River Birch Lodge

This is a fabulous restaurant! The lasagna is from the owner’s mother. Oh how I wish I could have the recipe

We’ve always had good experiences at RBL. It’s our go-​to place for a nice-​ish dinner. It’s not crazy expensive (though certainly not cheap) and has great quality food from the scrumptious appetizers to a variety of great sandwiches (Apple Brie Cranberry… mmmm…recommended on the wrap to keep all the parts together better) and some fuller entrees. Also has a solid bar with some tasty house cocktails. Definitely recommended.

After waiting 40 minutes for our food, the lasagne was delivered cold. Sending it back to the kitchen resulted in another 10 minute wait for a dish served tepid to warm.
Interestingly, manager stopped at every single table (including those on both sides of us) yet never made it to ours. It was quite obvious he was aware our food had. been sub-​par!
I can tolerate a kitchen error or two. But rudeness/​lack of care from management is inexcusable.
Prices were high and restaurant is incredibly noisy. The 2 stars are solely for our server and for the pre-​meal bread.
I rarely say this — but no 2^nd chance. We won’t ever be back.

This place is awesome and the food is amazing! My son took his prom date here last night and they absolutely look it too!

I had a $ 25 gift card to River Birch Lodge, so we went for our anniversary dinner. My husband ordered the lasagna with white bean chili and I ordered the hickory grilled chicken with BBQ sauce with mashed potatoes and a side salad. The food was pretty good quality. The chicken breast was butterflied, so it was very done on the inside, which is the way we both like it. The potatoes were tasty. The lasagna had so many noodles! Most lasagnas are lacking in the noodle department. The white bean chili was disappointing — no flavor, no heat, it was more like hamburger and white bean soup. The waitress graciously comped the chili. My main beef with this place is their pricing. A club sandwich is $ 12.50. It’s a sandwich with fries on the side. A burger that actually involves cooking costs less. It shouldn’t be that expensive. The chicken was almost $ 18, and honestly wasn’t that much food even though I ordered the regular size — just one 8 oz piece of grilled chicken with BBQ sauce, a scoop of mashed potatoes, plus side salad (that was $ 1.50 extra because it wasn’t on the list of sides). The lasagna was $ 13, but didn’t come with anything else, no salad, no soup. While the food was good, I’m not sure it was special enough or good enough to warrant those prices.

This is a beautiful restaurant. Great elegant yet country feel. The décor is beautiful. Their Spinach and Wild Mushroom rolls had a hint of rosemary, parmesean and garlic, very tender on the inside, and flaky outside. It is served with a not to sweet wild berry sauce that compliments it. The white bean chili hits the spot on a chilly day. It is topped with a spoonful of sour cream and some cheddar cheese, just add some hot sauce e for a kick. The blackened NC Catfish comes over red beans and white rice, the fish was blackened on outside yet it was still soft and flaky. It is topped with a green tomatoes chutney. Their shrimp & Grits has some spice to it. It has a nice combination of ham and andouille sausage, all on top of some hearty white stone ground grits. It is a rainbow of flavors in every bite!

The trout was fresh and perfectly sautéed with skin-​on, which is my favorite. There were too many almonds, but probably could have had this fixed if it had been a major issue. The mashed garlic potatoes were nice and flavorful. And, the sautéed spinach was fresh and plentiful.
The bison and sausage cream cheese dip was like something you get at a superbowl party. It is good, but can make this at home. The portion was not suitable for sharing with more than 2 people for the price, but it is probably close to 1000 calories per bite. Must find balance somewhere, right?
The beer selection is pretty darn near perfect!
The bartenders, servers, hosts, kitchen staff were all very polite, welcoming, and had a great working knowledge of the menu and wine pairings.
The atmosphere is almost too pretentious. The local clientele probably like that it isn’t a drive all the way to village tavern on Reynolda or Hanes mall, but it seemed just as crowded on a Wednesday evening. It is this, I believe, which drives the prices higher than necessary. That being said, the quality of the food was accurate to the price per presentation, service, and timeliness. I will be back to try something else.
The porch overlooks a busy street with automobile traffic, which isn’t romantic, but serves as a reminder that it’s what we have on the inside that counts.
–Saluté!

It was Saturday night and the woman and I headed to this fine establishment! The food and service was spectacular! Had the bbq smoked duck pizza which was tremendous! The crust, sauce and duck were perfectly out together. We also had the turkey and Brie panini — the melted cheese and apples combined eight cranberries were a hit!!!
Let’s also not forget the bread they served before the meal… And we also had sangria which was very good as well! It’s a great place to go — everything about it gets 5 stars!

I really like this restaurant a lot. I’ve come here a few times and both times my food has been delicious. I’ve ordered the ribs and the chicken breast before, both fantastic. They also have an option of getting a smaller portion for the chicken and ribs if you aren’t as hungry. My favorite place to sit here is the porch outside its super cute out there and it’s also pet friendly so you can bring your pups! The service there is also fantastic and all of the servers are very friendly. I can’t wait to go back here for some delicious food!

