River Roast Reviews

Alyssa and the staff bent over to make our reception and dinner very special amid Covid 19 restrictions. Everything could not have gone better, food was exceptional and service was top notch!! Could not be more appreciative of everything they did for us as a couple and our group the night of the event.

We had both our ceremony and reception at River Roast on April 30, 2022. It was a perfect day, thanks to Alyssa and the staff. From welcoming our guests with a glass of champagne, to the flawless ceremony room setup and reception room flip, to the amazing cocktail hour and delicious dinner, to the dancing and the late-night snack.

The location is gorgeous, even in a complete downpour. All our guests had a great time, and even a month later, they're still raving about the quality of the food. How do they cook each steak so perfectly? We would (and have) recommend River Roast to couples looking for a great reception location or anyone looking to host a party.

I had my wedding at River Roast on 3/12/22 , the day the river gets dyed green. Working with Kristin and her staff was AMAZING. Kristin was very flexible as we navigated the vax mandate, covid and all the nuances that came with all the changes by the city. She was very responsive and available and when we had to add the ceremony space, she worked to get us the best layout and plan. The food was incredible, and the space is beautiful, the river was green, and it was everything we wanted. If you are looking for a great venue with great food and amazing staff, River Roast is the place. Thank you Kristin !!!

River Roast was an absolute dream venue for so many reasons!

The staff: Sales director Alyssa Rossetti was such a huge help (helping us select the right package, personalizing the menu, letting us do a mix of different late night food options, working with us on our weird floorplan, adding last-minute decor options - the list goes on and on). Over the course of our 18 month engagement Alyssa was always available to answer questions and let us check out the space multiple times with different excited family members. She even checked in mid-reception to make sure everything was OK and top off our glasses of wine! On top of that, the day-of staff were great - quick at the bar, quick to serve food, and attentive to all the little details.

The space: The view is what really sells this venue. The reflection of the city lights off the river is super romantic, especially with tealight candles along the windows/on the tables and string lights over the dance floor (both coordinated by the venue). The exposed brick gives the whole space an industrial feel. Absolutely gorgeous.

The food: Unreal. Multiple guests have told us this was the best wedding food they've ever had. This place is known for its meats and the steak was definitely above and beyond, but I got the vegan meal and still thought it was delish. I couldn't have asked for a better wedding venue. We trusted all their recommendations and expertise and our day was absolutely flawless. 1000000/10.

River Roast and their entire team made our dreams come true - even during a pandemic. Alyssa R. was a pleasure to work with and made everything so easy for us to plan. River Roast was incredibly flexible and accommodating while we changed dates and plans during such a challenging time, and we could not have been more thrilled with how our wedding turned out. You can't beat River Roast's location, its patio is gorgeous and the inside is stunning, too. All the staff are professional, and the food is top notch - all our guests raved about it. Don't pass up the chance to host your wedding at River Roast!

We booked River Roast for our COVID-forced last minute rescheduled wedding. I could not have asked for a better experience! Alyssa handled EVERYTHING! From sourcing new vendors (florals, cake, music) to rolling out the red carpet for our tasting (still drooling over the food) to fully executing our vision, she was so incredible to work with. From the views (stunning), to the service (top notch), to the food (*to DIE for), our guests raved about their experience! Everyone was so impressed with how we were able to pull off such an incredible last minute re-scheduled event, but it would not have been possible without Alyssa. I would recommend RR ten times over - 5 stars all around here!!

Alyssa at River Roast is so easy to work with! She brought up things I hadn’t even thought about and things I should be considering. The food is amazing and the service is incredible. Excited for my wedding in 2020.

We held our rehearsal dinner and it was wonderful - we sat everyone at the outdoor patio. The food was fantastic and the service wonderful. They followed all the COVID protocols that helped our guests feel safe. The locale right on the river can't be beat. (note: our rehearsal dinner was August 2020)

We hosted a small family dinner to celebrate our wedding. The event managers were awesome at communicating and helping us set everything up (Thanks Erika and Alyssa). We were able to have a ceremony outdoors on the riverfront veranda which was a beautiful backdrop. Then, we had dinner in the Commerce Room. We were able to select our family style menu in advance. Thank you to our server Julio for being very flexible with all the demands from our family! He was attentive at keeping our drinks filled. The food was amazing. We had the roast fish and pork- both were delicious! They were also accommodating for a family with a dietary concern. We were very happy with everything- they helped to make the experience special.

