Riverside Grille House Veranda

Went here late one evening to enjoy the live music, spectacular view, and good food. All three things were exceptional. The coconut encrusted grouper was phenomenal. Highly recommended.

I attended the Riverside Grille for a Halfa — a bellydance community event.
While the space was quite nice, the food options were quite limited. There was a buffet that was lukewarm, which consisted of a salad with 3 dressing options. 3 potato choices, a seafood w/​salmon option, 2 chicken options and bread. Dessert was brought to your table, a choice of 2 options of cheese cake and a chocolate item. It wasn’t bad, nor was it over priced, but it was. just –ok-​.
The service was alright, the waitresses were overwhelmed and so it was a bit slow, but the view was incredible. We were able to see the lovely ladies dance, and look out as the sun set over the waters at Tarpon Springs.
It is sad that the venue is closing. Otherwise this could really be a great place.

Main Course served straight UP is called…“Get Really Pissed Off”, its always on the menu and they serve it quite well. If I could RED FLAG this place, instead of giving them an undeserving lone star, I would.
The only kind of «RELISH» your going to get at Veranda is ‘FRUSTRATION” and plenty of it!!! As your blood pressure rises to double digits, like a thermometer — which you would like to stick in the eye of the idiot, vacant management. One is forced to wonder why the owners have taken such a lovely location/​view and KILLED it so effectively? The management (if any) can truly be referred to as the «AXIS OF EVIL». They win this tag line hands down.
This place is PERFECT… for a friend you can’t stand, a partner you want to ditch, or your irksome mother-​in-​law. Kick back and smile while you are ignored as other guests keep staring back at each other with that… ‘Why the hell am I still sitting here?’ look on their faces. My mate got a salad, tossed at him like a frizbee, without cutlery, or even salt & pepper… nothing was ‘misen place’.
CAUTION: There are no acoustics inside, so turn your hearing aid down to low — or don’t wear one at all. It’s nerve racking.
One might also enjoyed watching the «I don’t give a sh*t», hostesses and servers try to hide, as guests searched frantically for them. Not even their feeble minded, scantly clad short-​shorts (ala wing house) can give rise to anything other than horrific customer service at a premium price.
This place is so totally unacceptable — shut this baby down!!! Please do us all a favor.

This place has some really cool elements, but the service is soooooo slow. The food was good, but nothing to rave about. I’d go back, and hope I could give a better review next time.
It’s worth a try if you’re in Tarpon Springs sometime.

I wish I could give this place less than one star. We went here because every other place on the sponge docks was too busy. The waiter was slow, didn’t bring us silverware with our food until the table next to us noticed we didn’t have any and asked their waiter for us. Then when he finally brought it, he blamed the hostess. The food was awful. I was served this weird chunk of canned, fishy tasting crab meat, unripe, bitter avocado, frozen (!) mangoes, and shrimp. The bang sauce was mayonnaise with chili flakes. And it was $ 15. Our bill was $ 50 and we both left hungry and irritated. Will not return.

We went to Riverside Grille House Veranda for a pre-​Valentines Celebration. I like this place a lot and I was happy to try something different. This place is located at the end of the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks so most of the food in the area is Greek. There was a wide variety at this restaurant, which I always thought looked like a banquet hall and not a restaurant per se. When you climb the stairs, you wil never believe you are right on the roof top. Make sure to bring your dog because they are dog friendly. I love places that are super dog friendly especially because we bring our dog everywhere.
We don’t usually like sitting on the higher chairs, but that’s a way to see the water. Yes, there are different loading boats in the area so it’s not exactly the perfect perfect view, but it sure is not bad at all.
We ordered steak and seafood and baked brie. Our new favorite. Everything was very good and tasty.
The best thing to do afterwards is sit by the water fountain/​fireplace. It’s such a pretty site, kind of like a make shift zen garden. You can sit there, enjoy the music playing, enjoy your company, and have a few drinks. Great place for a night out to eat.

Quick summary: THE VOLUME OF THE MUSIC IS DEAFENING, and ruins the potential ambiance, food is too salty unless you need your blood pressure to rise, waitstaff is mediocre @ best.
We recently moved to Tarpon Springs, and have been looking for a place to dine while watching sunsets. We relish romantic sunset dinners. On Sunday evening, we arrived and found that we had our pick of tables. There were only 2 other tables of guests. (That worried me, we just had left another comparably priced restaurant 1 block away, because there was a 40 minute wait.) We were seated and ordered a couple of drinks. My wife who hardly ever has drinks commented that she couldn’t taste any vodka. The view of the marina & sunset more than made up for the drinks.
While we were waiting to order, Josh somebody started singing and playing an acoustic guitar. The music was so loud that we couldn’t hear each other, even when we leaned across the small table. So my wife moved and sat in the chair next to me so we could talk. We still couldn’t hear each other except between songs. Then the music got louder. I asked the waiter if it could be turned down. He couldn’t hear me so I stood up and yelled into his ear, like you do to your friends @ a concert. The waiter informed me, «Josh is playing live so there is no way to turn it down???» If there is a microphone, a pick-​up on the guitar, and an amplifier there is a way to turn it down. I would have ask to move except we were sitting in the farthest corner away from «Josh».
We figured «Josh» would have to take a break soon so we ordered appetizers. The turkey avocado bacon paninni was OK. The nachos with Jalapeño spiced chicken was a large portion that was a nice looking presentation. However the Jalapeño spiced chicken was so salty it was inedible.
We asked for our check and the waiter forgot, he started taking pictures with his phone, texting people, and rearranging other tables. He started approaching our table as if he was ready to take our dinner order and then you could see it in his face that he suddenly remembered. He made a U-​turn and returned with our check.
We are home now, I’m taking Alka-​seltzer for my upset stomach while my wife is taking medication for her headache.

