I made 4:00 pm reservations at this place to have dinner. When we walked in, we were told it was open seating to sit inside and or on the deck. We grabbed drinks at the bar before sitting down. It is currently 4:41 and we have not gotten any service. The Hispanic waitress on staff avoid all eye contact as she passed out table for 35 minutes. They took drink orders for other people sitting there who came after we did. My boyfriend finally had to get up to ask the bartender if we could have a menu about 20 minutes in and that still did not spark any kind of consideration or anything from any wait staff. Absolutely will never ever come there again. Your customer service is absolutely horrible. read more

The restaurant is located on the Delta King ship located in Old Sacramento on the Sacramento River. Restaurant takes reservations. Restaurant and bar can be walk up. We made a reservation online to which was confirmed a day prior to dinner. We were greeted promptly and helped to a table immediately. Restaurant decor was classic fashioned, good order, and set in a comfortable temperature. The tables and chair in nice condition. Staff was prompt to answer questions and take our order. Water was provided as requested. Staff described several dishes including the dishes of the day. A fish with two "jumbo" shrimp scampi style with mushroom risotto. The other special was salmon with seasonal vegetable and chive mashed potatoes. We asked for details on several chicken dishes to which we asked the waitress to describe for us. We ordered the daily special and the half baked chicken. We also ordered naan with pepper hummus. Bread came first with oil and vinegar. Water was refilled. Bread was soft. Decent. Appetizer came shortly after completing the bread. The pieces were appropriate size to use a spoon go with the large amounts of hummus. The hummus was delicious and on point. Water was refilled shortly as our entrees arrived. The fish dish with prawns is what I ordered. The grains were aptly seasoned and cooked. Warm. Fish tends to be on salty before adding more spice. Fish was salty for being scampi style. Fish was cooked mostly correct through. The scampi style sauce was not offsetting but enough that I needed water. I tend not to drink enough water but needed a refill. Waitress was no where to be found for refills once the entree arrived. The two jumbo prawns were more on the small side if you asked me. It was alright. Nothing to be impressed about. The dish elements were okay in whole. If eating them separately they would have been alright. Only wish the waitress came by more during the meal for water. My wife orders the half breast with seasoned vegetables and mashed. She stated the chicken was okay. Cooked right but seasoned salty. When we finished our meal did the waitress come back around to get the check to us and offer water. We paid by gift card and tipped by cash. Bill settlement required manager to enter the gift card. It was some time before the waitress came back. Good for the ambience. Bad nothing. Overall okay experience. Service was a mixed bag. Food was a mixed bag. I'll have to finish gift card. I'll just try at the bar next time. read more

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Went here for breakfast! It is absolutely amazing. Beautiful scenery. Ordered the eggs Florentine. So delicious! Definitely an awesome spot to go for breakfast. read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

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This is a review geared more to the lack of staff than the food since we never really got chance to see what the chef was capable of. Our dinners were tasty but luke warm to cold and took 3 trips to serve 5 dinners. The drinks took 20 minutes to arrive and we are still waiting for our bread. The staff was friendly and as attentive as they could be but there just wasn't enough help to provide good service. The Pilot House needs more help or less customers to be all that it could be. We do want to thank everyone working there for doing the best they could and it was appreciated. The stars are for the staff, not management. read more

Honestly some of the best food I've ever had steak was nice and juicy the risotto was so flavorful. would love to get go back every night if I could but alas I'm in Los Angeles read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - Mushroom risotto. - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

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Hours of operation needs to be updated. We travelled from Oakland to Sacramento to eat at Pilothouse. We arrived at 2pm only to be told they were closed until 5pm. It was a business day but they seemed closed. All the lights were out when we looked through the window. Such a shame. read more

