Here is the strongest endorsement I can give for a place to “Eat Out.”
A few weeks back, I endured my first (and hopefully last) colonoscopy. Every thing turned out fine, but because of the timing and required fasting before the scheduled procedure, I had not eaten anything in almost 48 hours. After I came to from the sedation, I was ravenous. Nancy asked me where I wanted to eat, and we could have gone to any restaurant in Charlottesville. But I wanted food and lots of it and I didn’t care how many calories were involved.
“Let’s go to Riverside,” I decided.
So we went to Riverside – Riverside North, actually, in the Forest Lakes Shopping Center. The Riverside Lunch location is at 1429 Hazel Street and not as close to our house.
I ordered two cheeseburgers with mustard and onions, a basket of fries and a vanilla milkshake and I ate every crumb on my plate and sucked the bottom of the shake cup with a straw till not a drop remained. I was really hungry and it was really good.
Riverside makes great hamburgers.
Several things stand out – they use only ground chuck, they grill their burgers on a tried and true grill top, they heat their buns on the grill top and they use the best tasting, sliced onions I’ve ever had on a hamburger.
I also like their fries – nothing fancy – but cooked crispy and there are a lot of them. Their shakes – a real treat for me – are hand mixed and delicious.
They also have excellent onion rings. Nancy often orders those, and their hot dogs are pretty good, but Riverside is known for their burgers.
The service is always fast and friendly. Waiters assist each other no matter whose table is involved. The cooks, sometimes, bring the food to the customers, and the order is up quickly, less than 10 minutes for burgers and fries. Their prices aren’t cheap, a regular cheeseburger is $3.15, but that’s tolerable.
When calories aren’t all that important (maybe four times a year), I’ll treat myself to a Riverside burger. As a matter of fact, I’d really like one right now!