Now that some of my beautiful friends have moved to Riverside, they are helping me explore some of the restaurants in the area. I finally made it to Park Bench. I got a little nervous as the Uber driver was getting closer and closer to the destination; it felt like we were getting further from the strip and well into the neighborhoods. Turns out that’s what makes it a perfect spot; I can avoid the rowdy Fed Hill crowd. I was expecting your classic Baltimore bar fare, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw the Hawaiian chef serving up sushi and some comfort foods from the island state.
We were super hungry, so dug into the spring rolls and dumplings before I could snap the pictures. Both of these were good; however they tasted basically the same. Nice deviation from the traditional bar app menu of wings and nachos – which looked quite enticing.
It was flat bread night; but I don’t recommend those. It tasted like your classic school lunch pizza – great deal for $5, but definitely not worth it for anything more. It’s a personal size pizza with a very thin kind of grilled crust. it was called a three cheese pepperoni, but it seemed mostly basic red sauce, mozz and pepperoni. There might have been some cheddar jack and parm, but I found it lacking.
I do recommend the burgers. I basically copied my friends order of a burger with bacon and avocado. They have pretzel rolls, which was a nice addition, even though there was an up-charge. Burger is fine, I am glad I had the toppings to add a little seasoning. Mine was a little over cooked, but hit the spot, especially with the tots.
My friend had the Loco Moco, which gave me a little bit of dish envy. They call it their Hawaiian comfort food. It’s a ginormous bowl of rice, topped with a hamburger, rich gravy and a fried egg. So so much food. I was comforted watching my friend dig in.