Ria's Restaurant & Lounge

Rias is a local staple and a place you find all the locals who want to get away from the generic flavors of the big chains restaurants. The way you are greeted when you come in is like a family member who they haven’t seen in awhile. The food and menu are fantastic, you can’t go wrong with anything you pick. My kids love the pizza and the burgers. The drinks are great as well, and they have plenty of choices. Support your local business, especially ones with such charm, character and owners that treat you like family. Love this place and hope it’s around for a long time!

A good value and a quick option for a satisfying meal. Food wasn’t anything fancy, but it was solid quality for a buffet. Lots of carbs to fill you up. Service was decent. Restaurant itself is actually very nice and clean.

$40 for two of us to eat. Or I guess I should say, attempt to eat. The food left much to be desired. Even after visibly watching them put "fresh food" on the bar, it was barely luke warm. The chicken was not hot at all, nor were the potatoes. The guy stocking the bar mixed fresh pasta with old dry pasta. One guy proceeded to pick through one container on the salad bar with his bare hands (after just wiping down the buffet stations) and throw whatever it was he was picking out into another container on the bar. 😂 The only saving grace is the waitress seemed kind enough. Not really much interaction to know for sure. I see all the positive reviews, but all I can say is eat at your own risk...

I found Ria's when I was looking online to find a buffet in Jefferson City today. So glad I went and had lunch there. The food was delicious, the buffet was kept full of fresh food and kept very clean. Price was amazing for the quality and quantity of food we had. Definitely recommend going here and will go back when I am in the area again!

I will start off by saying that I was an avid Pizzaria Napolitano fan for decades before Rias bought them out. I have been going to this location since it was opened many years ago, actually over a decade, and the food has slowly went downhill. We got the buffet and the wings were fried to a crisp, the squash/zuchinni was still crisp and not done at all. The service was lacking, but she was overwhelmed from lack of help so it wasn't really her fault, she did the best she could. The place is very nice and clean. The pizza and fried chicken was good, as were the taters. It's a decent buffet for a good price, it just may be hit or miss right now from my experience. Here's some puddin..... Went again for the buffet. Everything was pretty good today. Service was a little slow, but they were understaffed. They have the sticky wings on Thursdays, so that's what I wanted. Oh.... And some puddin... Great pizza and wings today. Was having a craving and it worked out!

A real big disappointment. We had been trying to eat here for a good while. We finally got to eat here. Never again. No season on the food, but the salad bar was good & the bread. The service was slow. There wasn't a real welcoming feeling. We took our food home & recooked it. My husband's steak was not well done, it wasn't even medium. It was still mowing. My lasagna, was nothing but bland noodles with meat sauce on top making the noodles extra soggy. It was definitely not worth the 60 or 70 dollars my husband paid. #VeryDisappointed

Visited for the 3rd and LAST time. Where to begin, seated by hostess in same as empty restaurant. Hostess brought silverware and took our drink order. Helped ourselves to the buffet bar. Food::::- 5 Stars --Fish- absolutely tasteless and barely warm,,, chicken legs - actually the size of my entire thumb,,, mashed potatoes --so damn salty that they were uneatable and the green beans were the same way,,, roast beef--tough and cold,,,ribs-cold and tough. Salad bar was mediaokra. Pizza was actually hot and good 😊.. Service was definitely a -5 star. Waitress finally made it to us, said she was busy. I asked for napkins. Was told they only have napkins from the bar. Ended up with a dinner cloth napkin, that doesn't really get grease off your fingers very well. Never did get a ticket for our meal. Went to register and the young guy there had no clue what to do. Finally waitress showed up and couldn't figure out how to split our meals into 2 separate orders.. Management ----YOU need to address the issues with the food, get more staff or else it won't be long,,, you'll be out of business for good.. I'll not be back after paying almost $40 for what was to be good food and service.

