Richland's Two Riverfront Hotel Restaurants Are Courting Local Regulars
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
"We wanted to get the locals out here," Charles Daenen, general manager at The Lodge at Columbia Point, told the Tri-City Herald in October. He was talking about the dining room that Tri-Citians knew for years as Drumheller's.
Farther along the river, at 50 Comstock St., another team uses almost the same words. Phoenix & Folly, the new restaurant in the former Salud Bar & Kitchen space at the Riverfront Hotel, describes its food as "approachable enough for twice a week." Longtime Tri-Citians remember Drumheller's as a place for anniversaries and birthdays, run as an extension of the Lodge. This fall, both riverfront hotel restaurants relaunched with the same kind of customer in mind, the Richland resident who stops in for breakfast on a Tuesday and comes back for pizza on Friday.
Their hours, menus and November calendars show how seriously both are pursuing that customer. They also fit together well, so anyone who lives near the river now has a full week of meals within reach of the trail.
On Sept. 25, the restaurant at 530 Columbia Point Dr. reopened as Riva Riverside Italian Dining. The menu now centers on house-made pasta and Italian wine, and brunch stayed. The Herald reported that the rebrand had been in the works for about a year. Part of the goal was for the restaurant to stand on its own rather than serve as an extension of the Lodge.
Food and beverage manager Andrew Sampson described the target diner in the same Herald story. "We really wanted to create a space where people, especially locals could come two, three times a week, and it wouldn't break the bank," he said.
The menu prices the Herald reported on Oct. 6 show what that looks like in practice:
A diner who wants Riva to be a regular stop can keep the bill closer to the pasta prices. The steaks are the special-occasion end of the menu. Daenen told the Herald a fall menu was on the way, mostly the same dishes with "a fall (and) wintery twist."
Phoenix & Folly first announced an Oct. 31 opening in October. Its website now gives the opening as Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 a.m. The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business traced the restaurant back to The Peacock. That business started as Peacock Coffee Roasting Co. at Richland's The Parkway, then rebranded and moved to 910 S. Columbia Center Blvd. in Kennewick in 2024, where it added pizza, cocktails and events. The Peacock announced on Oct. 9 that it was closing. A day later, its owners announced the Comstock Street project.
The new owners are Thomas Kalmbach, The Peacock's master roaster, and partners Justin and India Bazinet. In a social media post quoted by the Journal of Business, they said the new place "isn't The Peacock 2.0" and called it "an entirely new restaurant, with a new concept and a new space, but some familiar faces behind it." The Comstock Street space has a fully equipped kitchen, so the menu can include food The Peacock couldn't make, and coffee is still part of the business.
The restaurant's website lists:
The bar menu has original cocktails, classics, flights, wine and beer, plus a zero-proof list. The room is finished in deep teal, aged brass, cognac leather and dark walnut, with a brass phoenix over the fireplace and the river outside the windows.
Two features are aimed straight at repeat visits. At Test Kitchen Tuesdays, diners try dishes that aren't on the menu yet and vote, and the winners join the permanent menu. The restaurant also has two clubs. The Cellar Society brings four small-batch bottles each quarter, picked up at the bar, plus first seats at winemaker dinners. The Bean Club delivers fresh-roasted coffee every two weeks or every month, for pickup or shipping, with $2 off every bag. The restaurant scheduled reservations, the full menu and both clubs to go live on its website Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Seen side by side, the two weekly schedules cover different gaps.
| Riva Riverside, 530 Columbia Point Dr. | Phoenix & Folly, 50 Comstock St. | |
|---|---|---|
| Mornings | Breakfast Mon–Thu, 7–11 a.m.; brunch Fri–Sun, 7 a.m.–2 p.m. | Coffee and breakfast from 7 a.m., Tue–Sat |
| Evenings | Dinner daily, 5–9 p.m. | Cocktails until 10 p.m. |
| Bar | Sun–Thu, 4–10 p.m.; Fri–Sat, 2–10 p.m.; happy hour daily | Full bar with a zero-proof list |
| Recurring hook | Brunch every weekend | Test Kitchen Tuesdays |
Riva serves a morning meal every day of the week, and its longest brunch hours fall on the weekend. Phoenix & Folly's posted mornings run Tuesday through Saturday, and its biggest weekly draw is a Tuesday night. A Richland resident could have Sunday brunch at Columbia Point, a Tuesday tasting vote on Comstock Street and a Friday espresso by the river without going to the same room twice in a row. Riva's managers and Phoenix & Folly's own menu copy both point to repeat visits of two or more a week as the goal.
Both restaurants have also filled their calendars with ticketed evenings, mostly classes and shared meals. Phoenix & Folly's first class is scheduled for Nov. 12, the night before the restaurant officially opens.
On Nov. 19, both restaurants have a class at nearly the same hour. Households that want a night out on the river that week can choose between a mixology lesson at Columbia Point and a candle pour on Comstock Street. For Thanksgiving week, Riva offers two options: a Wednesday evening Friendsgiving and a midday-to-evening meal on Thanksgiving itself.
The City of Richland's Riverfront Trail runs 7 miles along the Columbia and is part of the 23-mile Sacajawea Heritage Trail. Columbia Point Marina Park at 660 Columbia Point Drive and Howard Amon Park at 500 Amon Park both sit on that riverfront, according to Visit Tri-Cities. The path links the stretch around Riva with the stretch around the Riverfront Hotel, so you can walk or bike between the two restaurants on the trail. A morning walk could end with coffee on Comstock Street, and an afternoon ride could end on the fireplace patio at Columbia Point, which the Lodge describes as overlooking the water.
Riva's dinner service runs until 9 p.m. every night, and Phoenix & Folly pours cocktails until 10 p.m.
Shana Brown has followed Richland's riverfront through plenty of openings and new names, and keeping up with what changes along Columbia Point and Comstock Street is part of the job. If a new favorite spot near the river has you wondering what your own place nearby is worth, Shana Brown Real Estate can walk you through it. Get your free home valuation whenever you're ready.
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