Randy B.
Yelp
My friends and I have been going to Riva Grill in South Lake Tahoe for years. Each Summer, it's our go-to for option for one of the better places to dine while looking at the lake, however, it consistently falls short in a number of other areas.
On this particular trip in July 2024, my friends and I grabbed our Saturday night 7:30pm reservation months ago. Upon arrival and checking into complimentary valet, we made our way to the host stand and saw a line of people waiting to check in. We checked in a few minutes before our reservation time and weren't seated until 15 minutes AFTER. However, we were able to score an outside covered patio table with some of the most killer views in all of South Lake Tahoe.
The tables outside were all full, and Riva Grill packs them in. There isn't a lot of room to navigate between tables, so if you or someone at another table gets up at any time, expect a chair to bump into another. They also have live Saturday night entertainment, and although refreshing, the sound of the audio was WAY TOO LOUD to even hear what my friends and I were saying at our own table. A definite negative in my book. The crowd outside was also quite loud and inebriated, which silences back the "quite lakefront experience."
Our server came over and was very friendly from the start, immediately asking if we would like a drink, pushing their World Famous Wet Woody (over 3 million sold!). There is a menu page full of different varieties of the slushy adult beverage, with different rums, proofs, silly (and often crass) nicknames and the like (i.e. Kraken a Woody, Rock Hard Woody and Sailor Jerry's Wet Dream). For about $18, you too can enjoy a tasty beverage. But be warned, they are strong and very sugary. However, it is one of the Tahoe-centric must-haves.
The menu doesn't change very often, and no specials during our visit. I went with a House Salad and the Scallops. Granted, it was a Saturday night and very busy, but the kitchen was definitely out of whack. Our appetizers arrived about 2 minutes after our drink orders, followed by our entrees 3 minutes later. A few of us hadn't even had more than two bites of salad or a spoonful of French Onion Soup before the entrees were dropped off. Also, no apologies for the rushed attempt at service. The House Salad was OK. While the feta cheese and the walnuts were delicious, the dressing smothered the wilted greens, leaving it soft and chewy rather than crunchy. A big miss. Halfway through my salad, my Scallops arrived. Presentation-wise, it looked great. Four perfectly cooked scallops on a bed of lobster risotto, carrots and green beans. The scallops were cooked beautifully, however, the lobster risotto was a disaster. It was completely overcooked, gummy, chewy and didn't have much flavor or pieces of lobster. The vegetables were mundane and the blood orange beurre blanc also didn't add much to the plate. For $55, I was expecting much more.
For dessert, our table shared the Warm Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel Sauce and Fresh Raspberry Whipped Cream. The brownie was not very warm, and definitely without a gooey lava center, but the ice cream and raspberry whipped cream were tasty.
The bathrooms, at least the men's room, had paper towels and other items on the floor, wasn't very clean, aside from the constantly adding and subtracting of interesting phrases on the chalkboard above the urinal.
Riva Grill is always buzzing at night in Tahoe as it's one of the well-known places in town. However, it really lacks in a lot of areas, so expect to pay a premium for average. Honestly, for me, it's just one for the nostalgia books on a yearly retreat with friends.
