Las Olas Riverfront

What happened here? It does not exist any more. 1 bar/​restaurant and everything else is boarded up and closed for good. The area was deserted at 4:00 in the afternoon. Don’ bother going there.

My hubby and I came down to Las Olas Riverfront for a Segway tour and decided to arrive early to see the sights. Many of the shops are vacant Or the businesses are closed on Sunday. It was like a ghost town, unfortunately.
My understanding is that this was a very nice area to visit in the past, but not much to see here now. Kind of sad and slightly disappointing. Since the weather was nice, we walked around a bit to enjoy the breeze. Got bit by a few mosquitoes on the way, perfect. That was the highlight this time :-(

Las Olas Riverfront appears to be left abandoned after the aliens mysteriously zapped everyone onto their mother ship. Of course, this might be due to walking through the area on a Sunday, but 1^st impressions are definitely lasting ones :-)
Anyway, the place looks pretty with lots of various shops and restaurants to explore. Unfortunately, they were all closed while my wife and I were strolling through. The only inhabitants that were enjoying a healthy meal, were the dozens of large winged mosquitos draining my wife’s sweet blood! :-)
Well…I just got bit by a few mosquitos as of this writing, so I am not exempt. I guess if a store was opened near by, I could purchase some insect repellent… so that is our new mission.
After attempting to walk to the nearest Walgreen’s on Broward Blvd., we decided to turn around half way into the walk, as my wife was extremely hot and the fact that some bummy looking dudes were just hanging around outside. Basically, as soon as I saw a «check cashing» joint, I knew it was time to turn back. A half a mile in the blazing sun seems much longer that the suggested number, and we only had 15 minutes to get back to Las Olas Riverfront, so we made our return.
You might be wondering why we came here in the first place? Well, we booked a segway tour and arrived 45 minutes early. If I see segways tipped over on the side of the street, I will be convinced that either the aliens indeed abducted everybody or were transported to the nearest hospital after being afflicted with the West Nile Virus! :-)
Tips: Try visiting during the business week when shops and restaurants are open, bring insect repellent and have a cab drive you to a nearby drug store, etc., if you need to travel outside of Las Olas Riverfront.

Las olas is the perfect place if you want a nice date night, a cute little lunch or just a nice place to take a stroll. They have boutique style stores, restaurants from around the world sure to please every appetite.
There are also lots of cute little cafes and bakery’s where you can just sit and relax. If you live in south Florida or are just visiting las olas and riverfront are both a must!

Very nice. Great place to walk around and shop, eat, relax any time with great weather. Good for family, friends, or date. Plenty of places to hop inside if there is a brief rain shower. Take a boat ride if you can.

People get really confused when they review this area. The «Las Olas Riverfront» is a dead mall with perhaps one or two stores left. The owner has been driving out tenants (no AC, etc) so they can tear it down and build a tower complex. There’s nothing here.
The Las Olas Riverfront (no quotes) some people describe is really the Riverwalk, a mile long waterfront park with some really nice places and spaces on it. Walk along the river from Las Olas shops to Sailboat Bend, and it’s one of the prettiest places in Ft Lauderdale (I live in one of the condos).
Don’t get them confused, and these seemingly weird reviews will make sense.

Occasionally, I like to grab my lunch and sit on a bench here, just to watch the boats go by. When the weather is nice, its wonderful seeing the green trees rustle in the wind, and the historic buildings standing the test of time.
Warning, if you don’t like to see the homeless, do not bother walking through.

Las Olas Riverfront is one of the few places I enjoy visiting when in Fort Lauderdale. There are plenty of restaurant and bars along the strip and comfortable places to take a seat and relaxed. In the water you will see multimillion dollar yacht and taxi ferries. I’m kind of curious to find out where the taxis go. I’ll make it a priority to find out next time.

Thanks to the idiocy of our local planners along with the greed and outlandish foolishness of developers such as Michael Swerdlow, the Las Olas Riverfront has proved itself to be nothing but a financial as well as a development fiasco not only costing the taxpayers in the neighborhood of $ 81 million dollars but disrupting or otherwise destroying so many private businesses.
Really, who would ever think that this mess of a development coupled with totally inadequate parking and high priced rents could have ever succeeded. Indeed its only success has been to line the pockets of the developers while at the same time draining the pockets of the taxpayers.
Today it’s nothing but a ghost town monument to the unparalleled greed of developers and the foolishness of city planners. Every single thing that they could possibly get wrong they got wrong and when they were doing it, there were plenty of voices out there telling them so. Hence, the resulting disaster came as no surprise.
Matter of fact, the word is now out that the Riverfront is such an embarrassment that plans are now in the making to tear it all down, which of course will come at yet another great taxpayer expense along with what will probably be an even more foolish piece of developmental adventurism when they come up with ideas for replacing it.
Having to look at all this taxpayer waste hits me as being one of the most disgusting sights ever.

