Riverfront Pizzeria Bar & Grill

My boyfriend’s family and I went to the Third Ward before a movie on a saturday night. Unfortunately our first choice of dining, the Smoke Shack, had a 45 minute wait to be seated so we decided to try out this place. When we walked in the place it looked clean and had a really beautiful view of the river, so I thought it would be a decent second choice. I thought it was a little strange, however, that this place wasn’t packed as it was a saturday night and this was a place showing the football games.
I thought our waitress was nice, but most times we wondered where she was (especially since, again, this was not a busy night). Overall no big complaints about her.
I had gotten the bbq burger and the sweet potato fries, which were okay. Not a lot of flavor; I don’t believe it was worth the price. A few of our group members had gotten prosciutto, which looked more like typical ham rather than how prosciutto is usually prepared. A few of us also got the Cuban sandwhich, which was also flavorless and wasn’t worth the price that they were charging. At this moment, I would have rated this place a 2.5, but what really dampend the mood was the manager.
When the blonde manager stormed over to our table, I knew she was going to put up a fight. She didn’t even acknowledge the person at my table who was complaining about his Cuban sandwhich. Her attitude was hostile and really uncomfortable. When he had said that his Cuban had mainly tasted of ‘pickles and musturd’ and had no flavor, the manager cut him off and said that there ‘HAD to be flavor.’ She also got offended when he stated that he didn’t want to finish his meal and didn’t want anything else to eat. It’s completely baffling to me how a manager could be so elitist and snooty with her customers and expect that they would return to their restaurant.
Overall, as long as the food is bland and the manager looks down on her customers so much, I cannot recommend this place. It’s unfortunate that such a beautiful restaurant could harbor such tasteless food-​and managers.

Don’t go if you want a booth. They had five booths open and said all were reserved. Have gone before and food was good, but this was horrible. Never going again.

Great looking place on the busy part of Milwaukee River. Awesome views, great location, beautiful restaurant but the pizza we were craving was just, well… nothing special. Good toppings but the crust must be pre made from Sysco Foods or at least one would have reason to believe it was. Will have to try it again but not for the pizza.

I thought the pizza I had here was great. The prices aren’t bad either.

The pizza is outstanding!!! What a pleasant surprise & kudos to our friends that introduced this place to us. Calamari appetizer was delicious. The view on the patio over the river was awesome! Definitely will return here more than a few times. Definitely a summertime stop.

Good service. Below average food. Not worth the high price.

We stopped here for lunch after the UPAF Ride for the Arts. There was a party of four and we all had drinks and different meals. When we got here, there were about 5 tables filled and nobody at the bar. This is a prime location for dining, right on the river, but I feel like the food was a little disappointing and their moment of redemption was the view.
The service was acceptable. Our server was really nice, but there were a few times we were wondering where she was. She was really nice, though. Ultimately, no complaints there.
As for the food, well, I don’t even remember what anyone else ordered. A couple of burgers with fries. One of them had sweet potato fries that were really good. They were just the right amount of sweet potato with out a cinnamon sugary taste.
I ordered the Broccoli Soup and Thai Chicken Pizza (9″). Both were just okay. The soup was thick, I didn’t like the texture. It was not «soup» like, it was the consistency of a thick mud. The pizza was okay, but the crust really underwhelmed me with the Thai Chicken flavor. I thought it tasted like thai chicken on a frisbee of carbohydrates. There were some bean sprouts, but they weren’t really on the pizza, rather, they were kind of sprinkled on top and fell off every time I picked up a slice.
Conclusion: I wouldn’t eat here again and wouldn’t recommend this place to others. There are better pizza joints in Milwaukee.

Atmosphere — B+
Food — B+
Drinks — N/​A
Service — A–
I came here on a Friday night for dinner with some of my girlfriends. We were in the mood for a casual spot where we didn’t have a long wait and this fit that like a glove. We waited for about 5 minutes and got a nice booth. It’s quaint and not very noisy, which is nice if you are in the mood for a low-​key night.
I wasn’t really in the drinking mood, so I didn’t grab anything. One of my friends had a glass of wine, and the other didn’t drink as well (we were boring that night), so I can’t comment on the drinks.
I split a two mini pizzas with one of my friends, which was actually plenty and we still had enough to bring home. We got the Harborfront and the Thai Chicken. Both of them were super good, even the next day. The Thai Chicken had just the right amount of spice and flavor, and the bruschetta on Harborfront was awesome! My other front is gluten-​free so she ordered her own and said it was good.
Our server actually brought us one of the wrong pizzas, so we had to wait for it, but to make up for it, he gave us free dessert and one of the pizzas for free. It was very unexpected, but much appreciated. The desserts were only okay and seemed like they may have come frozen box, but I would never complain about free dessert :). Our server was attentive and pleasant.

