River Rock Grill

Slow, slow, slow!
The food is very good. I had their pulled pork sliders with onion strings appetizer as my meal, along with zuchinni chips. Really good, although the chips were a bit damp. But tasty.
My stepson had their fajita soup which was very tasty and had a moderate amount of spice to it.
My wife had the steak frite which I thought tasted good and was cooked well, but she was unimpressed.
But the service was intolerably slow! We were a party of 7 on a Thursday night. There were 2 couples in the dinning room. I saw one party on the rear deck, and the bar was half full.
I think there were two waitress’ working. It took ours 10 minutes to take out drink orders, 10 minutes for the drinks, then another 10 minutes for the dinner order. Appetizers came in about 15 minutes, followed by dinners in another 15.
Sorry, too slow for me. Good food, moderately priced.

Would give 1.5 stars if an option. First time visit so perhaps a second try might see improvements. My wife and I arrived around 6 on a Friday night, only a few people in dining room and at the bar, not a promising sign. We decided we were going to have a couple of cocktails so opted for the bar, which looked pleasant and pretty empty. The bartender, who we would later determine was incredibly inexperienced, screwed up a gin and tonic and a vodka martini — the G&T arrived without a wedge and my martini w/​twist came with 3 big olives. After pointing out the problems (I think there might have been a bit of a language barrier with the bartender who was also very shy and hesitant) she brought a lime wedge (brown, no kidding) for the G&T and remade the martini — asking if I wanted a lime or lemon (not ever a good sign) with a different type of vodka than what I had originally asked for. The lemon twist materialized as a large wedge crammed onto the side. We ordered fried calamari for appetizer which arrived in a bowl with side of marinara. There were 2 types of breaded pieces, one kind was incredibly chewy, the other just OK. «Did we catch them between batches of pre-​frozen breaded calamari?» we wondered. A couple to our right ordered a cosmo and a Guinness on tap. After their drinks arrived the man asked «Is that how you always pour a Guinness?» (she had filled the class in one step as per usual tap-​beer, not in steps typical for Guinness method to reduce the head). The woman said her cosmo was horrible and so the couple pushed the drinks away and told the staff «Thanks for the drinks, we don’t want them.» and left. Also, having front row seats, we watched as the bartender was instructed in virtually every mixed drink order (including the cosmo and an old fashioned) by one of her older colleagues (who still had to look up these staple drink recipes from a booklet). At this point, our conversation has unfortunately become centered on the shortcomings of the establishment vs. the establishment allowing us the pleasure to enjoy our surroundings and its offerings. Meals arrived: mine was the seafood bouillabaisse (not bad but clearly most of the components were lethargic-​looking formerly frozen fish) and my wife had an uninspiring (but not terrible) pasta dish. The crowd looked to be on the older side (at 50 we were among the youngest in the room) with a few families with young kids — not what we would consider the ideal demographic for a fairly new, relatively upscale (and pricey for Maynard) eatery/​bar. When we got up to leave, another couple next to us at the bar laughed and in a sympathetic but sarcastic way, asked if we had enjoyed ourselves, saying: «I’m sure you’ll be back real soon!» Guess we weren’t the only patrons to «enjoy» the show. We might go back if in the neighborhood but given most of our experience was fairly negative, we’ll probably not be giving River Rock a second chance.

Came on a Saturday evening and had a nice time. The waters was friendly as well as the bartender who we sat down with momentarily while we waited for the rest of our party. The building is very nice and clean. The baked goat cheese appetizer and a special stuff mushroom appetizer were spectacular. The dinners were good. Everyone enjoyed there meals. I could tell the steak Oscar was a little disappointing by not much if any crabmeat on top. Overall it was worth checking it but nothing outstanding.

Great drinks, great food. Can’t go wrong with both Mojito and Dark & Stormy on drink menu. Shrimp scampi is one of the best I’ve had. Awesome chocolate chip cookie sundae with Erikson’s ice cream.

I would say that the beer is cold and the zucchini fries are a fun and crispy snack.

A disaster. A problem with every course: long delays, getting orders wrong, disinterested and hapless waiter, plus no manager on duty. I can’t imagine coming back given other choices in town.

I’ve dined here a few times. The first couple times were okay. It’s a little pricey for the area and the quality of food. Everything was good, but not really great. The last time we ate here will be our last. We ordered mussels for an appetizer and were served rotten/​spoiled horrible mussels. The taste of raw sewage ruined our evening. Not only were we initially disgusted with them, but a manager never came over to address the situation.
As for the service, we were seated promptly and then waited a while to even be greeted by the waitress. When she did make it over we placed our entire order. We were the lucky ones. We witnessed other tables get seated in an almost empty restaurant and walk out before being asked for a drink order. 2 years ago I would have given this establishment 4 stars, now I’m having a hard time deciding between 1 or 2.