I loved this place a whole lot. I went here with the SO (significant other) and my Mom for an early birthday dinner. I loved old town Sacramento in general, so it was fun to walk around before we had our dinner. The boat itself is really neat, a little 80's on the inside, but it has a ton of charm and character. I called in ahead of time and made reservations for a Sunday evening. The restaurant itself was not busy, but I would still recommend reservations on weekend evenings. We were seated immediately and the staff was very good at attending to us. The staff was very knowledgeable about the menu and even offered the SO "if you don't like it, I will make you anything else you want." The SO was worried about a salty seafood stew; but, it was amazing, not too salty and he had no complaints. I loved the fact that they kept bringing out this warm bread with a himilayan sea salt whipped butter. It was pretty amazing. We also ordered the cheese plate appetizer and it was out of this world. They chose great cheeses and the honeycomb combination was my favorite. I ended up ordering the short rib ravioli and had one of those can-i-lick-the-plate-i-really-want-to moments. read more

This was some of the worst service and most mediocre food I've ever had. The bartender is rude, the manager has no idea what she's doing, and the poor server we had was equally clueless as well as incredibly slow. Another member of our party also left an open table review describing how awful it was, which of course was never responded to because clearly no one here cares about their guest experience at all. Don't go here. It's not worth it. read more

The food here was five star! Although, no one greeted us. They didn't have a reserved table for us even though we made a reservation. We reserved a window view and didn't get it. It took us 30 minutes to get our food from when we walked in. read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - Happy mom's day - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

We loved this place, never ever disappointed with food, services @ all. The Salmon here is always come out perfect. Love all of their food read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - Pan grilled roasted Salmon, we never disappointed to eat here. Good food, good service and reasonable price. We are the fan - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

I will preface this by saying this review is solely based on Pilothouse's dine downtown week menu. My best friend and I dined at Pilothouse for Dine Downtown last year and were blown away by all 3 courses. I had the Cabernet braised chicken which I believe is in the regular menu and was absolutely blown away. Hands down one of the best dishes I have ever tasted. The other 2 courses I had are not on their regular menu but they were equally as amazing. The service was also wonderful and we have been meaning to come back to try their regular menu but haven't gotten the chance too. Fast forward to this year, we decided to visit Pilothouse for dine downtown week again but had a completely different experience. We had a reservation for 3 so we checked in at the host counter. The hostess was friendly and sat us at a table next to a window which was much appreciated. She handed us 3 regular menus so I asked her if we could see the dine downtown menus. She said of course and went and grabbed us a few but she also told us that she was initially going to ask us if we were there for Dine Downtown but she's not supposed too. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I understand that restaurants might not like publicizing their dine downtown menu since they don't make as much money off it but if that's the case, they shouldn't participate. There were only 2 other tables beside us and it still took our server a good 10 minutes to make his way over to us. When he finally showed up, he seemed disinterested and kind of cold. I couldn't help but thinking this was because we were ordering off the DDT menu. We ordered a bottle of wine and he went ahead and took our orders for all 3 courses. I can honestly say that I have NEVER been so disappointed with a meal in my whole life. Our endive gratin was very bitter, the pork osso buco with horseradish mashed potatoes was drowning in horseradish. None of us could finish it. Our chocolate mousse cake tasted store bought. The bread pudding was okay but not anything to rave about. I will be back to try the regular menu, but for those of you who are considering tying Pilothouse for Dine Downtown in the future, I strongly advise against it. read more

The hostess that seated us was terrible. On our reservation we asked for a window seat. She said she could do that but that it would be an hour till we could open it due to sunlight. With this in mind we were fine being seated on the other side of the restaurant. 10 minutes later she goes around and opens all the windows. What saves this from being a bad review is the amazing waitress we had. She understood why we were upset she moved us to the banquet room and regularly checked on us there. Gave us free dessert. It must have been a lot of added hassle for her but she made my birthday so much better. read more

I would never recommend this place ever again!!! A chef that doesn't know how to cook a New York steak properly after three attempts; shouldn't be a chef. There were five of us ladies, and four ordered the New York steak and the girl lady ordered the pork chop. 1st attempt, three of the four orders of New York steaks was cold that even the block of butter that was placed on the steak didn't melt. Only one of the New York steaks came out right. So, we sent back three plates to be corrected. 2nd attempt, instead of preparing a new steak, the chef recooked the same steak that was sent back, it was brought back to us overcooked and charred instead of the medium rare that we had ordered. What chef in his/her right mind does that? Recooking & charring the same steak does not keep it medium rare! 3rd attempt, with brand new steaks, still this chef doesn't know what medium rare is in a steak!!! At this point we were all so hungry that two of the ladies decided to just eat the over cooked steaks and I refuse mine... I'm not paying $40 for a steaks that can't be prepare correctly. The whole evening was such a huge disappointment that ruined one of our friend's birthday celebration. As for the manager, the only thing she could do was offer me a free dessert... really and no discount for the two over cooked steaks? I ended up not having any dinner because I could trust the chef's cooking. My friends didn't enjoy their meal! We would never recommend this place to anyone ever. What happened to them? They used to be an excellent place to eat and with great service. This experience has forever scared us from ever wanting to return here for anything again. read more

