The River House

Gosh, the last time I was at the River House in Ladner, it was for a friend's wedding.  That was 15 years ago!  Suffice to say, I don't remember anything about the food, let alone even how to get there.  Well, we finally returned due to Bubbly's birthday.  Chill decided to invite all of Ladner, so we ended up taking over the pub portion of the restaurant.  As such, we decided to order a mix of dishes that also included both pub and main restaurant.

My daugther took one look at the kid's menu and balked.  Something about chicken strips and burgers that is not up to her standards...  princess...  Anyways, she inexplicably order the New England Clam Chowder as her meal.  It was relatively thick and more floury than creamy.  It did taste okay though with some brininess combined with an appealing saltiness.  We got an order of Nachos for the table and it was pretty large.  We liked how they layered the cheese as well as not dumping a load of wet ingredients on top. They also gave us a crap load of generic salsa and sour cream.

For myself, I went for something more refined in the Bouillabaisse.  This was an interesting take on the dish as the saffron broth was fairly thick and spicy.  Actually, it was probably too spicy as it masked the natural sweetness of the well-prepared prawns, scallops, clams and mussels.  On the other hand, the halibut and salmon were overcooked.  For Viv, she went casual in the Slow-Roasted Turkey Club with fries.  We appreciated the use of real turkey breast, however, it was pretty dry and bland.  Even the rest of the ingredients (applewood smoked bacon, red pepper aioli and aged white cheddar) in the sandwich couldn't add any impact to counteract compliment the meat.

Costanza decided on the RH Ultimate Burger that was marginally larger than the kid's burger (which was half the price).  Hey, it wasn't Earth-shattering, but the burger was well-made.  The patty wasn't exactly juicy, but it wasn't too bad.  The bacon was crispy and meaty while the brioche bun was not dry.  Elaine also had a burger but with Lemon Pepper Salmon instead.  Despite its appearance, the salmon was not dry and exhibited a nice seared crust.   The lemon pepper was rather muted, but the crispy onions and dijonnaise added the necessary flavours.  On the side of the last 3 items, the house-cut fries were pretty decent with a light crispiness.  As much as the food wasn't Earth-shattering, it was decent enough.  Based on the dishes we had, the Riverhouse is okay for bite if you are in the area.

The Good:
- Nice waterfront location
- Okay food

The Bad:
- A little pricey
- Friendly service, but a bit slow (however, we did have a large group)