First a renovated clubhouse, now The Riverview

Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN Food and beverage manager Jay Morgan, left, chef Jeff Burch, bartender Diana Deibler and chef Christopher Cryer are the familiar faces at the The Riverview, the newest addition to the Wicomico Shores Golf Course in Mechanicsville. They show off the Wicomico chicken, reuben sandwich, buffalo wings and cheesy bread with marinara sauce. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Among the menu items at The Riverview: Jamaican chicken salad, chicken alfredo, a ready-to-go "lunch on the turn" of two hot dogs, potato chips and a soda.

After $2.5 million worth of impressive renovations, the clubhouse at the 18-hole Wicomico Shores Golf Course, which is owned by St. Mary's County government, opened around Labor Day. The Riverview, billed in a press release as a fine dining restaurant, opened last month inside the clubhouse, in a spacious, airy banquet hall overlooking the golf course and, beyond that, the Wicomico River.

In this casual, country club-esque setting, the tables are arranged near a grand, paneled window. The view here is truly hard to beat, and right now it seems to outclass the cuisine.

The bulk of The Riverview's menu, as it happens, is comprised of casual as opposed to upscale fare, although it does includes a handful of entrees one might associate with fine dining, like the house chicken entrée ($17.99), which is said to be a breaded seven-ounce chicken breast pan-seared with ham and backfin crabmeat, served over rice and topped with a Dijon cream sauce.

Another pricier item, the Kentucky beef stir fry ($15.99), is described as beef cubes marinated in Kentucky bourbon, honey and Cajun seasonings and sautéed with portabella mushrooms, red peppers, onions and wilted spinach. It is served over steamed white rice. The dish I received used high-quality meat but was more or less void of flavor.

The robust chipotle burger ($9.99), on the other hand, one of 10 sandwiches, was topped with a zesty mix of smoked applewood bacon, cheddar cheese and chipotle barbecue sauce, and it came with a more-than-generous portion of crispy fries. The Riverview's sandwich list also includes the classic BLT ($3.99), a crab cake sandwich ($14.99) served with a ranch-style spread and roast beef on a sourdough panini ($6.99).

The starter salads are a nice touch. The Riverview salad ($4.99), for one, seemingly tipped its hat to both classic country club and Southern Maryland fare. Heavily infused with a choice of dressing (I went with ranch), the salad was topped with rolled up pieces of ham and cheese. It was hearty and yet light enough to be a first course.

The Riverview's starter list also includes a soup of the day (cup for $3.59) and appetizers like hot crab dip served with French bread ($10.99). Taking a second glance at the entrée menu, there do appear to be some tempting options: One finds a range of salads, a grilled New York strip steak served with a baked potato and a vegetable ($17.99) and penne pasta ($10.99) with vegetables and pine nuts in a blue cheese and pesto sauce, to which one can add grilled chicken ($3) or shrimp ($6).

Efforts have been made, it seems, to make the dining experience here both unpretentious and affordable. Drafts beers, no microbrews at The Riverview, are $2.25. Glasses of wine are priced between $5 and $7, and bottles go for between $22 and $34. The Riverview even offers a list of golf-inspired drinks, like "The Hazard," which is comprised of juices, grenadine, Sprite and Jack Daniels.

The Riverview's view does give a dining experience here a unique feeling, and it was also enjoyable to watch those people lucky enough to be golfing at 1 p.m. on a weekday teeing off or closing things out on the final green.

After handshakes, some of these groups bee-lined it to The Riverview for a quick meal, something simple and served with fries in a basket. It was lunch time, after all, and fine dining restaurants generally come out in full for dinner.

Still, The Riverview struck me as place more befitting hungry golfers than fine diners. Granted, you do not have to buy the $17.99 dish, and the restaurant at the time this is published will have been open for only one month.

The Riverview 35794 Aviation Yacht Club Road, Mechanicsville Hours: 11 a.m.-8:30 daily Entrée prices: $5.99-$17.99 Credits cards: V, MC, D, AM 301-884-0039