Bistro On the River

This place is garbage. Only managed two stars because the waitstaff were nice but terribly slow. Although we had reservations and there were plenty of open tables, it took us a while to get seated. Went here for restaurant week: the duck prosciutto and cheese platter came with a demi baguette that was harder than a rock, the risotto that my girlfriend got was undercooked, and the brisket I got was as dry as sandpaper. I wouldn’t waste your time here. Terribly high priced subpar quality noms. Have no freaking idea what Marti J. is talking about…

This is by far & away the finest restaurant in Cedar Rapids. Just finished dining there with friends. I could use all the usual superlatives that would perhaps make you disregard my review. So let me just say this: go, experience, enjoy. This place is fantabulous! I had the braised short ribs with smoked Gouda polenta. I could have eaten two portions! But glad I didn’t because I had room for the chocolate banana dessert thing — the actual name escapes me — but it was the perfect end to a perfect meal. I know my way around a plate of food, and this place is exceptional. Please, please, please go here next time you’re out for a meal.

Excellent food, good service, wonderful tea.
We came here today from out of town for lunch. Place was empty which we didn’t understand. My husband ordered the jerk wrap and I had the caprese sandwich with chicken, it was excellent! !! The tea was outstanding as well. Waiter was attentive and very nice! Great stop!!!

Positives: Nice real estate, clean restaurant
Negatives: Poor food quality and service
Would not recommend.
Details: Went in for a weekday lunch. Waited for about 10 minutes for a table even though the restaurant was only half full. Even though there was a «please wait to be seated sign» I had to get the attention of the bartender and ask if I could get a table.
The lunch menu looked decent. Had the bistro burger based on their recommendation with the soup as a side. Took about 25 minutes. Did not like it! The «crispy fried onion» was stale and cold. I had to send it back. The burger bun was dry and it was more of a slider than a normal sized burger. The corn chowder was just mediocre at best. My friend had a veggie sandwich which she said was good. See pictures!
Pricing was decent for a lunch menu although I wished I had a bit more burger.
The location is great but I feel like it is underutilized. The name can be misleading because you could get no view of the river. Nice big windows and bar are facing the street. The bakery case was mostly empty.
P. s.: not happy about the chip in our water glass (see picture)

We’d like to give this place 4.5 stars. We both had the braised short ribs with smoked Gouda polenta. It was absolutely superb. The smoked Gouda was not overwhelmingly smoky, the polenta was a melt-​in-​your-​mouth experience, and the short ribs were tender and flavorful. Really the only downside was the inexperienced server (didn’t think to bring drink menus, etc). But he was very pleasant. Seems like a promising place.

Let me start by saying that this place has a lot of potential and a great ambiance. I would not come back for the food or service. It has a great location downtown, and they need to step their game up.

A while back another local restaurant (The Caribbean Kitchen, also fantastic) shared a review on their Facebook page that was a local gourmand decrying the fact that Bistron on the River doesn’t get more traffic. So, being perpetually curious and hungry, I decided to investigate their claims. I was not disappointed.
I went with a friend over the lunch hour (around 1ish) on a weekend. The location itself has a very nice approach to the «exposed hardwood and metal» that has been the big thing for more «modern» establishments of late, and it works for them very well. Despite how open it was, it wasn’t too echoie (echoy?), and the seating was comfortable. We were quickly greated by the staff, provided menus, and then politely left to our machinations.
I settled on the special of the day, their patty melt, and a pint of the Iowa Swabian Hall from Backpocket Brewing, another local delight. I can’t recall what my compatriot ordered, water and one of their burgers I believe. The beer was cool but not too cold, a very important thing to be for the dark beers I favor. Shortly after, our food arrived. The patty melt, as it happened, was actually composed of liberally seasoned ground beef and lamb (pretty much a kofta patty. Being a huge fan of arabic food, this pleased me greatly.), peperjack cheese, a very tasty, well made bun (our waiter bragged «The beer is the only thing we don’t make ourselves», if memory servers. It shows in the quality.) and a side of their fries. The melt was fantastic, seasoned just right, and it worked very well with the spice of the patty and the cheese, and the sweet of the bun, and my sweeter, dark beer complimented surprisingly well. The fries were delicious, crispy, and seasoned to perfection.
Through the experience, the wait staff was friendly, present when needed, and always attentive. It wasn’t until halfway through the dining experience that i realized the location used to be a huge sports bar I used to grab lunch at based solely on the reason that it was cheap. The location has markedly improved.
So, I’m inclined to agree to that angry fan of the culinary arts. This place is fantastic, the prices are reasonable, and the people are friendly. It should be getting FAR more traffic. If I still worked downtown, this place would be extremely dangerous to my wallet.

