Before breweries started popping up on every Wichita street corner, River City Brewery found its home near downtown Wichita. Since I discovered River City Brewery, I have only visited a handful of times and usually with a large group. This confuses me because I generally consider their food and drink pretty decent. Although they do not offer many unique dishes and their prices a little steep, I do find that their menu offers some straightforward tasty fare. For me, their beer has not been here nor there, but mostly just there.
With a group of eaters with very specific food preferences, everyone found something that they could eat and maybe even liked. I felt myself torn between shrimp tacos and “famous” macaroni and cheese, and ended up being persuaded by the very convincing language to order the macaroni and cheese. Not to be disappointed, someone else did order the shrimp tacos and I got to look at it longingly while scarfing down my macaroni and cheese. Another coworker also ordered the macaroni and cheese, and we decided there are at least 2 types of people when it comes to macaroni and cheese: those who really like saucy macaroni and cheese and those who prefer a more subtle, less saucy macaroni and cheese. Luckily for both of us, River City Brewery provided a little bit of both due to the serving dish that contained the macaroni and cheese. The top of the macaroni and cheese was a bit drier and lacked a bit a sauce, while the bottom pooled an egregious (arguably correct) amount of sauce. I thought the macaroni and cheese tasted good, but they raised the bar fairly high by calling it “famous”; since I had never heard of it before, I was thinking I was missing out, but I could go either way on it. One thing that I do know, is that macaroni and cheese probably should not cost $8. The shrimp tacos looked more appealing, and I probably would have even rather gone for the grilled salmon given the price point.
I think while writing this I determined why I do not visit River City Brewery more often. While it does offer pretty decent food and drink, I just cannot justify their price point in exchange for food, service, nor atmosphere. I would call everything decent, nothing particularly outstanding that would illicit the cost. All in all, River City Brewery gets an OK from me, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.
River City Brewery
150 N Mosley St, Wichita, KS 67202
316-263-2739
Monday-Tuesday 11:00AM-10:00PM
Wednesday-Saturday 11:00AM-12:00AM
Sunday 11:30AM-10:00PM