The Riverside Restaurant Blackwood - Gwent

First class service..first class food! Highly recommend the restaurant definitely return :)

We have been to the Riverside restaurant Blackwood, several times over the past six months, and most recently took a group of friends just before Christmas! On each occasion we had fantastic, tasty meals.

Attention to detail is extremely important to both chef and all staff. Service was excellent.

The dishes were all cooked to perfection, with tastes that complement each other extremely well.

Would advise the four course deal, but order a side dish of triple cooked chips to complement your main meal.

Extremely friendly staff, and on each occasion the manager has made a point to ask us personally if we enjoyed our meal.

Special mention to Chris, head waiter, whose customer service is excellent........

Overall, would definitely recommend a visit.

Food is great, Good value for money and a fantastic atmosphere!

Do not travel, if you are looking for above average, ( do not compare to chain food pre frozen food) look no further. I have visited several times and the food and service continue to improve.well worth trying, a hidden gem. Would like a bigger selection of wines for the next visit.

we booked a meal for two couples at the Riverside on Thursday 2nd August. The restaurant was very quiet, only 3 tables of 2 were occupied. We had asked for a table at 8.00pm but as they couldn't accomodate us, we booked for 8.30pm. Upon arrival the waitress showed us our table & said she'd bring our drinks over. 10 minutes later I asked for our drinks and was told in a very rude way that she had one pair of hands. When we eventually got our drinks, mine was not what I had ordered But I decided not to mention itin case I got my head bitten off

The meal itself was very nice, however the waitress had a big problem with manners, she was very offhand. When coffee came my friend ordered a brandy, which she got, howevermy husband ordered a pint of lager & was told quite rudely that it was past 'stop tap'. The time was 10.35pm!!

We eat out regularly and have NEVER encountered such rudeness & disgusting service.

We would strongly advise anyone looking for a pleasant night out to avoid The Riverside Restaurant

A top class restaurant. Service, presentation and ultimately the food were all simply excellent. Do yourself a favour, if you are local forget traveling to a good restaurant it’s on your doorstep, if you live a distance away, make the effort to travel and give yourself a real treat.

Firstly, The Riverside Restaurant Blackwood - also konwn as the Rock and Fountain -offers 4 courses for £25. This is for starter, main and dessert with a coffee. Coffee is not in my opinion a course - that would be a fish course or cheese - so it is in effect £25 for just three courses.

The restaurant is clean, tidy, modern and soulless. The leatherette chairs are extremely uncomfortable especially if you are shorter as you keep sliding down in them!

Starters I tried were haddock fishcake - it was just ok. Distinctly under seasoned and no trace of the spring onion it was said to contain. Also tried the ham hock terrine - it was not a terrine and the chef achieved the distinction on managing to remove any flavour from the ham. All that could be tasted was raw onion. The bread accompanying it was not enough - one tiny stale slice.

Mains were sea bass on rissotto - the risotto was excellent and the fish a good portion size but skin was not crisp and the butter so cold it did not melt on fish.

The pork tenderloin was tiny - cut into 4 slices - and was ok. Along with the cider fondant potato it didn't really taste of much. The sauce that accompanied it was nice though.

For dessert we had the white chocolate and blueberry cheesecake which again did not taste of any of the listed ingredients and also contained large globs of undissolved gelatine!!! This was drawn to the waitress' attention who merely commented that they had a problem with that!!!!

We also had the apricot and frangipan tart with ice cream - the portion was extremely stingy but in keeping with the theme of the evening it was rather tasteless.

We received no gratuity or discount on our bill for our complaints and we will NOT be returning. Blackwood does need a fine eatery - this is not it.

This is the second time I have been to this restaurant. We went on St Valentines day, where we had the fixed £25 menu. All four courses were first class. The service was good until we got to the dessert, when we had to wait quite some time to get service. However, the evening was so enjoyable, it will not detract from going there again. We were in the restaurant for 1.5 hours, and as it pleased my wife, it certainly pleased me. Good evening, and good value.

We were a party of four, and it was the first time that we had been to the Riverside.The restaurant was smart, clean, and the tables very nicely laid.All four of us agreed, the meal was superb, I had the goats cheese to start, and it was delicious, followed by the cod which was very tasty, and then the cheesecake with ice cream.The food was very well presented and tasted first class. I have no hesitation in recommending this restaurant, and will certainly be going again.

We booked this restaurant to celebrate a member of our party's birthday. As we do visit various restaurants in a large group we look for value for money and an enjoyable evening. Unfortunately the Riverside did not give us this. We queried the booking as we had been told it was £20 for the 3 courses to be told this was no longer the case since Tuesday(however we did book before this and surely this should have had this honoured as a deposit had been taken at time)after asking to speak to the manager he came across to speak to us. His manner was far from managerial and he then explained he was the owner to our surprise!He has no people skills and refused to take on board any of our points of the evening which could surely goes towards good customer relations in future if not with our group. Although not all the starters were too our liking, we did all enjoy our main meals and the waitress that served us was lovely and helpful. It is a shame to have to write a bad review as we do enjoy many meals out but we will not be returning to the Riverside due to the attitude of the manager/owner- disappointed on what should have been a celebratory meal out with the ladies!

After eagerly waiting for what was hoped to be an enjoyable evening with some close friends, our experience at the riverside restaurant in Blackwood was everything but!!!!!!! All courtesy of Stuart the owner,

he was abrupt, and un-acommodating to say the least!

1. we were rushed for our order, which set the seen for the whole evening.

2. we were cold even after it was mentioned to our waitress.

3. we had to wait a while for our starter.

4. when our booking was made, it was confirmed to us that the 3 courses for £20 offer would still be on, and secured this with a £40 deposit. But on the night it was not, and after raising this point to the owner, he didn't offer us anything to honor the booking, he was quite rude!

our waitresses were all lovely and tried their best to help us.

Its a shame that the riverside is run by such poor management.

The one saving grace was the food, although some of us were still hungry at the end of the night.

We will not be going back, nor would recommend it to others.