Bistro On The River

The food was great but the burgers were quite small... Service was excellent. The music was good- hits from the 70s and 80s. But fyi- although it is 'on the river,' you will not find river-view seating.

My wife and I wanted to try out a place we hadn't been to before a show at the Paramount. We did a reservation on Open Table and got a spot no problem. Service was friendly and helpful. Excellent food. We thought they only had wine, but they do offer mixed drinks. Our only criticisms were that it was kind of dark, which is nice for the atmosphere but we used our phone flashlight to read the menu, and the mousse was really good for dessert, but could be a little better (in our opinion) with chocolate drizzled on top. Thank you for a pleasant dinning experience.

People were nice, service was good, atmosphere was great, food was awful. I brought my wife here for her birthday based on suggestions from my co-workers. I had the coffee rubbed steak, it was completely tasteless. My wife had the braised short ribs with the smoked Gouda polenta and again was bland! There weren't even salt and pepper shakers on the tables to even somewhat remedy the bland food! I still can't imagine why so many people like this Resturant. We won't be coming back.

Worst experience of my life. I could go on and on about how terrible the service, my drinks and how RUDE the manager was. Ordered a dirty martini and they gave me and my friend fruity...YES fruity drinks twice! Made it wrong the first time thinking they gave me the wrong drink but then the manager came over and said she wasn't sure what was wrong with it. I explained and she said" what am I suppose to try every drink I make." Um yes, if you get olives and fruit mixed up....and you're the manager! Cost me $8.00 and she wouldn't take it off my bill. Oh and they completely forgot my friends meal. PLEASE save your money and don't go to this establishment.

My husband and I have been there numerous times! Service is always great, food is delicious and homemade! Something I would love to stay around the good ol CR for awhile! I recommended them to everyone! definitely a gem in the Cedar Rapids area!

We visited BOTR on a Saturday evening; at first the service was great, but as the restaurant started to fill up it was clear our server was basically waiting on ALL the tables by herself, which was insane, it was wayyyyy too much for one server. The portions were extremely small, especially the burgers (they should be called sliders, honestly). When my sandwich came, I lifted it to find a dark hair underneath it on the plate. Ew. So between the portions that left us still-hungry upon leaving, plus the poor service, plus the hairy plate, we won't be back.

I attended a morning conference at the Kirkwood facility and had a quick lunch following the event with some colleagues. My lunch was very good. The atmosphere is upscale the staff was pretty good.

Attentive but not hovering staff. Delicious menu options. Fantastic atmosphere for conversation. Highly recommend Bistro on 1st! Will be going regularly in the future!