I first discovered this place about a year ago. And it was good. It was a tad bit pricy for Maynard but the food made up for it. Every subsequent visit however, diminished in quality of both food and service. My last time there was probably in my top 5 worst dining experiences.
I dined with my 2 kids, my wife and her mother. We arrived around 545−6pm. We were probably the only party there at that time. The hostess/​waitress was very kind. From there things went from good to worse to comedically bad.
— 2 waters and a glass of wine took forever to get
— we asked for olives in a cup (kids were hungry and we ran out of snacks), had to ask twice and received them after a lengthy bit of time.
— the kids’ pizza took forever to come out
— I ordered a OVERLY priced lettuce wedge and steak tips. The lettuce wedge was cut-​side-​down, meaning that it was just a huge leaf on the top which allowed the dressing to just dribble down the sides on not into the lettuce itself. We’ll get to the steak tips in a sec…
— kids’ grandma orders an appetizer which was never received until after we had paid our check ready to leave. Get it home and it’s not even what she ordered.
— Burger sliders that mom and grandma ordered were great, no issue there.
— Sliders are finished and I’ve still not received my steak tips. So I get to eat my main entry while everyone else is done and gets to watch me.
— Waitress forgets to run CC, have to ask twice about it.
— received pen that doesn’t work. have to use our own
— Steak tips were terrible. For $ 15+, these were complete crap. The 99 does a way better job for a better price. The meat was tender but the taste was just odd, no seasoning, hell it didn’t even seem like they were salted or peppered (which, yes I know I can do on my own). They also had a unique flavor in that since they were served with roasted veggies, they might have sat in the kitchen long enough to absorb some of the flavor from the veggies. It just wasn’t good.
All of this time, our waitress was going back and forth to a certain table as the place filled in, chatting with what I assume are friends.
Conclusion: Decent but overpriced food w. terrible service. The one redeeming fact was I called and talked to a manager, he was kind, he listened with no interruptions and he was extremely receptive to my dissatisfaction. He offered a gift card but the issue is that I really don’t want to go back to even use the gift card.

Decent local restaurant in Maynard. Had the salmon which was very good. Decent wine list. Nice staff. Good, just not brilliant.

Had the opportunity to visit River Rock Grill yesterday and was so impressed we went back for dinner tonight!
We went for lunch with a discount coupon attracted by the reviews and the deck option.
The waiter’s suggestions for the River Rock & California wraps were excellent. Fresh and flavorful! The river rock sauce is a tangy sauce that hinted at mustard but was smooth & tasty.
The zucchini chips are awesome! Melt in your mouth.
For dinner, the special was a eggplant & chicken parm with angel hair pasta. I had the eggplant lasagna. (had to get the zucchini chips again of course!). The portions were large, the prices reasonable and the flavors incredible! The eggplant lasagna (no pasta) was fresh, the marinara sauce thick and tasty. The eggplant/​chicken parm came with grilled zucchini that was excellent.
The service & décor were terrific. We will be back!

food was good (wife got the chicken parm and I got the chicken tuscany)
dessert (apples crisp) was awesome
however the best part was that my wachusett beer from the tap was nice and cold

I started out with the fried cucumber chips and they were pretty good except that most of them were burnt. Then I had the grilled salmon and it was SEVERELY over cooked. It was hard and tasted like cardboard. I would have been better off saving my money and eating at Wendy’s! Which isn’t saying much. On the other hand if you’re a fan of overcooked food that is well well done this is the place to go. They mean grilled when it says grilled…

I’ve tried the River Rock a few times, everything was cooked well, it smelled great, the service was good… I just dont know what’s missing. The menu had a lot of options, it had a great ambiance, exactly the kind of place I’d want to get addicted to, it just wasnt doing it for me. Awesome bar though, drinks were excellent!

Zucchini chips were out of this world.
Drink selection is spot on.
Waitress was bizarre, entrees for dinner were a little boring. Next time I would drink and the bar and order apps only for a fun night.
Going in the winter is a bit of a downer. Try it in summer when the back deck is open and you can chill river side.

Came here for dinner with friends tonight. We got the zucchini chips and wings for appetizers. They were really good. Zucchini chips melted in your mouth and the river rock sauce on the wings was very good. Side salads cost extra but were a good size. Boyfriend had chicken parmigiana. It was just ok. I wouldn’t order it again. I had the baked scallops, the scallops were cooked well but the sauce had a very strong lemon taste. I didn’t try the other couples food, they didn’t complain but they didn’t seem blown away. Now where they lose some of my respect is with the waitress. While she didn’t say anything rude, and did get our orders right, which means a lot. She was not overly friendly, seemed a little burnt.

I wanted to give this no stars at all, the hostess was very rude and I’ve heard some «unsettling» things about the kitchen. Wouldn’t even recommend this place to an enemy

Zucchini fritters! Margaritas! Thats already enough. Super friendly service, great ambiance.

Lobster Roll Friday. 1^st time at @RiverRockGrill1! A perfect lobster roll with lobsters from next door at Quarterdeck Seafood I bet!

The service was good, the ambiance just Ok, but sadly the food was really bad. The special of fish with lobster was so incredible bland. Completely tasteless. I’ve also never had such flavorless and chewy rice before either. My partner in crime agreed that his dish was disappointing. I had hopes that the food would be as good as the service ((our waitress was great)) but alas it was a waste of money.

Not terrible but won’t go back. My spouse and I stopped in for dinner at 6:30 on Sunday night. There was only one other booth occupied and a few folks watching TV at the bar. Even with such a light crowd there were 3 waitstaff working. Still it took about 10 minutes for someone to come by to great us and ask if we would like to order.
We started with the side salad and a crock of French onion soup. The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce and some cheap shredded cheese with a few bits of tomato and cucumber. The French onion soup was hot with a nice layer of melted Gruyère cheese. It had a good layer of croutons but the broth could’ve used more zip.
Unfortunately things went downhill from there. It took another 35 minutes before our main courses arrived, which clearly had been sitting under the heat lamp for sometime.
I got the pulled pork sandwich, which was kind of beige and lifeless. It reminded me of Underwood deviled ham. It was also the first time I ever had pulled pork served with lettuce tomato and onion. A non-​conventional interpretation of a classic sandwich, to say the least.
My spouse ordered the chicken tangine which was the best choice of the night. Certainly edible and a change from typical bar food; good but not great.
When we had finished our food it was a good 15 minutes before the waitress tore herself away from her conversation and came around to see if we were ready for the check.
By the time we were ready to leave I understood why this restaurant was so empty at dinnertime on a Sunday night.