First time here! Came here for our anniversary. The waiters were great and friendly. We ordered the calamari and the grilled rib eyed steak with Chardonnay. Everything was delicious!! read more

We were staying the night on the Delta King Riverboat and made reservations to eat at the Pilothouse on the boat. We ate here for Dinner and the free Breakfast with hotel stay. The service was good both times. The food was hot and miss. I had the Fish&Chips for dinner and it was average, the fries were not very good. The 3 other people in my group ordered the California Opah fish and none of them liked it. The fish was overcooked and hard to eat. For breakfast I had the french toast and bacon, it was very good and I would have it again. Overall, the place could improve but the experience of eating on the Riverboat is cool. read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - Fish&Chips - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

Was visiting some family in the Sacramento area, and we spent the afternoon walking around Old Town. As we were walking along the river by the trains, we noticed this huge paddle wheel boat. Saw a guy enjoying a beer on deck, and realized it was a restaurant. Since we had no dinner plans yet, we checked out the menu and decided to have dinner at the Pilothouse. Our party of seven were seated, and we admired the surroundings. Beautiful decor, service was excellent (my nephew has many allergies, and our server was very helpful), food was visually appealing and quite good. Everyone liked what they ordered, and my Shrimp Louie was very tasty. My daughter and my niece shared the ribeye, and they served it already split in half (along with sides) on separate plates for them, without us having to ask. Nice proactive service! Again, I must mention that we had excellent service, from being greeted at the door, to our very friendly server. She was a gem! Was a great experience having dinner on the water, and after dinner, we walked around on deck, enjoying the lounge chairs, the cool breeze, and the setting sun. Very pleasant experience overall! read more

Pilothouse Restaurant has everything going for them except their food isn't on point. We recently had dinner here. The dining room and service were up to fine dining flare. We thought it was great. But, we also saw it wasn't consistent. We had a great experience but through our dinner service, we noticed other diners around us weren't getting the same. I could hear complaints murmuring around us. For us, we enjoyed it. I've been to the bar on this boat and didn't expect Pilothouse to be much. But it is. Too bad the food was just okay. It didn't match everything else. To have a nice dining room and great service and then eat blah food that was at fine dining prices, that was sad. The best part of our meal was our appetizer flatbread. The rest of the meal kinda went downhill. And, if you consider dessert.. have liquid dessert because the desserts they offered weren't the business. read more

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I came here this past weekend and boy was I impressed! We started off with the fried calamari and wow were these good!! I'd totally recommend them! I orderee the salmon but, unfortunately, that was average. I probably wouldn't order it again. The presentation of it, however, was marvelous. My friend got the mushroom risotto and I tried a bit of that and it was delicious! The place is a little pricey but, hey, it's on a freaking boat! We got there around 7pm on Saturday and it was packed. Luckily, we got a table near the windows and the view was amazing. We caught the sunset and saw people enjoying and driving by on their boats. Overall, a wonderful evening experience to jump start a fun night in old Sac! read more

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We started our vacation with a day in Old Sac. We finished the day with lunch at the Delta King. Lovely appointed dinning room. We enjoyed people watching. Happily too, we were seated in a booth by a window and we could watch the boats go by. Sadly we were not very impressed with our lunch. Faye ordered the fried calamari, I got the shrimp cocktail. Our server did bring a basket of warm bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. I hate it when they bring plate of only one or the other, and one has to ask for the other. Faye's calamari was perfectly cooked, very tender, not chewy, but the batter did not stick to the fish. She liked the sauce as well, but again, had to fight to not get it cluttered with the batter that constantly fell off the fish. My shrimp cocktail was nothing more than mini peeled shrimp from a grocery store, and the cocktail sauce was very flat. No bite to it at all. If we go again, most likely we'll try the grill upstairs instead. Our waitress was very attentive, and asked if she could take a pic of both of us, which was very nice. Kudos to her for that. read more

