of the day, pineapple juice with Malibu & stoli for $ 5, the drinks were weak and served in a tiny plastic cup
Dessert: Key Lime pie, Apple crust pie & an ice cream chocolate fudge that were all pretty good.
The server spilled drinks over me & my friend when one of the customers bumped into her because all the tables were jammed together, she did apologize even though t wasn’t her fault but all she did was gave us a napkin to dry off & that was it.
The bill came out to $ 300 + and almost $ 400 with tips for 6 people, personally, I don’t think it was worth but I guess that’s the price you pay to eat next to the water. My recommendation, just stick with appetizers & don’t set your expectation too high, will not return.

I came to The River House with a group of friends from out of town. We were catching the water taxi and had some time to kill; so we did what we normally do get DRINKS. Upon entering this establishment I noticed the summer locals who frequent often giving us the stink eye… yes I said it «the stink eye». I guess you could tell we weren’t from around the area because we were a much more relaxed crew that wasn’t dress to impress. It didn’t bother me at all I was there to have fun and enjoy my evening. We ordered our first round of drinks by the back patio bar where the O’s and Yankees were playing on some TVs. The bar service was great, quick, and satisfying. We then decided to take our drinks and move closer to the water and get a glimpse of the view. It is a great view I even got to catch a few fireworks going off for the post 4^th of July celebrations.
I decided it was time to take a seat at the well constructed outside bar, boy is it beautiful the stone work the counter top and the lights, it really sets the mood for a fun summer night. A few of my friends and I had no problem at all getting a seat since we asked politely and still got stinky eye stares like we didn’t belong. We finished our first drinks and ordered a second round with success even though the bar was pretty crowded. A few moment after enjoying a few sips of our drinks it was time to go the water taxi was on it’s way, so we quickly finished our drinks, closed our tabs, and were on our way.
Although I didn’t have a meal at The River House I was fond of the establishment itself, if I get a chance to come back I will be sure to try some of the food and write a worthy review that hopefully does not include the term «stink eye». I feel that the customers are the ones that may put a sour taste in some peoples mouths not the actual food. Until next time.

I will never be eating here again. The atmosphere is nice and all, but we came here for lunch one day and left after the appetizers. It was here that I ate the worst Tuna Sashimi of my life. It was in a shape that looked like it was plopped out of a can. I have seen cat food that has looked more appetizing, and probably better tasting. We got a heaping mound of Fried Calamari as well, except that most of it was the fried bready part and not the actual calamari. We were SO disappointed. We should have refused to pay for it, it was that bad. I wish I had taken a picture of the Tuna app as evidence of the atrocity.