Just brought a bunch of international guests here. One of my guests (without false intentions or clue) tried to pay for a dollar drink with quarters. The bartender (specifically the asian bartender) threw the coins into the river and told the other bartenders to not serve us anymore. I tried to explain to the them that my guests didnt know coins weren't accepted here but all they said was this is America. Seriously?!?! Not only were the bartender rude but he completely embarrassed me for being American and the 'culture' my guests were supposed to understand. This bar is not only a joke, but it employs a racist and ignorant bartender that has illegally rejected legal tender. One dollar... read more

Definitely my favorite Philly spot. Dj Scottie T. is the best by far. Staff are all awesome. Vern the bouncer is very sweet.

Ok so I came here to celebrate my younger friends 21st b'day, they put you on a party list and you get "open bar" with a $10 cover for 2 hours. Of course no too shelf liquor and the drinks they do provide are extremely watered down. I was there for 3hrs and here is my experience: Young crowd with I expected, everyone was early to mid 20s, most people put no effort into they attire. The bartenders were rude and inattentive, i first thought it was because we had open bar wristbands but quickly realized when I saw others that this was across the board. The area where you could have space to yourself you could barely hear the music and the bartenders were especially miserable, even as paying customers wanting to order shots. There is a $20 minimum for credit cards and I witnessed someone getting thrown out for arguing with that. The bathroom was surprisingly clean towards the end of the night, but the attendant is serious about her job I witnessed her hollering at a drink patron to fish her beer bottle out of the toilet... Classic. Also durning my time escorting a drunk friend to the restroom I witnessed a brawl outside were glass was shattered. I must say the security is pretty attentive as they darted to contain the situation. I would hate to be security in a night club they are pretty stern as part of their job but once they realize you are not a belligerent drink they can be pretty friendly and laugh along with you. There are def some downsides but I wasn't going in expecting much, I can't say I was dying to go it was more for the celebratory aspect of things why I stepped foot in there, I can't say honestly that I would go back by choice. But it served it's purpose although I think the pregaming got the birthday girl right more than those watered down drinks. read more

Water down drinks. My advice take shots and drink beer. I spent $9 on a cup of sprite with ice.

Listen, I know your bouncers don't have higher than a 5th grade education but that doesn't excuse the rude and barbaric behavior they showed to us tonight. My friend has an out of state (NH) drivers license but instead of scanning it if they had any doubts about its legitimacy, they just said "No." When we tried to get other bouncers to look at it, they either ignored us or just said no and that they couldn't help us because they didn't want to question the first bouncer. What kind of legitimate alcohol-serving establishment doesn't have a scanner or another way to verify IDs? They were extremely dismissive and hostile so we demanded to speak to a manager. The manager was just as stupid as he told us to try again next week (which makes no sense) but he finally let us, not without the original bouncers telling us to "check our attitudes" and "you're lucky we let you in." we will never be coming here again. read more

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I came here for a post-exam with my friends whilst being a bit tipsy, but nonetheless, I noticed my surroundings and I did not like them too much. The only reason why this place even gets a star is because while tipsy, girls like dance stupidly and that's what I did for a good 10 minutes.......until some skeevy perv whispered in my ear if he could take me home and wanted to grope me. I mean, I know this stuff happens, but it was just WAY too close for comfort. The bathrooms are okay. And the view is nice at night from the river deck. But otherwise, sketchy^nth power. Definitely go to another place if you are looking for civilized people, and by people I mean men. read more

DO NOT GO HERE. My friends got their phones stolen out of their purses, along with 15-20 other girls, at the SAME EXACT TIME. None of the bouncers or managers would help at all. If they weren't in on it, they truly didn't care that a group of people successfully pickpocketed 20 phones out of girls purses in their own establishment. It was so perfectly executed and with the way the staff reacted, it had to have been an inside job or they just hire a bunch of idiots or they just don't care at all. Either way, definitely avoid going here. After the incident, we heard from another friend that this SAME EXACT situation happened to them at the same place. I read reviews on this place and have seen many other sketchy situations as well. I have no idea how this dump is still in business. AVOID GETTING SCAMMED AND DO NOT GO HERE. read more

