Rivertap Pub

Came here to watch soccer. Service started out meh, and then my last hour and a half here came with no service whatsoever. On a Tuesday too. Waited another 25 minutes for my check. Basically there for 2 plus hours and had 2 beers and a burger and had to track down the waitress for my check. Never again.

Ordered the blackberry spinach salad for $ 13. Thought the price was a bit high but it sounded good. Not worth it, there’s not even blackberries in it, which for that price is a bit ridiculous. Overall, everything seemed pretty overpriced. It took 45 minutes for me to get my soup/​salad and my boyfriend to get the chicken sandwich.
Service was «meh», I won’t be going back.

Went there for dinner today. When we sat down they said it the kitchen was running at 30 minutes. Glad they were upfront about that. I am celiac. I spoke with the waitress and orders a burger with no bum and salad, no croutons. My hubby had a regular burger and salad with croutons.
Food did not come for almost 50 minutes. My salad was covered in croûton dust along with the cheese on my patty. I asked her to check with the kitchen, she took my plate and came back with it and said that it was cracked pepper. That the manager said it was ok.
Hubbys salad had no cracked pepper. His croutons had these little tiny green spice flecks on them. My salad and cheese had those along with little tan specks. I have been eating this way for 19 years. It’s not my first time dealing with croûton dust. Also, if I needed a new one they said, the kitchen was running at ah hour.
I picked the cheese off and just ate the patty. Took the salad home so hubby can take it for lunch tomorrow to work. The worst part was the lying about it. People with allergies and intolerance s get really sick.

I had the Thai tacos and Barbara had fish Tacos. Both were excellent. The portions were large and the soft tacos were overflowing. We both washed the tacos down with their excellent on tap stout. A very enjoyable evening for both of us with friendly service provided by the staff.

Great drinks, good food, great service. Very friendly and accommodating staff. Great happy hour drinks and food.

Local pub with a very good selection of beers. The wall splitting the bar into halves feels awkward but the food is quite good and the staff is very friendly.

The food is ok but not the best. I use to frequent this establishment with friends or on a lunch date with my sister but each time the service continued to get worse. There are a few good servers but waiting 45 minutes for drinks or having to wait at the bar while they wait on everyone except you for 20 minutes is just unacceptable. There are also a few servers that will sit there and flirt with every guy hoping for a good tip while ignoring every woman or glaring. I won’t be back.

Great food, with lots of choices for all of us, vegan to carnivore. They even gave us the ingredient list for their hemp burgers! Service was perfect. Live music was great!!! Highly recommend! We will be back when we pass through again! Everything was great!

This is a large local pub with 2 sections. One is the bar and the other is the restaurant. It feels a little tired, but the food was actually quite delicous.
The portions are large and the assortment and combinations of the mostly wrap type dinners were modern and yummy.
I recommend this place if you’re passing thru!
Great attentive nice service!

The Rivertap Pub is a good pub. Not being a denizen of The Dalles I am not a regular, so my review is based on just a few visits. Right in the heart of dt it has a lot of interesting things to see and do nearby and does not have a stripmall vibe.
About the place: There are a lot of great beers to choose from, children can eat with you, there are televisions with sports that are not too loud, they sell beautiful merchandise, it is ⁸⁄₁₀ clean, their staff is attentive, and they have that good Aardvark hotsauce. This is not a gourmet restaurant or a ‘gastropub’, although their salads do have spring mix. The chipotle chicken wrap is a great lunch.

Great local beer. We had «bad Santa». We also ordered the aisian stir fry with chicken and shrimp and peanut sauce. Great flavor. Service was friendly and helpful. Great atmosphere! Next time we are passing through The Dalles, we will eat and drink here!

This review is a reflection on the manager, and her childish and unprofessional behavior. I have eaten at the Rivertap, it’s nothing spectacular, the food is decent, the service is hit or miss, it’s a place I have dropped in from time to time, more for drinks than for food. Never again, our group of friends were treated so disrespectfully that we will never again step foot there,
Why? This started about 3 weeks ago, my group made plans for a DNC Debate watching party in the bar. They also had one at Andrew’s in Hood River, which by the way was a huge success and a profitable night for that business, but thought we should do one in The Dalles too. Everything was set up with Rivertap, having made several calls in the weeks prior — everything was great until we checked in at 4:25pm for a 5:30pm event. The contact person we had made all of our arrangements with had left for the day. I am fairly sure this is because the manager did not like what she had arranged, and had sent her home, but that is just a hunch.
When introducing ourselves, we were directed to speak to the manager about the event. We asked where we would be sitting, if we needed a sign, etc, she shrugged her shoulders, kept putting glasses away, avoided eye contact and said, «I don’t know anything about it. I have no idea.» (Obviously, we were directed to the manager — she must’ve known we were coming)
The organizer was dumbfounded because she spent a lot of time setting this event up, and now the manager was acting as if we had just walked in off the street. Seeing a spot with a large TV and appropriate seating, we motioned if it would be okay for the group to be seated there for the debate. The manager said, «We can’t do that. It will have to be closed caption. We don’t do politics in the bar.»
How is it possible when the establishment had agreed to the event, had said they had «nothing else going on that night» and that they would be «glad to have us» and now were acting as if we had NOT set it up, insisting they DIDN’T even «do politics» and could not accommodate our group unless they watched the debate in closed caption?
The manager continued to deny any of the arrangements, roll her eyes and offer no solutions. The manager then tried to extort money from our group, saying if we wanted SOUND on ONE of the SIX tvs (which btw were already on and turned up for a soccer game) then we could make the bar a «private event» which would cost $ 200! Extortion — wow — that is a new low for any establishment! She did not want us there!
Knowing time was of the essence and more people were on their way for the event, we begged to please just let us watch, but for no reason other than she simply did not want to accommodate us, the manager would not budge and then became angry and threatened to forcibly throw us out if we did not leave. There was nothing more to say so we left, but asked the manager that when people showed up for the event to please let them know that there was another viewing party at The French House. She said she would put a sign up letting people know.
Reports from people that showed up at the event tell that the staff at Rivertap blamed the organizer, saying she came in and cancelled at the last minute. That is a blatant lie — The Rivertap manager REFUSED to honor our pre-​arranged event. They did have a sign on the door saying that the event was cancelled, directing people to watch the debate at the Community College, no mention of the French House. Guess what? They were not showing the debate at the college. It was a wild-​goose chase which upset several more patrons. I’m fairly sure the manager sent people to the college as a form of petty retribution. What a peach!
If the owner of the River Tap reads this, you should have a talk with your manager. She was dishonest, unprofessional and just plain mean to your patrons — plus she directed your servers to be the same. Not the type of person you want representing your business interests. Good thing there are plenty of other places in town where we can spend our money.
*Oh, and in case you don’t care what a person from SF thinks, my company has an office and quite a large presence in The Dalles so i am up here quite often. My co-​workers and I like a good happy hour. In the future we will be going elsewhere.