Wow! That’s the best way for me to start the description of this restaurant. My husband and I came here tonight for a dinner date and were blown away. We arrived for our reservation and were immediately seated by very friendly hostesses. Our server also immediately came to ask for our drink orders. She went over the specials for the night and did one thing in particular that I can truly respect… We asked about a few dishes to get her opinion and when asked about the shrimp and grits she was honest in saying they weren’t the best, but recommended a couple others instead. I would hands down rather have a server be honest instead of try to up sell me. Applause!
I ordered their scallops and angel hair pasta. This was beyond my expectations! It came with 10 huge, perfectly seared scallops that had been tossed in a lemon zest and garlic butter sauce. It had sautéed spinach and sun dried tomatoes also all with angel hair pasta. The scallops were perfectly juicy yet seared perfectly to a golden crisp on both sides. The lemon zest brightened the dish and gave it a light, fresh flavor. I also had the cherry cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert. This was hot and bubbly in a casserole dish with flaky pastry on top and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! The cherries were tart and very tender.
I loved that the manager came by and greeted everyone which was a great touch. My husband had their huge fried chicken on top of fresh mashed potatoes that had blue cheese in them. I tasted it and the chicken was just like home, but better! I can’t wait to return! #YelpNCTriad

A recent visit to Winston afforded the opportunity to have lunch at this busy, interesting place, one that had been on our bucket list for a while now. It is a good size restaurant, broken up into sections around a central dining area, with a nice bar to the left as you enter (they like the Demon Deacons here). While the clientele seems to be more on the seasoned side, with several clutches of graying matrons, and a few tables of aged and slightly thickened fraternity brothers, there were some young moms with toddlers, and a few young suit types — interestingly, few couples only.
There is a rustic, faux lodge theme to the interior, which comes up a little short of its goal, but not in an unpleasant or cheesy way. The overall acoustic effect of the interior design makes this a particularly loud restaurant when well occupied, which is often, I surmise. The booths are not a great choice as they are tight, and rather uncomfortable, a table is definitely the way to go here, or head for the bar if one is more into comfort than being seen.
We chose the Lasagna (a «Large» order with side salad for $ 13.35) and and a ½ rack of Baby Back Ribs ($ 20.65 with 2 sides). A complimentary bread plate and our drink orders arrived quickly, with Alice’s Caesar Salad choice right behind. The bread was nice, though a touch chewy, and the Caesar was exceptional and well sized, especially for having been pre-​prepared and then plated as opposed to being prepared table side, loaded with fresh & crisp Romaine and an excellent, sharp tasting dressing.
The entrees followed in due course, with the Lasagna proving to be the better choice. Everything about the taste of this dish was nice, but the meat sauce really stood out. This was labeled a Large portion, and that is a bit of a stretch, rendering this a somewhat value challenged choice, but not nearly as much as the Ribs, which fell short in both taste and texture, as well!
There was very little sauce on the ribs, and no additional sauce accompanied this dish as a side item — one could ask for more, perhaps, but then again, one shouldn’t have to. The ribs were a bit overcooked as well, resulting in rather dry, leathery exterior, exacerbating the general lack of flavor. Given the overall quality of the dish, and the price of over $ 20 for a half a rack, I would not consider ordering this again.
The service was exceptional — alert, attentive, and engaging — I really liked this aspect of the restaurant. This is not an inexpensive place, the menu needs to be «cherry picked» to one’s tastes, and it is not about a relaxed, comfortable meal — this is a «See Me» kind of place to some extent with the accompanying noise and «personalities» that such places produce, but that doesn’t mean a nice meal can’t be put together from the available options.

I took my daughter there for her 21^st birthday recently. I first asked at the front to hold a table for us, which was a good thing because we were going into the bar for a drink and when we came out the restaurant was full, waiting room only but we had a table waiting. At the bar they failed to ask for her ID this was the second place of the day to fail to do so. Drinks and service were excellent, bar was well stocked, staffed, friendly and knowledgeable. We then went to the restaurant to eat, ordered an appetizer and two listed specialty drinks the server accordingly carded my daughter a first on her birthday! Drinks were awesome as well as the food including desert and service despite the restaurant being full and a party going on in the back all there were attentive to those they served.

You know how you have a restaurant that you frequent, not because the food is amazing or the staff is just out of this world. You frequent it simply for the fact of it’s proximity to where you live. Yes folks, sheer laziness is the reason why we frequent River Birch. Now, I’m not saying that River Birch’s food is bad. I’m saying to it’s kind of overpriced for what it is.
Now for the food:
My husband’s go to is the turkey and brie sandwich which he always thinks is good. I like to try different things. I’ve had the blackened catfish and red beans and rice, which is so good. This time I got the Cedar plank salmon, bad move on my part. Those of you remember I like my salmon cooked a certain way. I don’t know how you can overcook and undercook something at the same time, but that’s what they did. And there was absolutely no flavor. The manager came over and tried to point out that they lightly season their cedar planked salmon. I don’t know about anyone else, but I like my salmon to be flavorful.
Overall, the food is ok, and depending on the server you get they may be nice. We will continue to go, because why not, it’s close by.

