Aquariva Restaurant

Run Away- The lunch scene at Aquariva was terrible. more

DO NOT frequent this place. Your vehicle will be towed! more

We loved our reception at Aquariva! We were searching for locations to have our wedding reception from NewYork. We really didn't want the typical wedding hall place so once we saw the reception space here we knew it was where we wanted to have it. The space has large windows looking at the river with a deck. There is also a cozy room with a fireplace for people to relax. They placed candles throughout giving it a very romantic feel. The service was outstanding! We literally had ZERO problems. The banquet manager Bobby and staff did a great job. We had a sit down dinner and all of the food was brought out promptly and glasses were always full. When the bottles of wine that we had ordered ran out they made sure to talk to my parents before bringing out more. Our food was delicious and we everyone has called to tell us how great it was. We did a three course meal. The salad was light salad with pine nuts. Our appetizer was carrot ravioli, DELICIOUS!! And our main course options were Herb Crusted Halibut, Balsamic Pomegranate Chicken and Grilled Wagyu Beef Culotte Steak. All were very good, but the Halibut was my favorite. The event planners, Leslie and Courtney, and the banquet staff made the night unforgettable. We would recommend Aquariva to anyone! more

We had a gift certificate to use here, and we chose to go on my husband's birthday. We were so happy with our decision. I was a little nervous because of the previous reviews, but thought we'd give it a shot. They have a really impressive wine list with prices that vary to suit anyone. I had a glass of their Malbec and it was fabulous. Our waiter was super friendly and helpful. I was dissapointed in their limited dinner menu, and wished that there were more options to choose from. I ordered the Halibut with Asparagus Risotto, and my husband had the Balsamic Pomegranate chicken. Both dishes were outstanding. We'll be going back again - perhaps for brunch next time. Pros: Incredible Food, Atmosphere, Great Service Cons: Limited Menu more

love this place... favorite so far in portland, right on the water and perfect for summer dining. Can not wait to go back again!! Pros: location, location, location Cons: had to wait a bit more

The food was good, but the portions are small. The service was slow due to only having 2 (possibly 3) waiters on a Saturday night. The location was wonderful-right along the Willamette River with a wonderful view of the river. This is an ideal summer location with patio and roof top seating. I would definitely go there again! Not your typical italian restaurant! Pros: Fabulous Location!!!!! Cons: Slow Service more

So, how do I put this?? The food was just bad. It was poorly paired with sides and not presented well. My partner started with the seasonal soup, a chilled cantalope soup with basil. It was a bowl full of pureed cantalope with tons of olive oil drizzled on top. It has no basil taste at all and the olive oil did not go well with the soup. I had a salad which was average. The bread that both came with my salad and what was brought to our table was terrible. Supposed to be focaccia, but it had no topping on it at all and it tasted stale. It was terrible. For dinner, I ordered the chicken and my partner ordered lamb. He liked his enough, altho it was extremely chewy and difficult to cut with the butter knife he had. We were never offered a steak knife. My chicken was undercooked. It came with a sauce, sundried tomatoes, arugula and croutons. The arugula was completely wilted when it came to the table and the croutons were the same bread used earlier, only know it was wet from the sauce. I took one bite of chicken and that was it. The description on the menu didnt match at all. It was on the bone with skin on and undercooked. I sat thru the meal watching my partner eat his meal. How pleasant that was. The kicker was the presentation of the dishes. To me, I think food should look as good or better than it tastes. Both our dishes were just plopped onto a white plate and sent out. Dessert was better I had the panna cota with raspberries. It had no real flavor of its own, but the raspberries were fresh. He had the chocolate tart which was tasty, altho the crust was overdone. It was hard as a rock. Overall, I was a very poor experience. Our waiter was very good tho. He was friendly and attentive. But, it's not the service that makes a dining experience for me. Pros: nice location, good service Cons: poor menu, bad food more

Don't even bother eating here! It is a total waste of money! We were hotel guests and treated so rudely. The young waiter obviously had very little training and was preoccupied with tables of women clients. The waiter brings us foccia bread and NO BREAD PLATES or DIPPING sauces. We order salad.... he brings the salad and then the entree shortly after. We are OBVIOUSLY done with our salads and he doesn't pick up the plates. We have to ask another waiter to bring us BREAD PLATES and DIPPING SAUCES, and for STEAK KNIVES! Hello???... We just spent quite a bit of $$$ for Filet Mignon and you can't even ask us how our dinner is??? He comes back and askes me if I would like another drink.. I say yes... and he deliver's it after I am totally finished with my dinner, then has the nerve to ask me if I WANT DESSERT? ABSOLUTELY NOT! We ask him if he can take our plates, bread plates and salad plates and he has the nerve to tell us HE WILL BE BACK IN A FEW TO GET THEM!!!!!NO TIP for him. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND $$$. GO TO MCCORMICK & SCHMICK'S INSTEAD! Pros: Nice Atmosphere Cons: Service and food more

I head good things about Aquariva and it had a beautiful view, so we booked the place for our rehearsal dinner. I will start by saying the food was good and the view is beautiful. Not great, but good. Wine was very overpriced. However, there were some very unacceptable occurrences that night. The first was the wine. We wanted to bring our own wine, but it was going to cost $18/bottle for them to open it and a room rental fees (I will explain below). It was amazing how approximately 30 adults went through exactly two cases of wine, plus beer, soft drinks, etc. This was more than 90 of us went through at my wedding. During the night, we repeatedly watched the waiters open a new bottle and refill glasses on tables while: 1) half full bottles were still sitting on tables and 2) without even asking if people even wanted more to drink. I cannot even start to imagine how much wine was wasted that night. The second was the clean up. About 2 hours before our rental time was up, and while we were still sitting in the room talking, the staff was taking down the room (tables, chairs, table clothes, etc). I was absolutely appalled. Third, I was never sure whom I was supposed to speak to throughout the planning. The coordinator was changed on me 3 times. Each time, I had to go over all the details again because they never spoke to each other. One of them could not even get my name right. Whoever I contact was apparently the wrong person, because the response would always be the same??ok, I?ll tell ____?. It was very confusing, frustrating, and wasted a lot of my time. What was even more surprising was the response when I brought it to the manager?s attention. First, he said that since we were not charged a room rental fee, there is not anything to reimburse regarding the taking down the room during the event. The irony is that during one of our meetings, the staff told us that our current numbers did not meet the minimum amount required to avoid an expensive room rental fee. Therefore, we agreed purchased their wine and some extra food that we did not originally want. As for the wine, they agreed to reimburse us three bottles. After the evening was over, I had some of our guests come up and make comments to me about these items. Overall, I am appalled by the unprofessional practices we experienced that evening. Pros: decent food, beautiful view Cons: service, lack of professionalism more

We were looking for a restaurant to celebrate our anniversay and since it was New Years Day, the selection seemed slim. On a whim, we called Aquariva, and we were pleasantly surprised to find it open for dinner. We read a review of New Year's Eve that was not positive, but since one of us had eaten lunch here and was impressed, we decided to give it a go. We were very pleased with not only the super service, but also the great meal and drinks. We had salmon, chicken, spinach salad, side of green beans and a great desert, Espresso Panna Cotta. The chicken came with parmesan mashed potatoes, both cooked perfectly. The green beans were not overcooked and the tasty salmon came with roasted onions that were incredible. more

Having heard wonderful things about Aquariva, our party of 6 decided to go on New Years Eve. Upon making reservations, my husband inquired about the menu for New Years and was told that we could have the choice between the Prixfix menu or the Casual Sunday menu. We all looked online and chose what we would be having before going out New Years. Upon arrival, we could not find parking and the ""complimentary valet"" was not well communicated with signs. After driving around, we had a member of our party go inside to ask where we should park as to not get towed. When we were seated, the table was set in up so we were all on the same side of the table...I assume it had to do with the small amount of space between our table and the table across from us. Definitely not set up for any type of communications to occur during dinner. At this point I thought to myself that the food better be good. I was dissapointed in this as well. After learning that our choices were now the PrixFix or the Bar menu, we reviewed the menus once again. As one member of our party was a vegetarian, her choices were limited to salad, veggie pizza, or cheeseballs. When her pizza came, they had inadvertantly put sausage on it and they had to remake it while we waited as our food became cold. I had the prixfix meal (the only way I could get any type of actual dinner as opposed to appetizers) The ""apple"" salad had 2 slivers of apple and so much pepper that I had to drink 2 glasses of water following it. The beef ribs were very good and tender and the gelato for dessert was very good. The service started off strong but as soon as our dinner was served, we did not see our waiter again. Our whole party had run out of water at the beginning of dinner and did not get any more until our checks were paid. I also was suprised at the auto-gratuity. Not that it was there but that is was not communicated. We were ready to add the tip when one of our party noticed that it had already been added. Pros: View of the Willamette River Cons: Parking, service,food more

I fly to Portland often for work and usually stay down town but occasionally stay at the Avalon. After work I didn't feel like taking a cab to a restaurant so I walked to Aquariva next door. Big mistake. Pros: It's on the river, so if the weather is nice you can sit outside. Cons: Terrible food, interior decor not appealing. Did I mention terrible food? more

We were excited to check out Aquariva as the reviews were quite good and we were staying at the Avalon Hotel and Spa. We arrived on a Saturday night at about 8:30pm to find the entire place completely empty. We sat at the bar and were literally 2 of 4 patrons. There was not one single guest in the dining room. The bartender was friendly and helpful with the wine list which I found to be quite small for a 'wine bar'. Cold and stark is how I'd describe the decor - black and gray. I did notice some red drapes back in the dining room. I'm sure the view is beautiful during the day since it's on the river. We began with a Caesar salad which was average and a fresh mozarella salad. This was 3 slices of not so fresh tomatoes topped with a small, rubbery piece of old mozarella, fresh basil and what they claimed was 30 year old balsamic. It was no different than the $3.00 brand which I purchase at Trader Joe's. My husband ordered a pasta dish which was the smallest portion I've EVER seen in a restaurant - it was about 1/2 cup of noodles, topped with 1/2 cup of sauce and 3 meatballs which were so tiny - about the size of a marble. We could only laugh! The whole thing was smaller than the size of my fist! I chose seafood risoto which I sent back because the pasta was raw (crunchy) and the fish was 'fishy'. The bartender was very nice about it and immediately offered me the opportunity to select something else. I chose a pizza which was tiny but pretty good. I do understand how it's difficult to offer fresh, properly cooked food in an estabishment which does very little business - it was a shame. The small portions would lead me to suggest that they simply offer the entire menu as appetizers. This way, people would expect 'taste' sized portions. Pros: The service was the only positive thing! Cons: Small portions of overpriced, old tasting food. more

We went for happy hour and were dissapointed. 3 out of the 8 beers on tap they were out of, the food was mediocre at best, tough chewy fries, bad crowd of business men and bar flys. Chef walking around not even smiling with a stern tough look to him. The dining room on a Tuesday night had 3 tables in it. Bad location? Concept? Too bad for them Pros: view Cons: food and atmosphere more

We've been to this place a few times ever since its latest incarnation as AquaRiva, and every time have asked ourselves, ""Why is this not the hottest restaurant in Portland?"" The answer must be its off-the-beaten-track location, because everything else about it is fabulous. Pros: Great food; good value; beautiful setting more

I'm a huge pasta fanatic, and am pretty picky. I had the dungeness crab pasta the other day and it was scrumptious! I loved it so much I've been craving it ever since. I personally think the decor is chic and the view is great as well. more

We loved the ambience, the view and the idea of a nice meal on the river front. The cocktails were disappointing, but the appetizers & entrees were great. Service was incredibly slow, but the beautiful views and good company we were in made it a tolerable pace. Was very disappointed at the end when a 20% gratuity was automatically billed to our table of 5. I actually liked our waitress and would have been inclined to tip her well, but for the restaurant to assume a 20% gratuity for only 5 people went too far in my book.. I felt taken advantage of and robbed of my ability to adequately thank our server on my own. I also doubt they would have alerted us had we inadvertantly double tipped. Pros: River views, wonderful atmosphere Cons: Expensive more

Big Miss Pros: First course, pretty darn good. Cons: Ambiance, cold and uninviting. The rest is all down hill. more

As I gazed into the restaurant I noticed the unfamiliar placement of the hostess stand. It was awkward and unapproachable. The hostess had a fine demeanor and sat us quickly with a fine ethic and detail towards her work but sat us in a space that seemed nearly inhabitable. The service was curt at best and seemed nearly rushed. I found myself pushed between highly priced bottled water and tap water that was equal in price but not quality. The quality of the bottled water was absolutely sub par and would refuse it if I found myself to ever to experience such a situation again. Pros: Great bar and hostess Cons: Slow service and poor food quality more

My husband and Is first visit was on our honeymoon. We were staying at the adjoining Avalon Hotel & Spa(Also very fabulous). We were both exhausted and hungry. I recognized the restaurant as the old Rivers, but much more clever and chic. The moment we walked in the door, it was evident that customer service is important to them. Our server, Miguel was excellent. He knew the menu selections and had great recomendations. The focacia bread and white bean spread were awesome, and I am not a bread eater. Dinner was equally as brilliant. I had the scallops with oven dried tomatoes, and the mashed potatoes(not the kind your mom makes!)My husband had the lamb chops and the vidalia onions. Seeing that we had just gotten married(we were still in wedding atire) they promptly helped us continue to celebrate by brining us a glass of champagne. I am a chef and a serious food snob. When I go to Aquariva, I can leave my toque at the door and enjoy. The view is also amazing. The last time we were there, the moon was full and reflecting on the Willamette, incredible! Almost forgot my husbands favorite part....the cotton candy for dessert, cleverly served on a water glass. We loved everything so much, that we have decided to celebrate our anniversary once a month there. Pros: Excellent variety, nice atmosphere, fantastic service Cons: would never have known it was there if we had not stayed at the Avalon more