We stopped to have lunch at The Rivertap today and the food was fabulous. However, I am giving two stars due to the unpleasant experience caused by the table behind us. They were clearly over-​served, belligerent and beyond rowdy. Little attention was paid to their behavior and despite one of their group being extremely intoxicated, he was served more alcohol. What is more surprising about him being served is that even the server commented on his condition! We didn’t bother to stay for dessert and probably won’t go back again.

Terrible service. Waited at the bar like the sign said to get a table fo over 10 mins. Noone even acknowledged me. Got fed up and left. Staff appeared to be too interested in serving their friends to help other customers.

When vacationing we always gravitate towards places with good food and beer selection, this time we had our dog with us. I searched out ‘dog friendly restaurants’ in the good old Unilocal ap and this place was on the list. I was afraid we were ‘settling’ for something cuz of the pooch; not so! Service was almost immediate, and one of the first things the waitress said was ‘let me get a water bowl for your dog’. Nice! When it came time to order drinks, the waitress was super knowledgeable (important to beer snobs), and of the IPA’s on tap, she picked the best (in my opinion). Wife ordered halibut and sweet potato fries (aka fish and chips), they were amazingly good with a nice light tempura style coating. Sweet potato fries were just a little too crispy but still had good flavor. I ordere
d the fish taco (unless you’re a dainty eater, order two), they were very well equipped and had an authentic Mexican flavor. We were visited by 3 different servers, and while it probably doesn’t happen all the time it sure did this visit… lunch was so good we’re going back for dinner!

This place is the perfect mixture of reborn bar and brew pub. Our food was great, but the service was better– it was wonderful! Everyone we talked to (and there were lots– the theory of service was take care of people, even if it’s not your table).
What a contrast from the place down the street… Thanks Rivertap and staff!

Great food, superb service, nice environment. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries with chipotle aioli dipping sauce and was not happy when I couldn’t eat the whole thing. I wanted to scarf it all down in one sitting so I didn’t have to reheat it later. Needless to say, I had to reheat it… And the sandwich was still as good!
My boyfriend got two tacos, as it was taco tuesday. He got the fish and pulled pork, and he says: «Though they were both good, the fish was EXCELLENT.».
Overall, I enjoyed this visit thoroughly. We will be returning!

Stopped in for lunch. Outstanding burger on the best bun ever with a nice little green salad. She had fish tacos which were great as well. Excellent service. Great place to relax. Very impressed.

I have been all over the north west (I’m originally from the east coast) and time and time again I have faced slow service, my order messed up and a not so awesome atmosphere (sorry to those parents out there) but screaming children or music too loud and the list of disappointments goes on!
But…
After a quick camping trip in Northern Washington my partner and I stopped by the Dalles for a quick dinner before we arrived home in Portland. What we found at the Rivertap was wayyyy more than we expected to find. We shared an order of the beer Mac with chicken and the portobello sandwich with fries. I was really looking forward to the Mac which was delicious and totally way better than expected but the portobello sandwich was so flavourful and tasty I was blown away. The service was great… we had two servers. Plus, it happened to be open mic night and the music was an appropriate sound level along with great tunes like «Hey Joe» to «Old Time Rock an Roll.» I didn’t want to leave! We will definitely be back and highly recommend Rivertap to weary travelers and locals or adults alike.

Here’s the thing… River Tap is always going to have business and people will always flock to this place on the weekends like flies to stink. It’s not because the food is amazing or because the service is first rate (cause it ain’t). It’s because this is one of only two places in town that can offer this kind of laid back, sporty, fresh atmosphere. So, will I continue to put up with forgetful wait staff and mediocre food? Yeah, probably. Will I continue to complain when my drinks are forgotten or my food comes out cold? Yep, cause I’m paying good money for it. Will my Unilocal rant help make them stride to provide better quality experiences? Well… I can only hope.
Here is what you should know: the Thai chicken nachos are actually pretty damn tasty. There is live music every Fri/​Sat/​Sun. It’s okay… But it gets very loud and sometimes uncomfortable. Lastly, even though the staff is forgetful and sometimes not very attentive, they are friendly and that is certainly worth noting. Ps. Bring back the Rogue Hazelnut Brown Ale please!!!