Hotel bars are very hit and miss. Sometimes it can be a mecca for the road weary vacationers and business travelers to socialize and bond over their shared space away from home. The hotel bartender is a job for the seasoned veterans of customer service and providing conversation and engaging customers. The lady behind the bar failed and led me and my wife to leave and find a place near our hotel that wanted our money. I ordered an overpriced (all hotel bars are) craft beer from a local brewery and sipped it while waiting for my wife to come and join me. During this 20 minutes the waitress never asked me anything or engaged me. When she saw that I was taking my last drink, she asked me if I needed another one and I responded yes. In the next 10+ minute time span my wife came in and sat down without being acknowledged by her. I witnessed her serving 2 others, running a tab and chatting with a friend. When I finally caught her attention, she realized that she had completely ignored me for a long period of time. I then declined the 2nd pint and tabbed out. read more

River Rock Kitchen and Tap - Seafood Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

Great food & Service! Loved the bar area & restaurant! Also love the strawberry dessert! delicious! read more

River Rock Kitchen and Tap - BBQ Ribs! Husband loves them! - Seafood Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

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Food is adequate (burgers) to delicious (sauced ribs). Service is very good. Ambiance isn't bad for being a hotel restaurant. Blue Moon Margarita is very good (does not have beer in it). read more

River Rock Kitchen and Tap - Blue moon margaritas are as delicious as they are pretty! - Seafood Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

Pretty good place! It's clean the service was great! I took a pic of the Chipotle Pepper Penne. It was nice and fresh. Very filling!

The place was completely empty for the hour or so we were in it and it still took about over 30 minutes to warm up some egg rolls and cook a burger w/ fries? we had to leave before the food even got to the table. I had to knock on the kitchen door myself because there was no one to ask for help. I can't say that's how it usually is at this place but it was a terrible first impression, just saying. read more

Once I saw "tableside guacamole" I knew we had to check this place out! We were seated on the patio next to the fire pit. It was a little cool outside and the heat from the pit took away the chill. Our server, Jeanne, was a pro and took great care of us. I asked her if the half Cobb salad would be big enough as a meal, and she recommended that choice. It was huge and delicious. She also made a mean guacamole. Our only complaint was that the spicy chicken sandwich was made from pieces of chicken with a buffalo sauce and it kept falling apart. Jeanne asked if she could do something else for us as soon as she learned of the problem. This place is worth a look. read more

River Rock Kitchen and Tap - Half Cobb salad - Seafood Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

Service is awesome! Burgers are great although HUGE- not a big menu but for a hotel restaurant/bar it is good food and the service is outstanding! read more

I had an amazing experience at this establishment! Our waiter Zach was very cordial & hospitable! He had a profound knowledge of menu and helped me select the perfect meal to end the night! Thanks Zach!! read more

A little bit of context to the situation below (do with this info what you will): a group of 13 college friends out to dinner on NYE. The restaurant was not busy, and a reservation had been made well in advance. - "table-side guacamole" was not made table-side - "fresh vegetable" was clearly a serving of frozen garden vegetables, and was not very good in the first place - server LEFT THE RESTAURANT after taking our orders - took so long to get our food (over an hour) that the hostess came over and asked how everything had been, because she assumed we were already done with everything - drinks were not refilled, and pitchers of water were not provided for a very long time - some orders were delivered cold/cool (possibly because they had been sitting for awhile before being served) - a couple orders were brought with incorrect sides - server never introduced herself, did not check-in hardly at all - hostess tried to take our order before we had been given menus (???) - hostess had to repeatedly go find our server - checks took FOREVER to be returned read more

My first time here for dinner. Food and portions was good but the outstanding, excellent and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious service and attentions that I got from Joe are out of world. I will come back. read more

My wife and I came a little early - and the very nice bartender who also waits tables took us to the non-bar side so we could sit at a comfortable chair and table - our food was pretty good but what made the visit was the awesome waiter!! read more

