The Waterman Fish Bar — Restaurant in Charlotte

So first let me say. I was so excited to go to this restaurant. I was going to celebrate a friend's birthday. They had been before my first time. I asked other people in my circle about this place. Everyone raved about it. Good food across the board were the answers I received. We started out upstairs as we were waiting for our dinner reservation. I had looked at the menu prior to arrival. I decided on the mule. It anise in it, so I asked to remove the anise. The waitress said it couldn't be done. I would have to get a traditional mule. I said okay, not understanding why you couldn't eliminate it, but okay. The mule was garbage. Very watery and lacking the tartness of ginger beer. When the bill came the drink that was $9.50 became $12.99! Keep in mind I didn't ask for Tito's which was a $2.00 up charge. The mule price became $10.00 instead of $9.50 with all of the ingredients missing. Except the ginger beer. I asked why was the drink price higher. The waitress replied the mule has an up charge because of the Tito's vodka. What?! Like you literally removed a majority of the ingredients, then charged me extra for a basic drink. Of which you never asked if I wanted Tito's or bottom shelf vodka. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Then we get downstairs for dinner. Great staff, excellent server (Daniel). The food. Talk about disappointing. I ordered the shrimp po boy. This should be ob the kids menu. Popcorn shrimp on a roll? As an older adult grilled shrimp would've put this sandwich over the top! Instead, I felt like I was at the kids table. Popcorn shrimp on a sandwich for a Saturday night. I was very disappointed in my visit. Maybe yours will be better. I won't be back. I have to give shout-outs to the host staff and Daniel. Sorry Waquisha next time tell the guest that you're charging to remove ingredients from the drink. Before giving...

I saw this place pop up previously in my search while making reservations at other seafood restaurants around town and decided to try it tonight as my girlfriend is traveling for the next month and we wanted to enjoy a good dinner. By all standards, this place is a one and done visit. Lacked any experience at all. Upon sitting down, we see an open bottle of hot sauce that has old remnants caked on the top. Cocktails ordered were great. However we were never offered a second. Server was nothing more than an order taker. Very bland. Could barely finish oysters that we ordered. Lobster roll was good, but miniscule for $28. Never a check back on food or how anything was. This place treats tables as if it is only counter service. We were seated by a server because the host was bussing tables so we were not checked in for our reservation at 5pm. Mid way through our meal I went and asked the Hostess to seat my resy reservation so I could leave this review with their follow up service as I know that goes to management and not online. However, that never happened so my review lands here. Servers and manger just hung out behind oyster bar by pos talking with other staff. Hostess and bartender were the only ones FOH moving around keeping busy. Not surprised there were only 3 tables occupied. Server Ky shows up with check in hand asking if drinks were our dessert? Sure, I guess we didn't want dessert. Could have turned a $100 sale into $200/$300. Could not wait to get out of this place. Went down the street to Amelia's for desert and reflected on how bad this experience was. First time I've actually thought of leaving $0 tip though I couldn't do it. Will avoid all high tide hospitality restaurants going forward. If you do decide to visit this restaurant, I would recommend sitting at the bar as we...

Customer service: 5 stars Drinks: 4 stars Food: 4 stars Oysters: 5 stars Ambiance: 5 stars

My husband and I tried The Waterman on Valentine’s Day. I had made a reservation about 10 days beforehand for 6:30pm. But when we got there at 6:20 they couldn’t find the reservation. Thankfully the host told us she would take care of it and seated us right away even though it was so busy. I was thankful for that and really appreciate good customer service.

Now for the actual food experience: amazing! We got a few things to share so we could try a little bit of everything. My husband ordered the ghost pepper cocktail and that was very spicy but very good. I got the mocktail because it sounded like it would be so good. It was lacking sweetness and the menu said it would have edible glitter but it didn’t. Still good though. We got the bang bang shrimp (pretty yummy although smaller shrimp than what I was expecting) , seafood dip (also pretty yummy though it could have had a little more seafood flavor. Our waiter recommended to get it with toasted bread instead of just chips and that was really good), fish and chips (also very yummy, fries could have been a little crisper though), the real star is the oysters though! We got an assortment of regions it was really fun to try them all and compare the flavor. They tasted super fresh and we agreed, next time we come back we’ll get more oysters and less other food.

We really loved the vibe though. Super cute and clean, modern and fun. Easily a great dressy date but could also get away with casual or family night. Managers came to check on us multiple times and ask how everything was. The bathrooms were very clean too which always tells me they care about details and behind the scenes too. All in all, we really liked it and would love to go...