Not just a dying mall, this is a dead mall. It was nice in its day with the glamor and the glitz but today its a vacant shell. Apparently, there just wasn’t enough parking to handle the crowds. It’s really too bad.
This should be marked as closed.
#2900

This place looks like a ghost town. Hardly any shops at all, and not one thing that is worth driving down here to see and/​or shop at.

I recall back when Las Olas Riverfront was being built, how unhappy neighboring building tenants were (additional unwanted vehicular traffic and the attraction of too many tourists and shoppers); but the developer managed to get this entertainment complex built but sadly the popularity of this place was short-​lived… no longer do those concerned tenants have to worry about traffic and congestion.
Today the complex sits like a ghost town; most of the retail storefronts sit empty. The only anchor still there is the movie theater but all those restaurants and attractions are gone.
It’s truly amazing how fast the initial excitement of Riverfront died off.
I’m sure with the revitalization of Las Olas Boulevard and growing popularity of Himmarshee over the years sure didn’t help the situation.
Most recent news of the Las Olas Riverfront is that it was sold (for a major loss at the expense of investors of course). Online reports hint at the removal of the plaza and redevelopment of the land into a mixed-​use retail and residential project.
And to think, a decade ago this place was busting at the seams with visitors…

You’d think this would be a great tourist spot, but this place is a complete ghost town. The majority of the shops were out of business, no helpful maps of the area and nobody (aside from my family) in sight. I wish I read Maria G’s review prior to driving here but my mom was excited to check out the riverfront. It’s sad since it seems like this place has so much potential.

This place is not what it use to be. There’s hardly any business still open.

Nothing but a shadow of its former glory. This once lively commercial center is nothing but boarded up stores and broken dreams.
We came here with a friend of ours who used to live in Ft. Lauderdale (15 years ago) as he said it was a happening area. When we arrived, I was utterly confused as we were greeted with empty store fronts and desolate streets. It’s like the zombie apocalypse happened in this place! We chatted some of the locals and we were informed in the late 1990s-​early 2000s, the owners raised the rents to try and price everyone out to make room for higher end customers. Then came the economic downturn and the place never recovered. What’s left are a few shops and a sleazy old movie theater. So sad. Perhaps one of the greatest examples of Urban decay i’ve seen.

We weren’t here to party so maybe that’s why our experience was just okay. We wanted a nice shopping area to walk around, window shop, and people watch during the day on a weekend. The shops are basically non existent and there’s not much to look at. The garage way too expensive for browsing, so I would avoid the $ 8+ fee unless you’re here at night for the clubs. Nearby Las Olas Boulevard was really boring too.

Best parties in Ft. Lauderdale!

We walked through here after going to the science museum, and all I can say is ugh. There are hardly any restaurants or shops and the place is dirty. I can’t speak for how it is at night, (since there seems to be many bars), but it definitely is not worth your time if you go during the day with family. There are so many other nice places to people watch and enjoy the water, I wouldn’t waste my time here.

One of the best areas in Ft. Lauderdale to eat, drink, shop, and people watch.
Really fun to wander down here at night because the palm trees are all lit up and it’s such a pretty area. Plus, there’s always an attractive crowd. Perfect for a romantic date night or an evening with the girls.
People do get a little dressed to impress on the weekends so be prepared.
There are plenty of bars and restaurants packed late… And some great specialty shops to peruse.
Highly recommend!

This place is great. I’ve been here several times and I always have a good time. Las Olas is basically a strip of a bunch of different bars and club type places. Usually there isn’t a cover charge or if there is… its inexpensive (Like $ 5) and the drink specials are way worth it. Not to mention that you have all kinds of music. There are rock bars, hip hop, house, techno, everything you can imagine. I keep coming back here even though it is sort of out of my way because of the variety of experiences you can have here. Also because no matter what I know I will definitely have a great time here.
The parking is either in a lot or you can find a meter (most of the time I have luck in finding a meter near the beginning of the strip) it shouldn’t be more then $ 10, even on special weekends. So… if you’re there you should not pay more then that.
I’d recommend it to anyone.