Dining for $25 or less: River Hill Sports Grille

By Karen Nitkin | Special to the Sun

June 12, 2008

Despite its high-visibility location in a Howard County village center, across from the Columbia Gym, the spot occupied by the River Hill Sports Grille has seen several restaurants come and go, including Bill Bateman's Bistro and the Luna-C Grille.

Maybe the River Hill Sports Grille, which opened in September, has hit on the winning combination -- plenty of televisions and a nothing-but-highlights menu. On a recent Saturday night, the restaurant was busy enough. Some tables were occupied by teens and young adults, others by families with young children. The decor is basic to the point of feeling haphazard. Wooden booths and simple tables are placed so that everyone has a view of a television, and artwork is limited to items with sports themes. Even so, the arrangement is not quite right. A line of televisions close to the ceiling means that viewers have to strain their necks to watch the games.

River Hill Sports Grille offers a straightforward sports-bar menu, starting with a deep-fried, calorie-laden appetizer selection of mozzarella sticks ($7), cheese fries ($7) and chicken tenders ($8), and moving on to entrees of hamburgers ($7), pizzas ($7), sandwiches and salads.

About 10 entrees are also offered, including a few pasta dishes, a crab cake ($27), a T-bone steak ($22) and chicken parmesan ($16). The restaurant also offers several dinner-sized salads, including a chicken Cobb ($10) and an orange almond teriyaki salad ($12). Our search for a minimally artery-clogging appetizer led us to skip the crab dip ($12) and onion straws ($5) in favor of nachos topped with melted cheese, chopped tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream and salsa ($8). The platter arrived hot, with the tortilla chips crisp and almost sizzling. We liked that the cheese had been dribbled on, not applied by the ladleful. But the salsa and guacamole tasted as though they had come from a supermarket shelf.

This was our first inkling that the kitchen is competent but uninspired. My Cobb salad had all the right ingredients -- chopped romaine lettuce, chunks of white-meat chicken, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, avocado, bacon and hard-boiled eggs -- but it lacked flair, and the chicken, tomatoes and bacon didn't taste particularly fresh. The tub of honey mustard dressing served alongside the salad was too sweet, too rich and too far removed from anything created by nature to be appealing.

Chicken Chesapeake ($18) was a base hit -- a simple skinless breast topped with a small crab cake and imperial sauce. But again, no thrill.

And the personal pizza was a perfect example of why really good restaurants make things themselves instead of relying on products from food services. The crust was doughy, the sauce too sweet and the cheese melted just enough to form a dense layer on top that pulled off in a glob with the first bite. According to my husband, this was second-tier ballpark food -- what you're served after the good stuff runs out.

The dessert selection, taken from the same crowd-pleasing page, includes cheesecake and apple brown betty (both $5). We opted for a hot fudge sundae with caramel, fudge, whipped cream and walnuts ($4), but wished for more fudge and caramel.

The River Hill Sports Grille seems to have covered its bases. It has a kids' menu, a surprise-free roster of basic American food and lots of televisions. Other pluses include a casual atmosphere (with sidewalk seating in nice weather) and reasonable prices. There are plenty of reasons to come here. A culinary experience is not one of them.