River House

Fabulous seafood restaurant in town. Waiters were super friendly and fast serving. Menu is excellent. We enjoyed selection of bread, fried patron peppers and sweet potato fries as starter with a bottle of Chardonnay. Then ordered mussels as main course. All were super delicious and tasty. We finished with Crème Brûlée which was mango flavored and cheese cake with raspberries and marshmallows on top. Unexpected taste of both. Reservation was not easy, suggesting to make it 2 nights in advance! We enjoyed outside sitting area for dinner that was a very good choice as inside a bit smelly for us. Definitely worth 5 stars…

It was a wonderful experience. I had the mussels with white wine sauce and they were delicious. Although first they served them with coriander, which I don't like it at all, so they were very nice and changed them. The atmosphere is really nice. Tomorrow I'll be back to Inverness so I may back to this lovely restaurant if they have some availability. Thank you!! :)

This was top of my favourites during our visit in Inverness. Not only was the deco elegant, the food excellent, entrepreneur & chef Alfi was such a charismatic character. He also has a great team, we found his staff welcoming & warm. Even when the place was busy & packed, when one of the waiters found my sunglasses case on the floor, he came chasing down the road to find me. This might be a small act of kindness, but it gave us a glow in our hearts.

If you are in Inverness and want a great local dinner combined with awesome Scottish hospitality just book a reservation at the River House. The oysters are an excellent option to start with followed by the fish stew or halibut. Excellent flavor and presentation. My family thoroughly enjoyed the meal. It was our last night in Scotland before heading back home and we couldn’t have picked a better spot to celebrate an excellent Scottish adventure. Thank you to Alfie and his entire team!

One of the best places ever for seafood. I had great oysters, scallops and mussels. There are some dozen+ different preparations of oysters, so take your time. The place is small, busy and popular. When I visited, the door showed a sign saying 'we are full tonight'. I pre-booked. Be aware that some of the seafood preparations contain meat: read the menu carefully before you order. Apart from that, great experience. Staff is warm and friendly.

Probably the best restaurant we visited in Scotland. In a nice location and with cozy (albeit a bit tightly packed) interior. The dishes were absolutely amazing, prepared based on great recipes with truly high quality ingredients. We enjoyed everything, from the starters through the main course and especially the Sticky Toffee desert. The service was great, with attentive and thoughtful waiters, as well as the owner taking care that everything runs perfectly for the guests. The prices reflect the quality of food and service, however you do get your moneys worth. If we are ever in the area again we will definitely visit one more time to try some other dishes we missed this time.

If I could pack one thing in my suitcase and bring it back to Germany, it would be River House in Inverness. The fish dishes here are to die for—I honestly don’t have the words to fully capture just how outrageously delicious everything was. Every bite was fresh, flavorful, and cooked to absolute perfection. The ambiance is just as memorable—like stepping into a beautifully lit scene from an old movie. There’s elegance, warmth, and charm in every detail of the décor, making it a perfect setting for an unforgettable meal. What truly elevates the experience, though, is the service. The head chef and owner is a force of nature: incredibly attentive and friendly to each guest and clearly running the restaurant like a finely tuned orchestra. His presence and leadership are inspiring—you feel genuinely cared for from start to finish. And the Sticky Toffee Apple Pudding? Absolutely divine. I loved it so much, I’m already trying to recreate it at home.

My husband booked this place last minute, i mean LAST MINUTE!!!! And the manager was able to get us in with a last minute cancellation within an hour. It is less than a 10 table quaint high end restaurant. Definitely a MUST go to. The ambience is delightful and food was excellent, the crew above all was amazing! They go above and beyond your expectations of quality, service and atmosphere. Thank you for taking a picture with us and i hope to see you all again!

I asked the host of our B&B what was the best seafood place in all of Inverness... Without a doubt, she said River House... She also then said book a reservation right away! Great call I got the last 2 person table of the evening 12 days later. Nicola was a joy to deal with as far as reservations went. Jack, our waiter was incredibly personable and engaging, added greatly to the whole dining experience! But the star of the show was the food!! Scallops starter was the best I've had ever and I've had three different dishes of scallops in the 7 days we spent in Scotland... And we live on the Gulf Coast of Texas! We also had the oysters Rockefeller, again a taste above others! The mains of Seafood linguine and Loch Melfort Sea Trout were finish with bare plates! For Dessert the bread and butter pudding was a perfect ending to an exemplary meal! Call Nicola early. When we arrive for our 6:30 PM reservation the sign on the door said we are fully booked and they were booked through the end of the week on a Tuesday!

