The overall standard of Western restaurants in Suzhou is not high, and the Riva Mediterranean Steakhouse on the 2nd floor of InterContinental Suzhou represents the highest level of Western cuisine in Suzhou. From starters, main courses, desserts, drinks to service, Riva Mediterranean Steakhouse is impeccable.

As a typical steakhouse, steak is naturally the star of the show, while the rest of the dishes are mainly Italian. Currently, the head chef of Riva Steakhouse is Luigi Coccimiglio from Rome, a member chef of the Chinese chapter of the Italian Chefs Association. In addition to steak and some of Riva's other classics, Chef Luigi also brings more traditional Italian staples and Mediterranean cuisine.

Riva's appetizers are remarkable, especially for steakhouse restaurants that have neglected the quality of appetizers. The first choice for cold appetizers is the Riva Seafood Tower, which is available for two or four people, including safflower crab, Nantucket scallops, Australian rock oysters, Japanese clams, Alaskan snow crab legs and Boston lobster. A la carte oysters are also a good choice for the cold dish to start with, and the steakhouse serves Sydney rock oysters daily, which are small in size but excellent in freshness, clean and sweet, with a strong metallic flavor, and are quite cost-effective at 30 yuan each. From November to December every year, the restaurant often serves a variety of oysters. Other cold dishes such as Iberian ham, Parma ham, Australian Wagyu carpaccio, etc., are mostly decent.

Riva's seafood is highly sourced, fresh and prepared, and this is reflected in the hot appetizers, many of which change from menu to menu, and the vast majority of them are seafood-based. For example, the classic appetizer pan-fried scallop emperor, the scallop used is large and fat, smooth and fresh, divided into four, roasted small potatoes with Sano Xiang, salami with southern European style to brighten the salty taste, bitter chrysanthemum balances the taste and texture, simple but delicious, and the side dishes are rich without the sense of dominance. In the new menu, prawns cooked in Sambojia wine are paired with scallops, and the refreshing taste of strawberry and beetroot juice is used as a backdrop, which highlights the main ingredient more than the pan-fried scallop emperor. Soups such as fish soup, lobster soup and porcini mushroom soup with black truffle are worth trying, but they are more satiety, so if you want to focus on grilled meats, it is recommended to share a soup for two and try it lightly.

One of Riva's signature dishes is the tomahawk steak for the main course, which refers to a rib with ribs more than 30 centimeters long, so named for its one-handed axe. Riva prepares two types of Tomahawk steaks, Australian grain-fed beef and American beef, with the former being slightly less expensive than the latter, and there is no significant difference in the presentation of the two types of beef. In fact, with the exception of the richer fat fascia of the bone-edged meat, Tomahawk steak is almost the same as the meat quality of the rib-eye steak, but the price is much higher, so a la carte steak is a better choice if you have a smaller portion or less than 3 people in the group.

In addition to tomahawk steak, Riva offers different grades and different grams of ribeye, filet, sirloin and loin steaks, which are grilled over a traditional charcoal fire, with stable maturation and scorch marks on the outside, slightly burnt in the mouth, neat and tidy juice, no blood, and a smoother cut. The Australian Wagyu beef ribeye steak reaches M9 level, which is the highest grade beef in the restaurant, and the quality is equivalent to that of Japanese high-quality Wagyu beef above A4 level. Wagyu sirloin is also worth recommending, with rich muscles, dense taste and mellow meat. If you are traveling with more than two people, the loin steak is also worth considering, and the T-bone has different tastes of sirloin and filet on both sides, and the amount of about 1 kilogram can be said to be sincere. The basic beef is recommended to be selected from grain-fed sirloin, grain-fed filet or Angus with the naked eye, the price is relatively affordable, and the serving size of more than 400g is recommended to be eaten by two people, and the waiter will assist in sharing.

Italian Chef Luigi's Italian menu is complemented by the arrival of Italian Chef Luigi, who is proud of the traditional meatballs with thick macaroni, made with a unique blend of Australian beef, oregano leaves and Parmesan cheese, as well as classic creamy bacon pasta, Roman-style lamb chops, lobster risotto and oven pizza. Riva's desserts are also worth recommending, and most of them can be shared by many people, with the most popular chocolate potted sundae being generously portioned, with great taste and layering. The fantasy chocolate ball is made on the spot, the painting is spread out to be the size of a large table, with berries and jam as the base, liquid nitrogen smokes, and the chocolate ball crushes in the center, dripping yogurt mousse, full of gimmicks.

The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the InterContinental Hotel, with a quiet location and a dark wood color for a heavy and calm look. The restaurant has a low floor and the view is not spectacular. Due to the early construction of the InterContinental Hotel, today's Riva Steakhouse has a slightly outdated feeling, but the environment is quite elegant. The service rules are thorough, the attitude is good, and the style of the five-star hotel restaurant is basically commensurate, but the professionalism still needs to be improved; Tomahawk steak will be served with a variety of knives for diners to choose from, giving it a sense of ceremony. In terms of wine service, Leva Steakhouse has its own constant temperature wine cellar, with a certain thickness of the wine list, a wide range of choices, meticulous wine selection, rain and dew in the old and new worlds, and professional wine service in place. The hotel has convenient parking, parking coupons are provided for dining, and the service charge is 15%, and the corkage fee for bringing your own drinks will be added.