M C R.
Yelp
Had a mixed experience at Riviera Ristorante. Came here after a family member, whose culinary standards I trust, had eaten here twice and had positive experiences.
There's outdoor seating in a tent, which takes up some parking spaces, but we chose to eat inside and got a lovely window table. We were greeted by friendly and attentive staff. One in our party had a medical device, so we were seated near a table adjacent to an electrical outlet--which was much appreciated. The indoor part of the restaurant has a very nice European-Italian ambiance.
We were brought some bread with an olive tapenade, which we all enjoyed, and looked forward to good things to come. We were also read the long list of daily specials. My personal preference, when there are a LOT of daily specials, is to have a paper copy describing each special included with the regular menu.
We were a party of three, and one person got the ribeye steak, which fell flat. It looked great, but was unsalted and flavorless. I can understand that there are a lot of seniors in the area that may be on salt-restricted diets, and I am one of them; however, I tried a bite, and it had NO salt and no flavor. I noticed that it was only partly consumed by the party that ordered it.
Two of us ordered the lobster-scallops-asparagus risotta. I have since seen posts here that found it delicious. We did not. The risotto had a mushroom flavored base that we did not care for and it did not accentuate the seafood. Worse, the risotto was undercooked and CRUNCHY. New experiences for us eating crunchy risotto. I picked out the seafood, which was fine, and left the rest on my plate. In hindsight, we agreed that we should have sent our plates back and ordered something else,
With all of our main dishes a disappointment, we took the risk of ordering desserts. I ordered a creme brulee that was good, but nothing special. Another member in our party ordered the peach panna cotta, which was fine, but, again, nothing special. Ditto the chocolate brownie or cake with ice cream.
Given that the person in our party recommending Riviera had two good experiences out of three, I might give the Riviera one more chance, but I would honestly prefer to return to La Gare or try somewhere else.