The bistro on the river has the worst view. No river, and mostly very uncharming concrete buildings. It was a let down, since we came because of the name. The service was really good though, a very friendly waiter. The food was set up to be classic American with a fancy twist, and the price was set up after it. The décor is very modern, and a little cold. We had the cheese platter, and the chicken and mash. The cheese platter was ok. There was not too bland manchego, and some very delicious rich and intense duck prosciutto. And some very dry bread and lettuce. And a few mediocre cheeses. The chicken mash was perfectly edible, but not really all that different from the classic, without the comfort feel. Nice presentation. All in all, ok, but a little meh

I understand the intent of the place, but I don’t think they are very busy because of their small menu with small food. I work downtown and we go out to eat for lunch often and we go places that have a large menu and fill you up. This place has a very small menu and the food is small. The food was actually very good, but when my coworkers and I vote to where we go, I really don’t think we’ll agree to this place again.
Nice atmosphere, good food, great waitress who kept our drinks full. And I hope they make it. But for a bunch of hungry guys there isn’t much or a menu and portions could be bigger. Again I understand their intent and I hope it works. But I think expanding the menu for some meat and potatoes guys who want a fast, filling lunch (many downtown workers only get a half hour lunch) would be a great add. Also, we just walked by the place and have never seen advertising for it. It would be cheap for them to print some flyers and deliver them to some offices with a web site and a few lunch specials. Have downtown workers have a filling and fast lunch from a bigger menu, they’ll come back for nice slow dinner.

This place was pretty disappointing. We walked in around noon on a Saturday, anticipating a bustling brunch scene. That was simply not the case. Not being from Cedar Rapids, maybe noon is well beyond busy brunch time. The restaurant says it is on the river, but there is not one single view of the river anywhere. It is quite dark actually. The hostess was the waitress, the food runner, and the bartender. The side of «home fries» we’re without a doubt frozen potatoes and you could kind of taste the fact that they had been cold not that long ago. The Bloody Mary was underwhelming as was the atmosphere.

Everything I said before, but they’re starting to decorate now. I suspect that they’ll pick up more character as time goes by. Great personalized service and attention to detail makes up for the startup feel. More than adequate attentIon to the food selections — I enjoyed the flank steak sandwich immensely the other day. I’ve become a regular customer recently.

This restaurant continues to impress me. I’m always on the lookout for a nice dining experience where I can order fresh, healthy options without spending too much money.
Last experience I had, I went with a couple girlfriends on a Friday night. Fewer customers during the dinner hour, but we still had great service. A couple girlfriends were on a low carb diet, and they were accommodating. I ordered the sausage risotto and was so pleasantly surprised but all of the vegetables in the risotto. Portions aren’t humongous but they fill you up just enough!
I’ve also had the Bleu Bacon burger and the crab cake sandwich. Both were excellent.
Besides the food, this one of the few coffee shops open after 4pm downtown. They have nice couches near the front windows, perfect for a quick afternoon meeting.
I have yet to try the pastries, but I hear they are also excellent.

The experience I had for Valentine’s day dinner was comically awful. It was almost worth the $ 150 tab just for the story of what a waste of money it was. We had made a reservation over a week in advance and were sat at a table right next to the door where every time the door opened we were blasted with arctic air. The table had silverware wrapped in a paper napkin that just screamed not classy. We ordered our food and got soup in a bowl that was filled so shallowly that the spoon wasn’t really effective unless you tilted the bowl to pool it on one end. It was moderately good, but certainly not great. I ordered the pork tenderloin and my girlfriend ordered the shrimp pasta. When the entrees came out it was disappointingly small orders and the appearance wasn’t great. Then I realized that my dish wasn’t even pork. They gave me a chicken dish that was super dried out. Tasted kinda like someone took a chicken breast out of the freezer, over cooked it, poured salad dressing on it and called it gourmet. The pasta my girlfriend had was watered down and bland and the shrimp in it was chewy and gross. I called for the waiter to get my meal corrected, but the pork they returned with was equally awful and dried out. Do not waste your money on this place. Try a wonderful alternative like cobble hill just a couple blocks away if you want food that’s actually worth $ 50 a plate.