Descriptive phrase: comfortable and spacious riverfront pizza/​bar.
The name of Riverfront Pizzeria Bar & Grill could not be a more on-​point description. This oft-​overlooked establishment on the far end of the Third Ward was poppin’ on a Friday night when we walked in for a quick drink. Their bar is long, near to ample seating overlooking the river.
Our bartender, Steve, was very friendly and answered our questions with a smile. They had a nice selection of beers and liquors, and had a bourbon barrel-​aging behind the counter too.
With how full it was we’ll have to come back soon to actually try the pizza.

If you are looking for a pizza place that offers more than your standard variety pizza, then I highly suggest that you check out Riverfront Pizzeria. Just to name a few of their pizzas: Taco, Cheeseburger, BLT, Hawaiian, Eat Your Spinach, Mediterranean, Thai Chicken. There are several more on the menu. You also have the option to build your own pizza as well. If you’re not in the mood for pizza, they also have burgers, sandwiches, pastas, paninis, and fish fry on Fridays.
The food here is delicious. On my last visit here, I had the Mediterranean pizza. It comes with cheese, sausage, onion, black olives, green olives, tomatoes and feta cheese. It was excellent. And the leftovers that I took home made for a great lunch the next day :-)
The restaurant is very spacious, with lots of seating. They also have a very nice patio outside, right next to the river. The bar is huge, and has a very nice variety to choose from.
Our server was excellent. She was attentive and made sure that we were taken care of. We have always had a great experience at Riverfront, and we will continue to come here in the future.

It was the pie day to beat all pie days (3.1415!), and my friends and I were craving a pizza pie. We were all pleasantly surprised by the ample parking around the restaurant, especially on a Saturday night in the Third Ward. The location looks amazing for the summertime!
The pizza was solid. Not my favorite in the world, not the worst in the world. It was solid. The sauce had a bit of a tang on the chicken BBQ that I wasn’t expecting, but it was good. The mozzarella sticks were done in a fashion that seemed to use the same exterior as egg rolls. It was… different. They had a variety of beers and drinks available.
The vibe is nice. The waitstaff was a little slow, but it was busy. It’s a solid, local venue. I would come again, but it’s not a place I’m absolutely craving to get back to or raving about to my friends.

I come to Riverfront a few times a month on my lunch hour, and the occasional after-​work happy hour. The restaurant is quite big. This cuts down on wait times and is nice when you’re on a time limit. The atmosphere is a bit unspectacular, but if you’re with good company, that’s easily looked over.
The pizza is great, but I was really surprised by how good their salads and sandwiches are. Try the Blackened Salmon salad — it’s awesome! There’s a standard full bar and a solid beer selection. The service is polite and friendly. Riverfront Pizzeria checks all the normal boxes of being a pizzeria, bar, and grill. It’s a nice place to enjoy some food and good conversation.

Friday fish sandwich special, not so special, unless you have stock in Charmin, wife liked her pizza.

Great space. The location is killer for outdoor summer time food and drink. It’s tucked away in the corner of the third ward near the summerfest grounds.
IMHO best eggplant in the city. It’s basically the reason i go there. They have a great Tuesday special of ½ off bottles of wine, which basically means if two people go and order wine, they get a bottle for the price of two glasses of wine.
The pizza however is not might my favorite. The toppings taste honest and fresh, but the dough seems prepackaged and is lack luster. Typically, I look for a thin crispy crust or a thick doughy crust.

Classic Ricardo’s pizza. It’s pretty good, very reliable, and the service is always on point. I like this restaurant because often, there isn’t a long wait during otherwise busy times because it’s so big.

Don’t do it. I’ve had countless frozen pizzas that have tasted infinitely more delicious than this garbage.
The crust is all sorts of wrong. It’s too heavy and doughy which automatically ruins the rest of the pizza. Biggest disappointment of our weekend trip.
Lesson learned: that is why you should always stick to what others recommend. (This was not one of them.)

We were in the neighborhood and read that Riverfront had gluten free pizza so we dropped in for a quick dinner. We sat on the large patio with a good view of the sunset on the river (which had the chronic Milwaukee river/​lakefront issue — BIG spiders! We have them on our own porch so are familiar with the issue & they don’t both us but the table next to us opted to move inside)
The gluten free pizza was tasty — although I wished the server was a bit better informed about which ingredients on the pizza menu actually contain gluten (or, perhaps a separate menu could be created that does specify). I played it very safe (veggies only) and had a good meal. They also have gluten free hard cider.
My dining partner had the gluten-​filled chicken alfredo pizza — he thought it was really tasty, and a totally unhealthy treat :)
The service was quite slow, but it didn’t seem that busy even though it was a Saturday night — I’m guessing our server wasn’t fully up to speed. The food was reasonably priced — $ 42 without tip for 2 (large) ciders, and 2 individual pizzas (one gluten free). Bottom line, this is a good pizza option for us & we will likely be back if we’re in the neighborhood.

