About The River Café
In 1977, Buzzy O'Keeffe converted a coffee barge beneath the Brooklyn Bridge into a restaurant. Nearly five decades later, The River Café sits at 1 Water Street in DUMBO and remains, without meaningful competition, the most visually extraordinary dining room in New York City. The Manhattan skyline through floor-to-ceiling glass. The Brooklyn Bridge overhead. The East River below. At night, with the city lit, the effect is genuinely cinematic.
The restaurant earned its Michelin star in 2010 and has held it continuously since. The cooking is New American, executed at a level that earns its setting rather than relying on it: a three-course prix-fixe at $195 might feature a lobster bisque of real depth, dry-aged duck breast with huckleberry and root vegetables, and a Brooklyn Bridge dessert — chocolate and caramel assembled in the shape of the bridge visible through the window — that has become one of the great theatrical finishes in New York dining.
The staff understand the room's function. They have presided over more proposals than any other restaurant in the city. They know how to choreograph a ring. They know when to arrive at the table and when to disappear. The wine list is deep and celebratory — champagne selections in particular are chosen for occasions. If you are doing this properly, The River Café will help you do it right.
The restaurant also operates a private dining room that seats up to forty-eight, making it one of the most distinctive event venues in New York for groups with the budget and the sense of occasion to use it correctly.