Riva

Most Humiliating Dining Experience of a Lifetime

by AOK911

Dining at this restaurant, the RIVA at Navy Pier was the most unpleasant dining experience of my life. My husband and I had made reservations for Saturday, August 6th so we could celebrate my birthday and enjoy some seafood and the Navy Pier fireworks. We had made a special request to have a window seat with a good view of the fireworks. Gentleman taking phone reservation assured us that it would be granted. We arrive at the restaurant 1 hour early to check on our reservations and again let them know that we were requesting a table at the window with a good view of the fireworks. Our request had been noted next to our name at the time we made the reservations. The young lady at the host/hostess stand made the abrupt comment that all views from the restaurant were good. How difficult would it have been for her to respond with a positive response such as "not a problem, I see that your request has been noted next to your name, we will take care of this for you". To cut to the chase, we were brought to our table. It was a window table, THE SMALLEST TABLE IN THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT squeezed in underneath a very ominous steel beam. It was a two seater no bigger than a postage stamp. I respectfully requested to the host that we be seated at a larger table so we weren't so crowded. His response completely caught me off guard and I felt extremely uncomfortable. He was very condescending saying, this table isn't good enough for you, well you'll have to wait for another than. He told us we weren't allowed to request a window table, it was first come first serve. He took us back to the lobby and told us we'd have to wait in the bar. The bar tender saw us coming back in (after having spent an hour there already) and immediately saw we were not pleased. She went to the host station and they responded to her right away. The host sat us at another table in the restaurant, yes a larger window table, with the view of the lake where the fireworks were going to be blocked by a 2' x 6' wait staff station. We were tired and took the table as the host made sure to humiliate us as he seated us saying "I hope this table is good enough". We ate very marginal food at best and tried to enjoy ourselves despite the incredibly rude and odd behavior of the host. We had to move our chairs into the area of the table next to us in order to view the fireworks. My husband let the host know we weren't pleased. This host became unglued and came over to our table and began yelling at us in front of the entire restaurant. EVERYONE around us was shocked by him. He began rambling on about his family and how he had to leave them at home while he worked. We had no idea what this meant. We paid our bill and my husband asked to talk to the manager while he waited for me to come out of the ladies room. The host claimed to be the manager and again began verbally assaulting my husband. Literally to the point where another waiter had to hold him back from physically assaulting my husband. I'm still in shock over the experience and want all to know how incredibly unprofessional this place was. We were verbally assaulted, nearly physically assaulted all for a mear $200 (+++) tab. WILL NEVER RETURN.

Average and overpriced

by Mark1975

Not sure why this is rating so high. I agree that the food is good but it is so expensive. very much a tourist place!

• Pros: Good food and nice view
• Cons: over priced

Terrible experience, manager did not make it right, check your receipt!!!

by markricard

On July 21, 2007, at around 6:30pm, my wife, myself and two other couples arrived to celebrate our anniversaries together. The dinners involving fish were fine, but the steak dinners were not cooked right. I asked for medium and received well done. My brother and law asked for medium rare and received well done. He did not want to wait for a new steak, but I decided to wait. Twenty minutes later, after most were done with their meal, my replacement steak arrived. This time it was cooked very rare as the center was very, very bloody and cold! Rather than wait even longer I decided to just eat around the edges. The manager who brought out the steak made no gesture to give us anything for my trouble - which was rude but fine. However, here comes the best part. When the receipt was brought out and we looked at the automatically included "18% gratuity", it was almost 25%! They included the gratuity on the steak that they took back in addition to the steak they brought me! I pointed this out the the manager and he said "Oh, problem with the system." I had a terrible steak and was almost ripped off and the only thing the manager did to fix it was give me his business card and say "Next time you come let me know and we will make your experience better." Why could he have not made it better that night? The bill came to almost $400 and that is all he had to say? VERY BAD experience.

Also, right after he left our table I noticed him approach another table and speak to another couple at another table. I am not sure what the couple was saying but the customer's face was very red and noticeably upset at the manager.

The food is ok, but realize 90% of the cost of this expensive restaurant is just for the view. There are other restaurants with similar views in the city that cost less and have better food!

• Pros: If you are on the Pier its convienient
• Cons: Service was terrible and they dont do well with steaks

STAY AWAY

by lvlterik

Lousy service. Lousy waiters, disdainful servers, hostesses with attitude (you expect that). Food was good, not phenominal, good. Drinks were wrong, and late. Servers and waiters were talking with attitude over their shoulders. This ruined what could have been a nice meal. they don't treat you that way in LA. Save the 70 bucks per person and grab a hotdog. You won't get the attitude which is free on the street. You'll have money left over to actually have an enjoyable evening. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR ENERGY ON THIS PLACE.

• Pros: fresh seafood
• Cons: you get so angry about service you can't enjoy the food

Disappointing and long night

by maulee05

Beautiful views and nice ambience. Very romantic. The service was terrible. The wait staff is pleasant enough, but dinner took about 2.5 hours. If I wasn't with such good company, I think I would've liked to have walked out. I could see several couples getting impatient throughout the dining room. Apparently I wasn't the only one getting fed up. Dinner itself was fair. My filet mignon was overdone but because the service was so darn slow, I didn't dare send my food back to the kitchen. The meal is on the pricier side, which you can expect for fine dining...it just wasn't worth it tonight. I probably won't go back, especially since there are so many fine restaurants in Chicago where money and time are better spent. You can definitely do better.

• Pros: Views, ambience
• Cons: Service, food