I stay here so his would be the most convenient...I had the bone in horseradish incrused ribeye. No Bone ... I was told sometime you get one sometime you don't .. Really...The incrused part was something fried and place on top...This place could be huge...But not without a cook and people who care read more

I was not impressed with this place. From the outside it looks inviting with a fire pit and people chatting around it. The food wasn't anything to rave about and the service was extremely slow. I was there with a group of 4 and it took over an hour for our food to arrive. It also took someone over a half hour to take our drink order. We should have left before we ordered food. read more

The wait staff was great but they changed the menu. I might add not for the better. I use to eat here regularly but I don't believe I will be back. read more

The steak bites were phenomenal and well worth trying. Add a salad to them and that is one excellent meal. MILLSTREAM BREWING was tapping 3 beers the night I was there and I tried all three and each were excellent and had a broad range of styles to appeal to all beer enthusiasts. read more

2 adults, 2 kids on vaca in Dubuque, IA We went here for dinner and breakfast + Super friendly and nice staff + Delicious food! I had salmon with fries and steamed vegetables. Husband had BBQ chicken with rice and steamed asparagus. Kids ate free because we were guests of the Holiday Inn, the hotel attached to River Rock Kitchen & Tap. The kids liked their mac and cheese and chicken fingers and fries. My 7 year old like the chicken fingers so much, he ordered a second round (which we paid for, this time). Our sweet waitress gave ice cream to the kids after dinner. That totally made their day! + Clean restaurant + There is a bar area with TVs for those business travelers. We observed a lot of business people at the bar area that day. + Limited outdoor seating available if you prefer + Affordable Highly recommended! read more

Another stop where I can only comment on the bar service but I was not disappointed. The whole place is very clean and open. Modern and unobtrusive but the local craft beer selection was on point for a hotel bar/restaurant. The bartender was attentive and helpful. Quickly helping me despite a full bar of patrons. It was a nice stop before settling into my room for the night! read more

I'm not sure if most people are aware of this gem in Dubuque since it is inside a hotel. I love it though. I come here often and there's something on the menu to appeal to all taste buds. I've tried numerous items and have never left disappointed or hungry. My favorite is the chicken club and guacomole prepared tableside. There are a variety of appetizers to choose from and always one fried for happy hour. The same goes for the extensive drink menu. I highly recommend the marga mule yet, there are a few different miles to choose from. There are options for any occasion with a quiet dining area, sports bar area, or a patio with a fire pit. Also, the wait staff and management are great. Jeanne and Ryan are the best! read more

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche ^^ that's ceviche. You served a garden tomato mush with shrimp in it, which was kind of refreshing, but not ceviche. Use some pinche limes, gringitos. And don't serve that mess with tortilla chips it hurts my feelings. The walleye tacos were simply dreadful. The fish itself was heavily-breaded and totally unseasoned. Any of the delicate taste of the walleye was lost in the heavy deep frying. Combined with the lack of seasoning, it tasted like nothing. Less than nothing really. The slaw was insignificant, lacked acid or seasoning, and the lime mayo couldn't be found or tasted either. It was wrapped in uncooked corn tortillas, which taste like raw flour when not grilled or put on la plancha. Overall the dish tasted like uncooked corn tortilla and burnt fryer oil. The hot wings tasted exactly like any other hot wings you'd get at a bar. Nice ambiance. read more

Paid $18 for a terrible steak. Imagine those "Steaks" they serve you in the cafeteria in grade school. Then add a bag of microwaved vegetables and an ok salad. Add 2 beers and a tip and your leaving with a $35 dollar tab and you wish you would have just went to McDonald's. I gave it a 2nd star because they had decent beer on tap. read more

Went with friends and we sat outside on the patio and it was relaxing and very pleasant. Our waiter Jason was attentive and witty. I had the corn chowder and it was delicious! I'll be craving it again soon. read more

