As mentioned in the previous review of Kraken Coffee & Kitchen Co., St Marys, Georgia is a small town, and there are a handful of businesses that cater to the ferry terminal and marina that are located right in central St Marys. One of these, Riverside Café, sits immediately across the street from the ferry terminal, and does a brisk business, being open in time for the first returning ferries from Cumberland Island, and staying open into the early dinner service, so it’s a great place for those looking for a meal either before or after a trip to the Island.
Walking up a short staircase across from the Ferry, Riverside Café actually has two dining rooms, a main dining room (shown here) and at some point they expanded to a second dining room across the hall. I’m more than used to a slight look of despair by waitstaff as I arrive fresh-off-the-boat or trail from many of my trips, but Riverside was more than gracious to hikers; there were three different groups of hikers dining when I was there, and they helpfully arranged a corner spot for us where we could situate our backpacks and travel bags nearby.
The menu at Riverside Café is a bit of a mixed menu. It’s primarily casual Greek-American food, with a few additions of classic American and seafood dishes, so there’s a little bit for everyone. Both Carol and I were looking forward to a change from the backpacking food of the last week (hey, I love backpacking food, but after a week I find myself craving things like grilled items), and both opted for a gyro combo. It’s one of the odd things about my Northern New England living that we don’t have a lot of “gyro places”. We get a lot of Greek-owned restaurants, but they are overwhelmingly pizza joints, and one of the few places around me specializing in gyros, the Gyro Spot actually tries to stick to authentic Greek street-food styles made with pork and fries instead of the (mostly a US and Canada thing) “Gyro Meat”. The version at the Riverside Café is definitely a good example of the classic Greek-American variant with sliced gyro meat, onions, lettuce, and plenty of tzatziki on a nicely grilled pita. I rather enjoyed it; a nice grill on the meat, some nicely fresh veggies, and a nice, tangy tzatziki. Add in some nicely-executed fries, and this was a great antidote to camping food.
Overall, we enjoyed Riverside Café, the staff was friendly, the food good, and they were very gracious hosts to some hopefully-not-too-disheveled hikers. Definitely worth a stop in St Marys.
