Grilling & Chilling

 The Riverside Grill, 19 Castle Lane, Bedford, Beds, MK40 3NT

 It had been a long old day and Mrs Belly and I were really looking forward to the evening. We’d arranged another meet up with some friends (something we can’t do too often these days) and had booked a table at The Riverside Grill, 8pm sunshine. Don’t be late!

The Riverside Grill is set in a great little location which has been regenerated over the last few years. It used to be a very large scabby car park but has since been turned in to a little food court with a high rise residential complex for the rich & stupid, I’m being a bit harsh there. They’re not all rich.

The restaurant was pretty busy when we arrived although there was a lot of seats sitting empty however this didn’t seem to matter as we were told that they were running behind and would we mind going over to The Lanes (a bar owned by the same guys) for a drink, we were given a 10%b discount card and told that someone would come over to collect us when they had “caught up”.

10% discount isn’t to be sniffed at really but The Lanes is quite a pricey bar and even with a 10% discount you’re still paying above standard bar prices. Obviously you might as well make the most of it so we all ordered a different cocktail, I must say the Purple Rain seemed to be the best of the bunch.

After a little catch up and a 2^nd drink we were finally called next door to our table… one that had been empty when we first arrived. Also it didn’t appear that the place was any emptier than when we’d first arrived. Were we sent over to the bar as some sort of ruse to get us to spend more money than we would have or was it all very genuine? We’ll never know but can only ponder what’s, if’s and buts… not those butts!

I’m not sure what it is about the location but there must be something in the air that causes bad service. All of the places I have eaten at down here seem to have some of the worst waiting staff in all of Bedford. I won’t say they’re not friendly as they are, really friendly it’s just that they seem to take their damn sweet time over everything

The first thing we ordered were drinks which took a little time to come then it took a little while longer for them to take our order. The starters came out pretty quickly but were cold and then the gap between that and the main course was massive!

Since I’d had the shredded duck salad I wasn’t too annoyed that it was cold, in fact I had kind of a preconceived notion that the salad would be served cold since historically salads tend to be cold, therefore my disappointment of a cold starter was instantly diminished due to the fact that I felt no disappointment whatsoever. However, the rest of my table were quite disappointed that their “hot” starters were in fact cold, especially Mr Nose who had ordered the Skewered King Prawns.

When we finally received our main course they were a bit better, I mean nothing was hot but it was still warm and edible. It just felt as if everything had been sat out for 10mins before being served.

As for the actual quality of the food, it was fantastic. There wasn’t a single complaint about taste or the quality of the food at all. My duck salad starter was beautiful, it came served with this amazing dressing which appears to be soy& sesame oil but had more of a Dijon mustard kick to it. I also ordered the Hot Habanero Burger for mains (I think it’s called the triple smoked burger now), a thick and juicy “225g Ground Angus beef, topped with our fiery but fragrant chilli, coriander & red onion relish. Served with Cajun spiced chips”. My only issue with the burger was that it’s served in a wholegrain bap, no burger should be served in a wholegrain bap. It’s just not right.

This is the 2^nd time I’ve visited The Riverside Grill, the first time being when it had not long been open and to be honest this visit was practically a carbon copy of that first visit. Sadly this means that what I initially thought were teething issues are obviously not and just the way the place is run. If they ever get the service sorted and the food is served hot then great stuff, get yourself down there. However, while there are still these issues and you do visit then I would ask for a discount on the meal since you’re paying for what you get and if you’re getting cold\tepid food then you really don’t want to be paying full whack.

MRs Belly went for the Pesto Burger, I’m not a massive fan of pesto but even I thought it tasted great.

My only other bone of contention is the actual room itself, it’s quite a big room and beautifully decked out in a modern style with solid chairs & tables and solid furnishings and that is the problem. Because of how solid everything is it turns the room in to one of those “chatter zones” where the noise of everyone talking can become somewhat overwhelming. You’re trying to hold a conversation with the person sat opposite but can hear more coming from the person sat on the other side of the room than you can of your fellow converse because of eth way the sound bounces around the room. Even the waitress struggled to hear what we were ordering. They either need a few soft furnishings or a couple of acoustic tiles fitted in the right place to dampen the sound.