The River Street Cafe

I came with a group to this place for a graduation dinner.
The potstickers were crunchy, like they’ve been in the microwave too long.
The meatballs were decent!
The compliments of the chef dish was a cold spaghetti, which was just as it sounds… Cold spaghetti ew!
The Thai pork had tender pork but the sauce was disgusting and hardly Thai or a curry. I couldn’t even eat it.
The mashed potatoes were amazing though, creamy and good!
The salad was great with a good dressing and arugula on iceberg lettuce. I really liked that.
The steak was okay but I definitely didn’t taste goat cheese or garlic?!
We came here at 7pm and it’s almost 10pm and we haven’t gotten our check, we barely got the entrée at 9pm. The staff is inattentive as we didn’t get water refills often enough.
Overall the place seems over priced for the flavor of things.
Oh my bf did get the duck and it was amazing– if you come here and have two hours to kill, get the duck it’s great!‘
Oh also the French onion soup is so gross. It was thick and splattered around the edges like it’s been microwaved.
Oh also the guy just told us it’s cash only, he’s like no one told you? And we told him that he’s been our only waiter… Who’s supposed to tell us that?!
Horrible place. Seriously bad.

I have walked by this place for years. Last week, my wife and I asked Facebook friends where we should go to try something new. We have our regular spots, which are great, but needed someplace new. The overwhelming favorite was River Street Café. We went last night with another couple – wow. One of the best meals I’ve had in the area – or, as someone who travels extensively, anywhere, for that matter. Everyone else agreed. Everything was delicious, fresh, interesting and just plain good, from the very cool cold pasta appetizer to our entrees. They ranged everything from fish to pasta to beef. Everyone tried each other’s because each of us thought it was so great. Terrific atmosphere, too, and fantastic, knowledgable waitress (Najay). Can’t wait to go back and introduce more friends to this gem. Just sorry we never tried it sooner.

A friend choose this for her birthday. A short 22 minute ride from Clifton Parks chain restaurants, we made a reservation for a few couples. I was surprised to walk right into the small, open kitchen when we entered the beautiful building and even more surprised by the warm reception from the chef who left his post to instruct us upstairs to the dining room.
Four other parties were seated in a small space with immense ceilings and a quiet ambiance.
It took a little bit to get a drink as I quickly noticed the 1 and only waitress running up and down the stairs.
A scan of the menu showed some very unique dishes of lamb, ravioli, espresso meatloaf (which ended up being short ribs that night) Thai chicken, shrimp, cod, mahi, strip steak and a very fine appetizer selection. All dishes included Gorgonzola mashed potatoes and salad.
We sampled each others dishes and all agreed the short ribs were the best offering however the strip steak was a close second and absolutely rivaled anything you’d find at Prime. The complimentary cold spaghetti was a nice touch instead of a typical bread basket.
My only concern and the reason I hesitate to give a full recommendation was the incredibly slow service. Having to pick our teenagers up by 10:30, we nearly got out in 3.5 hours. I would have enjoyed a cup of coffee after a delicious meal but we literally had to stand up for 5 minutes to find the really good, hard working waitress to run our cards. If you have an abundance of time — this is a must-​do restaurant.

Hands down the best meal i’ve eaten in Troy. This place is a perfect date night destination. As everyone says the food is amazing quality, fresh and made to order but warning do not come here starved, come here for the experience. Order a bottle of wine and enjoy the company you are with. Be sure to make a reservation and request a table by the window.

We went on Tuesday at 6:30 pm. They definitely should have been open. We called ahead of time and there was no message to let us know it would be closed. There was no sign in the window explaining that they were closed. Just lights off. Is this place still open? It was super disappointing after driving in traffic for 20 minutes and drooling over the online menu all day.

I’ve been in Troy for over 5 years now and somehow I had neglected to try this place out. Well I finally got the opportunity and I was not disappointed. I like that you walk in to a view of the kitchen. Upstairs is the dining room and it is adorable to say the least. Very cozy and we got a very nice table by a window overlooking the Hudson. We arrived at 7pm and were one of the only tables there, but between 7 and 9 the place filled up however the noise level was never an issue. Our waiter was a dear and I’m honestly not sure how he remembered the very detailed descriptions of the additions to the menu the evening. I really loved that we told him we were going to be lingering and he paced us very well and let us dawdled over coffee and dessert at the end of the meal even though it was after 10pm and we were the last table. My gentleman friend was pleased to see South African wines on the list.
The menu is shorter and I believe that this is a very good thing. I love places that keep the menu limited so that they can deliver consistently well executed dishes.
The chef sent up a complimentary dish of some cold pasta which was tasty. The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of that evening was the salad dressing; it just had too much garlic for my taste but my gentleman friend said that he really liked it. We both ended up getting the ahi tuna in Thai seasoning (they have a fish item on the menu that changes frequently and that evening choice was ahi). The presentation was very simple but enticing. The Thai seasoning was different than I was expecting but a wonderful surprise. It had a slightly sweet start and a slightly spicy finish which I enjoyed very much. The side was goat cheese mash potatoes which I tried a little bit of and it was delicious. We shared a piece of a chocolate caramel pecan cake that was as moist and delicious as our waiter promised and the coffee was very good as well.
If you are in any type of rush I do not think this would be a good place to go as there is only one chef and a few servers, but if you’re not on a tight time schedule run, don’t walk, to try this place.
This is going to be put on my list of place to go back to at least quarterly.