My wife said the salad bar was good....but salad is pretty hard to get wrong. The stuffed bell pepper was pretty good. The fried chicken was the best thing on the buffet. The waitress was attentive and very polite. The scrambled eggs reminded me of the powdered eggs served in military chow halls. The pizza was not very good either. The spaghetti and meatballs needed more seasoning. Mostly lack luster. When we walked in there was a weird smell I could not place because the smell of the food. On the way out I went to the bathroom and found out what the smell is. There is some kind of sewer issue going on not just some dude having stomach issues but something in the lines bubbling back through or something. Had I realized it upon entry we would have went someplace else to eat.

Rias has some of the best tasting and delicious fried chicken I've ever ate!! I love their salad bar!! It is the best place in Jefferson City for all you can eat salad with nice dressings like blue cheese or ranch(for my opinion).Guss , the owner, is very friendly!! I love their jalapeños and their jalapeños pizza and all their pizzas!! It's my favorite buffet in Jefferson City, Missouri!!

Food was excellent staff was friendly and nice,ordered online when I arrived it was ready

Went for a quick lunch and was met with extremely friendly service! The salad bar was clean and they take time to switch out toppings to make sure everything is served fresh. I come here for lunch at least twice a month and they never disappoint. Great buffet and salad bar options and that's not even mentioning the full menu!

What an amazing find! The buffet was outstanding - pizza choices galore - salad bar was fantastic and fresh - lots of options to choose from - wait staff was incredibly helpful and friendly!! We will definitely be back!

We had not been here for quite a while so we gave them another chance. They were a lot better. Everyone was very friendly and the food was tasty. Seems like they are on the right track. I would recommend.

The owner of Ria's is very nice and the food is excellent!! I highly recommend Ria's because the food is high quality and tastes great and the buffets are reasonable in cost!! I always have a nice comfortable place to sit!! Also, there's a reasonable variety of foods to choose from. I love their breakfast buffet too!! Their eggs and ham are delicious!! Their blueberry pancakes too!! Fast and friendly service!! Excellent food!! Outstanding customer service!!

Someone got us drinks but we never got a menu or told there was a buffet - we had to ask. Refills were prompt but buffet pizza was super salty and just warm. We arrived at 12:30 so should have been fresher. Just not great overall.

This was my favorite place to dine every time I came to Jefferson City but that drastically changed. we called last Saturday to see if they had a dinner buffet that evening and was told yes. When we got there at 4 pm the doors were locked and lights were off. there were others also in the parking lot so i tried calling and got the answering machine saying they were open, we waited about 15 minutes and finally gave up and went elsewhere. when i called after the fact to ask why they were closed the lady who said she was the manager hung up on me. i called back and the owner answered and when i asked him he said he didnt have enough workers to open that day. when i explained i had called that morning i was told they were going to have the dinner buffet at 4. when i asked why there wasn't a note on the door or a message on the machine the owner started yelling at me telling me he was more concerned with paying his bills then putting a note on the door and screaming what can i do for you now i just hung up the phone. at no time did i raise my voice i was asking simple questions. as much as i loved the food customer service is everything in this business so be warned. if they are even open the upper staff couldn't care less about the customers.

The food is very disappointing. Service? Self serve. Old lady at register is rude and mean! Don't recommend !

Overall, this place disappointed on many levels and I am amazed it remains opened. When we were seated, we had to request menus. One would think giving the customer menus would be done without request. It then took a considerable amount of time before our drinks were brought to us and our order was taken. We ordered an appetizer of peel and eat shrimp and waited and waited. We finally checked on it, and our appetizer had not even been put in. Our waitress did not put in our ticket at all. We then had to wait forever on the entrees. In the mean time, the hostess through the waitress under the bus to us. Once we finally received our food, our waitress never came to check on us. In regards to the food, it was subpar at best. I ordered a steak which was not season and had no flavor. It was primarily fat. My companion had a fried snapper. The fish was overly salted as if it had been brined, as was not edible. Between the horrible service and poor food, I would avoid this restaurant at all costs. The only positive I can give this restaurant, is that the hostess removed the appetizer from our bill, but it still could not get us the nearly two hours we spent at this place back.

I see all these negative reviews but I haven't had a bad experience at Ria's. We always get the pizza and it's always great. Friendly staff, even when they are super busy.