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First time here. The Pilothouse is inside of the Delta King. There service and ambience were excellent. We had a wonderful waiter. The soup du jour was clam chowder, which was excellent. For my main course, I ordered the ribeye. Unfortunately it arrived well done when I had ordered it medium. Had the food been as good as the service, it would have gotten 4 stars. That won't stop me from returning and giving them another shot, though. read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - The Ferrari-Carano merlot...it's excellent!!! - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

The worst. NYE, no reservation, ok...waited 10 min to be acknowledged. Told we'd have to seat ourselves upstairs in bar for small bites menu, which had 4 items, including fries, and was a joke. Loud and awful music, ok, its NYE. Opted to cut out and find another place. On way out, saw the only other Black couple, who did have a reservation, still waiting for their table. Leaving the venue, passing the window from outside, could see over half the tables empty. Makes you wonder. Particularly when we walked 2 blocks to The Firehouse, a far superior and pricier establishment with a rich local history, offering a 5 course NYE menu, and who without reservations, still managed to not only find us a table for 2 but to treat us with the utmost courtesy and eloquence. I will avoid the Pilothouse on that musty Delta King barge going forward and recommend you do too. read more

We had breakfast here and we were pleasantly surprised. The breakfast was included with our room package so I had low expectations. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast. She had eggs over medium, sausage, potatoes and an english muffin. The scrambled eggs were of the premixed kind, a bit of a letdown but seems to be standard these days. Her eggs were a bit overcooked. Now onto to good stuff.The bacon was thick, didn't have nearly any fat and tasted out of this world. Sausage links were good. Potatoes had peppers and onions and were tasty. They mistakenly gave me a blueberry muffin and I'm glad they did, it was good too. Portion size was perfect. Our drinks never went empty. Service was very good from the waitstaff but we did wait for longer than normal for our food. Nice views if you sit on the river side of the restaurant. We both left happy and ready to walk old town sac. read more

Such a disappointment. Do not have your party here. I did. I had my 50th B-day here. We paid top $ for bad service and even worse food. I worked with one of their party planners but it was a disaster. We paid about $100 per person!!! We got the most expensive menu items, and for that we got ONE bad waitress, looooong waits, odd tables setup in restaurant (even tho banquet rooms available) and bad cold food. Nobody liked their meals. There was literally zero attention to details. What a disappointment. I had such a poor 50th birthday party here. ZERO STARS!! Blah!! read more

Had dinner there last night. Service was terrible and food worse. Were expecting a fine dining experience but sadly disappointed. 2small tasteless crab cakes for $18. 3scallops for $33 and terrible and dry tasteless swordfish for $33. Check the pictures. I would be ashamed to serve this no matter what the charge read more

I'm talking about BRUNCH. I had a great smoked salmon eggs and country potatoes. It was a great meal, but I must say hanging out on a boat on the river was awesome. U enjoyed viewing the river while sipping on bottomless mimosas with great service. Step back getting to the table was a bit flimsy even with a reservation and faces that didn't exactly say 'welcome'! Our waitress made up for it was a hidden gem on this boat! She made sure that our group of 5 was happy as a clam. Thanks again! read more

We had breakfast here twice during our stay on the Delta King. It was really delicious both times. Our breakfast was included in the price of our room. I had eggs Benedict twice, and it was really tasty both times! The others in our party had the "bed & breakfast" & an omelet. Each item was tasty. Since we were staying on the boat, we also had lunch & happy hour. Calamari was great & came with a nice & spicy dip. I tried the beet salad on day one & liked it so much that I had to have it again on day two! It was truly delicious (if you like beet salads!). It came with roasted golden & red beets, goat cheese, walnuts, arugula, & red quinoa with a vinaigrette dressing. Sit in the bar & enjoy the view. Its a really charming setting! read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - Beet salad with red quinoa, walnuts and goat cheese. - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