Love this place! It’s a bit tucked away and there is just the chef and the lone (very knowledgeable) waiter. I love these types of places. A couple of times the menu changed because the chef wasn’t happy with one of the ingredients. It’s a nice atmosphere for a date as it is quiet and not very busy. Really good food. Small menu with a variety of flavors. Like a lot of places, I would like to see more after dinner drink offerings.

My meal at River Street Café was THE best meal I have ever had in the Troy/​Albany area, and up there with best meal ever. I’ve ate a lot of pretty nice places, but the food here was so good. The chef certainly does seem a little nutty, but it was completely worth it. We were lucky in that we went on a Wednesday night at 6PM and there was no one else there. We were the only party there from 6PM-​8PM, which I always find somewhat awkward but it certainly made the food arrive faster.
After we ordered, we were brought a cold pasta dish complements of the chef. This is the way pasta is supposed to be served! It was by far the tastiest pasta I have ever had. It was incredible. INCREDIBLE! We also ordered a calamari and sugar pea appetizer, that was amazing. I tried recreating the dish at home, and while it came out well, their version was a lot better. For my entrée I had the duck with some sort of sweet dressing on it. It was the most perfect cooked duck I have ever had, and the infusion of Asian flavors into the meal was fantastic.
5 stars for the food, but there was so much of it and I wanted to take some of the duck home. We asked for a box and were told that they did not have boxes. My food was wrapped in saran wrap and put into a paper bag. I’m sure this has something to do with the chef’s eccentricity, but it put me off a tiny bit. Regardless I want to go back again as soon as possible!

I’m from New York City, so I’d expect to be paying a lot more for the quality of food, and time spent dining. It was a family get together, so we did appreciate the «Extended» amount of time we had together.
Was here for a graduation, went on a Friday.
My sister had eaten here previously, and gave us a warning:
A few things to keep in mind:
–This is an upscale restaurant in troy
–They’re either packed, or empty
–Everything is purchased fresh (They’ll have a list of alterations/​changes for the menu)
–There is one chef, and when I was there two waiters
–Plan to spend the better part of 2 – 3 hours there… You will end up waiting for your food
–Reservations are important, if you don’t have one, they can’t guarantee that they’ll be open when you walk in.
Keeping that in mind, My group of 7 had/​shared
Appetizer: Calamari/​Sausage-​Pizza, the amazing tomato-​pasta dish (complements of the chef, I Assume because he knows you’ll be waiting for your food).
Entrees: Family had the citrus-​carrot chicken/​braised lamb/​ancho-​espresso pork tenderloin/​steak, and all of them won high reviews.
Dessert: We cleared out their desert menu (two types of chocolates, one peach part, one key lime pie, one lemon-​ish pie)
Rating: 5 Stars for the quality/​experience of the food/​atmosphere, –1 simply because… sometimes I did wish the dishes could come out faster.

There was only one server/​bartender and one chef. Thankfully there were only 3 groups and we were the only big group but I can see how things would have gone differently if there were more people in the place.
The server was friendly and put up admirably with the bunch of tipsy academics. The list of specials though turned to be a list of «things we don’t have.» They also did not have three of the wines we ordered off of their fairly large list, not to mention any port for after dinner. They did have some good wines though and the ones we finally got were emptied fast.
They brought out bread and a giant plate of spaghetti with garlic and tomato sauce for everyone. I had the frog legs in a Thai sauce for the appetizer. I’ve never had frog legs before but they tasted rubbery. Not sure if that’s how it was supposed to taste, but if it is, I’m not into frog legs anymore. For the entrée, I went for the flat iron steak which was nice and blackened on the outside and medium on the inside. It also came in its own pool of olive oil which was kinda gross but delicious for dipping bread. I also like their idea of serving a giant plate of mashed potatoes as a side for everyone to share. The dessert was a triple layer chocolate cake. Again delicious. Didn’t really look at the final tab since RPI was footing the bill but I think I ate and drank about $ 50 worth. I was surprised they don’t have boxes but the server was kind enough to wrap up my food and give me a true doggie bag style take-​home.
In short, the food was good but for the upscale-​ness and the prices, the experience was lacking.

This is based on one recent visit; I’m willing to give them another chance, and if there’s improvement, I’ll happily edit this review.
The River Street Café was arguably the first ‘contemporary’ restaurant to appear in Troy during the first of its many (ahem) Renaissances. I’d eaten there a couple of times and was genuinely impressed with their willingness to experiment. This time, though, the experimenting felt like we were in a Skinner box.
You pass the kitchen as you enter from the first floor, the dining room is on the second. The chef was clearly surly about something. We waited to be seated as the chef ran up the stairs with a tray of orders, grunting, «HEY! move over!» A waitress finally arrived and led us to a table. After five minutes we got a menu. Then we watched the poor waitress scurry around the restaurant, bringing partial orders to patrons. The chef ran back upstairs and was began bussing tables. The restaurant was painfully understaffed, with just one other waiter serving the second room. We waited nearly half an hour for mere eye contact, and when it was finally made, we politely told the flustered waitress we were leaving.
The irony is that we’d made reservations just an hour earlier. They could have said something during the phone call.