I was trying to come up with one thing that I disliked about Riveresque... and I failed miserably. A room with a view, friendly staff, a menu as long as The Bible*, and one of the most well-executed chilli-'n'-cheese jacket potatoes I've ever had the misfortune of consuming... all in one place? That spells 'w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l' to me. Considering that one can have all of the above (with jalapeños, no less!) for roughly £5, there's quite simply no room for complaints. --- * Okay, give or take a few thousand pages, but who's counting? read more

Riveresque - Jacket potato with chilli, cheese, and jalapeños - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Leeds, XWY

I confess, I once had a fairly serious Riveresque addiction. After going through cold turkey following a brief move away from Leeds, I now limit myself to weekly visits! In essence, Riveresque is a better class of greasy spoon, the place in the centre of town too be able to order a Full English Breakfast (£5.25) or a Ham and Mushroom Omelette (£3.95). There are healthier options on offer, some gorgeous salads and soups sit alongside the tempting daily specials and an endless range of sandwiches. My particular favourite is the hot Cajun Chicken and Sour Cream wrap (£1.90). It is the ideal place to pick up a tasty and unfussy lunch, without paying excessive prices. Just South of New Briggate, Riveresque is conveniently located whether you are in the city centre, or having a meander around the picturesque canal area - a lovely view to enjoy a sandwich to go. read more

Riveresque - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Leeds, XWY

There's no pretension here IMO, it's a quality greasy spoon cafe - and there's a contradiction in terms! Whenever anyone asks me where I recommend for breakfasts this is always at the top of the list. I can't speak for the regular sandwiches, but their breakfasts are just perfect and such as massive bargain - you can get enough food to last you for the full day with the big (and yes, they even do a mega one) breakfast for about £6. Check out the pictures linked to this venue, and you'll see that I don't need to use any further words when the picture says it all... read more

Riveresque - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Leeds, XWY

I was stuck between a 4* and a 5* but I'm in a generous mood today and my experience there really cheered me up after having the most rubbish morning ever. So 5*s it is. Riveresque is a place I have passed a few times whilst daydreaming out of the bus window on my way to Hunslet. I have always thought it looked really cheery, with a bright yellow front and a cosy looking interior and always popular but not manically busy. I went in today for my lunch and it was amazing. They are not only a sandwich shop that do a HUGE amount of sarnies, paninis 'straight off the griddle', salads, breakfasts that look like the best hangover cure ever, a few hot main meals (including home-made lasagna, chips and salad for £3.95!) but ALSO a catering company who offer buffet services (I assume for local businesses). The menu's for buffets can be found on their website above. They look absolutely gorgeous and are not too expensive per head either. I have worked at, and been to, a few conference events in which buffets were included. They are usually notoriously rubbish but everyone eats anyway as they are starving. (One reason why business men always look so overweight and red, I think, miaaow!) However! I can imagine these guys, would keep everyone happy, full and on the ball without risking anyone's health with their selections of delightful bites such as italian breads and fresh fruit platters...(dribble dribble). I went in today for lunch and was greeted by a chirpy man and a homely comfortable atmosphere. The colours inside are various oranges, reds and peaches (the calm happy kind, not the manically garish kind) and this really adds to the sunny feel of the place. It is quite small but there is a room past the counter with proper decent tables to sit and eat, as well as the stools in the front of shop area if you are in a perching 'I'm in a rush' mood. I sat down in the back room to a plate of the homemade lasagna, chips and salad (see photo) and a bottle of apple juice. So delicious, and all for under a fiver. It was generously filled and tasted like it was made out of fresh ingredients, with good quality mince. Nothing like the floppy microwave kind you find in so many places. It was fluffy and thick and topped with a perfect helping of oregano, plus the garlic input was spot on. I make a mean lasagna which I always defend, but I must admit, Riveresque's was better. I then sat and watched 2 swans swimming along the river feeling satisfied and full. Ahhh... Just to give you an idea of their gormet sandwich selection, I have picked out the ones that jumped at my taste buds from the menu and I hope to try in the future.... - Roast chicken and sun dried tomato salad - Brie and grapes - Chicken and Pesto Panini - Roast vegetable and goats cheese melt.... The list goes on and on.... Need I say more? Oh, wait! AND, they do fruit smoothies by Frut Ltd, which I have previously reviewed who use only fruit and nothing else. The only thing to note on the negative side was that the stairs to the toilet are a bit wonky, so use the hand-rail, but there is a sign to remind you. The loo's were freezing and not the nicest place to be in, but the experience overall was great and I will definitely go back. read more

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NB: the 2 stars is reflective of my experience at Riveresque in general. If it was based on how i feel right now, I would have given them a 1. I'm sat in Riveresque drafting this review before I leave. I've been coming here on and off for over a year. We used to order breakfast from here on Friday mornings at the last place I worked. I was the Riveresque advocate - a breakfast doesn't have to be full of oil to be great & thats what I liked about this place. It practically felt healthy having the breakfasts. Apart from them sometimes getting our delivery order a little mixed up on occasion I'd never had any real complaints. I'm happy to spend my £5.50 on a full english where you get 2 eggs, 3 bacon, 2 sausage, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, 2 toast & tea or coffee. Until today. The food was just ok today. Seriously overdone eggs - I asked for the yolks to be hard but they basically demolished the whites too, plus the mushrooms were a little soggy. These things aren't the end of the world though - I still had a plate full of other good stuff to enjoy. My real problem with today was the service. There are two women serving / taking orders. Owners of Riveresque if you read this I want to be clear that I'm talking about the one with the long hair and bad attitude, not her polite and lovely short haired colleague. When she took my order, she was rude. When I asked if I should sit down and wait for my tea she could barely be bothered to answer. When she brought my food and practically threw my plate down at me that really wasn't good service. When I asked for the cutlery that she'd forgotten, she was so visibly annoyed that she ended up throwing some other cutlery on the floor by accident. How dare I ask for a knife and fork eh - perhaps I should have eaten with my hands. Everyone has a bad day. She wasn't having one though. She was perfectly smiles with the couple behind me. So it must be me. I tell you what then Riveresque, I'll get my occasional breakfast somewhere else next time. read more

My husband and I were looking for a place that served simple, hearty English breakfasts, so we decided to try out this place after reading reviews. It did not disappoint. The prices were incredibly reasonable and the breakfast that we ordered was huge! I had the small English breakfast and almost didn't finish it -- my husband ordered the full English breakfast and was just barely able to eat all of the food. For as filling as it is and as much as you get, it's so worth the price. The food comes fairly quickly and the staff is friendly and helpful. My only complaint was the quality of the coffee, but that's what I get for ordering coffee instead of tea in England. Overall, a great place to visit if you're looking for good food at a good price. read more

To my knowledge, which certainly isn't all pervasive, there is a dearth of venues that provide brunch here in Leeds. I mean, my view on this may be skewed, since I view brunch as a sort of sweet breakfast style affair (sweet, being literally, sweet not savoury) - pancakes, waffles and suchlike - and I'm aware that to a lot of folk it could literally be any kind of food, but more about the time zone in which it's consumed. Even so, whilst I struggle to find brunch in the city, breakfast and lunch is done. And done well. Enter Riveresque. Serving up all day breakfasts and an incredible range of hot meals, grilled sandwiches and salads, these guys are Kings of the canal for breakfast-lunch affairs. Brunch-fairs. That's the new term for it. Having never been before I took the opportunity today to sample some brunch-fairs and I'm so glad I did. I opted for a tentative chorizo and cheese grilled sandwich and was offered a number of different choices to accompany it, all expertly asked and rolled off by the chap serving, and given the volume of questions the speed in which he took the order was rather impressive. (All manner of different bits can be added into the sandwich, along with fries if you so wish.) We took a seat and sure enough, not more than five minutes later our brunch-fairs arrived freshly prepared. The café itself, although in a rather attention grabbing shade of orange, (which refuses not to be noticed) is really cheerful and really rather sweet. It's mid-way between a greasy spoon style diner and a quaint wee café, and ever more delightful with the lovely riverside view. The prices are certainly good here, given you can purchase more of a main meal for in the region of a fiver, and most of the sandwiches seemed to come in at about three and a half quid. Ruddy awesome! My sandwich itself was fine, packed with chorizo and lovely melted cheese, although nothing outstanding to mention. (Most likely because I chose a relatively plain option - there certainly are more exciting varieties to discover!) For the excellent service, lovely location, superb prices and clearly good food that's all freshly made you can't not make this a regular spot for your breakfast/lunch/brunch time eats. Enjoy! read more

I have visited Riveresque a few times now & every time I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I went on Sunday with with some of my family and we all decided to go for the £4 meal deal which consisted of a baguette of your choice (up to the value of £2.95) plus a bag of crisps and a drink, Bargain! We were all really happy with our choices, especially the sweet chilli chicken! We also treated ourselves to a piece of Rocky Road & it was delicious (& only 95p)! If you haven't checked it out, pop down for lunch or a lazy breakfast at the weekend! read more