Overall a disappointment. Was here both for breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is probably the worst food I have ever had. Dinner was ok...nothing to get excited about. The Cesar salad came with dressing on a side. The dressing was advertised as house made but tasted right from the bottle. My Bloody Mary was supposed to have some sort of bacon in it - came without but still for the price on the menu. The service was not bad but food took long to get. Even though this place is very convenient when staying at the hotel, I will not be dining here again. read more

We decided to try this place out for dinner after seeing it was recently opened and hearing positive reviews from others. The place was OK, but it looked like the table still had a bit of syrup on it from breakfast. The food was pretty good but it seemed to take some time for it to arrive. And the server wasn't around very much, it took a while to get our check after dinner. I wouldn't have a problem eating there again but I don't know that I would pick the place out if I was deciding where to go eat. read more

On a whim my wife and I stopped on a Sunday afternoon shortly after the place opened. Split a burger and onion rings at the bar. Both were perfectly to our liking. Young lady bartender was very pleasant (forgot first name, but last name was Bisping). Good beer selection. Weeks later went with some business associates and had the beef brisket. Was more like shredded beef. Great flavor but was expecting sliced in a traditional sense. Learning curve a little longer than should be but the layout and decor are really cool. I'll be giving them another chance soon. read more

First time here . Had some lunch after long drive from Chicago . Avocado grilled cheese was awesome . Ended up splitting sandwich with wife :/ . Will definitely be back ! read more

I thought the food was good. However, the service was horrible. I was with a large group, which shouldn't mean anything. The waitress screwed up my mom's order several times. She also screwed up my bill a couple of times as well. Needless to say, we won't be returning for a while. read more

We had a great time at River Rock! They accommodated our large group with ease- even with a last minute request from us to sit outside. Our server was Tania and she was attentive and great with the kids in our group. The food was yummy. With such a large group, we tried a lot of menu items including walleye and pork tacos, chicken clubs, pizza, brisket, burgers and guacamole. Everyone enjoyed their meals. We'd definitely come back again! read more

Modern, clean, lights too bright for dinner, good set of tvs with sports, attentive waitress (Gina), quality food, okay preparation, but just a little too sterile for ambiance it could be. Disappointed not open for weekday lunches, likely going to hurt hotel business, and downtown draw. read more

River Rock Kitchen and Tap - River Rock now closed for weekday lunch, bummer. - Seafood Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

The guac and cheese curds are yummy! Great update inside from the previous setup and decor. Our server was kind and attentive without being annoying. We'll be back! read more

The staff led by Jason is terrific, but we are very disappointed with the menu change. All our favorites, including chicken quesadillas, Rueben sandwich, guacamole, chicken Milanese, pasta, all gone. The only reason we will come back is Jason. Management needs to listen to the staff and customers and bring back the favorites. read more

Really disappointing experience. I wasn't sure if they were short staffed, or just really inefficient. We had to wait almost twenty minutes after we were seated to place our breakfast order, and it was another forty minutes before we got our food (two made to order omelets and three kids orders of pancakes and bacon). I got my initial cup of coffee immediately, but never once did they offer to refill my cup (afterwords, I realized I could have bounced out to the lobby for the complimentary coffee). We watched as several tables that arrived after us finished eating their meals before we'd even received our food. I finally asked if I could just grab some pancakes and bacon from the buffet for my children, as they were starting to get unruly from the excessive wait. That finally triggered our dishes to come out. The food quality was fine, but the wait was unacceptable. I wish we had just gone with the buffet for everyone, we'd have gotten in and out in a reasonable timeline. read more

Went once. Service was slow but nice. Food was just meh. Didn't stand out to me. Went on a Saturday and the restaurant was pretty dead. Maybe it's because of the service. Maybe we will go back if we go with others who go here but we won't go back on our own. read more

