Riviera Theatre & Bar

• 48 N. Main Street
• Three Rivers, MI 49093
• (269) 278-8068
• Website
• Menu

Two meals in one day? What’s the special occasion?

I worked late in St. Joseph County one day last week and J told me to grab something for dinner on my way home. I had eaten a kind of late lunch at Meeks Mill Cafe in Constantine but figured I was near Three Rivers and could stop at one of the places that have been on my list for quite a while.

I drove in to Three Rivers with tacos on my mind but I found the taco truck everyone can’t stop talking about and there were A LOT of people waiting for tacos. No worries…I have options.

I headed towards downtown to find a place to park and see if the pizza place I’ve been itching to get to was open. It was so I called in my order then hit up a gas station for a couple of Pepsi’s while I was waiting for it to cook.

Riviera Theatre & Bar is more of a theatre than a pizza joint. The Riveiera was built in the 1920’s by the Fitzpatrick-McElroy Company out of Chicago. A few years after it was built, the theater was leased to Butterfield Theatres….the owners of the State Theatre in Kalamazoo (among others). The Riviera is in downtown Three Rivers on North Main Street just south of Portage Avenue.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t at the theatre for a performance or a movie. I was just picking up dinner from the bar located near the front doors as you walk in off the street.

I phoned my order in so it was waiting for me when I walked up to the bar. The menu at the Riviera isn’t very big and is mostly pizza but they have a couple of sandwich options and there are always new dessert creations that they advertise on their Facebook page. There is space in this lobby area for tables when there aren’t crowds from shows in the theater but right now they’re encouraging people to eat and drink outside. They’ve set up a couple standing rail bars right outside the front door where you can eat, drink a beer, and socialize just like you would at a bar.

My pick for dinner was the Carne pizza. The 14″ wood fired pizza comes topped with a San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and prosciutto….and let me tell you, this pizza was delicious.

The crust had that delicious, crispy, smokey flavor this kind of pizza deserves. The Italian sausage is sliced thin and the edges crisped up really nicely. Same for the pepperoni. The prosciutto worked just like bacon would on a pizza. The small pieces also crisped up really well and added that bit of saltiness to counter the sweetness of the tomato sauce.

The price of the pizza was $14 before tip.

I’ve been seeing pictures of these pizzas from the Riviera Theatre for months now but with my in-laws in Florida for the winter, we didn’t make a lot of trips to St. Joseph County..plus, when we do, we typically order from The Local. The Riviera’s pizzas are really different and really, really tasty. They’re only open a few nights a week so we need to do some planning but this pizza is definitely worth the stop.