My husband and I went here for our anniversary since we always wanted to try this place. We arrive got greeted and we're served well. They receive two stars one for good service and one for location because the food literally made me sick. I am a vegetarian and mentioned this when ordering, they offered me something some else had order earlier in the evening, vegetables with couscous. Since I was so hungry I did not even think about my food being really cold and ate it agreeably anyways. My husband got a steak which was also over cooked did the same. I got sick later that night and I am almost positive it was this cold dinner that was left out. I would not recommend this place the food was not good quality for the price which was such a disappointed for us even though it has such a great atmosphere. read more

Amazing chowder Old school timeless classic charm Our bartenders upstairs AB, and Jacob were amazing And our waitress Alice is amazing Highly recommend it read more

Nice setting, aboard a ship, and all that. Romantic, cozy, and a relaxed Sunday morning with my babe. The setting alone was nice. Both my girlfriend and I ordered the salmon benedict. Great tasting smoked salmon, and the eggs were poached perfectly. The potatoes were good, but mixed with onions and peppers (not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't prefer them, so just a warning to others). Even though there was egg and hollendaise, the English muffin was crunchy. The champagne was of delicious quality. Would definitely return for a wonderful Sunday brunch read more

Only giving four stars because of the server. He wasn't very attentive and had to ask multiple times for things. But our food was AMAZING. Food was to die for read more

Pilothouse Restaurant - New American Near Me - Sacramento, California

SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. 13 minutes to get the drink order, 19 minutes before the beer (not even a mixed cocktail) and 109 minutes (I turned on my timer) before we had our food. The food was OK but not worth the wait. The service was marginal - our glasses were empty multiple times for several minutes. The view of the river was nice but the interior smelled. I would not recommend this restaurant. read more

Lovely view of the river and the bridge. Food was sadly quite bad in particular the Impossible Burger was not enjoyable to eat. The fries were also not well cooked. read more

The only reason I visited this restaurant aboard the Delta King was because I received a complimentary breakfast meal ticket with my overnight stay. I did enjoy that I was able to choose any option on the menu (crab cakes were an additional $5) to enjoy and the breakfast hours were flexible. There was never any wait for a table and I did have the opportunity to sit on the river view side while I ate my meal. I felt as if the food was buffet food and not the highest of quality. The staff were all extremely friendly and the place was well kept and mighty clean, but the food did less than wow me. I would not return here for food again, but for a drink with a view instead. read more

Super super disappointed!!! First of all this place is known to be "classy and nice" far from it! To start off we were sitting down for at least 20 minutes before we got our water even. We had four people in our group and only got 2 waters. We got our food after 50 minutes of sitting there. The menu had only one page with about 6 entree options . We ordered our food and when it got to us it was cold. My husband ordered the eggs Benedict and it had no Hollandaise sauce it was literally all just covered in cold egg yolk. It was cold and the potatoes had no seasoning or salt. My daughter got the grilled cheese and she couldn't even eat it because the bread was so hard. Her cheese was stiff and cold. It looked like it was sitting out under the heat lamp forever. I got the chicken club and I could only eat half only because I was starving !!! But my food was bland and cold also. There was about 10 fries on my plate and it looked like they just threw them on there. My other daughter got buttered noodles and of course you don't get a side with the noodles. So super bland and boring. The only good thing here that was good was the bottomless mimosas. But even with those , they didn't leave the champagne bottle and orange juice. The waitress had to keep coming and filling them up but she only came 3 times, which isn't "bottomless". The total check was 95$ and I was discussed at the fact I would even have to pay that much for such a horrible gross meal! I talked to the manager and he comped my check a bit, but still the price we paid was definitely not worth it! Plus we sat outside and it was so dirty and nasty ! I was very upset and very upset at my experience with this place. Will never eat here again! And you shouldn't either. read more

Wasn't too bad... We sat outside had some excitement from a June bug that really liked my son. Service was ok - ordered appetizers and got told I will put these in if you ordering meals need to hurry kitchen is closing (look at time and there is 45 minutes until closing) if you are closing kitchen down why bother sitting people to eat. Had to ask for small plates back as waiter took them when we ordered appetizers, then had to ask for bread as he never brought us any. I had Cioppino - odd light broth - 4 tiny piece of crab that couldn't even crack or get the tiny bit of meat from. The mushroom appetizer and pork belly wonton tacos are really good. Waiter never bothered to ask if we need anything else or even if we needed another drink. All and all ok place nothing to rave about. read more

