01/25/09

Awesome food, drinks, experience, Everything!!

by travelmomma215

We had an amazing night here. The food was AWESOME! The drinks were great, service was OUTSTANDING! We asked friends in this area where we should go for a good meal and great time and they all said COOL RIVER is top on their list!!! We made reservations but didn't need them on this Saturday night because the dining area side of the restaurant had very few people. Our waitress was extremely nice. In the middle of the restaurant in between the dining area and the bar is a Cognac Lounge with huge comfy couches. If you are a smoker it's the perfect place to step away for a moment without having to go outside. Our waitress held our food for a few minutes keeping it warm while we stepped into the lounge. From inside there is a glass wall facing the bar so you can check out what is going on in there and see how crowded it is or isn't. AFter dinner we went into the bar which is larger than I expected with a full bar. They don't make speciality or fancy drinks just normal anything you can conjur up drinks which is always fun too. The music from the band was a bit loud for our tastes but it was fun after being in the quiet peaceful elegant side of the place in the dining room. I liked the way the place was set up. Within a min. of sitting at our bar table another waitress came to order a drink for us...again, awesome wait staff. It is definitely a place for upper 20's and on up age group. It was wonderful though to see a bunch of people our age and older having a good time. Anyway, we would defnitely go back, especially for the food. I had the shrimp pasta, the shrimp was cooked and seasoned so well you could hardly tell it was shellfish (which sometimes tastes fishy, this didn't) and my hubby had the ribs which were so tender they fell right of the bone and he didn't even have to use his hands at all! We also ordered grey goose dirty martini's...ooohhhh...SO good!! And the calamari was excellent too! You should give this place a try!

10/07/08

So close yet so far

by Jesse5050

I won't go into details on the food part of the experience except to say I am a fan of ribeye and have eaten it in many places and what I had there was nothing to write home about. Not bad, not great, just okay. I am a regular in the club and hope management reads these. The bands are usually very good. Dance space is limited and they have tables ON THE DANCE FLOOR. This makes no sense on a Thursday or Saturday. My other complaint is with the smoking in the bar area. I realize they somehow have special permission to allow smoking, but you really need to ban cigars from the area since you spent all the money on having a CIGAR ROOM to smoke in. There is nothing more offensive than a Arnold wannabe pretending to smoke his cheap stogie in a crowded room. If they address these two issues, its a great place for the 30 to 45 crowd..

• Pros: good bands, good atmosphere, good location
• Cons: cigar smoke, chairs and tables on the dance floor

08/29/08

Best prime rib ever, great customer service

by marysauer

I am a gourmet cook, and am very critical when dining out. Cool River Cafe exceeded my expectations. I have never written a review before, but feel compelled to rave about my experience there. We reserved a private dining room for our group of 11 and were treated like royalty. Our waitress was very attentive and fulfilled every request. Everyone was pleased with the quality of the food. My 22 ounce aged prime rib was the best I've ever eaten; very tender and absolutely delicious. Be prepared to pay a lot for this outstanding food and service. The bill was almost $100 per person including tax and tip; alcoholic beverages comprising half the bill. Entrees cost more than $30 each, and our wine ranged between $40 (mediocre) and $80 (good) per bottle. We felt we had made a good choice by going here for a special occasion. The only complaints I heard were: it was a little noisy (probably partially the fault of our happy group!), and the chocolate cake wasn't chocolatey enough.

• Pros: parking, service, food quality
• Cons: noisy