We were seated at 530pm. Our order wasn't taken until 550pm because waitress didn't come back. We placed 2 go orders with our 5 dinners and asked that we get them with our meals. Our meals arrived 625pm food had been under heat lamps, to go orders not put in yet said waitress. Clean place though. We found out upon departure she was the only waitress in the restaurant last night. Wish they told us that so we would have been prepared for lesser service & overly heated food.

Love the buffet option - seems to be the only place left in town with a salad bar. Service is often hit or miss - waiting for drink refills is almost constant. They also seem to have limited alcohol options and it's often ordering several drinks before we find one they have ingredients for.

I have eaten lunch many times es here. I've now tried eating dinner twice and both times was absolutely terrible service during check-in. They look like they are busy but after setting there and watching for 45 minutes the first time and an hour the second time. It's not that they are super busy. It's that they are very in-organized. The hostess is (for lack of better wording) clueless. The lady that runs the register tries to look busy but is getting a lot of nothing accomplished. I had a party of 4 and was skipped by larger parties then when I asked why, they rudely told me they are busy and they will get to me shortly. I mentioned that we were being skipped by larger parties than us and that came after us and she just gave me a blank look. I decided to just leave.

Our server was great, very attentive. The greeting staff very friendly. I wanted that to put upfront. The food came at different times in no particular order. My Greek salad was tasty and had a variety of fresh greens. But everything thing else from the garlic bread to pizza to steaks and shrimp were well below par. The garlic bread was so dry I suspect it was made hours earlier to prep dinner traffic. The pizza had no taste. My steak was dry and chewy on one end and raw and stringy on the other. I had to ask for steak sauce so I could try to eat it. By the way Steak sauce is a sin in a good steakhouse. The shrimp consists of large breaded balls surrounding a very small dry shrimp. Down on the other end of our party tried the buffet and they remarked simply "it was okay." So while the restaurant is busy enough We are wondering is good service enough to make us come back to this especially pricey place? No, it is not.

The service was very slow, we waited almost 20 mins after we were seated to be greeted by a server. I ordered the Ahi Tuna, it was very dry.

Worst service in Jefferson City. My husband and I hadn't been here for 4 years due to the horrible service we experienced previously. But we decided to give it another try. It took us 6 minutes for a server to even greet us and 15 minutes to get a drink! Last but not least, our pizza was given away so we waited twice as long. Now we remember why we didn't come back

Our go to restaurant. No waiting. Good service. Good food. Greek salad is the best. Pizza steak pasta all good.

My mom, my dad, my brother, and I came here from Minnesota down to Missouri to spend the week with our relatives, we decided to try out this restaurant (party of in total 20) we had to wait a bit but that was expected. When I got my first plate I thought it was pretty good but my brother and cousin didn't share my comment, after that the food got less appetizing: the pizza was bland, the crust was really crunchy, the pizza was very oily, and it didn't have much sauce, the spaghetti was extremely greasy and had some over cooked pieces, the chicken had no flavor whatsoever, the raviolis were really powdery on the inside, and the rigatoni was burnt in some areas. Honestly the best parts were the decor, music and the whip-like, friendly service

Wish I could give less than one star. We should have gotten up and left. We were seated, waited 10 minutes for drink order. We waited another 15 minutes to make our food order. The place was nearly empty at 5:00 in the evening. (Should have been suspicious about that) When we finally got our food, the burgers were dry, mozzarella sticks had zero taste and were barely warm, salad lettuce was limp and nasty and drowning in salad dressing (salad came out with dressing already on it). We didn't and couldn't get refills on our drinks because we only saw the server when she brought the check. If you have $40 go somewhere else. It wasn't worth it. Gordon Ramsey would chew the place up and spit it out. Of course as a side note we both are feeling bad with stomach problems. This place needs help.

For the most part I like Ria's. My favorite lasagna around. The only ding I give them is the salads that always seem a little old, sometimes brown, and watery. It's fairly reoccurring. Otherwise the food is pretty good.

The gyro's and pizza are great. Very good service considering we had a larger group of people.

