The Riverside Inn

What a wonderful place to eat. The service was great and the food was marvelous. My wife had the yellow squash pasta which was unbelievable considering there was no pasta. I had the short ribs and they were tender and seasoned to perfection. Soooo good… we’ll be back

We discovered this intimate Leland inn restaurant on our 25^th wedding anniversary and thought: hey, this can’t be as good as we remember, right? Nope it was amazing yet again. We began with tiny sweet oysters about the size of a thumb and glass of champagne, followed by a julienned beet salad with walnuts and homemade creamy ricotta dressed in a light mellow balsamic vinaigrette. All good but just four star up until this point.
The server recommends a glass of Tooth & Nail, the Possessor red blend (Cab/​Petite Syrah/​Malbec). I balked at $ 12 a glass — until she said the magic words: made by Orin Swift, so if you like Papillon, you’ll like this. Well, dang. Orin Swift’s The Prisoner is my favorite all time red and she was spot on. Incredible mouthfeel, stonefruit at the front, mellow tannins and vanilla/​toffee leather middle which bloomed with a bit of edge when the steaks arrived. Oh my, put this on the wine cabinet wish list.
The husband’s Del Monica steak was so tender he didn’t need a steak knife ?! My filet mignon was at least 3 inches thick, perfectly seared to a carmelized crust. The red wine reduction sauce felt a bit too gelatinous for me, but then, I’m a straight up bearnaise on the side kinda girl. Oh, and it was over 8 oz, for $ 36! with sides — difficult to find in a metro like Cincinnati.
It was so perfect I hated to mention that it was more medium well than medium rare, knowing this is a small house that lives and dies on the margins but they swiftly took it back and delivered the best steak I’ve ever had and then offered a free dessert.
Don’t hesitate here, head straight for the flourless chocolate torte in a rich thick ganache big enough for two. I’ve tried this recipe several times (from an old Gourmet magazine issue) with folded cream and gazillions of egg yolks and melted Valrhona chocolate and never gotten the results the Riverside Inn did. My husband ordered home made chocolate ice cream, rich, custardy similar to the french pot Graeter’s chocolate. He voted mine was hands down better. A hearty round of applause to everyone here for the most memorable vacation dinner of the year.

We had a fabulous meal and our great waiter Hugh indulged us by serving our ending libation on the dock overlooking the river. All of our wine pairings at his suggestion were excellent. A great way to begin our vacation in lovely Leland.

This is a really terrific restaurant with great food and great service. The wine list is extensive with lots of French and other international wines as well as U.S. Our server, Brady, was really really great which made the evening more enjoyable. Lamb and rib eye were really good. Good salads and good deserts. A little pricy, but worth it.

Came for dinner last night nice place overlooking water We first had cocktails mine being a brandy old fashion Which was good For our first course we had the smoked Gouda beer soup which was very good except it was a bit too thick almost seemed like they used flour or corn starch to thicken it up when it probably didn’t need it. We also had the beet salad which was Julienned like Cole slaw. Problem
With that you don’t get the true flavor of the local beet its muddled and to make things worse it’s over dressed so that’s all you taste. The arugula salad was the best of the three but it too was over dressed with the vinaigrette .
For the main course I had the whitefish special with Fiddleheads as they are in season The fish was perfectly cooked atop some hash brown type potatoes both excellent The other main courses were the pasta made from golden squash with peas I tasted this and thought it was very good, and the walleye which was also good .
Jim Had the Berkshire pork chop which was suppose to be med well. It came out rare so he sent it back. So almost everyone is finished with there meals and his refire comes out and it’s still way undercooked like now it’s med rare. So he sent it back and said he’s not hungry anymore. Bummer he didn’t get an entrée said he was ok But still that’s disappointing. we didn’t have desert .
Food was good and our Server Kayla was excellent

Decent food, poor service. Never offered second piece of bread, refill on water, or second drink. They were more concerned with resetting tables fire brunch than servicing customers.

This place is top notch and best of all in Leland where there aren’t lots of other choices. Beautiful setting next to the river and a very pleasant, quaint interior. Service was superior (staff going out of their way to ask if we needed anything while waiting for a table, and then fetching us drinks) and the food excellent. Is the food NYC excellent? Well no, but really delicious and well prepared. Contrary to some other reviews, we didn’t find the portions at all small and the prices seemed in line with the quality.

By far and away our favorite place to eat. Although we are local, we travel to some excellent destinations, and enjoy eating at a variety of places– nothing comes close to The Riverside. We consistently have excellent service and most importantly– no matter what we order from the menu, we love that we know it will be a delicious meal. You should surely take the time to enjoy a meal beside the beautiful Leland river. Sunday brunch is also spectacular!

