Riverside Tavern Windsor

This place used to be so amazing! I mean the service sucked but the pizza made up for that. The owner is a loser that would yell at his wife and argue with customers, but people would always come back for more because the pizza was just amazing. I took my girlfriend here after 5 years of being away, I talked it up so much, I couldn’t wait to get that delicious pizza in my mouth again. The pizza finally comes out… OMG WTF. what is this? Is this a joke? Nope. I had to do some snooping, and apparently there was some kind of falling out with the cooks and management (not surprising) but holy crap, the abomination that was served to us made me so sad inside. What a shame, how are they still open?

Riverside Tavern does Windsor pizza a bit different. Windsor pizza is characterized by a zesty sauce. Riverside Tavern tones down the sauce. In its place, you cover it, or smother it, with their in-​house bbq sauce. It’s the way people who come here have been eating the pizza for decades. And decades. So, yes, the pizza is bland but that’s by design.
The interior does much look like they’ve changed it much since the 1980s, with maybe the exception of the rear-​projection TV they might have added 14 years ago.
The weekend dinner hour can be busy and they can get backed up. They do a brisk take out/​delivery and long time regs come here to eat. Patience.
The sauce seems to be based on the Tunnel BBQ’s classic sauce. You can mix up your own batch with this recipe:
Ingredients:
½ cup ketchup
½ cup prepared mustard
½ cup vinegar white
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 ½ teaspoon chile powder
¼ cup white sugar
Mix all of the ingredients together. The longer this sits the better it is as the vinegar reacts with the sugar.

This place hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years. I hope the cooks in a good mood today cause I am feeling like a Maurice Salad and they make a great one but it does depend on the cooks mood

It has been a few decades since I was there, but great food and memories at the Riverside Tavern, make this ol’ gal have fond thoughts of one day going back. Best Pizza in town. Best Atmosphere. Thanks for the memories guys. :)