Dinner – Alexandria Bay New York

One stop on our trip to upper New York State was in Alexandria Bay on the St. Lawrence River.  I always like to see if I can find a place to eat that’s popular with the locals…or at least with repeat visitors to the area.  In this case, my efforts at researching our food options via my restaurant guidebooks, as well as on-line through Trip Advisor, didn’t provide much help.  All of the restaurants were rated as just passable or as an overpriced ‘fuel’ stop.

So I asked our hotel/motel owner where he would suggest that we should eat dinner… He admitted that Alexandria Bay didn’t have the best restaurants and that they tended to be overpriced, but he had heard a couple of good reports on a new place, Riley’s By The River. 

The location was promising and the view of the St. Lawrence River from Riley’s window was OK too.

We ordered our dinners, which started out with a decent side salad and some passable soft bread sticks. 

Laurie had the Flat Iron Steak for her entrée. ($17.95) As described in the menu, it was a 10 oz. flat iron steak, grilled, cut on the bias, and then served with Riley’s special bourbon sauce and sautéed mushrooms. 

The dinner menu offered 6 appetizers, ($7.25 to $9.50), 3 dinner salads, ($9.75 to $10.75), 2 pasta dishes, 3 chicken entrees, 1 pork dish, 3 fish options plus a strip steak and prime rib.  Pricing for the entrees was reasonable, ranging from $13.95 to $19.95.  Dinners include bread, a side salad, chef’s choice vegetable and a starch…pasta or potato.  There was also another segment of the menu entitled ‘Lighter Fare’ that is served all day.  It consisted of sandwiches, a quesadilla plus fish and chips.  Prices for this portion of the menu ranged from $8.75 to $12.95.

For my dinner, I ordered the Chicken Bruschetta. ($14.95) This was described as a boneless breast sautéed in olive oil and minced garlic, then topped with diced tomatoes, fresh basil and shredded mozzarella cheese.  My entrée should have had a lot of flavor…but it didn’t!  It had texture though…crunchy bits of undercooked garlic…that didn’t have a chance to impart their flavor into the chicken and mozzarella cheese.  The baked potato was just OK. 

Conclusion… This was one of those places that we would go to just to fuel up...nothing special.  We might have done better if we’d just gone with a sandwich.  The good news was that Riley’s served OK if uninspiring food and it was reasonably priced.   

Riley’s By the River is affiliated with Captain Thompson’s Resort on the River.  Riley’s is located at 46 – 48 James Street in Alexandria Bay.  Phone: 315-482-7777.  Website: http://www.captthomsons.com/resort/index.php/rileys/. 

Just click on any photo to enlarge it… 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave