The River Company Restaurant & Brewery

Driving along a country road and then boom a restaurant/brewpub. Dedicated good size parking lot. Nice stone and wood building. Separate area with bar on the left in the front. We sat in a booth in the center (they also have nice seating outside which overlooks the New River. Went for Sunday lunch at prime time and they weren’t busy, however there was a VT game at that time. My steak salad and bread pudding was very good, but on the pricier side. Service was very good. The beer was not bad either. Good enough to go back for me.

Beer is generally pretty good. Food is also generally pretty good, but is a bit pricy. The atmosphere is nice as well. They did get rid of their best appetizer, the cheese bacon covered fries.

The River Company is slightly off the beaten path in Southwest VA, not far off I-81 or Virginia Tech’s campus. They are appropriately located alongside a river with a dining deck offering river views. The interior is large, open, and warm. It is a wooden cabin, mountain lodge feel. The house beers are plentiful and quite good, though I was disappointed that they are offering a couple that are blends. Our server was pleasant and helpful. The food was freshly prepared and promptly delivered to our table by our smiling server. This is a pleasant oasis along the I-81 corridor.

A great stop in Radford, about 10ish miles off I-81. As previously mentioned, a beautiful new space. Lots of wood, huge ceilings, marble bartop. It actually reminded me of a church. I stopped here on a Friday late afternoon (2ish) and the place was quite dead. I may have been the only patron for part of my stay (so I certainly had quite attentive service). They had a large number of beers on tap - 9 - with one seasonal. I got the IPA, which was very good, and the seasonal which was a wine barrel-aged porter, certainly the best I’ve had of the (limited) style. But when a brewery is able to put out a beer such as this, you know they’re good and they know what they’re doing. Anyway. As far as food, typical American-style pub fare. I got a burger and it was quite tasty. Prices are very reasonable - $3.75 for pints ($4.75 for seasonals) and only $2.50 during happy hour (which is 4-7 Tues-Fri plus 1-5 on Sat and Sun). Although it was strange that the place was so empty, I really enjoyed my time here. This is an excellent new brewpub and worth a stop for sure.

This was a wonderful experience. The restaurant is located off Viscoe Road near Radford, Va. We had lunch here while visiting our daughter at Virginia Tech. Our whole experience was super. The french onion soup was excellent. The service was excellent. The beers were average except for the Porter. I tasted 6 beers while enjoying the soup and fries. This is place worth visiting. We purchased a growler of the porter. Looking forward to coming back. They have decks for viewing the countryside and their River Room could be used for events and parties.

This is an absolutely beautiful building with lots of stone and wood everywhere. Plenty of parking. A fairly upscale restaurant, the food is good, though not necessarily great, with prices on the medium to high side. They offer their dry aged beef to go, which is cool. Lots of seafood/steak options, but there is a lengthy menu with chicken, pasta, soups, sandwiches, salads, etc. There should be food available at anybody’s price range. The beer is all solid with some excellent offerings. The Southwest IPA, Hefeweizen, Apple Brown Ale and Barrel Aged Porter were standouts. 8 taps, all with house brews, and 5 macro bottles for those who crave familiarity. 4 oz. samples are available for a buck each (not sure if there’s a discount to get a full sampler), growler fills are $10-$14 (they have their own coming and they will fill theirs) and I’m not sure what a pint runs but I doubt its too expensive. The only negative part of the experience was the customer service, which generally sucked. Inattentive at best, I generally had to yell at them to get any help, had to help myself to condiments from behind the bar, they acted like they didn’t really care for our business and they spilled beer on us! OK, that last one was an honest mistake, but still, the service fell well short. It’s a bit out of the way from anywhere, but it does make a nice side trip off of I-81 with Bull and Bones and Vintage Cellar in nearby Blacksburg.

Two weeks later I visited again. This time the service was much better. Four more good beers and more good food. Too bad this place is so damn far away.