There was no cover and the bathrooms were clean. They need to allow men on the stage. It was my friend's birthday and they kicked him off. Not cool yo. read more

Sundays in the summer/fall are reggae nights and it is live! If you want to go somewhere to actually dance, this is it!! But be warned that it can be severely packed with people depending on the event. I've gone 3 times and it's been fun on Sundays. The website says that they have different themed nights/events throughout the week, so check one that seems to suite your fancy. The set up is very island-like as it's on a deck and wet bars are located in different areas. It's a fairly small inside area with flat screens, but the fun seems to happen more outside. I only drink on very special occasions (this wasn't considered one) and I haven't eaten here so I can't comment on drinks or food. However, the music is fun if you're into reggae. There's a $10 cover charge after 9 o'clock with no re-entry :/. The street parking is slim so plan ahead to avoid paying for parking. I avoid bathrooms at places like this, so can't comment on that either. Overall, fun times. I always enjoy dancing and sharing laughs with my sistas!! read more

Went here on the weekend. Early in the evening because we needed some food and it was on the water so we checked it out. Had a good ambiance but was somewhat smaller than what it looked like online. It went out on the water but not that much. Small dance floor on the deck, decent music. Drinks could have been a little cheaper for what you got. Food was okay as well. Bartenders were friendly tho. Cover started at 8-9 I believe so we went around 7. To have to pay cover would have been a joke because it was nothing fantastic for a bar on the water. Advice? Expand the outside deck, it would bring in a lot more people and a better crowd at night. People who want to drink on the water expect good views and a better waterfront ambiance. This place lacked that a little bit. Would I go back? Maybe. read more

Let's just say it gets really crowded. So crowded that you're guaranteed a drink to be spilled on you every 5 feet that you step. Plus the DJ was crap; play more than just the chorus of one song and learn how to transition damn it! Since its outside you get to cool off, but obviously this place is preferably a summer time choice. There are sections that are tented but its not completely protecting you from the outside if its cold... There are decent open bar packages: $10 for an hour of open bar which includes cover on a Friday night. Though normally the prices of drinks are average. There is parking next to the place for a flat $10. Hmm, what else is there to say...bathrooms are decent...bouncers are fairly nice. My one friend drank too much and they helped her which is different from most places just kicking you out. In a nutshell, its an ok place to host a party at but if you can avoid it, please do. Or go if you're already really really drunk. read more

7/13/2016 My good girlfriend and I stop in here for dinner around 9pm. It was pretty quite, but for a Tuesday, it is expected. We walked in and sat at the first available bar on the right hand side. We mentioned it was our first experience along on top of that today was a hard day. We are looking forward to a good meal. A girl with long hair seemed annoyed that we picked her bar because there was no one there prior. I had to ask her to wipe down the bar in front of us, limes, napkins or coasters for our drinks, and utensils for our meals. As for being a bartender, no personality, lazy, and poor service. The bar back and the front door man were the best employees there of the night. There was another bartender there who kept popping up socializing with our bartender distracting her from her job who later remarked to the point where I writing this review. My girlfriend enjoyed her sandwich. As I'm biting into the 2nd half of mine, this darker haired, 6' boy bartender comments, "oh if you have any leftovers, I'd like to have them" My girlfriend chimes in saying, "um you don't want that." The boy bartender continues with, "yeah your right because It will make me vomit" I immediately lost my appetite and got the check. Not going to sugarcoat this but I was at this point extremely fired up. This was the last straw. Overall, The atmosphere of this particular bar is chill, on the beautiful riverside view. My grilled chicken sandwich was enjoyable until that bartender opened his mouth. Unfortunately, the bartending employees lack professionalism and respect for their guests. I do not recommend this place at all nor will I ever be back here. I work hard for my money and all I wanted was to sit down after a hard day of work to enjoy a meal. read more

WHAT A. DISAPPOINTMENT... This place has such great potential to be something really respected and great. First off, they allow WAY too many people in at once and it is DANGEROUSLY OVER CROWDED. Nevermind that you have no room to breathe, but it is so crowded and not in a good way. It is dangerously packed. It's a death trap god forbid anything happened. Also because the cover is only $5, you have a crowd that you don't want to be around: Too young, ghetto and dirty. I wanna go to a club that is fun but not ghetto. No thank you . Then, THEY DONT SERVE TAP WATER... Which is impossible. Every place has tap water or faucet water. You cannot deny someone tap water. I thought this was absurd. Really disappointing. This place has such potential because of where it is. I won't return until something changes. read more