Hosted our daughter’s rehearsal dinner at the River Roast and would highly recommend this place to anyone that is looking for a venue that offers great views, wonderful food and amazing service from planning the event through the event itself. Would not change a thing!!

Words cannot express how happy my husband and I are with how everything turned out at River Roast for our July wedding. The venue speaks for itself being on the river with the skyline all around it, but the experience there is unlike any other. Alyssa is amazing at her job. She is so positive, organized, and made us feel comfortable during the stress of wedding planning. She quickly responded to every email and answered every question in an extremely timely manor. Alyssa truly is the best! On the day of the wedding, the event staff was remarkable. Everyone was so accommodating the entire evening. We also received many compliments from our guests on the food! The southern chicken sliders were the biggest hit! Thank you Alyssa and River Roast for everything- we cannot wait to visit for many years to come!

I could not be more happy with the entire experience of working with River Roast. From day one they were easy to work with and it was clear they knew what they were doing. I was able to feel like I had nothing to worry about the weekend of my wedding because they had it all under control. The location was amazing, the view was great, and the food was even better. My wedding was way beyond expectations. Everyone had a blast, we got great comments about the atmosphere, food, and servers from our guests. I loved working with River Roast and am still in love with how our wedding worked out.

When we first emailed The River Roast, we immediately got an email from Darcey Gerber answering all of our questions. We were late to our appointment but Darcey was still able to accommodate us and showed us the venue. We were stuck between this venue and another venue but we chose The River Roast because of the location, service, and food. Anytime I had any questions or concerns, Darcey or someone from the sales department, answered all of my questions. I had last minute changes that I had to make and they were able to accommodate them. It is a dark as far as lighting goes so we used string lights inside and outside in the veranda. The day of our wedding we were greeted by Darcey and a manager. They reassured me that everything was running as it should. A waitress brought my husband and me 2 champagne filled flutes and another waitress brought us hors d'oeuvres which I thought was a nice gesture. The bartenders made us delicious drinks through out the night. When we were sitting down a waitress took down our order to confirm what we were eating for dinner. Dinner was good. We had the chicken and pork. The children's dinner surprised me because there was more food than I expected. The next day my parents told me they arrived earlier and the staff gave them drinks and were courteous with them. A lot of our guests enjoyed the food and location.

We decided to go back and celebrate our one year anniversary and we were again treated with great customer service, drinks, and food! Thank you staff for everything.

River Roast is phenomenal!!!! My husband and I hosted our wedding reception at River Roast last month and it was absolutely perfect. The day was one we will never forget and we thank the River Roast family for everything. The service at River Roast was impeccable. The planning was professional and attentive. Everything was perfect and we highly recommend River Roast for your special occasion too. We cannot thank them enough.

We LOVED having our wedding here. Our guests loved the food (so did we) and the setting - by going with RR, we were able to throw a party on the Chicago River in the heart of the city! Darcy was the planner we worked with and she was so easy to talk with, she helped us figure out what we wanted and steered us without trying to up-sell us. She was honest and we couldn't have pulled off our day without her. The decoration options were amazing and it's worth the price to have your day here. The ONLY things we would have changed - a little more signage directing guests to the ceremony room (hard to avoid since there are 4 entrances to the place) and having the room where we had the reception be a bit cooler (but, come on it was a July wedding!)

Our coordinator, Darcey Gerber was outstanding. Her staff as well. The food was awesome and the use of the patio was a highlight. The completed river walk area makes for an beautiful outdoor area.

For me, I’m pretty sure I fell in love with River Roast as a venue well before I even saw it in person. We had our tour with Darcey and she was lovely, we booked River Roast for our Sunday brunch wedding. Because we chose Sunday they had a lower F&B minimum allowing us to have our perfect small ~70 people wedding in the larger Murdoch room. I was afraid the room would look sparse when we had a much lower headcount than I had expected, but with the brunch buffet stations, two bartenders, an open photobooth and the dance floor, it was a wonderful use of the space for a daytime wedding (of course you could easily have an elegant, large wedding in the same space as they advertise). We also had our ceremony upstairs in the Monarch room utilizing their drapery option for the backdrop, which was really beautiful, even our wedding planner was surprised at how lovely it looked and dressed up the space. Everything was so organized, Darcey helped us with everything we needed, we had a space to sit and relax before the ceremony, they brought us vases to put our flowers in and plenty of water and coffee to have while we were “hidden” waiting to start. I’m lactose intolerant and they brought me hors d’oeuvres for me without the cheese, and specifically brought food to us from the buffet stations so we were able to eat plenty of food before everything kicked off. Everyone loved the view, the space and the food.