The food off the menu is really good so that is why I gave three stars. The buffet is not great but I am not a fan of buffets anyways. It took several requests to get something ordered off the lunch menu and I felt very pressured to use the buffet instead of ordering the food I wanted. The food I ordered ended up being cheaper than the buffet so it's not a great feeling to go somewhere to be pressured to purchase what I don't want and to pay more for it. Even though I like the food, I probably won't go back because it is very uncomfortable to have to adamantly request what you want before you can get it.

I really wish that people would regularly review things and not just come to Yelp to throw out one or two bad reviews. Have a bad experience somewhere? First time? I won't ever give a bad review unless something bad happens at least three separate occasions-we are human and things happen. I've been to Ria's more than three dozen times (I have a previous review from 2014). I continue to love this place. This is still our date night place and my coworkers and I frequent it very often for retirement lunches etc. The buffet is always good. They have items that aren't always something people would expect. Their Ranch Potato's are freaking amazing. They have unique dishes pretty regularly. The pizza is amazing. Salad bar has many items to add to your salad. I'm still a regular steak orderer on my date nights with my honey. He gets the pizza every time. The only issue we had was last time we went was getting his alcoholic beverage because the bartender was a bit slow... but we don't go to a place like this to drink anyway. To the one guy that gave it a one star back in 2015 that has solely given that one review on Yelp for being charged outrageously for two shots at lunch... I think you might want to rethink some things if you're needing shots at lunch... Spectators would probably be a better choice to dine :)

They are getting one star because it wouldn't let me give no stars. How are they still open. We have given them 4 different chances and we are done. our supposedly 15 minute wait to be seated took 45 minutes. After finally being seated we waited 10 minutes to order drinks. My husband ordered a beer and had to wait another 10 minutes for it. Our waiter messed up a simple request for my salad, and didn't bring any bread for the table. When we finally got our pizza, our drinks were empty, and although he said he would bring refills, we never saw him again. We had to go to the front of the house and ask for our bill. We didn't see a house manager and my husband was given a dirty look when he didn't leave a tip. A tip is not a given it is earned and our waiter certainly didn't earn it.

I ordered pizza for take out. First impressions are most important I think. My pizza was burnt, so as far as other flavors. I could not taste. Very dissatisfied with the quality. No frequent business will be attained from me.

It's been awhile since we visited this establishment. We were visiting later, so we were sharing our dining with around a dozen other couples. We both had salads, one Grilled Chicken Salad, the other, a Grilled Caesar Salad. We chose Calamari for an appetizer. Our server also brought out some fresh bread. Everything tasted great and our server checked in on us regularly. We both wondered why we haven't eaten here more. The location is off the beaten path for us, but it's well worth the additional time to come here. I think a pizza will be my next item on the menu, when we return.

Wow, what a mess! My wife's salmon came out raw the first time, so we sent it back and received a second raw salmon. Burnt on the outside and still breathing on the inside, it was disgusting. The sandwich I ordered, the Mojo, was a total waste of time. Bland except for the completely botched sauce which was incredibly overpowering. Our dinner companions were not pleased either, but I can't remember what they had as it was about a month ago. The service wasn't bad, but the waitress was giving off a serious "I don't give a shit" attitude. Also, the tables on the patio are the lowest quality possible (bare plywood) and as such, are already warping and splitting from moisture. Pathetic attempts all around. One more thing...I didn't pay this time for obvious reasons. But, when you do pay, you have to go up to a cash register. This is a sit down restaurant, so that doesn't make sense. To add to the annoyance, many times the register area is packed full of people waiting for a table resulting in getting comfy with your neighbor whether you like it or not. This isn't a nightclub or a McDonalds, but if you close your eyes, you might not be able to tell the difference.

Not great! I have been to this place for work-related functions on several occasions during lunch. The place has a nice atmosphere and looks like a place for a gourmet or fancy meal in JC. However, for such a nice looking place, the food just doesn't measure up to the decor. I was expecting a lot more than a buffet restaurant, and it wasn't even a good buffet. The items on the buffet consisted of pizza, pasta, and some of your standard buffet items. The buffet is comparable to your standard chain buffet restaurant, as nothing looked that good. On one visit, I ordered the salmon salad for the entree and much of the lettuce was yellow and brown. That salad should never have left the kitchen. Overall, not impressed!