Quick summary: food is mediocre, waitstaff is good and management is abusive
Details:
I was in town for work. We arrived late and found they had a live band. Music was jazzy and pretty good but way too loud. We mentioned it to our waitress who promised to have them turn it down. She came back to take our order and said they would fix the volume at the next song. We ordered and waited. She returned with our appetizers about 10 minutes later. This time we asked much more directly for them to turn down the volume. We could not hear each other speak even leaning close together. The waitress told us that another table had also complained and she would ask again. At this point, we should have left. Since she was pretty nice, we foolishly waited again. Next time we see her, our food was delivered. Still no luck on the volume. If anything it was louder. We asked to speak to the manager. The final song queued up during the 15 minute wait. It was now so loud the speakers were distorting and clear evidence they were deliberately turning the music up. The manager literally refused to come speak with us despite numerous requests. We paid our bill and left.
I would never return and suggest everyone beware — the management doesn’t care if you have an issue.

First time I’d ever been here, but I will come back often.
They had great service, Great food, and Great atmosphere…
was it pricey, somewhat… but worth it. Chef Mark and the staff were amazing!

Ok. To start. I’m not sure why this place has an overall rating of like three or four stars. Baffles the mind really. I’m not even sure whey in a Greek Town there are so FEW delicious supposedly «authentic» Greek restaurants. I mean there are good ones, but to be good by being better than the others (which are bad) ain’t really that good. Ya know? To be honest, I have had better Greek food in Thailand and Hawaii (no lie), that’s how NOT good this place is. Sad really…
And what’s worse is when we went there to eat, we had just finished scuba diving for hours and we were STARVING — which is like the best spice for mediocre food and yet this restaurant and its pork gyros (weird, I know but I tried it: bit disappointing as presumed) still couldn’t appease the hungry beast :(Luckily we didn’t spend much there, otherwise it would have been even more disappointing.

The drinks were good, the pitchers of whatever they are were fruity and tasty and kick wasn’t noticed till we stood up… yum and fun!
With every plate placed on the table the people at the table commented «Ohh, I should have got that» or «Damn that looks good». End result, we were trading plates and trying everything, that was awesome!
I’m coming back here when in Florida because the fish was great, the atmosphere upstairs as well as the view were amazing.

We decided to give this restaurant a try. When it reopened after Pappas closed the food was good and the service was excellent. Now it is reopened again. This time not so much. The service was still good. I thought the food and drinks were a little overpriced. Some of the staff seemed to have a not so happy attitude. Probably will not go back

Alright, we got suckered in from the people outside with flyers, advertising 2 for 1 happy hour AND lunch specials from $ 5.99. Well, happy hour wouldn’t start for 3 more hours and the lunch special was $ 9.99 (and not very good.) I was like, Pork Gyro? May as well try it… and gross. So value was 1 star. I should have walked out, but it smelled good.
The server was nice enough, and the seasoned lamb (not a lunch special, $ 13.99) was quite delicious, when I scraped off the gobs of tzitziki sauce coating it, and pulled it from the mediocre at best gyro wrap.
Ended up not as hungry after seeing the food, taking it as leftovers, then tossing the leftovers after re-​tasting the next day. Not recommended.
2 stars because of the seasoned lamb.

We were in Tarpon for some shopping and saw that the Riverside Grill House Veranda had reopened so that’s where we had a late lunch. We checked out the menu before we went shopping and found a few things we thought we’d like. We got back about 1:30 or 2:00 and the place was somewhat busy. Joe was our waiter and he was great.
The bar service was normal, but I paid $ 5.00 for imported beer, first time for that.
We just had fish and chips, but it were very good. Our food was hot and the portions were ample. While we were dining the Manager stopped by to see if there was anything we needed. I didn’t get his name, but I did get the feeling we were very welcome. Our bill for lunch was $ 41.00. Great food, great view, nice place for a sun set dinner or just drinks. they have piped in music that was pleasant in the background not loud at all.
A very pleasant afternoon, accept for the shopping.