My family often stops in for a drink and/​or app since it is so close to our house. the bartenders are always very nice. I have never been disappointed with their food and my husband adores their bison burger. We are definitely fans of River Birch. I remember when it was being built and we were all so excited. Seems like just yesterday, but I saw a sign the other day that said 10 year anniversary, hard to believe! :) It’s been a great ten years I must say.

My best friend and I were visiting Old Salem for most of the morning last weekend and I was searching for a cozy place to have a very nice lunch. I Unilocaled of course and came upon River Birch Lodge. The lunch menu has a lot of tasty sandwiches, wraps and salads as well as an extensive wine & cocktail list. I enjoyed the Entrada cocktail which consisted of sparkling rosé, St Germain, bitters and lemon peel. It was strong and delicious. We began with the Pimento Cheese dip served with flatbread; it was way too thick and very goopy but the flavor was fabulous. My lunch was the Turkey & Brie Sandwich with cranberry sauce and arugula on grain bread served with house chips; it was very tasty but very dry. A thick complementing spread or aioli would’ve made this sandwich absolutely amazing. My dining companion’s lunch was the Robinhood Chicken Wrap with spinach, feta, pecans, cranberries and balsamic served with French fries. His was delicious! Yum! We both loved it and it could’ve easily been deconstructed as a salad. Service was absolutely fantastic; friendly and very hospitable. I doubt we will be back to dine here in the future as its about 40 minutes away, on the pricey side and I wouldn’t bring my kids to a place this nice for lunch LOL — anyway, thank you for a nice Saturday afternoon.

You have to be crazy not to give them 5 stars … Or more! I went here Monday for the first time with my girlfriend who goes there all the time.‘I was a little nervous about the food. You can have a great interior but the food can still be bland. But this place… The food was absolutely incredible ! Gouda Mac and cheese should be illegal it’s that good! I also ordered the Bianco pizza which is also very good! My girl had the salmon with the honey bourbon sauce which put us all in a food coma. The bartenders are awesome David and Maliki. They are the experts when it comes to alcoholic beverages! Highly recommend the Gouda Mac and cheese. Little pricey but honestly it’s worth the price. Every bite of it! apparently they have a good Sunday brunch in which I definitely go to this weekend. Our waitress was great! Very professional!

A friend of mine believes that the best way to judge an upscale restaurant is to order a cheeseburger. If they manage to deliver a really good, well prepared burger without a lot of sauces, spices or gimmicky crap, they’ve got a confident, well trained kitchen and good ingredients.
River Birch serves great burgers.
In particular, make sure you try their bison burger for something a little different that isn’t gamey or drowning in sauces.
The rest of the menu is nicely varied and covers all the bases. It’s a great place to eat when you don’t know what you want to eat.
I’m docking it a star because I hold higher end places to a higher standard. The wait staff could be more on the ball, they seem to get overwhelmed easily when they’re busy or have a party or something. It’s also quite noisy once the tables start filling, they could do with some redecorating to deal with the noise.
But overall? It’s more expensive, but it’s worth it.

Ummmm how have I never been here before?! This was one of the best meals I have had this Summer. Like seriously so good. From the service to the cabin theme this restaurant knows how to handle business. The prices aren’t cheap, which is probably why I haven’t made it in previously. But, the portions are generous and the quality and creativeness of the menu is impressive.
We started off with the bison and sausage cream cheese dip. I was hesitant, but the husband was into it so we went for it. Yum, yum, yum! It was a bowl of hot, creamy, dip, deliciousness. I recommend you give this dish a try! We also had the mac and cheese which was tasty but really heavy and swimming in cheese sauce. Now if we weren’t also eating cream cheese/​meat dip maybe we wouldn’t have found the mac and cheese so heavy.
For the main dish we shared the duck two ways. They split it for us, which I always appreciate. This dish was awesome! One of the best duck dishes I have. The duck confit swimming in that cream sauce with the gnocchi is not to be missed. The duck breast was tender and cooked perfectly. Not chewy at all and super flavorful. The balsamic vinegar they drizzle over the dish really pulled everything together and cut the creaminess nicely. If you like duck, and gnocchi, and cream sauces, then you need to get in on this.
The dessert menu sounded awesome! But after eating ridiculously heavy meal items dessert was out of the question for us – until next time that is!

4.5 Stars-​Best eats I’ve ever had in Winston. Not haute cuisine, but what they do, they do right. Excellent prime rib, salads, chops, wings… excellent crème brûlée…Ate there 2 days in a row whilst visiting family it was so good, and I’m a picky yank. ;)
Oh, and they also have a gf menu and are super accommodating for those (like me) with special dietary needs:)))

I just can’t say enough good things about this restaurant. The food is amazing. The Very Berry Salmon Salad is delicious — and the Wildberry dressing is so good with it. We order lunch from here a lot for our office, and the Robinhood Wrap is a hands-​down favorite. Chickien, blue cheese, balsamic, candied pecans, spinach. It is delicious! I’ve never seen them make a misstep — while dining in or with takeout. This place is managed so well. The wait staff is well trained and knowledgeable. Its become my go-​to place for lunch AND dinner.