Review: Quaint restaurant near historic Stuart waterfront great choice for lunch or dinner

Lucie Regensdorf
·3 min read

Historic downtown Stuart is one of the reasons I moved to Martin County. I love the unique and eclectic stores, the waterfront and waterview, the Lyric Theater, and the variety of restaurants. If you’re on Flagler Avenue or Osceola Street, there’s plenty to look at. But turn the corner toward the water and you will find Riverwalk Café & Oyster Bar.

This quaint restaurant is lodged in a beautiful old brick building that looks like you should ride up to it on your horse and hitch it to a post outside. Inside, the bar is on the right side and wooden tables and chairs fill the left side. Stained glass Tiffany-style chandeliers hang from the tall ceilings.

It's lunchtime and the place is buzzing. The menu features salads, sandwiches and a variety of oysters, including Oysters Rocka'Feder — in honor of chef-owner Steve Feder. Specials that day were quiche, flatbread, and fried clams. The dinner menu offers entrees such as fish, seafood, duck, and USDA Prime beef.

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At the Riverwalk Cafe & Oyster Bar in downtown Stuart, a horse hitched outside and a pair of Stetson-hatted cowboys bellied up to the bar, downing a whiskey shot or two, would not look out of place.
At the Riverwalk Cafe & Oyster Bar in downtown Stuart, a horse hitched outside and a pair of Stetson-hatted cowboys bellied up to the bar, downing a whiskey shot or two, would not look out of place.

We started with fiocchi ($16), which is a favorite of mine that I happily introduced to my friend. Little pasta bundles were filled with minced pear and cheese swimming in a pool of brown butter, pine nuts and an abundance of sage.

The confluence of the sweetness from the pear with the creaminess of the cheese purses coated in the nutty and fragrant sauce was truly magical. In another setting, I might have licked the plate. I could imagine the sauce also being showered on grilled fish or vegetables. Or, just put it in a bowl and give me a soup spoon.

My friend chose blackened salmon and grilled watermelon salad ($24), but requested her salmon be grilled without the blackening spices. Both the filets and watermelon were adorned with the grill mark stripes and perched atop mixed greens, pink ninja radishes, macerated strawberries, then drizzled with a red wine vinaigrette and balsamic fig glaze.

At the Riverwalk Cafe & Oyster Bar in downtown Stuart, the grilled salmon filets and watermelon were adorned with the grill mark stripes and perched atop mixed greens, pink ninja radishes, macerated strawberries, then drizzled with a red wine vinaigrette and balsamic fig glaze.
At the Riverwalk Cafe & Oyster Bar in downtown Stuart, the grilled salmon filets and watermelon were adorned with the grill mark stripes and perched atop mixed greens, pink ninja radishes, macerated strawberries, then drizzled with a red wine vinaigrette and balsamic fig glaze.

On the side, little balls of goat cheese (from a farm in Palm City) were coated in panko and fried. The thin edges of the salmon were a little dry, but the rest was done to her liking and taking a bite of the salmon with the watermelon yielded a flavorful blast.

My lunch was the crispy grouper sandwich ($25). The grouper was flawless. Crispy coated moist fish, tangy slaw, garlic dill pickles, and a lemon caper aioli were stacked on a soft brioche bun.

The need to conserve air conditioning precludes Riverwalk Café from installing saloon-style, double-swinging doors, but they would not look out of place. Neither would a pair of Stetson-hatted cowboys bellied up to the bar downing a whiskey shot or two.

But today, Riverwalk Café & Oyster Bar welcomes those who walked, sailed or drove to beautiful downtown Stuart for the food and the ambience. Not a stirrup nor saddle was visible, but plenty of shopping bags accompanied the diners as they enjoyed this wonderful restaurant.

At the Riverwalk Cafe & Oyster Bar in downtown Stuart, the crispy grouper sandwich was flawless with a golden crust surrounding moist fish, tangy slaw, garlic dill pickles, and a lemon caper aioli stacked on a soft brioche bun.
At the Riverwalk Cafe & Oyster Bar in downtown Stuart, the crispy grouper sandwich was flawless with a golden crust surrounding moist fish, tangy slaw, garlic dill pickles, and a lemon caper aioli stacked on a soft brioche bun.

Riverwalk Café & Oyster Bar

  • Cuisine: American

  • Address: 201 S.W. St Lucie Ave., Stuart

  • Phone: 772-221-1511

  • Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

  • Alcohol: Full bar

  • Online: riverwalkoysterbar.com

Lucie Regensdorf dines anonymously at the expense of TCPalm for #WhatToDoIn772. Contact her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Restaurant review: Riverwalk Café & Oyster Bar, Stuart waterfront

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