Rivage Atlantique

Fantastic service and great food. What’s not to like about this place? I am surprised by some of the reviews here because it certainly wasn’t consistent with my experience. My wife had been to this place a few times and had a positive impression but I was hesitant because of the reviews. Anyway, I’m glad we went. The server was super nice and friendly and led us to a table next to the fireplace — a big plus on a cold night. We were there late so the restaurant was mainly empty although the bar was brimming with activity. The server recommended the crab shi soup and it was wonderful and thick almost chowders with real crab. Loved it! My wife got the cod which was great as well. I got the mussels, which were were good but I would have liked to have them in more broth. The only negative was that because of an event they were out of bread that day! Otherwise a great little restaurant which gets high marks on the service and the food.

If you have had seafood in Florida or Maine, this is not the place to go. Bland, canned, boring. I would like that $ 80 back.

Fantastic she crab soup and the lobster bisque is full of lobster. Not crazy about the ribs but the fish is very good there.

Extremely fresh sea food and friendly fast service makes this a great date night or any night option for that matter! also an awesome happy hour!

This used to be our favorite restaurant because they always had fresh seafood. What’s missing is the lobster, crab legs, scallops, they are no longer on the menu. Now the fish/​seafood they do have is only available on the specials menu.
The quality of the food has also gone down hill, I hate to be mean but I believe it has everything to do with their new chef. I had the cioppino, the shrimp and muscles were extremely over cooked, The broth was quite hot (not a problem) but everyone knows shrimp etc. will continue to cook when added to a hot liquid. The broth was excellent, though.
My friend had the filet and really liked it. Bottom line, this is not a seafood restaurant any more. Very disappointing.

Another praise for this place… Went here for a glass of wine and dessert. Don’t remember the wine but HOLY MOLY the dessert. They currently have a peppermint patty cheescake that will blow the lid off your taste buds! GO. GET. THE. CHEESCAKE!
The End.

Sloooooooow service, under cooked scallops… had to be sent back, didn’t even have a sear on either side. The lobster casserole could have been amazing but the lobster did not taste fresh. 2 hours total for a shared app and two entrees. I like taking my time when dining out but it was ridiculous. We commented to our somewhat arrogant and inattentive server about the wait, the scallops, etc only for him to respond, with his nose in the air, «this is a fine dining restaurant. We take our time.»
Time, Mr Server?! You’ll have plenty of it when this place shuts down say in about 4 – 6 months.

My husband and I came out for Valentine’s Day this year, and of course take this with a grain of salt because neither of us got or eat seafood, just wanted to try some place new!
I don’t eat meat or fish so the chef was able to make me a vegetable platter. It was big and full of food so I left feeling satisfied and with a take out box. My husband ordered the filet and it came on a tiny bed of mashed potatoes and a few pieces of asparagus. I know that filet is small, but they could have filled up his greens! He wasn’t very impressed with the filet as far as taste goes either.
The restaurant was nice though, I think if you like seafood you’d have a much different experience than us!

Chef Rich Flagg left this restaurant in August of 2014 to return to his Southern roots and the food hasn’t been the same since. Unfortunately, Rivage is now plagued by bad hiring decisions as well. With unprofessional servers, trashy hostesses, and poorly executed food, I predict it won’t be long before they close their doors.
We had a horrible experience during restaurant week, and I penned a lengthy email to the Owner, Brett Holland, telling him about our visit. He didn’t even care enough to respond. When the Owner is that disinterested in his own restaurant, so am I.
Disappointing, as Rivage Atlantique used to be great.

I went with a few girlfriends. Even though it has been around for awhile it was new to all of us. We were pleasantly surprised. The oysters were awesome and the Duck appetizer was terrific. My small plate dinner was plenty of food for a meal and the prices were reasonable for what you got. Definitely would go back.

My wife had been wanting to check this place out for awhile now, so we recently went for our Anniversary. First off, the parking situation here is a pain. We lucked out and someone just happened to be leaving when we pulled in to the small lot that services a bunch of other businesses. I’m not sure where you’re supposed to park if you don’t luck out in the lot.
Our service was great from the time we walked in the door until we left. The hostess and our server were both very friendly. We received all of our food in a timely fashion and the server was very attentive.
They’ve got a pretty good craft beer selection, and a good cocktail menu with Watershed products. I had one of the gin martinis (can’t remember the name) and it was very good.
On to the food… We had lobster bisque for an appetizer, and it was great! I got the lobster casserole, and my wife had the scallop special with crab risotto. Maybe I had my sights set too high, but the food was just good, not great. I had it in my head that this would be way better than the Fish Market, but I’d say it was slightly below. Don’t take that the wrong way, I’m not giving the food an F, I’d say more like a solid B to B+!
All that being said… I have zero regrets going here for a very good dinner. I don’t know that it would be on my short list to come back to, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out!