The food is terribly overpriced for the taste level.
Pros — the atmosphere is lovely, looking out windows onto water. The waitress was wonderful, very knowledgeable, friendly, and attentive. The drink menu is stellar and the wines, also quite good, are very reasonably priced.
Cons — the food is expensive, the portions small, which is somewhat okay as you expect it at this kind of place, it’s about quality over quantity. But if I am going to pay $ 35 for a tiny entrée, it had better taste fabulous, which ours didn’t. My husband got the shrimp and scallops, which consisted of 3 of each on a bed of what seemed like canned tomatoes with a few white beans thrown in. Incredibly bland. I got the whitefish, which I kept salting before realizing was going to be flavorless no matter how much salt and pepper I put on it.
The appetizers looked great, but were equally bland, and the crab cakes were actually one very little crab cake in the center of a plate. Meh. The salads were the only thing we felt worthy of note, they were quite fresh and tasty, but again, extremely small portions, even for this kind of place, and it’s pretty much impossible to screw up a salad in this area of the country as there is so much fresh produce available in the summertime.
My suggestion would be to visit their bar and enjoy one of their lovely and very reasonably priced cocktails before heading somewhere else for dinner.

I really hate that I feel compelled to write this review about the Riverside Inn. I have eaten here a number of times and have always enjoyed the experience; decent service, delicious food. There are very few fine dining restaurants in the Leelanau, so this has always been a welcome respite from typical Northern Michigan vacation food.
Sadly, I had a pretty rough experience there this week and it has shifted my view of the place towards the negative.
Knowing that I would be staying in Leland on a Sunday, I called the Riverside to make a reservation. Note that I have been there 4 times and it has never once been packed. But, with it being the height of summer in a lake town, I decided it would be best to secure a table. When I called I requested 6:30pm reservations. The girl on the phone told me that she only had 8:15pm reservations or before 6pm. I figured they must have a large party coming in and took the 6pm slot. When we arrived at 6pm the place was not full. at all. And did not get full… at all. And the waitstaff was mostly standing around.
We moved on and placed our order. I had enjoyed oysters at the Riverside several times before and have always loved them. We were presented with 3 options; I selected 6 each of 2 of them. The waitress misunderstood me and brought 6 of all three varieties. There were only 2 of us, but we decided not to say anything as two of the other tables surrounding us had been giving her a hard time (one of the tables was complaining about the reservation system). When she set the third plate of oysters on the table, the smell of rotten fish was extreme. We both tried one from that plate in the hope that they tasted better than they smelled. Horrible. I can still taste them. What’s worse is that when we sent them back (which I never do), the waitress didn’t offer to take them off our bill and instead gave us a very rubbery and cold Crème brûlée as an apology.
We did thoroughly enjoy our salads and the halibut dish there is impeccable (albeit a little overcooked this time). The waitress also recommended a decent glass of wine, which was appreciated.
This ended up costing $ 200; which was approved twice on my credit card.
I will not be going back soon. it bums me out, but it’s just not worth the money and inconvenience.

Had a great dinner here to kick off a weekend with girlfriends in Leland! Lovely wine list, and a knowledgeable waiter who could talk us through all the options (and we tried MANY, haha!). We shared the truffle mac & cheese (INCREDIBLE), some oysters, and a goat cheese medallion to start, and in our party we had a halibut, a duck, a beef tenderloin, and scallops/​shrimp. We all wanted what everyone was having – each dish was amazing and really perfectly done. We sat on the patio and loved everything about this place – highly recommended.

One of the best in northern Michigan. Excellent wine list. Duck is highly recommended. Sea Salt caramel crème brûlée was superb. Lovely setting and décor, and superb service.

Holy wow! The food and service here are impeccable. This place is perfect for a romantic dinner. We ordered appetizers, entrees and desserts which is something that we never do. Everything on the menu is tempting and it was hard to chose just one thing. Our waiter was beyond nice and was very attentive without making us feel hounded or overwhelmed. We were even offered the opportunity to enjoy the view of the river from the benches by their dock, before paying for our meals. Fabulous! We will be returning.

Another wonderful meal at the Riverside Inn last night. Soft shell crab was perfectly done. The lobster and scallops were amazing as well as the side of Brussel sprouts made with bacon and walnuts. My wife had the short ribs and we finished with a whipped fromage blanc topped with strawberries and balsamic. Service was very attentive without being too much. Great wine list. All in all, a terrific evening. Highly recommended.

