River Mill has a relaxed, waterfront setting with spectacular views. Our private Rideau Room can be booked for groups of up to 36 & our main dining room can be privately booked for groups of up to 90.
Granted the restaurant was not busy. A delightful...
Granted the restaurant was not busy. A delightful pianist played familiar tunes and took our requests. The server was prompt and courteous, accurate and thorough. Cocktails were prepared to our taste and generous for today's price.
The excellent Caesar was prepared at our table taking into account our likes and dislikes and served to the individual taste. The shrimps were plump, delicious being accompanied by a light curry sauce. The rack of lamp was outstanding, ordered rare and served rare. A rare occurrence these days! The request to have the rack served as one piece to maintain temperature was honoured without question. Plate presentation had eye appeal vegetables were el dente.
Desert was good but considered average fare. Coffee was hot and flavourful and we departed most satisfied with our choice for the evening's dining.
A very beautiful restaurant, however compared to...
A very beautiful restaurant, however compared to other restaurants with the same style (upscale) menus, a little more expensive. I found there table d'hote very expensive, other fine restaurants in Kingston run between 26-32/person compared to 44/person at River Mill. So we didn't opt for the table d'hote. The general menu was alright, service was fantastic and view wonderful. The linguine was nothing to fancy and my husband's steak came with a blue cheese sauce, that wasn't made clear in the menu, which kind of turned him off as he hates blue cheese. So he scraped it off. The table side caesar salad was very nice.
We were very disappointed with the attitude of our server. She was not at all pleasant and at times almost rude. She showed no interest in contributing to our enjoyment of the meal. Although difficult to give specific examples, she was generally inattentive. Our table was in a dark corner but we had to ask to have the candle lit and still wait about 10 minutes.
As for the food, the French Onion soup and Caesar salad were excellent, especially the salad. The steak and pasta dishes were rated as good but the pheasant was a bit dry and the shrimp curry just didn't seem to work.
The cheese and fruit was good but the crackers served with it were straight out of a box and just thrown on a plate. In a restaurant of this price range, I would expect bread, rolls or pita to accompany the cheese plate.
Overall, the lack of attention to the finer details resulted in a disappointing experience and I would not return to the River Mill although in the past it had been my favourite restaurant in Kingston,