Food was OK, service was slow because there were only 2 servers for the whole place. Tomika was good, but with her serving the whole place as a waitress she wasn't able to truly help. Cavanaughs has gone downhill and it's because of mismanagement. I asked for a manager and one didn't have the decency to even come speak to me. Sad and coming from someone who works in the service industry, the staffing levels were unacceptable. Tomika worked her butt off and because of being overworked we still didn't receive the level of service needed. read more

YOU WILL GET SCAMMED! Here's how the night played out.. obviously a recurring pattern here based on other reviews.... We arrived in our group of 5, having to pay a $10 cover. The boys were patted down, and girls had their bags checked. We proceeded to the bar, and I will give the 1 star on this review to the Bud Light Lime.. after a couple hours of hanging out and dancing, the DJ released a bunch of balloons to distract the audience. About 3 minutes later, I realized that my phone was missing out of my purse. I told my friend who checked her bag and was missing hers as well. We immediately ran to the front to talk to "security". When asking for the WiFi code to try to find my iPhone, everyone claimed they didn't know the password and were beating around the bush. We asked for a manager, who was just as useless. While we were trying to get help, girl after girl kept coming to the front to report their stolen phones. There were at least 15 of us!! The bouncers were allowing everyone to leave without checking bags or patting down guys. They claimed they can't check everyone... but they checked everyone on the way in? The police were called, and one clown showed up who barely did anything. THIS WAS A PLANNED SCHEME. There had to have been multiple professional pick pocketers, probably females (only girls know how to get into another girls zippered purse), that teamed up with the bouncers for this scam. It all happened in the same place at the same time during a distraction while everyone's hands were literally in the air. Who steals phones now a days? A phone has everyone's personal life's on it. SCUM. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that Cavanaugh's gives a shit about their reputation, because they're not doing anything about this reoccurring problem. I have a friend who told me this happened to her, and 2 weeks later a girl was arrested with 100 phones in her car, and all phones were returned. Please do not support this bar, and if this happened to you or someone you know, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! It's unacceptable that they are allowing this to happen!! read more

Went with a group of friends who are between the ages of 23-25 and they literally said their ids weren't valid. They let allllll the girls in and didn't even check the ids but for the three guys-- nope no shot for them. Better off going to mogan's pier, you'll have a better time anyway. read more

Friday night is top 40 and more poppy sounding music. Sunday is reggae night which is more my lane. Very spacious. I think the cover is $10 which is pretty fair. My complaint is one time I was turned away for wearing a white shirt but come on now. This is an outdoor spot that's casual as hell. Other than that it's a great view right on the water with several bars. Warning: this place can get packed and long lines despite a large sized capacity. It's just a real popular place I guess. I mean what better spot to go on a 75+ degree night? read more

If it weren't for the awesome location on the river and the less-than-$2 beers during Happy Hour, this place would be sooo sketchy. In general, there's a really limited beer and liquor selection, and the waitresses have no idea what they have in the pipes. Great view off the deck, but the interior is starting to fall apart, and the dirty bathroom stalls don't lock properly... also creepy dark and cramped. read more

I went here with my friends last Friday night to celebrate graduation and my phone was stolen right out of my pocket. My phone was in my back pocket, which is normally where I keep my phone when I go out and when I went to grab it, it was gone. This also happened to my friend last weekend. They have overpriced watered down drinks, $10 cover, rude employees and pickpocketers, I will never go back here!! read more