I can’t bring myself to give this place more than two stars. The space is beautiful, and I actually went to a retirement party there once that was awesome. So I’ll give them that. The food, to me, is mid-​range at best. It’s a pizza place, but they also push burgers and pasta and sandwiches. I always appreciate a place just focusing on one thing and doing it well. My sense is they are trying to be pleasing to everyone, and that’s just not possible. There were nine of us dining together last night, and reservations were made ahead of time. No need, though — the place was not exactly hoppin’. Although we were a larger table, our needs were pretty simple and we were not demanding. Even so, the service was terribly slow. So slow, that we were able to tell all of the stories we collectively knew about cats getting shot. (Which, it turns out, were two too many.) Then moved onto a story about a diaper-​eating dog who died, and pondered if it was an act of suicide or an accidental death. I say all of this to say, WE WERE BORED. We didn’t have food and at times we didn’t have drinks and the whole situation just didn’t flow. Probably not going to be back anytime soon, unless it is at someone else’s request… and I like that person a lot.

R iverfront Pizzeria is as the name suggests, on the river with a nice al fresco patio.
I particularly like it because the quality is consistently much above average and a
V ery close walk for me since I live up the street. Free parking is available though.
E very Sunday, they offer a stellar deal: Largest pizza with 3 toppings + pitcher for 25 $.
R arely do I have a complaint about service, but they do get packed sometimes.
F rankly, dollar for dollar their menu is more reasonably priced than Rustico.
R anking their crust, it’s not quite coal oven thin and they offer a wheat option.
O n the topic of décor and ambiance, it’s a large open space that can get loud
N o worries if you’re a sports fan — they have multiple TVs throughout for the games.
T otally cool is the fact that they have «parking» spots for boats.
P izza topping choices range from «traditional» to specialty/​boutique.
I am usually a proponent of keeping toppings simple (3 ingredients or less)…
Z ounds though, some of their specialty pizzas with 5 toppings are off the jam!
Z iti, other pasta, burgers, salads, and sounds are also available.
A pril 17 is the day of a 4 course dinner pairing with Lakefront Brewery Products.
Location: 5 out of 5
Super close walking distance for me, and close enough to Summerfest that they see a good flow of traffic in the summer months. Boat slip parking is a plus, and they do have a gravel lot for their patrons.
Décor and Ambiance: 4 out of 5
Open and spacey with «good» acoustics depending on how you look at it. It can get a little bit loud in there at times when they’re packed, and there’s a good selection of booths, high toppers, and low toppers to sit at. Sit outside on the patio if you ever get a chance, but bringing some type of insect deterrent isn’t a bad idea in the summer months.
Quality of Food: 4 out of 5
Always above average experience with their pizza. The crust isn’t super thin, but it’s definitely thinner than a traditional «hand tossed» crust. The oven’s just hot enough so that the bottom gets a little color/​caramelization but doesn’t have that deep dark char that some people prefer and other people detest. Toppings as mentioned above span from the safe (pepperoni, sausage) to the super high end/​boutique (prosciutto, boursin cheese, goat cheese, etc.). While I’m always a fan of simple flavor profiles, I have to admit that the Jamie’s special that had boursin cheese, onions, pepperonicini and a few other items on it was really quite flavorful and delicious.
Service: 4 out of 5
Don’t think I’ve ever had any intentionally slow service. Remember that it DOES get packed and busy sometimes, so I definitely wouldn’t say that people are «trying» to be slow or antagonistic. Sometimes there’s just a process slow-​down like at the bar or in the kitchen. Everyone who serves us is friendly enough, and I suspect that since the wiffy and I are easy customers to please, they don’t feel a burden to be overly groveling nor do they feel a need to constantly check up on us, which is fine.
Value: 5 out of 5
A really good value all things considered. Sundays you can get a 3 topping super large + pitcher of beer (including LFB) for 25 $. When you look at the sheer amount of pizza you get at any day of the week, it’s a much better value than say, Rustico (which has good pizza, don’t get me wrong)
Overall: 4 out of 5
Strong 4 out of 5 experience. We keep coming back on a monthly basis, and will continue to do so until something terrible happens to us from eating here.

We found this place while looking for somewhere to spend an hour or two of a *beautiful* summer afternoon while waiting to go pick someone up from the airport. They either just opened for the afternoon or the pre-​happy hour crowd is completely absent in this neighborhood, as we had the place to ourselves.
Got situated out on the patio with a gorgeous view of folks sailing and kayaking in and out of the lake, had a couple of perfectly-​made drinks and some decadent cheesy garlic bread. Our waitress was just the right amount of attentive, and prices were exactly what you expect in a nice-​but-​casual stop like this.