Riverside Cafe

Our best breakfast spot in Newburyport, by far. I never went here with its old owners (where some of the current reviews come from).
I think my favorite thing about this place is the flat top. It’s one of those that have been seasoned for so many years that everything cooked on it is just tasty. I always get one of their omelettes, which are cooked «flat» (where they mix the ingredients instead of folding over), and just stuffed with fillings.
Service is great. Never a wait for a table. Very reasonably priced considering it’s Newburyport.

Driving from Boston to Bar Harbor. Our GPS took us here when we asked for breakfast. Really good food, friendly waitress, chill atmosphere. Little hard to find due to sparse signage from the road but totally worth it.

I used to share kitchen space here a number of years ago (I think it was two owners past), and would pitch in at the lunch rush. So while visiting my sister I came on over for an early breakfast.
I love Eggs Benedict. So I ordered their California Benedict, with avacado and fresh spinach. It looked gorgeous when it arrived. It had homemade hollandaise sauce, fresh spinach… and black avacado. I did find a green bite but scraped off all the rest. When I mentioned it to the waitress, she said that he cooks the avacado. So I cautiously took a tiny taste. It was bad.
I generally judge a breakfast place by the homefries. According to that characteristic, I would have given them 5 stars.
To their credit they did comp my meal. The waitress was sweet. The setting is nice, especially on weekends when the river isn’t obscured by parked cars.
I will probably try them again sometime. Everyone and every business has a bad day once in a while. So Il cautiously give 3 stars, mostly because of my understanding of how challenging it can be to do it all perfectly every time. And I want to give them the benefit of the doubt for how they handled the situation.

With new ownership the food (and service) is much better.
I recently ordered a omelette special with feta cheese, spinach, black olive, and tomato. I opted for beans instead of hash browns. Delish!

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The Riverside Café
As of December 30, 2011, The Riverside Café is under new ownership… stay tuned for details! Happy 2012!
Like Share Sunday at 9:53pm

While this place wasn’t completely awful, I can’t imagine how anyone could give it 5 stars. I was in the Newburyport area last week and decided to stop in. The menu offered «best egg salad,» and I decided I’d give that a try, until I stepped up to the glass and could see it. It looked old, crusty and nasty. So I decided to order a BLT – hard to screw up. It was not very good. While I love love love my bacon crispy, the bacon in this BLT was burnt and charred. The bread wasn’t that good either. I’d go so far to say it was the worst BLT I’ve ever had.
They had a chicken noodle soup and a soup of the day – a chicken and corn chowder – both of which I tried while trying to make a decision on what to eat after seeing the egg salad. Both were extremely bland; they had NO flavor! Definitely not good at all. (How do you screw up chicken noodle?!)
I will say in this place’s defense that there were a group of four ladies at a table having lunch there eating burritos and such. They seemed to be enjoying their meals quite a bit. I guess it could have just been the things I tried, but I certainly would not consider this place a quality café… average at the absolute best.

Great lunch spot that serves quick and delicious food with great views of the river. The location has plenty of seating and is in a cool old factory building that has been completely restored. The food is inexpensive and both the options and portions are substantial. Riverside Café is one of those hidden gem lunch places that you’ll find yourself wanting to go back to again and again.

Surprised was I to discover this little tucked away eatery. I guess it is there primarily for the people who work in the medical building but a friend and I gave it a try on a Saturday morning when the med building is closed. There were several people dining on some good looking breakfast foods. They offer a full breakfast line as you order up at the counter. We chose the breakfast burritos. The burrito but plain. It was basically a wrap with eggs and cheese. We had to go back to the counter to ask for sour cream and salsa and it would have been better if we had gotten avocado. Neither bad nor stellar. A choice of hot or ice coffee and we went for the iced coffee. It was OK. I will go back and try a few other things off their breakfast menu as what I saw others eating looked tasty. They also offer a variety of juices and have sandwiches etc. It’s a nice location and on a Saturday morning there is plenty of parking. Will try again.