****CREDIT CARD THEFT WARNING****** Myself, 2 brothers and our wives went here on a Saturday night. I was in town for the weekend and we wanted to get out. Our couples were paying our own tab that night. We're in our mid 30's, older than the typical crowd. We weren't there long, 2 hours perhaps. We might have had 2 to 3 drinks a piece because we were meeting friends over at Moreys Pier at midnight. My brothers credit card was charged $370 with a total of 6 different transactions. I warned him before we went in about leaving a tab behind the bar as I always tend to be cautious. Well, he didn't listen. He's just noticing today, a week later about these fraudulent charges. He is contesting it with the bank as I type. They are going to have a hell of a time justifying these criminal charges. Folks, do not, I repeat, DO NOT use your credit card for purchases with these unethical, typical Philly degenerate bartenders. You have everything to lose and nothing to gain by using plastic. There are OTHER reviews with similar accusations on here. Management, do not message me with a cliche apology trying to rectify this. Zero Contact! The bank query will handle everything from here on out. Good Luck with that btw. You're gonna need it. Music was good, location is good, ethical practices are non-existent read more

Sunday's are absolutely the best nights to go (Caribbean night). It's gets pretty crowded but it's not unbearable. The drinks are pretty good and the Djs definitely do their thing. If you are in Philly for the weekend check it out. read more

First time here, it's really nice $5 cover, plastic cup refill beers for $1 - mixed drinks for $2 till 12am the best view right on the river with Ben franklin bridge all lit up. Food looked good and the crowd was ok a lot of diversity and good music. read more

A group of us attended this bar and were looking forward to enjoy some drink and music. However, at the entrance, the bouncer separated two members of our party and did not allow them to enter without any reason or explanation. The bouncer just let the other people in and waved us to the side letting people behind them enter instead. When the two questioned why, the bouncer would not say anything to them and just kept waving them back. Being separated from the group, the two had to call back the rest of us outside and ruined the night while also taking the cover charge. They explained to the group that they are "professionals" that can spot a fake ID, while the whole group is 24+. It felt as if they were discriminatory. Never going back again. read more

been here a couple times. the first time my roommate and i stumbled in during an afternoon walk around the area. while she was on her "I'm not drinking anymore stage" i had a Malibu bay breeze which was light on the breeze, I'm not really complaining about that except the fact that the tiny plastic clear solo cup it was poured into, and for $9. i wonder what their beverage cost is. we ordered hummus and sat by the water. my non alcohol drinking friend ordered a jack and coke. my next time was a Saturday night. $5 to get in, and then $7 for a beer. are you kidding? besides the way over priced drinks and admissions the place is a good hang out for college kids that want to mix it up from the abused old city bars and lounges. pros: it's outdoors on the water with a nice view but still has covered areas. there are 4 bars but the night shift bartenders are not very attentive. they actually have a dance floor bottles are plastic so you don't have to worry about getting cut up when lushes drop their drinks cons pricey for what it is food is mediocre but the chicken Caesar salad is a huge portion all drinks come in plastic cups and bottles. and the taste of plastic is in every drink there is always a line in for the bathrooms the crowd can be sleazy since it's outside smoking is aloud. YUCK and another thought that i cant decide if it's a pro or con is that you can dance on the bars and on the stage with the DJ. good for horny men who want to look up chicks skirts. bad for girls who are too drunk to dance on the ground let alone on the bar. overall fun place, wouldn't go there every night. but I'm a sucker for anywhere with a nice view of the water (albeit it's the dirty Delaware river) and is outside. went there for my birthday and had a great time. real down side waitresses disappeared when you want your check. we had to ask the bartender to get her and it's pretty obvious that he didn't because he never left the bar, or called over to the front of the place to get her. also big con she didn't seem to know to much about the menu, but i can give the benefit of the doubt and say that she might have been newly hired. is great for large parties. because there is a lot of room. not great for intimate settings that's about it. staying neutral on this one because it can be argued either way. however not good for sophisticated individuals. read more

The staff was very polite with us. The place was not crowded at all on a Saturday afternoon and we were able to enjoy a nice conversation! A real good surprise with a dauntingly beautiful background!!! read more