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It started when I ordered a Makers Mark Old Fashioned. The bar back said Makers Mark to the bartender, the bartender grabbed Knob Creek, made the drink & handed it to the bar back to give to me, repeating Makers Mark. She presented it to me saying "Your Makers Mark Old Fashioned". I told her the bartender poured Knob Creek. I guess she didn't hear me as she took my credit card and walked away. I went downstairs to wait for the rest of the dinner party & then realized I had a new hybrid drink. All muddled together were the fixings of a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned. Orange peel, sugar, cherry and bitters. A Manhattan Old Fashioned. They were busy and I like to give people in this industry a break so I let it go. Party arrived and we were seated and given the menu for the dine downtown. One member of the party chose the regular menu and ordered the Petrale Sole. They were out of it. At 6:30 pm. They were busy. Of course you are busy. You are a boat restaurant on the river with a hotel for tourists on a Saturday night when the Monster Trucks are in town! I ordered the Braised Short Rib Ravioli. Wild Mushrooms, Natural Jus, Grana Padano, Arugula, Crispy Yams. I had two pieces of Wild Mushroom and about 1 teaspoon of Natural Jus. The flavor of the Ravioli was good, the dish just suffered from not enough Natural Jus. The dish was overly dry and the ravioli had a gummy texture from lack of moisture. The crispy Yam shavings were tasteless, need some seasoning and only enhanced the dryness of the dish. Service was slow, we were there a total of 2 hours for 1st course, entree and dessert. Busy and unprepared. Our server was professional and polite which is really the only reason you are getting 2 stars. I grew up in Sacramento and have eaten on the Delta King many, many times. This was so sad for me. read more

Ate here for Thanksgiving 2019. Had a wonderful buffet. The turkey dressing & all the fixings. Had a few salads. Salmon & Ham. Charcuterie area & a few different desserts. It was very nice. Unfortunate, a many customers dressed like they were going to do yard work after. Very few folks dressed up by even wearing a nice shirt & pants/skirt. People just have no pride these days. Seemed like they were under staffed & staff was stressed,they were all still nice just felt rushed. A few more desserts would be nice or at least the chocolate fountain,other people mention it too. It was still very good food & a nice day. read more

Beware of the Lamb Sliders- SPOILED MEAT! Our first experience at the Pilothouse Restaurant was horrible. It wasn't about the ghosts -haha- it was about the Lamb Sliders and the way the manager on Sunday night handled the situation. When the sliders arrived, the foul small was pretty pungent. I even tried taking a bite and could not attempt to swallow it! The waitress was apologetic and took it back and we weren't charged for it on our bill. Then the really bad part happened.. was when the night manager came to our table to say that there was nothing wrong with the sliders. She said that she even spoke to the chef about it. Her tone was both condescending and loud. Patrons sitting at the bar began to give us dirty looks! I tried to explain that the meat was bad not the seasonings in it. As we tried to finish the rest our meal which was good, we kept getting stares from the patrons to the point that my girlfriend was getting frightened! We came there to have a stress free dinner that became just the opposite! I don't think we will be coming back. LH read more

We went to the Pilothouse to show our niece the Old Sacramento waterfront. The good thing about this restaurant is the ambiance. We were seated outside with a great view of the river. We were very disappointed with the food, however. None of the items we ordered, hamburger, mahi mahi or the calamari were any good, despite the high price. If you go just order drinks and skip the food. read more

Service was good. Kobe burger was good but could of used some mayo or special sauce. The roasted artichoke appetizer was covered with turmeric which was messy yellow on your fingers. It tasted good but the artichoke was tough and could not scrape the leaves. I had the mushroom risotto. It had lots of mushroom and cauliflower but I could not see or taste any pecorino Romano or black garlic. The fried yams were dried shavings on top that had no flavor. Overall the risotto was lacking flavor. We had breakfast the next morning. Excellent service and we were both happy with Complimentary breakfast from staying at hotel. Great views of river. B read more