SweetWaters on the River

Review summary

1. R

   Ryan

   Portland

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Excellent food and service. The cocktails were great!
   

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2. J

   Joann

   Portland

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 2
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 3

   Drinks are overpriced. If they want to get the local business- make it attractive to repeat customers. Seems to be for those staying in the hotel.
   

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3. M

   MaryKay

   Portland

   2 reviews

   5.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   The food was great. Not a huge menu but both the salmon and the halibut entrees were delicious and beautifully presented. The burrata and beet appetizer was also wonderful. Glad to see they are back and in excellent form!
   

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4. B

   Brent

   Charleston

   5 reviews

   4.0

   5 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   Sat against the widow, but behind an outside service enclosure which limited the view. The remodeled interior is airy and modern befitting of the location beside the Willamette river. The menu is varied and covers a range of foods and tastes.The drinks menu featured state and local beverages nicely representing the region. The selections that our party chose were prepared and served properly. The food looked and tasted great. Our server was knowledgeable and friendly. She made us feel welcome and seemed proud to serve Sweetwater’s food. A suggestion to the management is to stock more non alcoholic beers which are a fast-expanding market. Black Butte porter might be one to add for variety. The restaurant’s temperature was too cool at our 3:00 PM dining time. The air vents overhead created a drafty breeze causing our food to cool too quickly and the stoneware plates to become cold. The cold air and food were negative aspects of Sweetwaters. The air temperature and draft made us cold despite being dressed for outside with multiple layers of clothing. Beyond the mentioned shortcomings, each reasonably correctable, we highly recommend Sweetwaters. We thoroughly enjoyed dining there. The food was scrumptious.
   

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5. L

   Lise

   San Francisco

   2 reviews

   5.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 7 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Beautiful place inside and out! Loved the salads!!
   

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6. R

   Rebecca

   Chicago

   4 reviews

   vip
   4.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 7 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 5

   Gorgeous dining room and location. Loved that the menu called out gluten free items. The menu was inventive without being daring and had some solid selections which arrived well prepared. That said a lot of repeated main ingredients such as two carrot based dishes, two salmon based dishes, etc. The service was well intentioned but awkward and incredibly slow. Bless their hearts they seemed so perpetually befuddled and flustered. For example, and it took what felt like a lifetime for our bottle of wine to arrive, then, as the waiter was opening the wine another server came by to bring him a wine key…which he had and was using. Another time they brought two share plates for a party of three. Then two people brought us the third plate. Good management ought to shake this out.
   

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7. K

   Kelly

   Phoenix

   2 reviews

   vip
   4.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on 28 September 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 5

   Exceeded our expectations! The place has a nice vibe and the bar had good service. From the outside we were not expecting much; it is a hidden gem.
   

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8. J

   Jennifer

   Portland

   2 reviews

   1.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on 28 September 2024

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   Wow - I should have read the Google reviews. I thought I was making a good solid choice to celebrate my son’s move in day at UofO. Our 7:30 reservations got us sat at 7:45 (which was OK). The manager brought some water, but it was another HOUR before we saw a wait staff or food. They weren’t even that busy! They comped a bowl of fries. Took forever for drinks and the $5 rolls. Still charged us the 20% tip even though we split the tab 2 pp and 4 pp. The waitress was lovely, but the manager never came by to apologize or acknowledge the wait and poor service. It sounds like this is an ongoing problem. Would not recommend.
   

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9. M

   Mark

   San Francisco

   3 reviews

   vip
   3.0

   3 reviews

   Dined on 27 September 2024

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   The overall experience was good, but attention to details were lacking in a few instances. My boiled clams had some grit and a couple that didn’t open should’ve been replaced before the bowl of clams came to me. The pasta came in a bowl that made it difficult to eat. And our server, while very attentive and gracious, forgot to replace a fork that had been taken when my dessert arrived. That in a few other things made this dinner nice, but ultimately forgettable. Not sure why it’s so well reviewed in Tripadvisor. 
   

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10. J

    Jeanne

    Portland

    7 reviews

    vip
    1.0

    7 reviews

    Dined on 27 September 2024

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 2

    This was the worst managed restaurant I’ve ever been to. From check in with a reservation (they forgot to seat us until we went back and asked what’s going on 15 min later although multiple other parties with no reservations were seated) through the end, nothing ran smoothly. The staff was apologetic after the check in issue and embarrassed and apologetic about excessive delays to get drinks, bread (that you pay for), and food which arrived well after large tables seated 30 min after us had finished. When the food arrived finally well over an hour later (we begged them to bring us some bread in the interim), it wasn’t even very hot. For all of this the manager comped us for the bread and a glass of wine. They offered dessert but we didn’t have another hour to wait. The staff seemed overwhelmed but the restaurant wasn’t the most crowded place I’ve been. It seemed they just have extremely poor operations. The food was ok. Certainly not worth the hassle of getting it.
    

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