First time dining at Rivage. We ate here on the recommendation of a friend, who, like me and my boyfriend, loves seafood. After his rave reviews of oysters and mussels, we were stoked to chow down on the fresh delights of the sea!
Arrived at restaurant a little early for our reservation, the hostess and maitre’d were super friendly and quick to wish us a «Happy Valentine’s Day.» Unfortunately that was when our service experience peaked. Normally I’m not one to complain about service, but when we spend around $ 100 on dinner, I expect better service than we experienced at Rivage. First incident letting down from the peak? The waiter who is maybe a few years older than us and let’s face it, we’re all clearly on the latter side of our mid-​twenties, calls my boyfriend «Bud.» Ok, little weird but whatever. We just sat down. We could easily climb back up to that peak! We place drink and appetizer orders, which come promptly. I think to myself, maybe things will start to get better. Things do get better – giant oysters are brought to us! Yes, sweet briney perfection is mine! But my drink is empty and I’m not even offered a new one. Plus another couple is seated two feet away from us, in an otherwise empty section of the restaurant. Awkward. Now with this new audience I have to feign slurping oysters with class. They actually start discussing if they should leave and girl starts bickering at boy for staring at wall instead of her. Double awkward. Now I’m just eavesdropping for fun, and so is boyfriend. Not awkward at all (No sarcasm). I’m getting really thirsty, where is that waiter? Oh yes, he’s bringing the couple next to us their entrees. Wait, didn’t they arrive after us? And order after us too? Boyfriend and I ask waiter, «hey, is our food ready?» We’ve been done with appetizers for at least 20 minutes. «It’s coming right up, Bud!» Again? What does my man look like, a golden retriever?! Ten minutes later, same response. In total, 30 minute wait with waiter telling us at least three times «Entrees will be out shortly… Bud.» Condescending much?
Entrees finally arrive and it just wasn’t that great. My shrimp were slightly overcooked and the paella was watery. I’m still shocked at how long it took for the entrees to come out when the restaurant wasn’t even half full and my dish wasn’t complicated to make. Grits take two minutes to microwave, just ask the Quaker guy. We finish our entrees and notice our waiter is totally MIA. He was literally gone from the dining room for 30 minutes! We sit and wait for him to come back out and the check is promptly brought to us, along with boxes for our food. I’m not opposed to boxing my entrée leftovers myself, but it’s a little weird when the waiter hands you a box and just stands next to you waiting to take your plate. We weren’t even given a plastic bag to carry our food home. We exit the restaurant and the maitre’d doesn’t say goodbye, thank you, or even a truck you (censored).
All in all, seafood tastes fresh, but is not worth the service. I don’t think I’ll be going back here again.

I love drive-​in «seafood» like every other Gordon Fisherman wannabe, but I wanted to surprise my girlfriend for our first Valentine’s Day dinner with the real deal. None of that out of the bag breaded with crushed cardboard, deep-​fried in lard fish… None of that freshly opened vacuum-​sealed imitation crab meat sushi, but the real «Deadliest Catch”-type of seafood. So my GF and I went to a place recommended by our friends — Rivage Atlantique.
My girlfriend and I had gotten to the restaurant a few minutes before our reservation. We had battled the blistering cold and parking marauders just to make it to this restaurant that our friends had raved of. As we made it inside the restaurant, we were greeted by the maitre d’restaurant (whom oddly looked Armenian). This friendly fellow handed us off to the hostess working her way to pay off high school. She sat us down at this lovely solitary corner in the very accommodating dining room [remember «accommodating» we’ll bring it up later] where the ambiance was perfect for couples, until…
The waiter came out and greeted me with the customary title of «bud». Now I’m not snobbish or anything, but «bud» seemed a little too relaxed. Our waiter had something of a scary affect to him emulating that of a middle-​aged Viking after a weekend bender. Again, I’m not snobbish, but some properness would be nice. After our delicious appetizers, we moved on to the entrees, by moved on, I mean waited for 30 minutes. Am I exaggerating about thirty minutes? No, I had asked out server in 3, 10-​minute intervals each with a response of «it’ll just be a minute ‘bud’». As we were waiting patiently for our food, the waitress sat a less than happy couple next to us: a goth-​style woman whose boots looked like she has skinned a woodie for and a gentleman who looked like he was the cause of our Viking waiter’s bender. The aura of their negativity made zombies and some Republicans look like Care Bears… Again, of all the many «accommodating» tables around us you had to sit the Manson couple next to us and they got their friggin food before us! After we ate we had had our dinner, we asked for boxes for our leftovers, unfortunately Leif Erikson was probably raiding a town or downing a barrel of mead to even care about us, so we boxed up our leftovers, without the courtesy of being given a bag, paid the check, and left.
Now the food was amazing; the Seafood Paella was pretty good. A little too watery for my tastes. My girlfriend had the Shrimp and Grits. The Grits were the best part so creamy and buttery. They were thick and heavy, a somewhat modern twist to a southern staple; however the shrimp seemed a little overdone which was my only concern about the dish.
If you like McDonald style service with fine seafood dining for a high price come to this place! If you like the reverse go to a Red Lobster. Other than that I have yet to find a seafood place in Central Ohio that can accommodate both of these categories.