The service was really good but then again the place was almost empty and it was a Friday night. I sat out on the patio where I could barely hear the company I was with due to the passing diesel trucks in the parking lot. The view from the patio is awful as well. The table was also never wiped off. Everything came in a timely manner and the house pizza I ordered wasn't bad until I noticed the canned mushrooms. Really? Is that how we do things? I was under the impression I just paid 17 bucks for a medium pizza. And you insult me with canned mushrooms. Ria's isn't the worse place but they really need to fine tune it.

I could sum my 5/5 stars with one word "Bryan!" Best waiter we have ever had anywhere!!! Hands down, this guy is it. I would follow him if he ever left. I hope he reads this because we don't tip him nearly enough! Besides from that the food is great, pizza is ever better, huge booths, nice atmosphere (can get loud at times, but only during busy hours.) my wife and i enjoy bringing friends and family here. And refer them when people are asking about a great place to eat. Food selection for everyone and a great place to just relax.

We used to love Ria's. Their food was great and service decent until recently. On Jan 20th we were there and our waiter forgot the salad, bread and butter and forgot to put our appetizer order in to the kitchen. Had to ask several times for utensils. We spent $48. No compensation for the lack of service. Went back tonight because they are normally very good. Waited 30 minutes to order after being seated. I ordered the spanikopita. When it came, an hour later, the taziki sauce was rancid. At first I thought they had just added too much vinegar. I tried three tastes of it, then had my husband try it. It was rancid and sour. My husband ordered a sausage and bacon pizza. It came without bacon. We advised the manager of the problems and I pulled up my back account on my phone to show her that we had also been there just 10 days ago. We told her this was the second time in ten days for poor service and messed up orders. The spanikopita was inedible and sent back to the kitchen. Again, no compensation for my wasted time waiting for food that was rancid. $46 tonight. Never again.

My family and I ate the buffet for lunch today. There were no complaints at all. Our server, Justice, was fantastic with a beautiful smile and great disposition. The fried chicken is one of my favorites and the spinach-artichoke triangles were awesome. I would be happy to recommend this lunch delicacy to anyone who wants very good meal in a hurry. Don't be shy or you'll starve, they are usually pretty busy at lunchtime.

This is one of those places that hoards of people rave about how great it is. The pizza is better than Arris's but then again, piles of crap from the cow fields beats the uncooked greasy shit that Arris's pumps out. Ria's has a nice atmosphere, one of the best in Jeff City and an extremely loyal following because of their wide menu. The pizza is good as are the main menu items. It's a busy place and you may want to adjust your schedule accordingly on weekend evening.

Wow! I took the family to Ria's this evening for dinner. We had the best Ranch Potatoes appetizer, flavorful and fresh. Gyros' dinner was amazing!

Decent food, other local establishments provide a considerably better experience and food quality. Have found that staff is lackadaisical or at other times overtaxed. Would recommend another pizza replace in Jefferson City if possible.

So disappointed! We decided to eat here today, after looking forward to it for months. The calamari was under cooked. The breading was moist and was not sticking to the calamari. The bread was just a disappointment. It was room temperature and tasted like Wonder Bread. I had the lasagna and it was ok. My significant other had the rib eye special with baked potato. It was so bad he wanted steak sauce. The potato was dry. On a positive note, the salads were good. We will not be returning

Kind a think all the time this place is overrated... Decent food, no the best Good atmosphere Well trained staff Again 4 star for professionalism and 3 star for decent food not the great one

This place is so good. Excellent staff and exceptional customer service. I have eaten there steaks, gyros, salads and pizza and never disappoints.