We booked our small wedding (50 people) in April 2011, to be held at the Riverside, in their Spartan Room, for November 2011. Mid August — their catering manager, Stephanie Laine, called us to say the restaurant was CLOSING FOR THE «SEASON». When we asked which season (summer or fall) she said «indefinately». BUT that they would still hold our wedding there! This facility will hold over 1000 people, has 2 bars (1 inside and 1 on the roof). Neither would be open or available for our guests. After 3 weeks of contemplating them actually bailing out completely, we met with Stephanie and explained that this is NOT what we contracted for and wanted our deposit back. She said she had to go to management… which she shared was now her and the owner! They have now refused to give us any of our deposit back — even though they have completely altered the very character of the restaurant (turning it into a giant mausoleum when you have a small group). No bars open in the place… half of the place completely closed to our guests! THEY ARE AWFUL!!! STAY AWAY!!!

We could not wait for this restaurant to re-open…But, unfortunately, we have been dissapointed with the food and the service. And even though the place has been refurbished, it still looks a bid dingy, specially in the main lounge and dining room areas. The veranda is a wonderful addition and it is pleasant to sit there overlooking the water, but again, the food and many times the service have a lot to be desired.
It is now «CLOSE FOR THE SEASON» which may very well mean that they are closed, period. Too bad. We were hoping they would improve with time. It goes to show you that it is not the view, or even the drinks, that keep
a place open, but the FOOD!!! and the SERVICE!!!
Hope the owners keep that in mind if they decide to re-​open.
A.T.

I had a wonderful meal and great service. I was reading the write up by Jason who was apparently an ex employee. Find out that he was the cook during the time of all the complaints, hence no longer there. We had the prime rib and it was the best in 10 years that I ate. Veranda was beautiful and entertainment great.

So my mother, boyfriend and I gave this place a chance, hoping to recapture the former glory of Pappas.
Was not the case.
All around, bad service.
I should have realized when we walked in through the wrong door and got a very unfriendly greeting from a bartender. SORRY, wasn’t very clear.
There were 2 waiters, though I am sure one was actually kitchen help. There were maybe 8 tables going when we came in and sat on the «Veranda». The waiter was slow, and very short with all the tables. Maybe 15 minutes after seating us, he got around to asking about drinks. Another 10 minutes, and they came out.
Worst margarita, mine and my mother’s. Liquor tasted cheap, and the mix even cheaper. My boyfriend got a coke. no problems there.
So food time. My mom went with the Greek salad (she decided you can’t mess that up), me with the coconut shrimp, and my boyfriend got the Prime rib on a ciabatta.
Took about 25 minutes to get the food, all the while no one else came.
Because the waiter thought he could remember the order, he brought my boyfriend a burger instead of what he ordered. I knew it would happen to one of us to damnit. As soon as he started repeating himself during the order, and watched to another table. I knew it.
Writing the order down is not freakin shameful.
Any who, my mom and I started eating, while he dove into the bread they bring out with a garlic and maybe olive oil? It was alright, not very flavorful.
Greek salad looked really nice, but once you start eating it. it isn’t all that special. It comes with potato salad (which is not traditional) and wasn’t very good, I bet they don’t make their own dressing, and the little shrimp on top was not cooked all the way through.
The coconut shrimp tasted like the margaritaville ones from the frozen food section. the Thai dipping sauce was good though.
Sandwich came out finally. and the meat was well done and dry. It came with Au jus though, so problem solved.
Overall. a 45 dollar meal that was mediocre at best. My mom was disappointed that i drug her here rather than red lobster. Mad at myself.
I hope they get it together, but they have a lot to live up too. The location is very nice, and the building is gorgeous. But right now, they have alot of work to do.

This place used to call ‘Pappas Restaurant’. It closed for several years and recently reopened.
After I told my neighbor about this restaurant, she was very excited because she used to go there and she remembered it was a nice and upscale restaurant. According to her, interior deco didn’t change too much from the past.
The first floor is the restaurant, and second floor has indoor dinning area and outdoor rooftop bar. The first impression at reception wasn’t impressive. But I understand due to the new opening, staffs need to be trained. So, instead of having a more formal dinning, we choose to enjoy their rooftop Veranda. View is very pleasant from the rooftop. It overlooks Anclote River and sponge dock. Menu is very interesting and plenty nice things to try. It is a bit pricey but they charge for the view as well. I ordered Papps slider and my neighbor had crab cakes.
That was where I decided not to give it higher rating. Food is acceptable but really nothing to capture your fancy about excellent food to match their former reputation.
The sell point is definitely the rooftop Veranda. You have bar area to rest after you have done shopping at sponge dock or just casual lunch with friends. I didn’t try their drinks though, but by the reaction from other customers, it shouldn’t be too bad.
I think it is a very desirable place for wedding or party events. Very pretty location for a memorable gathering for guests.
I will update again couple months later after the restaurant gets their feet on the ground. It should be a good place to go at beautiful Tarpon Springs.
I will be back!