Buffalo Rising Online

Jan 29th 2006, 2:16pm By queenseyes

This morning I set out to find a good cup of coffee and a quick breakfast. I found myself heading west on Porter from which I hung a right onto Niagara. I followed Niagara until it veered off (at the lochs) to the left along the river and continued on for a short ways, at which point I happened upon the Riverview Family Restaurant. It was raining fairly hard at this point, so I bolted across the Niagara and ducked into the establishment to warm up and dry out.

The space that I found myself in was rather large, and was already bustling with customers. My server led me to a booth where I sat down and ordered a coffee. The place was really buzzing and I immediately understood why they called it a family restaurant.

The tables were filled with folks, mostly from the neighborhood, that I would bet are regulars every Sunday. This was refreshing. I also noticed that there was only one waitress on duty who was serving around twenty different customers at any given time. She bounced from table to booth to kitchen effortlessly and still had time to chat with the regulars, many of whom were engrossed in the Sunday paper.

I noticed that the portions of food being delivered to the tables were healthy to say the least. In a flash my server was back at my booth with the coffee and a pen and paper to take my order. Thinking about the portions I ordered two eggs over-easy, two blueberry pancakes and two slices of ham off the bone, AKA the 2-2-2). Then I added a take-out order consisting of a breakfast sandwich and a side of the home fries (not for me). I skipped the home fries with my order, which I later learned were cooked to golden perfection. As I sat, I noticed that a younger crowd was now arriving and filling the seats that moments earlier had been occupied by the aforementioned neighborhood families. I also noticed that the view onto the street was pretty cool. Niagara is filled with great old brick buildings and four of them could be seen directly across the way.

So far, so good. The atmosphere was friendly, the coffee was good, the service was superb, and my food was on the way. Even without the home fries I could not finish my breakfast. The pancakes were served with two dollops of whipped cream, and the syrup was brought out in an oversized squeeze bottle. The meal was excellent, especially the side of ham off the bone. I sat, ate, and observed the interaction between the customers who all seemed to know each other. They also knew the cook who joined in on a few conversations while preparing the food from the open kitchen.

I highly recommend a trip to the Riverview Family Restaurant located at 1893 Niagara Street in Buffalo. Orders can be called in for pick-up at 716-875-1956 while the restaurant is open seven days a week. Food is served Monday through Friday from 7:00am to 8:00pm and weekends from 7:00am to 3:00pm. They have an extensive breakfast and lunch menu along with a chalkboard filled with specials. They also have a kid's menu and a Friday night fish fry.

I fogot to mention that the meal (2-2-2, bottomless coffee, breakfast sandwich with home fries) came to 11 bucks!