We where seated and waited about 7 minutes for our server to come over and offer drinks, we were ready to order at that time also. I decided to try the walleye tacos, my husband had the BBQ beef brisket, the kids both ordered the pizza with fresh fruit. When our food arrived everyone's was served with french fries. I asked where the fruit was for the kids, and mine was suppose to come with rice. He returned with fruit that looked like it was left over from yesterdays breakfast buffet. The rice had no flavor at all. My husband couldn't tell what his meat was because it had so much BBQ sauce on it. The walleye was good, the way the taco was made was terrible. Tasted like it was drenched in soy sauce, and was served with a side of tarter instead of the lime mayo. Very disappointing for a new restaurant. I would not go again. read more

We had gotten an order to go. Jordan rang us up. She took it upon herself to add a 40% tip to herself on our debit card, without our knowledge or permission. When we complained to the management they ended up promoting her to the front desk....where she can have access to people's credit cards and their numbers....yikes!!!!!! Once a thief always a thief. Food is great but we won't go back due to fear of having our money stolen again. Very unfortunate as we have also shared with our family who wont go either. read more

Good value! Kids eat free with a paid adult! Food was good. If looking for a family place this is a good option

We were excited to try out this location having been rebranded/renovated. We stopped in for a visit around 3:30 on a Saturday. We ordered the Herky's Mac n Cheese w chicken and the walleye fish tacos. Appreciated that server offered Cajun as option on chicken - the chicken was cooked nicely and seasoned well. The sauce on the Mac and Cheese was very poor in taste and texture- it had no real taste and appeared to have been thinned w milk in a reheating process so it was watery with big pieces of sauce that didn't melt. The walleye tacos were a disappointment as well. 2 large walleye fillets were used within the 3 corn shells: 1 fillet cut in half and split between 2 shells and one whole fillet in a shell. Way too much walleye that dominated the 4" corn shells that were doubled up on each taco (6 shells!). There was only a tiny amount of slaw on the tacos, so they were very, very dry- just lots of fish that really had no taste. The poblano rice served w tacos was an unappealing green color, was very dry and the one bite that was consumed tasted "old". The tartar sauce that I asked for to get through the walleye was great as was the piece of bread served with the Mac n cheese dish. The renovated space was clean and quiet. While we may stop back for a cocktail, we are not inclined to dine there again following this experience. The server never asked us how our meal was as he moved quickly through the check process. read more

There were four of us for dinner at 5:30. Only one other booth had guests sitting in the restaurant. The dining side was completely empty. We sat in the bar area booths. Everyone else was drinking in the bar area no food. Somehow it took 40 minutes to receive our food. From when we ordered it with the waitress until it hit our table took 40 minutes! Unreal! Went to find a manager to ask what was taking so long, but another server told us it was the pork chop that was slowing down the other meals. As you can imagine the other dishes were warm when they arrived, not hot. Gave this a "meh..I've experienced better" rating. I wouldn't go back. $90 for 4 meals and no alcohol. Yikes! read more

If 0 was a choice I would have picked it. Waited one hour for a salad! Poor service, poor food!

My husband and I stopped after work and wanted a place to sit outside - their patio is cozy and faces the driveway. But besides that I have to say they have a wide selection of craft beers and we had to have the best server, Tasia that we had experienced in a very long time. She was very personable, attentive and helpful. She suggested an appetizer that worked for our needs. This is our third visit here and by far the most enjoyable. read more

We frequent this area often and have stopped here a couple times. We stopped in Saturday night for a drink and some dinner. The bar was busy from what I could tell. Every chair at bar was taken and the booths across were too. We sat at a small round pub table close to the bathroom. We sat with our menus for at least 10 minutes before being greeted by a female server (Jordan). She took our drink order. As we sat there it was obvious that she couldn't keep up. We over heard the tall gentleman behind the bar saying he was the restaurant manager to another person at the bar. He (Jason) eventually brought our drinks. We ordered our food and waited....food was good. As we were eating we could hear the restaurant manager/bartender in the kitchen yelling and calling someone an asshole. Maybe instead of his unprofessional behavior he could make sure his restaurant was fully staffed. Maybe a bad night? I don't know? But it definitely reflects on his manager skills or lack of. At least the food and drinks were good. Props to the cooks!! Servers/manager could use some help/replacing. read more