My husband & I went here for our anniversary dinner over the weekend and it was our first time for both of us. My expectations were high going into it since they say their fish is flown in daily.
The restaurant itself is nice, but not fancy and I feel it doesn’t match the price points on the menu. The service was just fine, we had no issues with that.
As for the food, we had the lobster bisque to start and both loved it. I ordered the scallops special and the scallops tasted amazing. They had zero fishy taste to them, but they were just a tad overcooked so they were chewy, but the flavor was great. The risotto and asparagus that came with my meal were very good and cooked just right.
The husband got a menu staple of lobster casserole and it was very good. His potatos were very bland, but the rest of the meal was good. We both ended up getting dessert to treat ourselves. I got the crème brûlée, but they put caramel at the bottom of it and it kinda ruined it for me. He got the chocolate cheesecake and it was okay to me. He seemed to enjoy it.
Overall I’m only giving it a 3 star review because I feel like it is just a tad over-​priced for what you get and for the ambiance. There was nothing particularly bad about the experience, but nothing that stood out either. If I’m going to spend $ 150 on dinner, there are a lot of other places in Columbus I’d like to visit.

I am keeping the rating at four stars because on our last visit (with friends) everything was good, except one dish. I will say that the oysters Atlantique were outstanding. Probably too rich but delicious anyway and two diners raved about the scallops. Also, they have introduced «small plate» pricing to their menu which means that any day’s specials can be ordered either as a full entrée or a small plate size. I love this. I allows one to try any appetizer and then an entrée also, or even add dessert, which is something we seldom do. So kudos to them. One dish, however, marred the meal for me, the one who ordered it. It was flounder. I am leery of flounder on a menu because it is so delicate a fish and can become mediocre very easily. This one was a very thin filet and was corn meal crusted. Already a problem as corn meal crusting can make the fish’s flesh seem hard and dry, which happened here. What was upsetting, however, was the sides pared with the fish. The broccoli was cooked well but had no flavor and didn’t do anything to help the fish (and why do they insist of laying the fish over the sides??? No one is going to eat the fish cutting down through the sides.). The other side was smoked bacon-​studded mac and cheese. This was, on its own merits, very, very good, but as an accompaniment to the fish overpowered any fresh fish taste that the corn meal hadn’t already masked. All in all a very mediocre dish that was doomed at its conception by lack of thought in what it would look and taste like. I think this restaurant can, and almost always does, do better. I hope this was an outlier and not indicative of a lowering standard in the kitchen.

Greg at the bar is the best! Very knowledgeable of the menu and and drink pairing

We have eaten at the bar and in the dining room, both are great! The dining room has an open view of the kitchen, which is awesome. They actually have a very good draft beer list. They have great shrimp and grits, second best in Columbus to Cameron’s Bistro. Their lobster roll is as good as any seaport town in US. Duck is another great entrée here. This restaurant is a must go to in Columbus.

Ate here Friday night. Got the Wahoo special which was super delicious. It came with Carolina rice and carrots. Had a nice spice, and was perfectly seasoned, portioned, etc. Each bite was fantastic! They now offer half sizes for the specials which was nice. Our waiter was great, and the manager, chef and others were visible. Another great experience at Rivage.

We’ve only been to the back room.
Great, fresh oysters. Good drinks. Good wine. Great Happy Hour. Killer grilled cheese.

Just like the tardis, this place is larger on the inside than the outside. Nice décor but parking can be dodgy if you try to park on the lot in front of it; small lot you may have to go elsewhere and walk. But it’s all good!
Service was very good but lets get on to the food. The mixed green salad I had was very good as were the PEI mussels hubs had for our appetizers. I had the crab stuffed sole with carrots, green beans, and mashed potatoes — excellent. BUT the mashed potatoes? OMG!!! The best blue cheese buttermilk taters I’ve ever had. One bite and your mouth exploded with the sharp goodness of the cheese.
Hubs had the 14oz NY strip steak with brocollini and red potatoes. Again, the potatoes as with the rest of the food was seasoned well. The steak though was good but not as good as the fish in both of our opinions. For desert we had a lemon cheesecake. Nothing spectacular but tasty.
Usually when we go out I like what he orders more than my own but this time he liked mine better and when we return (which we will) we are both ordering the fish.