River and Rail

Amazing new restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed, nice, and fun. The food was incredible. I ordered the fajitas, which were top notch. Also, the complimentary chips with salsa were delicious. I will be returning. My only suggestion would be to get Cholula hot sauce instead of only having Tobasco.

Enjoy the view of the river! This is my first time here. I live in Dallas Texas and met some friends for dinner here last night. The food was good, tasted fresh, good portions and they make a nice cocktail! The service was good and they were very nice. They could’ve stepped it up a bit and checked on our table more often, but i’m probably a little spoiled in the highly competitive restaurant market of Dallas Texas! Keep up the good work fellas looking forward to seeing you again soon!

Dropped in while passing through Monroe on business. Worth it for the river views alone. Some good beers on tap, easygoing atmosphere, service lukewarm but efficient. The pork carnitas were delicious. Will return.

Came here for supper. I had a steak sandwich that was excellent. Staff was cool and friendly and they had a good beer selection. The patio on the river had a great view and in early November the temperature was perfect. I liked the instrumental hip hop music.

I guess good help is hard to find in the Twin Cities. The last time I was here the food service were excellent. Today food was good but it wasn’t what I ordered. My waiter was on a roll from the start. First he was slow to take our order. When he finally came to take our drink order we both ordered El Jimador margaritas without salt. He lopes up with two salted glasses. Next we almost filled up on two baskets of chips before he took our orders for ground beef tacos and enchiladas. He comes back with steak. We’ve already been almost an hour and didn’t feel like sending the food back for fear of it getting messed over or coming out 30 mins later? I was 12:30 when got here and it’s 1:45 now. It’s not that busy here. What the heck is going on? I was so looking forward to lunch and drinks on the river. Epic Fail!

I went on a Thursday for dinner, sat at the bar. The salsa is great, very flavorful and lots of cilantro which I love. The bartender was attentive although it was busy. Drinks were expensive unfortunately. Opted for the 3 tacos which were good, not great. Except the fish… The fish was by far my favorite.
Atmosphere has a lot of promise. I think I will try it again!

Ok food. Good atmosphere. Terrible service. The pulled pork tacos were delicious. We sat for 15 minutes without any acknowledgement or anyone getting our drink order. I went to the hostess station to let them know, and instead of getting our drink order, they said they’d send someone. It took another 10 minutes for anyone to come by the table. She said she be right back to get our drink order. Still another 5 minutes passed. During our meal, the waitress got my friends order wrong, she left another table’s dirty beer glass at our table, and forgot about our drinks again. They served my wine in a very dirty glass. I noticed the manager walking around and checking in tables, but he checked on every other table but ours. We never got an apology for making us wait for our drinks. Our meal took 2 hours because every time we asked for anything, it took 15 minutes for us to see our server again. Our food was delivered and we didn’t have silverware. I had to walk across the restaurant to steal it from another table.

Big group of us went on a Friday night. We sat on the patio. Bar drinks were okay, so we changed to beer. We had duck wraps and white cheese dip for appetizers that were amazing.
Hubby and I had duck fajitas that were the best I have ever eaten. Others at our table had duck quesadillas and burgers.
Loved the atmosphere it was a little steamy on the patio, but great food. Look forward to coming back.

Went here for lunch a few times with no wait. The tacos, nachos, quesadilla, and fajitas are absolutely delicious. The only complaint is that the restaurant is a little loud but other than that the staff is super friendly and the food is amazing.

Decided to give them another try. Food was okay, nothing I would want to order again. Probably would not return. This place has a great atmosphere and should have better drinks and food.

Happened upon this place while searching for Cajun food. The Tex-​mex was ok. Service was excellent and portions were substantial. I ordered a margarita and it was decent. The enchiladas were far from authentic and drowning them in queso didn’t really help. But… when you walk into a TexMex joint and don’t hear loud Tejano tunes coming from the kitchen… what do you expect?

