Cafe Riviera

Been only twice, once for a slice, today ordered their Thursday lunch special calzone. What a treat! Had half for lunch, now eating the other for dinner. Best calzone I think I have ever had. Better than the NYC places I’ve frequented. Absolutely delicious! I recommend 100%! A true Italian eatery… a true gem!

I constantly find myself craving their sausage pizza. I can’t find any place that makes one that comes close. Their Sicilian pizza is awesome too. They just know how to make great pizza, so much so that I can never bring myself to order anything else. Great staff, quick service, good drinks, every time I go back it seems to be even better than before. I can’t recommend it enough.

Delish! I am a huge fan of there pizza (sausage) and they have a very friendly staff as well as live music on weekends. Love it!

Surprisingly good food given it’s location (inside of a mall). Take out is available in the front; the dining room is nuzzled in the back. We were taken to our table and greeted promptly by our server. She seemed to be the only person on the floor that evening and did an amazing job keeping everyone’s drinks full, taking orders and delivering them.
I ordered my usual — chicken parm. OMG nom nom nom nom. It was good. I finished the whole thing. It was served with a side of pasta. The kids in our party got pizza (of course) and loved it. Someone else got wings and pizza and loved it.
Pricing for seven people was around $ 80 (including the ice teas and sodas we got), so … not too shabby.

What a hidden gem… We not only love the pizza, salads, clams and spaghetti here. I wish I had known of the crabs and spaghetti deliverd to our home before what could be the last night. I was so surprised to get my dozen crabs (there was more then 12) and almost 2 lbs of spags companied with an amazing salad with all the toppings including gardinara, chick peas, cucumbers and dressing. Then they added different flat bread and bread sticks… I was expecting a small meal for one basically paying for the crabs. The crabs are not huge maybe med female but I will tell you they were so meaty and so sweet, the rest of the meal was amazing too. Not only is everyone so pleasant there when we go to lunch there… That is how I found out about the crabs dinner… There was so much food feeding our family of four for under $ 30 again delivered quickly to our door. I wish they had this special all summer long. I have posted on my fb about this and many people didn’t know this special existed. I hope there is an email or something I can get on and spread the word of these amazing specials. Thanks again for an amazing meal tonight crabs and spaghetti I can’t rave enough about!!!

I am not one to hold a grudge. Yes, I have been back to this location a couple of times. My favorite texter no longer works there. I have experienced great customer service my last couple of visits. The pizza is very good. I love the vegetarian pizza.

Not sure what the deal is me an my friend ordered the steamed crabs (take-​out) this summer were very small an not worth the price, they should have been FREE. But the cheesesteaks, hoagies, pizza an homemade soups are always DELICIOUS an the service is ok, me an several others frequent the café an nobody has ever been RUDE. SOooo give them a try just NO CRABS!

My family & I have been loyal patrons of Café Riviera since the early 90s. It’s one of my favorite restaurants. Menu is wonderful, prices are reasonable and service is always great. I always order the same dish and in the 20+ years we’ve been coming to Café Riviera, the recipe hasn’t changed. Delicious every time!

Best kept secret. This place looks like a pizza shop but in the back is a full fledge Italian Restaurant. The food is amazing and well priced, the wine is awesome and not expensive either. Prime Rib! Yes, in a mall, and yes you must go!

Stopped in for a late lunch yesterday… The pizza was really good, although a little greasy so we had to blot it off… Also tried the bruschetta which was also good. Probably one of the better places to eat at the Concord Mall.

For all the hours I spent shopping in this mall, I was stunned when I realized just how deep the restaurant actually went. And, to this day, despite living within comfortable shopping distance to Concord for 17 of my 24 years, I can only say I’ve been in that back section 2 – 3 times. I’m probably not the best person to talk to about that back area, but it’s almost embarrassing how much I can tell you about the front area.
I’ve probably tried about 8 different types of slices from Riviera, and have yet to be disappointed by a one. The California White and white with tomato and spinach are two favorites of my family, but I’ll be honest, most of the time, I just pop in for a quick slice of plain or pepperoni. And, with those giant slices heated up in their massive ovens, served by some of the nicest folks in Wilmington, loaded up with crushed reds, oregano, and parm, I always leave smiling. The seating area at the front isn’t too large, maybe enough space for 9 – 10 people total, but they have some seats out in the actual bulk of the mall, and you could always be an on-​the-​move muncher if you’re continuing to shop (or window shop) while you eat. Sometimes, the pepperoni can be a little greasier than I like, but it’s always crisp, with just the right thickness of crust (thin to normal).
I just recently grabbed a jumbo pie to go for the family, and was shocked how it fed all 5 of us. That’s value, as we normally have to nab a few between us all. Keep an eye out for specials.
If you’re fairly brave when it comes to germs, try some of the antipasto salad that’s always sitting on the front counter while you wait to order your slice. Seriously, it’s worth the potential flu you could get from someone else’s fork. Just cross your fingers and hope no one double-​dipped their fork.

First time there, was served partially cooked chicken franchaise that was pink and raw in the middle. Told waitress, said she would take it off the bill. Bill came, the entrée was removed, but they tried to bill me separately for the salad when it was included in the entrée. Would have been a two star review but the attempt at cheapness cost them another. Go to Enzo’s down the road, better food for a few more dollars. And it is not in the mall.