The food was amazing and I would highly recommend it. The atmosphere was intimate and the staff provided excellent service.

On our visit to Inverness, we made a reservation at The Riverhouse Restaurant down the street. Ambiance.... lovely. Service.... perfect. Food ... delicious. The owner has a wonderful sense of humor. He also knows how to cook everything perfectly. We shared a scallop appetizer... so tasty. I had the fish special... with menuere sauce. Delicious. And the lemon cello dessert with lemoncello soaked cake on the bottom and lemon mousse on top.... yum. We enjoyed it so much we made a reservation for the following night. Another superb meal. Take a walk along the river afterwards.

Small and intimate (and somewhat warm) restaurant. Excellent service and food! The best fried oysters we've ever had (it was a special). I had the Bouillabaisse for my entree, and my husband had turbot. The manager was great at checking on us and pitching in!

The highlight of my 8 day tel through Scotland. Alfie and crew are the best. The atmosphere, the friendliness, the food all amazing. Fantastic appetizers and mains. Desserts great ok. The Sea Trout and Hake with Octopus were amazing. The Orkney crab Thermidor was to die for! For the first time in my 65 years I had a cheese plate for dessert and it was awesome. Especially the cheddar and Viking inspired cheeses from Tain. Bravo! Great drink menu too.

OMG! Absolutely the best dinner we have had so far on this trip to the UK. Everything was perfect and the service was phenomenal! We had the Shetland halibut and the Fishermen's stew. Desert was the Amalfi lemon tart and sorbet trio. All dishes were over the top excellent. They have an extensive whiskey and gin menu as well as a nice wine and beer selection. As a warning, they are very popular and recommend reservations as far out as you can make them. We tried to walk up on a Tuesday night but they were booked solid. However, we lucked out and a party of two canceled for the following night (Wednesday) and we were able to get in the next day. Strongly recommend this place. You will not be disappointed.

We've been traveling throughout Scotland for the past 3 weeks and this by far was the best meal we've had. It would meet the needs of any foodie and give some of our favorite top restaurants from the states a run for their money. The owner was so gracious. The service was fantastic. If you are in the Inverness area, add the River House to your list.

OMG. This was a spectacular meal. (So good I forgot to take pictures). We arrived a couple minutes early to this small restaurant and our (reserved) table was still occupied. But (wonderful, attentive) Jack invited us to sit outside and brought us drinks (and menus to peruse) while we waited. We enjoyed cocktails watching the River Ness (thinking, if it were 10 degrees warmer, we would just as soon eat outside), and our table was soon ready. Everything was perfect--bread, appetizers, wine, fish. Alfi stopped by two or three times to make sure everything was perfect (it was) and out server was terrific, but honestly, Jack was such a highlight--jokes and information and suggestions--what a gem. If you want a really special seafood dinner in Inverness, this is the place! Looking forward to coming back someday.

A amazing restaurant! Definitely well worth it! The oysters were delish and sea bass! Definitely worth all the money and bread is super fresh! I loved it

On a lark, I looked up seafood restaurants near us. When I read the menu, I knew we had to eat there. They squeezed us in at 4:30, so do make a reservation. For starters we had oysters. We all had the seafood pasta , which I don't usually get what everyone else gets, but it was too tempting. We all agreed that this gym by the river deserves a 5 star rating.

Great place for seafood. This is a smaller restaurant that will require a booking. Service and food were excellent and the chef came to our table to see if we were pleased. It's refreshing to travel and have this kind of hospitality.

Great dinner on my honeymoon. Small space, so you need to make reservations early enough. Very nice staff

I had high hopes for this restaurant. It has great reviews here on Yelp and also on other review sites. However, I was disappointed. I waffled between giving 2 and 3 stars, but I am finding it hard to come up with something that was done really well. My hubs got the 3 oysters as his starter - perhaps he just doesn't like Scottish oysters, but he didn't like them very much. I can't speak for them since I didn't have any. For my main course, I got the turbot. It came served on some mashed potatoes (which was good, honestly the best part of the dish), along with leeks, clams, and the turbot fish. On the menu, the fish was listed as "grilled", but I can't say I saw or tasted anything that seemed reminiscent of grilling. It really seemed like they sous vide'd the fish and then forgot to finish it on the grill. It was cooked fine otherwise (not overdone) but really could have used some sort of finish to amp up the flavor. The leeks were hard to eat (the outside was really tough and probably should have been discarded?), although the inside of them was good. The clams themselves were fine, too. My main complaint is that it really seemed like a bunch of elements combined on the plate, but not too much effort to really bring them together. Hubs got the surf and turf. I did not try it, but the steak also had very little char or finish on the outside, and seemed a bit overcooked as well. We did not get a chance to eat any where else "fancy" during our stay in Inverness, but I would try somewhere else over River House.