We found this place on Unilocal and loved it! The atmosphere, service, food were all excellent. We were seated outside and enjoyed the view of the river and railroad. I will keep this place on the list if we are ever in the area again.

Great location. Love the atmosphere. Good food and good service. We will go back!

I remember eating here about 9 months ago and it was twice as better than it was today. The menu is very small and they’re not a lot of options. My boyfriend got the burger plain and it was really salty in my opinion. I got the shrimp and was really disappointed when I only got 4 shrimp lol. The rice was really bland and undercooked. I did really like the cheese dip and chips haha. The service was pretty good I always had a full glass. I just remember this restaurant being a lot nicer and the food a lot fresher and just over better. I’m not sure if I just came on an off night or if I ordered wrong I think I got the fajitas last time and they were great. But I will most likely not return here when cotton which is AMAZING is right down the street. Another thing that really bothers me about the patio seating out there is you are not allowed to smoke and to me that kind of ruins the purpose of having our door seating? I don’t know it was terrible just not great like I remember.

Since moving back to Monroe in July 2014, the River and Rail has become a favorite «watering hole» for my wife and I. The menu has greatly improved (they’ve concentrated on a smaller selection and have perfected it). However, the bar is one of the finest in Monroe for just stopping by for a drink and relaxing. This is truly one of the friendliest places we’ve been to; nobody knows a stranger in there and we have made good friends just sitting next to people there. The bartenders are very friendly and are very skilled with drink making. River and Rail is really one of the best places to hang out in Monroe.

Great restaurant! Great atmosphere!
I gave it a 4 star due to charging $ 2.50 for salsa!!!

This is definitely one of the more scenic places to eat in Monroe. I highly recommend a sunset dinner here!
The food ranges from normal hamburgers to duck quesadillas, which are AMAZING!
The food isn’t the cheapest but the margaritas are strong, so a money-​saver there!
The service is good and you have a wide variety if seating from bar to I door to outdoor and outdoor fire pit!
The only drawback is the parking so cone with enough time beforehand!
Come out and support this place!

Yes; do it; drink on the dusk-​dimmed Ouachita. Eat elsewhere.

This was very close to being a one star review. The only reason it isn’t is because the service was actually great, which is odd because that seems to be what everyone was complaining about. Our waiter (don’t remember his name) was attentive, helpful, and when he noticed we weren’t satisfied really did all he could to find out what was wrong and why we weren’t thrilled with the food. I wish I could have given him a better answer than I did, but it wouldn’t have really changed much because the food just plain sucks.
I had the Rio Grande Mahi Mahi and my two companions had the nachos. Both meals were sub-​par. The rice and beans were ok, though the rice was under-​seasoned and the beans tasted old. The fish though… It was terrible what they did to that poor fish. First, it was obvious that every ingredient used came frozen, canned, or freeze-​dried. Not a single thing, other than the chips, were fresh. This place is clearly angling towards a mid-​tier atmosphere and level of cooking, and that’s just not possible if all your ingredients come in shrink-​wrapped plastic baggies.
As if that wasn’t bad enough (and it was), the fish was seasoned like it was made for people with horribly defective taste buds. Salt is supposed to be a flavor enhancer — not the main flavor. The nachos were simply bland, with nothing really interesting or unique going on. When you can get better nachos at any third-​rate hole-​in-​the-​wall Mexican restaurant, you have issues.
I understand that this place is probably more geared to the drinks on the patio crowd, but even still — you need to at least be able to get your appetizers up to par. Especially with Cotton just a few doors down. All in all, it seems like a nice place to get a drink or two after work, but the terrible quality of the food (did I mention frozen ingredients?) make me not want to spend any money there ever again.

Great atmosphere & awesome table-​side guacamole, but beware, you’ll pay a $ 5 premium for the table-​side option, making your guacamole $ 12, which seems a bit much, especially by Monroe standards. Other than that, the food was good. The service wasn’t as bad as other reviewers experienced, but not exactly spot on.
They’ve got some work to do, but I’d give them another shot next time I’m in town.