Holy cow Batman I could eat well actually, I could eat a cow. When that feeling engulfs you it's best to know what options you have on hand. On this particular instance it was Riveresque. What a belting gourmet sandwich shop it is too. Just what the doctor (or Batman) ordered. All the bread is freshly baked and I armed myself with a brown baguette. A tasty little number it was too. I went for brie and cranberry and although nothing ground breaking it certainly did the trick. There are plenty of hot sandwiches too, straight of the griddle and if you want to greasy spoon it up you can with the usual breakfast baps done as you like it. Add some cakes galore and some really tasty home made fresh fruit smoothies and it's a welcome stop off to refuel before your next port of call. Friendly service, good selection of fillings and all at reasonable prices. For those wanting some work place food laid on, you can also take advantage of their outdoor catering menu. Not a bad option if you feel the need, the need for food. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it. read more

The melts here are awesome and the selection vast, however things tend to be on the expensive side. Also the mocha is too sweet, like it's made with chocolate milk mix. Still, good service and great food. read more

Had a breakfast date here a week or so ago. The full English was very good. Plus, very fast, despite there being quite a crowd. We had a beautiful view from our room downstairs. The place looks a little grimy but the food and price is worth it. read more

We are big fans of the vegetarian breakfast (don't forget to add the hash browns) but I will admit it can be kind of hit-or-miss when when come here. We usually order take-out, so if there are mistakes with the order, we don't realize it until we get home. Mistakes happen about 50% of the time. It's usually nothing big, but maybe they forget to give us something (or even better, sometimes they accidentally give something extra!), but when we get what we order, we're very happy with it. We've also come to find that the hours of business posted are kind of suggestions or guesstimates of when they might be there... read more

really yummy GINORMOUS breakfasts! i had the veggie breakfast, and there was no option for small or large, but my friends were eating the full breakfast and opted for small and it was HUGE. cute, small space. they were very accommodating - we were in a big group, but they managed to fit us in no problems on a busy saturday morning. my one criticism might be that there is too much choice - the menu was slightly overwhelming! read more

Great location on the river with pretty views. Clean restaurant with seating options off the street and downstairs right on the river. Great breakfast and lunch fare, excellent value for the money. read more

The wait time on a weekend at Riveresque is ridiculous. Typically over an hour wait for a breakfast and repeatedly told it'll be five minutes when you enquire how long it will be, despite it ALWAYS being much longer. A shame really as it's a popular place and the food is decent enough. read more

An amazing little sandwich bar come cafe, there a table / diner style chairs for around 20 diners. Sandwiches from this place are out of this world there are some lovely continental and original fillings all of which are made to order. Breakfast sandwiches are a must and the curly fries as an accompaniment to any sandwich are good value and make it more of a meal than a snack. Very friendly staff, busy at peak times but quick efficient service. Highly recommend. read more

A very satisfying bacon sandwich!

this manger parks in disabled bays here have a look let's all name and shame them, You may have parking space, would you like my disability as well i think not Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXa-VYO0eKw read more

I've been here many times and have never had a problem with the food or price. Today my usual order was prepared incorrectly - BBQ sauce was added when I had specified no sauce. It was a takeaway order and when I came back about 5 minutes later to let them know there was sauce in my wrap they denied that the sauce was in there, even though I had it with me. They said they couldn't make a new one as the grill was off and they refused a refund as they said it was partially eaten. To be fair to them it is true that it was 'partially eaten' as one bite was taken as I wasn't expecting the sauce to be there. Customer service is very important to me and unfortunately it was completely lacking today from Riveresque. I expected more as a repeat customer and will now not be returning. This is a zero star review. read more

Finally, somewhere that does a decent English breakfast, WITH black pudding. Riveresque really does announce itself with bright blue and yellow exterior, and if it wasn't a tidy place it would look garish and dodgy and thus when computed through the brain a place one would really really avoid. However, it's quirky in it's charm, and after deciding it wasn't a place that would make me violently ill, on a particularly and ridiculously early morning I was up and wandering around this end of town, I decided to step in, just before 8am. I'd been working since 5, and told myself a welcome break and food would be wise. Feeling in need of something dirty and greasy as one does when tired and feeling a bit sorry for themselves, I automatically put in an order for a full English, and black pudding if they did it. "Are you sure you want to do that?" thinking I'd said something wrong I repeated a full English with black pudding, and gave my choice of tea over coffee. Thinking it was a bit steep having paid £5.75 for a brekkie, when it arrived my eyes nearly fell out of my head. IT WAS HUGE! Two sausage, two eggs, three slices of bacon, beans, tomato, ermmmm oh mushroom, bread, what else? oh yeh the black pudding! AND a cuppa tea! Oh and an ever so slightly small grin from the chappy who brought it over. Ahhh point taken. All in good humour, twas lovely, a bit greasy but nothing too offensive. YUM! read more