Loved this Seafood Restaurant in Inverness, especially the mussels in wine and cream sauce. The mussels were succulent and the sauce perfect. Chefs and owner Alan was very accommodating, cooking a sea bream especially for me on request.

First time to try the famous CULLEN SKINK soup in Inverness and i love the taste and creaminess of it. For main course i choose: Pan roasted Pentland Firth cod with pork belly, steamed broccoli, butternut squash puree, sautéed new potatoes and a lemon and thyme butter. The pork belly and cod are juicy. I can say cooked onto perfection! Staffs are friendly and attentive to your needs. Value for money is good. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED this place if you are visiting Inverness,Scotland.

If there was a way to give a restaurant more than 5 stars on Yelp, this place would totally deserve it. We really lucked out because apparently normally this place is booked out, but it was a Monday night and we stopped by and got reservations for 8:30pm. So when you enter, you realize it's just the one chef, making everything and pretty much the majority of tables surround the kitchen, so you can see the chef preparing your dishes. We started off with the Crab and Crayfish cocktail (£8.90) and as soon as tasted it, knew were in for a treat. I tasted freshness of the sea with every bite -the seafood was cooked and chilled to perfection and pure pleasure in every mouthful with the piquant sauce compliments it expertly. For the mains, I got Jambonette of free range Scottish Chicken and my brother got the Grilled filet of line-caught sea-bass. My chicken was incredible, just melted off the bone, had fantastic seared skin and the accompaniments of the potato, smoked pepper sauce, greens and chorizo sausage with pine nuts - it was just was such a pleasure to consume each perfect mouthful. It wasn't just that each individual component of the dish was perfect in its own, but that also each combination was so harmoniously balanced. It was a similar experience with my brother's sea-bass dish (I took a couple of bites off his plate) which had amazing amount of seafood, just the right amount of risotto and everything was clean and balanced. We ended the night getting dessert too - the BEST treacle tart with clotted cream I have ever had in my life and my brother had the Affagatto, which he scarfed down. Hands down, this counts as one of our 5 top eating experiences - it really was that good! We walked away feeling content, but not heavy and tummies smiling blissfully. Totally recommend and so worth it and hope to return to come back to eat here again, someday.

During our recent visit to Inverness we had a chance to visit river house restaurant and had a magnificent experience. This place is very small and difficult to get into so we were fortunate to get a reservation. Food was phenomenal and we had a great time. we split the turbot special along with some appetizers and a dessert and we were both full. If you're in the Inverness area help this is a must place to visit, but be warned it is a very small place and you will need to book ahead of time. The chef even came to our table and asked us how our meal was !!!

Terrific chef and wait staff Im persnickety and they way overaccommodated me w no attitude and the salad was good! Thank you for a delightful meal! We took a photo w the busy chef - so gracious.

I enjoyed dining at River House. It is a small and cozy restaurant serving very good food. I recommend it for a quaint dinner.

A cold saturday night and a spur of the moment trip to Inverness. Very warm welcome form the chef himself - the kitchen is open to the restaurant - small, intimate and cosy. This is not a trendy place in terms of decor - it's traditionally styled in a Victorian way - but the customers are all well dressed and obviously in on this wonderful little secret. We had a great little corner table which was discreet and romantic. The staff are friendly and warm. The menu has a definite seafood bias - but any meat and veggie dishes are also tempting. The scallops starter was especially good. Fresh and tasty with chorizo for contrast. Both our mains were just as good. We were last to leave and the owner called us a taxi as it was icy. -Maybe they just wanted us out!

We fell upon this gorgeous little place whilst on a birthday weekend away. We had the two course set menu which was simply delicious. My boyfriend had a gorgeous chicken liver pate and I had a lovely smoked salmon salad. For main we both had steak which was great. Brilliant value for money and lovely atmosphere. We had a kitchen table which was great to watch the chef/owner make his master pieces. The service was great and they made us so welcome. Would go again any day. Highly recommended.

Great food here - if you like seafood. Not cheap, but good value given the quality.