Best pizza in the Wilm, hands down.

Great place to eat at the mall.
Friendly staff. Been going there for 27 years! Love it. Nice bar in the back.

I went here with a couple co-​workers one day. My friend picked it because it supposedly had the highest rating of any local restaurant on Trip
.
I found it to be fine, but nothing special. It’s sort of a kitchy place with a family owned feel. But i don’t really care about those sorts of things. «Was the food good?» That’s what I care about.
I got the fettucini alfredo, and my friends got the salmon and chicken parm, respectively. All three of us thought the food at Champps next door was better. My fettucini was a huge portion, but it tasted just like any olé fettucini alfredo in a jar you buy at the market. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t understand why the great rating.

(This is a 4.5 star review.)
Oh, The Riv. I want all of the haters to come out of the woodwork, and tell me better, BUT, and I will say this after hundreds of slices under my belt, THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA IN WILMINGTON. Please, message me and tell me a place that is better, because I have not found it. The Riv, does it right. New York style house made crust, fresh toppings, tomato pie, excellent staff, the shit. The only other places I’ve been to in Northern Delaware that can touch this place on a good day are Ciao in Trolley Square, or Margarita’s in Newark. I have so much love for Riviera, because its my go to joint, and if I am not wolfing down a Chick-​Fil-​A sandwich while I am in Concord Mall, you know I am inhaling a few slabs of pie from the Riv. Maybe both? It’s been done before.
I love that this place has stood the stand of time. If you look back through the annals of history of the Concord Mall, many places have come and gone. Woolworths, adiós. Jamesway (bet you didn’t think I remembered that one), gone. Friendly’s, moved on out. But the Riv, has stayed. And that is because it is delicious. This is a family run restaurant, and they are always running specials. I know they run movie nights for kids, and there is always some sort of Sunday brunch. I’ve had salads and sandwiches here and they are extremely tasty, but I always come back to the pizza, or the tomato pie (sometimes the one with big slices of moz on it). Crust on the pizza is almost always right on, and I especially love a reheated extra crispy slice. Sounds kind of wrong, but is totally right. When I roll on up to the counter, and I see that they have put out the sauteed red onions with peppers that have been drowned in olive oil, and parmesan to use as free toppings, suddenly my day becomes so much brighter. Damn, I am getting hungry. That’s the only problem with these Unilocal reviews, I should never write them if I haven’t just had food. Anyway, go to the Riv, you’ll be happy. I always am.

I know what you’re going to say — and yes, it’s in a mall. But this place makes some darn fine pasta! I can’t say I’ve sampled the majority of the menu — it’s huge. Of what I’ve tried, though, there are two dishes I will order again and again: the pasta alla vodka with italian sausage (I went with spaghetti), and the pasta alla broccoli, which is a garlicky, buttery, delicious sauce full of slivers of garlic — and of course broccoli (I usually get the cappellini with that). The pasta meals come with soup/​salad and a delicious bread basket — try the pizzettes! And you can’t beat the Monday night half-​priced pasta deal! I’ll let others comment on the pizza — for me, this is a delicious, comfortable, laid-​back place where I know I can get delicious pasta quickly.

I have eaten here a few times and it is generally a disaster. I ate there yesterday and received a double barrel of horrible service and bad food.
I ordered the wedding soup. Not only was it room temperature, but it was ONLY broth and greens. No meatball, no pasta, nothing but broth and greens… of course it took an act of god to get the waitress to return. She looked perplexed, and returned a minute later to say ‘it has the other stuff but i just didnt mix it up before i poured your cup. do you want me to get you a new one?’ Um, no.
So my daughters ordered ravioli and meatball, and I had to cut the meatballs for them. Well, the centers were ice cold (and the exterior wasnt so hot either).
All this combined with a waitress who never had her act together and was no where to be found.
…so I realize that I am eating in a shopping mall. The bar is set pretty low. But delivering the actual food you ordered at an appropriate temperature shouldn’t be a problem. It was a problem, and the lethargic server didnt help.

Café Riviera is an Italian restaurant in the Concord Mall that has both a lunch counter and booth seating. The food at the counter is very good (try the counter sandwiches). The Italian dishes vary, but are mostly pretty good. Service at the counter is pretty fast and efficient. While service in the sit-​down area is usually good, it can be mixed.

The pizza at this busy mall location pizzeria is okay if you’re on the go and craving a slice; but the serious pizza connoisseur may want to keep searching. The service is friendly and prompt and when you realize the dining room is huge and runs deep from the front of the shop, you know it’s a popular place with mall shoppers. The pizza itself however leaves much to be desired. I had two cheese slices for a late lunch; the pizza was just out of the over and there was no crowd keeping the staff preoccupied, so I doubt the quality, or lack thereof was a result of the kitchen being slammed. Pizza was hard to pull apart. I HATE to use the «it tasted like cardboard» cliché here but in this case, it applies. The pizza really had the consistency of greasy cardboard. Each slice had little pools of oil which I typically ignore, but even sopping it up with napkins and sprinkling a quarter inch of parmesan on top didn’t seem to help.
If you’re in the mall and REALLY needed a slice of pizza, stop in but don’t expect too much. If you really, REALLY want great pizza, I suggest you keep going and would point you in the direction of the pizza joint in Trolley Square, (see previous reviews).