This Inn was recommended to us by an area winery and it was a terrific experience. Very upscale atmosphere, menu and service. The meals we had were well presented and very flavorful. They had an extraordinarily large wine list and a large list by the glass. Our recommended wine pairings were excellent. The atmosphere was a warm, cozy lodge feeling and we had a window seat by the river (but it was too dark to see much!).

Consistently wonderful food and service. We always reserve a table outside by the river. It is a lovely, lovely setting. I believe that the menu name of this item has changed, but for well over a decade I have ordered the Tenderloin Tower. It is deeeelish!!! Don’t miss this gem. In fact, go out of your way to dine here. It is very, very special.

The Riverside Inn is a charming little restaurant (as the name indicates on the River) within walking distance of the main drag and fishtown. It has a cute «up north» feel, a friendly staff and delicious food. I had the Pan seared halibut with herb smashed fingerlings, shaved brussel sprouts, oyster mushrooms, leeks, basil purée, roasted tomato. It was incredible from the halibut to all of the surrounding items. For dessert our waiter recommended a sweet cheese dessert — the name of which I’m blanking on — but it was gorgeous, lemony and refreshing.

The food was outstanding. Newly engaged, I wanted to enjoy a beautiful dinner with my fiancée and this place came highly regarded. We were given a table on the patio outside which initially seem like a great idea. However, on a beautiful day with a perfect breeze, we found ourselves in the sweltering heat without an umbrella. Be forewarned, the patio does not have even the slightest breeze. Our waitress, Cat, who had already been incredibly accommodating and gave us incredible recommendations for our appetizer (and we would soon find out our main course as well) made an extraordinary effort to accommodate us. She gave us the option of sitting outside on the patio to the side of the restaurant (after all, the entire restaurant was practically empty– it was 530– and not a single person was outside). Not to mention, we had no intention of staying too long, which to me seemed pretty clear. As we are about to be seating one of the waiters (a head waiter I could only assume) storms out and yells out that the side patio was only for parties of 5 or more (let me say that even when we finished paying our bill there was still no one out there). Not only did he maker me and my fiancé feel incredibly uncomfortable and unwelcome, it was obvious that our waitress felt humiliated as well. I did not appreciate his snobby attitude, not to mention if you feel the need to correct a fellow employee, there is no need to make it public. I paid well over $ 100 for our meal and deserved to be treated with the same dignity and respect as any other customer at this restaurant. I would not have rated this restaurant with more than 3 stars (if at all) if I hadn’t had a delicious meal and an enthusiastic passionate and kind waitress. The waiter who disrespected us had no right to do so, he should be taught that not one customer is more important than the next.
All in all, if you go to this restaurant make sure to order the charcuterie/​cheese platter as an appetizer and the New York strip was phenomenal. Oh and if you can, ask for Cat as a waitress.

Amazing new menu, scallops were outstanding, short ribs sous vide were amazing, halibut sous vide delicious, charcuterie and cheese plate was the best we ever had! If you are a foodie and in the area don’t miss this fine dining experience! Thank you Chef DJ and Chef Kyle, you are outstanding!

In a tourist town packed with overpriced standard fare, the Riverside Inn is a standout. In fact, it wouldn’t matter where it was, the food here is always incredible.
Located in a bed and breakfast, this place has been tempting my taste buds for about 10 years. We heard from neighbors that there was a new place in Leland, and have been enjoying muy delicious meals there ever since. The dining room and bar area are quite lovely, done in a Mission style and very understated without being cold and minimalist. A wonderful environment in which to enjoy a great meal.
Menu changes regularly, a few standouts are always available. We generally go in groups and get one of everything and have yet to be disappointed!
The Tenderloin Tower is always available, meat is fork tender and expertly prepared, the demi-​glacé and blue cheese whip are perfect compliments, the mashed potatoes are fantastic and the vegetables are always cooked correctly and very fresh. They generally have duck, ostrich and lamb on the menu as well and they are always wonderful as well. I tend to get nervous when I see a restaurant in Northern Michigan with a very ambitious menu as I’m generally disappointed, but this place is the exception — they can do no wrong, everything that comes out of that kitchen is delicious!
Fantastic staff, wonderful wine list, beautifully located — make reservations and get a table outside looking over the river. This is a great place for a dress up dinner, a date, or to mark a special occasion.
*******Edit 11/​7/​2007*********
Check their website before you get too excited in the off season — they are closed the ENTIRE month of November and most of December as well. Sob.