Great place for breakfast. Love the Nutella pancakes but you can't miss with the entire breakfast menu. Friendly staff and good pricing to portion ratio. Highly recommend! They serve lunch and dinner but we usually go there for breakfast in the morning. read more

I happened to drive by this place last week and it has reopened. I talked with my brother has eaten there and says the liver and onions is really good. It's a long drive for me to check it out but I will go with my brothers advice and when I am looking for a dish I rarely get to see in restaurants, I will make that drive and check it out. read more

Everything!!! Food,Service and prices excellent waitresses nice atmosphere!! Very good experience

Everything was great! The food is excellent and the staff all are very friendly and do their job well! I give this restaurant five stars!

The hamburgers are not good like they used to be. Taste like frozen over processed patties. Breakfast is still good. Fries are good. Wait staff was friendly. read more

I'll give it 4 stars because they serve plenty in their portions for a fair price. And the food is pretty good. They seem to keep it clean. I saw an employee go to the newspaper dispensary out front, put in a dollar and then take a stack of newspapers! To sell them? I don't know but I wouldn't steal from Riverside Restaurant, why is the restaurant stealing from another business like the Register or The Courier? That's disappointing. Service otherwise is ok. VERY wide variety of menu items and side dishes. It's been a while since we've stopped there. read more

well this is not good. bad salad on my to go turkey dinner! rust color and they left out the dressing. yea i got sick off this meal. gravy was white gravy today not the yellow poultry gravy. no bread, the carrot cake was ok. 15 bucks for the meal. yea could to have been better! i hope the bad food was a fluke.... another pepto day for sure! read more

Use to love it, they changed who they buy from. Now it's tasteless! I complained to the manager and he didn't seem to care to much about it! I had went there for the food not the building, not the service! read more

I am a truck driver and happened to find this place on my way to Missouri. The food there was great I had got breakfast they were kind and fast to make my order. read more

Go by here all the time, but usually I can get all the way back to my terminal. Today I couldn't. Decided to go in for breakfast. It wasn't too bad. The food was ok but after the 4th coffee refill it tasted weird. The toast tasted like stale bread with butter. The hash browns and omelette were ok. The price was right... good breakfast for under $10. Then there's the restrooms. I went in and the toilet was literally full of ! I really had to go, so I ended up plunging it myself. The door to the stall was hard to open and close. Don't really know if I'll be back here. Well I went back and the food was better, the bathrooms were cleaner! Must take it from 3 stars to 4!!! read more

Riverside Family Restaurant - American Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

Best value in town. Food is good, portions are huge, split a plate or get two and have a meal for work tomorrow.

We had a party of 6. 5 out of 6 of us ordered the All you can eat Walleye 9.95 comes with coleslaw and choice of 2 sides.The Walleye was excellent. Just enough breading seasoned well. My mom loved the potato soup. Our server was exceptional. My aunt ordered the chicken stir fry she seemed to enjoy it. Was very accommodating. Thank you for making our first Friday of lent a great gathering. I highly recommend. read more

this place have great food and very filling. There open all holidays and treat every one as family. waitress are very nice and even under a full house and meal rush hours .my cub never went empty the cooks are fast and know what there doing keep up the great family restaurant read more

They need to update their hours. Currently closing at 3 pm on Monday-Thursday. Open unti 9 on Friday and Saturday.

This was the the very first time we have ever been here. We were passing through town on a Sunday at 12:30 pm. We expected it to be busy after the church hour and expected a wait, but we were seated almost immediately. There were lots of people, but our waitress was very attentive and very sweet. I had biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon. My wife had eggs, hash brown, and a side of pancakes. Again we expected a bit of a wait for our food, but it came out within minutes and was piping hot and cooked to perfection! We'll make a point to go back next time we drive through town! read more

Good food at good prices. Breakfast served all day. Only place in town you can get a Belgian waffle with fruit. read more

This establishment is attached to the gas station/truck stop. The parking lot was PACKED when I pulled in, seemingly all locals. Usually a good sign. Decor is a typical Midwest mishmash of semi formal restaurant, and coffeeshop. The specials for the evening were fried chicken, a hot pork sandwich, or a prime rib sandwich. The pork sandwich is more like am open faced pork chop sandwich, covered with brown gravy. As the fried chicken was the predominant aroma emanating from the joint, I went with that; 3 mixed pieces, with 2 sides. I had a salad, and a baked potato. There is an unwritten, and similarly unfortunate rule, that salads in the Midwest are comprised of iceberg lettuce, with shredded carrots. It's not "bad", it's just so very basic. The fried chicken was generally acceptable, though not noteworthy; not overly thick batter, moist meat. The potato, with its sour cream packet, was good. Not dried out, or undercooked. At $6.50, it's a decent enough deal. Service wasn't great, but nor was it terrible. Timing needs work; I'd barely had 2 bites from my salad, and my entree was delivered. I wouldn't say I was disappointed, so much as underwhelmed. The volume of local traffic gave the impression THIS was the spot. I would possibly eat here again, but I wouldn't likely give it a strong recommendation. read more

this was so good everything was good and the waitresses were very nice. The tables were clean. The food was cooked perfectly and the soup tasted delicious. In my opinion I recommend you to go there 5/5 read more

The soup was terrible and gross all though the waitress were very nice the cheese cake wasn't even cheesecake it tasted terrible I do not recommend this place read more

Riverside Family Restaurant - American Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

This morning I got Belgium waffle with pineapple and ham and hash brown the hash brown was AMAZING i recommend this restaurant so great!!