I've been to Cavanaugh's a handful of times. Always on a Saturday night and ironically both times as a designated driver. It's what you'd expect if you threw a club on a deck overlooking the river. If you are into the whole club thing, it can be a good time. The DJ plays a bit of everything and the dance floor is usually pretty active as the night goes on. This place has close to 8-9 different areas where you can get a drink, which is helpful because this place can get crowded. We went with a group of about 15 people and had a blast. They allow you to do an open bar in which you get house liquor/wine/beer for different increments of time/money. We did the 2 hours for $20 bucks and it was well worth it since it also includes your cover. I saw a few people eating food, but we have never had a chance to actually sit down or have a bar area to eat it. I'd probably go back because it's relatively cheap and something about being outside and drinking is just fun. One downside if you are a non-smoker (and just about intolerable to it as I am), they allow smoking in the uncovered areas of the club. It's quite annoying and inconsiderate, but they seem to allow it anyway. If owners/managers read this....CHANGE IMMEDIATELY. read more

Just a regular bar with drink specials, wings, dancing, TVs etc. The cool part of course is the view. They card, but they also take credit cards, so that's great. Here's a tip: the men's and women's rooms are connected by a door, so be careful (or take advantage of it!). What sucks is that it's a little bit out of the way of Center City so you might need to catch a cab out here. read more

It was nice to eat dinner on the water, but the food was average. We had a really nice waitress, though. Gnats kept getting in our food and the crowd just seemed like a bunch of idiots, to put it nicely. Go to Morgan's instead. read more

crowded dancing seen on saturday night. they had multiple places to dance. Music was ok but the did play the top hits. it seems that it's better to get drinks on their own since bottled beers were 3 bucks each. we got the all your can drink for 25 bucks and they included well drinks and beer but honestly, it's probably better to get drinks separately since it sometimes takes forever for them to serve you when they see that you have an all you can drink cup. Also down side is that you have to keep this cup with you until 1am. read more

The bouncer are so rude it's absolutely ridiculous why anyone would pay the cover to go to a place like this. The cover doesn't even cover anything.. no band, and they made my friend pay $3 for WATER. If you want customers, don't yell at them...I have never been yelled this much ever in a public environment, especially for literally standing by the door... it's an OK establishment, but extremely disrespectful bouncers. read more

Maybe I went on a bad night but this place was bad. Went on a Saturday night and it was so overcrowded, they just kept letting people in while the place was packed already. The people were pretty trashy, my coconut Ciroq shot didn't get me buzzed at all. It was weird as if it wasn't ciroq at all. I also couldn't just have tap water. They said I had to buy a bottle for 3 bucks. Which is bullshit, every bar/club should be able to just give you tap water. There were guys trying to fight in the bathroom and I also got burned on my arm buy some drunk fool's cigarette. I would save your 5 bucks and go elsewhere. read more

Absolutely horrifying experience. This place is a mess. The food was awful. cheddar cheese on burgers seemed to be leftovers from last week. Waitress was rude, service was terrible, plates were dirty, forks as well. and I had to take the plates to the bar to change myself, since there was nobody around and it was not crowded by any means. I took my friends with 2 kids here cause I read on the net that this place is kid friendly. It's not! I'm just praying so that they don't get sick tonight from the horrible mac and cheese! Seriously, who can screw mac and cheese?!!!. Anyways, this is my first ever review and I'm not a picky person by any means,.......seriously! STAY AWAY FROM THIS F...ing PLACE! read more

wish i could give zero stars. the bouncers are awful humans and the drinks are over priced and watered down. i am over 21 and they did not even look at my ID and refused service just because they felt like it. there were police there that i said could even pull me up in the registry to prove i was and they said being a private business they get to decide who gets to go in or not. they don't care about service and rather just be dicks , let in another person I know who was 17 in the same night. Just idiots and the bars not even good enough to be worth it. read more

No room to stand at all, and the security was very, very pushy. If you want to dance here on a Saturday night, there will not even be close to enough room. A security guy was pushing me around when I was completely sober (designated driver), instead of telling me where the line for the bathroom was supposed to be. there were also no signs, so there is no way that I would know. Very weak and tacky, Cav's riverdeck. I won't be coming back. read more