The team at River Roast was FANTASTIC. They, like the coordinators we used (An Event Less Ordinary), had the perfect balance of being laid back and getting things done! Our contact was extremely helpful in helping us craft a menu for our wedding and we are so grateful that River Roast was so accommodating with our substitutions (tater tots instead of fried potatoes, vinegar based slaw instead of their regular horseradish slaw, having sweet tea and lemonade, etc.). The food was delicious and the planning process was flawless.

Where River Roast truly impressed was on the day of. We did chef stations (buffet) for our reception and the care and attention to detail that River Roast put into the presentation was truly incredible and better than anything we could have ever imagined.

My husband and I had our wedding here on 10/9 and everything was perfect. Working with Darcy over these last six months was so much fun. Darcey answered every question I could think of, helped with recommendations for vendors, was very laid back and helped make our wedding effortless. On the day of the wedding, the River Roast event staff set up all of our decorations and then even carefully packed up all our decorations at the end of the night and helped get them to our hotel room. Long story short: Delicious food, amazing river views, great drinks, friendly staff and Darcey is so easy to work with. I would 100% recommend having your wedding at River Roast!

Held our wedding reception at River Roast - could not have been happier, the venue is gorgeous with the city views in the evening.
Food is exceptional and service is top notch.
If you want to impress your guests this is the place!

When we first decided on having our wedding (ceremony and reception) at River Roast, it was still Fulton's on the River - when they told us the restaurant was going to close, undergo construction, and re-open before our wedding, we were very nervous. But, Hilary was very open with details as they became available, and ultimately, the venue was still perfect. Working with Hilary throughout the planning process was a dream - she was so professional, efficient, and friendly, and was able to not only answer all of our questions, but work with us on new ideas we had (We wanted string lights wrapped around the columns--something Fulton's/River Roast had never done and didn't have as a lighting option initially--so Hillary had the lighting vendor come in and test out a few different ways of doing it until they made it perfect, and then ran it by us. I believe they now offer it as a lighting option for all events!). Though we did hire a day-of planner, we were more confident and happy with Hillary and the team at River Roast - they made sure our entire wedding day was executed perfectly, and were all unbelievably helpful and professional throughout it all. Both the ceremony and reception rooms looked absolutely beautiful and exactly how we wanted them, the entire staff was attentive all night, and we couldn't be happier.

As for the food, it was insanely delicious - almost a year later, our guests STILL rave about the steak!

The venue is beautiful. Everyone enjoyed the cocktail hour on the veranda over looking the Chicago River. The food is outstanding and the service was perfect. So happy we chose to have our wedding here it was a beautiful evening!

Working with River Roast (and Darcey) was one of the best decisions that we could have made for our wedding. Seriously. Everything is easy (they provide tables/chairs/linens/etc) and everything is right there. But the best part was having the venue coordinator (again, Darcey) to help us through. She was there for every step of the way and then, even more shocking, she was there the day of setting everything up, coordinating with our band and even fluffing my gown before I walked down the aisle. She was awesome, River Roast was awesome AND EASY and I loved every second of our wedding in this venue.

Amazing night. Everything was perfect. The restaurant is right on the river creating a beautiful backdrop for a night reception. Darcey Gerber (wedding coordinator at River Roast) was fabulous. She helped coordinate every last detail via e-mail and phone for our "destination" reception (neither of us live in Chicago). The appetizers were delicious. The food and event was reasonably priced. All in all, this restaurant made my reception as seamless as possible. I was able to show up and have a great time. Can't say enough positive things about the River Roast!

We had my daughters wedding at Fulton's. It was wonderful. Darcey was very nice to work with. On the day of the wedding the staff was great, very professional. The meal service was wonderful and the food was out of this world!! Just great. The setting on the river is so beautiful and the guests just loved the outdoor patio. We couldn't have asked for more