Needs another chance. Saw signs all over about their onion rings. Well the batter did not stick to the onion rings so I got fried onion with batter crumbles. Blah. Then their special was fried chicken dinner. It was the runt of the litter. The dinner was supposed to be breast, wing and drumstick. Drumstick was no longer than my thumb and the wing was this little bitty thing. While the flavor was there nothing else was. The breast was so small they should have given me both sides. Again it tasted good just lacked the size of a fried chicken dinner. Wifey had the boiled shrimp dinner and when she wanted more horse raddish the poor server was confused on what horse raddish was. We told her to check with kitchen and she returned with a cup of raddish sauce. Gonna come back because the chicken parmesan looked interesting.

This place used to be a great restaurant, but apparently, they have not truly survived Covid. The food was abysmal. Some of the items that we had enjoyed pre-covid are no longer provided, despite still being on the menu, and the food we were served was garbage. No flavor, no presentation and missing accoutrements. When the hostess took our complaints to management, the manager never even bothered to come out to attempt to make any kind of appeasement. I've had better experiences at fast food drive-through windows.

It was ok...nothing more. Sorta meh. The kids who were serving were trying really hard, and for the most part did just fine. The food was ok...nothing more. The hubs had the fried chicken platter and although there were 3 pieces, they were really small, like they were the end of the box. I had spicy boiled shrimp...but absolutely no spice, not even Old Bay. The weirdest thing was we both ordered fries, but got two completely different types of fries. Hubs was hand cut thin fries and mine were frozen steak cut fries. All in all, we might try it again, but we won't be rushing back.

Food portions are large and everything was delicious. The dinner salad is beautiful and a very generous serving. The smothered chicken is delicious, tender, and just the right ratio of sauce and mushrooms to chicken. The bread is super soft. The calamari app arrived is a generous size with large pieces of calamari. I'm very pleased with my food and will definitely return to Ria's the next time I'm in the area!

We used to order take out from here every Thursday evening. Sausage pizza and a gyro sandwich. The pizza is usually good but the gyro continues to get worse.. They use to partially wrap the gyro and then they started wrapping the entire sandwich in foil. We live 10 minutes from Ria's and by the time we arrived home the sandwich is a soggy mess. You ask... "Why not just eat there?" My answer... The service stinks!!! I have complained about service on several occasions and it falls on deaf ears. Yes.... I have talked personally to management !! Buffet is ok if you like pizza. Long story short Arris Pizza. Or Johnny!s Steak house gets our business now. Both are friendly , great service and good food.

A swordfish steak that was cut 1/4 inch thick and cooked within an inch of its life They really don't know how to prepare food.

Ria's Restaurant .... This place has good food but the management has poor choices. I have worked in the restaurant business for over 10 years and never been to a place that does not have a shot button on their computer terminals. I got two shots of generic rum it was charge $4.75 at lunch. I asked about it and they said it was due to the fact they did not have a button on their terminal to ring in one shot so they charge you for a full drink well drink that is. I spent $9.50 for two shots of rum at noon. I also have been here before for dinner and paid $18 for pasta that was in a shallow bowl. Definitely not worth the money. This place is overpriced except for lunch buffet which includes a drink and if you asked for a drink to go they charge you $.25 for the cup that has their logo and name on it. Is this place will get you every which Way but the food is great. Be cautious eating here! I will only come back for lunch because the food is that good at lunch but not making it a top place to eat at.

I would probably give this place 2 1/2 stars. This place looked new and clean, and we had high expectations. However, although our service was good, I wasn't overly impressed with the menu options. All three of us ordered the chicken pita which is described to come with tzatziki sauce, sauteed peppers and onions, and cheese. I found the tzatziki flavorless and the whole thing was just simply underwhelming. The fries were bland and undercooked. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't worth the cab fare from our hotel. I should have ordered a pizza.

I've had consistently good food but not always good service. On latest visit, server was quick to take our orders but, after food was served, servers disappeared never checking back to refill glasses or just to check on us.

Been to Ria's numerous times, but not sure about it now. Went a couple of night ago. Several at our table ordered wine. The waitress informed us she didn't drink and didn't know the different types of wine. Didn't even know the difference between the reds and whites. Our meals came out fairly quickly, but the salads that should have come before the main course were so slow in coming that she put them in to-go boxes. Seriously???? Not sure about going back.