iN RiVA- Modern yet rustic, the two words to best describe not only this awesome restaurant's style but it's cuisine as well. Located minutes outside of Philadelphia, in East Falls along the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia-born Chef Arthur Cavaliere is creating unforgettable tapas-esque dishes and oven fired pizza with blends of flavors from his native city with inspiration from Naples, Italy. His experience at top area restaurants such as, Steven Starr's El Vez and Parc and Iron Chef Jose Garces' Amada show through on his creative, and diverse dishes.
Appetizers -When you sit down, the waiter immediately brings over a bowl of fried chickpeas and pistachios dusted with a house blend of spices. This quick snack is a delicious holdover while you are waiting for the waiter to bring your drinks and your appetizers to come as well. The star of this menu is the Agrodolce Pork Ribs. These succulent, fall off the bone ribs topped with shredded apple are so soft and juicy they melt like butter as soon as they hit your mouth. Those Ribs were probably the top two or three best things I've ever eaten!
Entree- With the Restaurant being advertised as tapas style yet specializing in wood fired pizza, we were a little confused on what to do portion wise. The excellent staff helped explain everything making you feel a lot more comfortable. We decided to go with the Fiondette pasta dish which included wild mushrooms, braised pork and oregano. This dish was a little to busy, it was overloaded with herbs and an awkward richness that was overbearing. We also ordered the Mushroom and Zucchini pizza which was highly recommended by the waiter but was also ended up disappointing. On this wood fired pizza, there was fontina cheese, black truffle and red onion. While this all star list of ingredients seemed like it couldn't be any less than amazing, it was pretty disappointing. The Pizza was lacking any strong flavors or that melty/salty cheese that you expect with any type of pizza and worst of all charred, burnt crust.
Beer Pairings - With the appetizers i decided to go with the Benediktiner Weissbier, a rich and smoky wheat beer with a robust flavor profile. With dinner, took the waiter's recommendation and tried the Italian Import, G. Menabrea E Figli Amber. At first sip i knew this would become one of my favorite beers of all time. This amber, Vienna style lager had similar smoky notes as the aforementioned Weissbier but also some citrus and pine flavors as well. When you think of Italian Beers, you typically think of light,golden beers like Peroni so it was a nice surprise to get a amber beer with a lot of flavors.
Final Opinion - While iN RiVA has an excellent atmosphere and a diverse menu, it was rather inconsistent. The meal started off well, accompanied excellent service and probably the best appetizer ever made it was followed by disappointing entrees . The decor and atmosphere was beautiful and i definitely will have a return visit when the beautiful outdoor bar overlooks the Schuylkill opens up!
Ratings
- Appetizers - 9/10
- Drinks - 8/10
- Entrees - 3/10
- Appearance - 8/10
- Service - 10/1o
- Overall - 7.6/10
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