I came back on a Saturday night when friends I was meeting went because the line at Morgan's Pier was too long. I finally experienced what everyone else with poor reviews has said about this awful place. The cover was $10 each which is insanely absurd in general let alone for here. Guess they base their cover charge on how many people are there or not. Not surprisingly, left without a phone since someone felt so compelled to reach into my purse and steal it. I was not on my phone once all night, it was in the pocket inside my closed purse that was under my arm for most of the night. Once I decided to put the strap over my shoulder I guess that was free game for whoever wanted to take it upon themselves to take what isn't theirs. Really just what you'd expect from this place, though, it is just a disgusting mess. I didn't realize what happened until the end of the night and of course my phone was already off by that time so I knew someone walked out with a big smile on their face and my phone in their pocket. Just a disgrace honestly. The bouncers couldn't care any less, took my boyfriend's number down in case they "found it" which we all know wasn't happening. This EXACT story was posted by someone else here in May, so this is clearly a frequent occurrence. I did message the bar to inform them of the frequent theft that is occurring here which was seen but never responded to. I also tried to post on their Facebook to make other people aware to be extremely cautious if they decide to go here which never received approval from their page administrator. Not sure if they just don't care or don't want a worse reputation but it's clear they're not concerned with their customers. Just please do not waste your time here, there are so many other places to go for less money and a much better time. read more

Having read mixed reviews about this location before my friends brought me here, I came in with very low expectations. This made for a very pleasant surprise when I ended up having one of the best experiences I've had in the city. We arrived early in the night hoping we might be able to get some food before the bar crowd came in and filled out the venue. Having become accustomed to the mediocre "pub grub" that you usually find, I was pleased to see they had a vast assortment of menu items that could appeal to most everyones pallet. The quality of the food was exceptional, and they offer restaurant quality food for bar menu price. The late night crowd was mostly filled with young people, both from the college scene and the young business crowd. There were also some older adults there, but what was certain was everyone was there for a good time. There are about seven different bars inside so it is very easy to get a drink, and the outdoor atmosphere can make you think you're at the shore rather than the Delaware river. The DJ plays a great dance mix, and then spends the last 30-45 minutes playing classic songs to get the slightly intoxicated crowd singing along. Overall it was an incredible experience and certainly a nice relief from the normal club grind I'm used to in Philly. With great happy hours and dollar beers on thursdays, I can safely say that it won't be my last time here read more

I have been going to riverdeck for a few years now for Caribbean/world Sunday's and I love the music! We had guac and chips last night and a couple beers, really good. I have to say though there was a person dressed up as a clown last night and every time I saw this person it immediately killed my vibe. This is the first time I've seen this person and I was partly scared at first and told a security guard- way too many apocalypse movies I suppose. Anyways it was uncomfortable. read more

Went to River Deck on a Saturday night and paid $25 for a wristband that a friend reserved for her birthday. Thankfully the line to get in was quick, but a friend was turned away because he was wearing a tank top. Not sure why there's a dress code at a bar, but moving on...I got a cranberry and vodka, but it was pretty weak and I didn't taste any alcohol at all. As the bar got more crowded, it got worse. I went to the bar to get a drink and watched the bartenders walk by me for twenty minutes even when trying to get their attention. I get that the bar was crowded and I would expect a wait, but standing directly at the bar for over twenty minutes is excessive. They have several bars so I tried another and the same thing happened. 30 minutes of standing at the bar and being ignored so I tried ANOTHER bar. Waited 20 minutes, still no service. I finally just left. I don't know if the bartenders were just not moving fast enough or if they were just sticking to serving certain sections of the bar and ignoring the rest of us. Either way it was ridiculous. I spent $25 for unlimited drinks from 10-1 am and was only able to get one watered down drink in that whole time period. It's a shame, because it's actually a nice bar with a great view. Not sure if I'll return, but if I do it definitely won't be at night. read more

Was looking forward to a drink on the water during a beautiful spring day today and felt Cavs was the perfect fit, having enjoyed it before. Four of my girlfriends and I walked to the entrance and the bouncer/ID checker was screaming at another female f*** you c**t as she got into a car. I don't care what their relationship or what she did, the lack of apology, class and decency was enough for all four of us to leave before entering. Please educate your staff how to treat any and all females. read more

After reading other reviews, I didn't have very high expectations of this place, but I ended up having a great time. It was a good place to go dance & have a couple of drinks with some friends. The DJ wasn't bad & kept a fairly consistent flow of jams going. & the women's bathroom was pretty clean so that was a plus. My only real issue was that the drinks were SO watered down that it was almost a waste of money to keep buying them. But overall, I had a pretty good time. read more