Wilted iceberg lettuce salad but delicious fried carbohydrates and meat. Sadly, I was too full to try the pie.

Very good food today. Improvement from the last visit we had here . And they cleaned the place as well as replaced the old dirty carpet read more

Riverside Family Restaurant - Grandson enjoyed his chocolate chip pancake - American Near Me - Ottumwa, Iowa

What's better than sitting amongst the locals and joining in on their banter? Having excellent food, great coffee and exceptional service. I had the corned beef skillet. So much food couldn't finish it all! Too bad this isn't on my normal travel route and I can't visit more often! read more

Was driving through on a road trip and stopped for breakfast. Food was good, inexpensive, and plentiful. I am a good eater (read: fat!) and I ordered 2 pancakes, 2 sausage patties, and hashbrowns. I got through one pancake- it was GINORMOUS- and had shared my hashbrowns, and still full. Food came super fast, and waitress was very sweet. If you're ever in Ottumwa and need a cheap but good place, try here! read more

Great place to get a meal. Food is always good. Nice place to go and sit down and order a meal. The service (Valerie) was excellent. I had the Super Bacon Cheeseburger, but my favorite meal there is the Hot Roast Beef meal. The omelet is also very good. read more

It's a big diner and the staff are always really busy. It may take awhile to get your food but the food is good and prices are good. You get a lot for your money here and their soups with the meals are surprisingly tasty. The vegetable beef is my fav. They also have great pies. The only real downside is that they need more wait staff and they have that posted on the front entrance, so if you can be patient it's worth the wait for sure. They are always busy so it's clearly a local fav too! I'd give them 4.5 stars with just minus 0.5 for having the wait. Otherwise it's wonderful. The owner is an older woman whom you will find running here and there helping g her wait staff by filling up drinks, getting condiments etc. If you are by this area don't pass it up. They serve all three meals, are open 7 days a week, and have extended weekend hours. read more

Wonderful place to eat. Always feel welcome, and treated like family. Staff is ok. Just have to get to know them. Food is great and huge portions read more

This is totally worth your time! Sometimes there is a bit of a wait, but the food is super cheap and absolutely delicious! The servers are always very friendly and attentive as well. read more

Great place. Awesome food at a very reasonable price. Zoey was an terrific waitress. Definitely check this place out. Plan to do breakfast in the morning again. read more

Another average Ottumwa restaurant. If you are looking for 5 star food I think a diner like Riverside shouldn't even come to mind. With that being said Riverside has some pretty good food. Nothing special, you are going to get some greasy diner food, which has a time and place. Riverside is that place. The breakfast is what really shines here, all the favorites are on the menu. Specials are usually spot on especially the all you can eat fish. So skip Riverside on date night but hit them up the morning after. read more

If you ever take a to go order you better check it before you leave they have messed up my orders on many occasions and when you let them know it was messed up the will tell you next time your in will comp for messed up order , you go to use and the owner won't comp you like was told saying he didn't talk to me , of course not he won't get on the phone even if he is there, lousy customer service all around read more

This is your average truck stop diner. We got breakfast and it was pretty good. The bathroom is funky and needs a remodel!

Totally surprised by this restaurant. Food was delicious and was cheap. The service could be better but other than that, I would definitely recommend this to anyone. read more

The bathroom were filthy as was our waitress. She was rude, loud mouthed and her service was horrible. The food was so so but the waitress needs a new job. Maybe they could put her on cleaning the bathroom detail. Obviously no one else is doing it. read more

The waitresses are very nice. The prices are reasonable. You get a lot of food for your money. But I have seriously never had a good meal in this place. I've gone back several times, hoping it might get better, but.... First of all, the place smells like old grease from the fryers. I was so looking forward to a good tenderloin sandwich. Sadly, mine was greasy and tasted like dead animal. Granted it is dead animal, but I hoping for a tasty, crispy piece of pounded pig that made me glad not to vegan. The meatloaf was bland and tasteless - but if you want huge portions, this plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes could have fed two people. Salads? Forget about it. This ain't the place. read more

Bathroom was awful. Salty food. Ugh not a place to go twice. Good chicken and dumplings

Not many options in Ottumwa so every time I see a restaurant I haven't tried then I figure why not. The employees were friendly but the food not so much. Maybe I got spoiled having spent a few years in California where there are many options for food so if a place is not good it quickly closes. Here however it does not seem to be the case. I made the mistake of trying meatloaf and lets just say I hate wasting money so I got most of it down. It looked like something leftover from an autopsy..........every single person at my table was also disappointed in their food and we all tried different things. At one point we were trying to pass our food off to each other but no takers. I've had bad food in this town and this is the only restaurant I would not eat at if I was desperate. The food just did not look edible at all to me. read more

Reasonable service ,generous portions no flavor, I had ribeye, eggs and hash browns with American cheese on top still no flavor. Potato soup was hot and actually had some flavor to it . Second time to visit , thinking there will not be a third. Over all I am unable to recommend this restaurant. Not sure how they are so busy read more

My family loves riverside family restaurant. Its great for family time and good food!!!

Good food, good prices, good services. Not a good place to go if you want quiet, but if you like the busy diner atmosphere this is a good place. Lots of choices for food! read more