Sunday, September 02, 2007

River Station, Peoria

For my father-in-law's 60th birthday, myself and the wife, along with her brother and his wife, planned a nice outing with the help of said father-in-law's wife. We figured that a nice day would be to go to the River Station Sunday Brunch and then take a boat ride on the Spirit of Peoria. Two things stood out about our day:

1) It was the last cruise of the season, save for a few oddwad special cruises.

2) What! A! Beautiful! Day!!!!

We could not have asked for better weather today. The cruise was just wonderful, very crowded. Our strategic positioning of the chairs got us a shady spot up the river, and then by the time the boat turned around to head back, we were the shady side once again!!

On to the restaurant, which was actually before the cruise.

I reviewed the River Station some time ago, and gave it a wonderful review. That was a Saturday night dinner with the wife. The Sunday Brunch, I understand, was a carry-over from the previous incarnation of the restaurant. I can't judge from back then, but today, I can come here and tell you that the food was wonderful!!! They had an omelet station and a meat carving station. The prime rib was my only complaint. I got a very rare piece of meat, and I suppose it's my fault for not requesting something in the medium range. So, my bad. But this meat just looked red, and it wasn't real great.

Buuuuttt.... the rest of the meal? Wonderful. I'm going to run down what I had-scrambled eggs (okay, nothing special), bacon (!!!!!!!11!!! awesome!!!!111!!one!!), some kind of burrito thing with eggs, cheese and chile peppers (yummy), turkey and dressing (turkey nothing big, but good tasting dressing), cranberry-banana bread (I think it was banana, but it was definitely cranberry, and it was definitely good), and some kind of trifle with strawberries, mandarin oranges, and pineapple. That was actually my favorite part of the meal (besides the bacon!!!!!!!11!!!one!!!). I didn't get a chance to get up to the omelet bar, because it seemed crowded every time I tried.

So, all good stuff. My fellow diners raved about the waffles, another thing I just didn't get around to (too much trifle and bacon!). It was pricey. The total bill was around $135 for six of us. The food met the price, but it is a bit spendy for breakfast. I can get a better deal over at the Golden Corral on their breakfast bar. Sure I sacrifice quality, but how bad can you mess up breakfast?

River Station once again gets a thumbs up, and they remain on the HIT LIST!!

What made the day was my wonderful dining company, Jenny and Chloe, Paul and Stefanie from Michigan, Julie and, of course, the birthday boy Robbie. Happy 60th, and many, many more to my favorite father-in-law!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps I might try the brunch at River Station, but I must say I have had two disappointing, overpriced lunches there. The only saving grace was the atmosphere, but even gazing upon pretentious Peorians wears thin...

Kevin Lowe said...

Sounds great. I haven't been to the River Station since it re-opened. Yeah, the previous restaurant did a brunch, which was very good. The omelet bar was very popular and tasty. I'll have to make it down there for a brunch and a dinner. Thanks for the word.

Peoria Peepers said...

I guess it didn't occur to me that they were doing brunch. I've been in for dinner once since they reopened.
Brunch sounds like a plan for the next family birthday!

Henny Penny said...

ANything new to report?