This was my first experience at the Bistro on the River. I booked a business dinner on the recommendation of a friend. Everything was great. Dining room, service, appetizers and entrees were all excellent. The Spin Dip and Truffle Fries are great apps the Short Ribs and Susage Risotto brought rave reviews on the entrée side of things. We enjoyed everything so much we asked them to cater in lunch for our meeting the next day and everything was excellent. My personal favorite was the Norwegian Salmon Salad. We will be back!

One of the best new restaurants to hit the local area! Great unique food, not the same old tired stuff that you see every where else. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting. The gal Brittney that works the bar area is awesome! I would hire her in a second to work for me.

I have been going to Bistro on the River nearly every day since it opened. I LOVE the atmosphere and it is conveniently located downtown near my office. It is great for hanging out in the morning to have some breakfast and coffee. I have also had several business meetings there. There are a range of seating options to accommodate your needs: cushy chairs and sofas, standard tables, booths, and bar seating.
The coffee is EXCELLENT. Henson is a master barista with Chris being a close second (having studied under Henson). Although there is a coffee menu provided, you can ask them to make any coffee drink you can think of. Henson and Chris are very creative, too. Sometimes, I ask them to «surprise me» and they come up with a new concoction. They have seasonal specials including the pumpkin spice latté… delicious!
An increasing rarity in this world – the food is all made from scratch. I have yet to have anything I didn’t love. The food is reasonably priced and the portions are perfectly (read appropriately) sized. Some of my favorites so far:
* Breakfast sandwich — eggs, cheese, and your choice of meat (real chunks of ham, bacon, or sausage) all on a homemade english muffin
* Breakfast bowl — eggs, meat, perfectly fried potatoes, and a pepper jack cheese sauce
* Burger — made from a combination of lamb and beef on a homemade bun. Amazing!
* Cucumber Watermelon Gazpacho — Amazingly light, cool, with a hint of cayenne pepper. SOOO good! This might be my favorite thing that they make right now.
Tuesday is croissant day, Wednesday is donut day, Thursday is cinnamon roll day. Every week, they have a new creation. Yesterday, they had a Persian roll in the case that was AMAZING!
The staff is extremely friendly. I feel like they go out of their way to make your stay as pleasant as possible. I have yet to have a concern, but I would feel comfortable telling them if something is wrong with my food or drink.
They just started dinner service and I can’t wait to try it!
In short, it is an amazing, locally owned restaurant that aims to please. Its food is off the beaten path, in a good way. Although you will find familiar dishes, they are always done with a flair that isn’t found at other restaurants in town. I highly recommend Bistro on the River!

My first experience here was for lunch. Server was very nice, and the veggie panini I ordered was pretty good; however, it was pretty small. I think I had a soda, and together, the bill was less than $ 10, so not terrible for a sit down place. I still think that the sandwiches should be regular size, though.
As for breakfast, my experience there was much less than average. I wanted to give it a shot for breakfast since it’s a little closer to my office than my usual breakfast/​coffee spot. I walked in at about 8:00am and nobody was around. Thankfully, the guy working the counter was walking towards me from the back when I walked in, but the person after me had to wait for 2 – 3 minutes, and then had to actually go to the back to retrieve somebody. My iced coffee was good; however, my sandwich was terrible. First, again, it was tiny. It was about half the size of a normal breakfast sandwich you get at Brewhemia. Second, the eggs were runny and there was almost no taste to it. Definitely not worth $ 4.50.
This place has only been open a month; however, I’m not that impressed with how it’s started. I may give it another shot, but only for coffee or a drink after work. I prefer Brewhemia or Early Bird for breakfast in the downtown area.