Waterwheel Restaurant — Restaurant in Clifton Forge

We have been here many times in the past 10 years when we visit The Homestead resort. It used to be my favorite place and so I was looking forward to spending my birthday dinner there. Unfortunately, it looks like the chef and/or management changed because it definitely went way down hill.

Waitress: She came up introduced herself and only half smiled, maybe because her nose ring and lip ring were hurting. She did not tell us about any dinner specials that evening (which we knew they had from overhearing another waiter) and when we asked a couple questions about some of the sines on the wine list she just said "uh, I don't know I would have to check". If we could find our waitress we had to request drink refills and when she would bring them she would not clear the empty glasses. When she set plates down, she would set them half down on top of the bread plate or appetizer plate rather than shifting any plates around or clearing any unnecessary plates. Plus, we really wanted our favorite entree filet with Bearnaise sauce" which was no longer on the menu. We asked her if they could put Bearnaise sauce on the hanger steak and her response again "uh, I don't know let me check". She never returned, never told us if we could, and when she deliver the hanger steak, there was no Bearnaise sauce. We get better service at Country Cafe down the road for 20% of the price.

Food: In the past everything we had was well prepared, well seasoned, and delicious. This time they failed on so many levels. The medium rare hanger steak went from barely medium rare in the center to medium on the ends. The carbonara with homemade pasta lacked flavor, the pasta and pees were under-cooked, and the dish just lacked any finesse. The other steak dish (forget what it was called) was burnt on the outside but tender inside. However, the portion of the steak and mashed potatoes were half the size of the hanger steak dish showing how inconsistent and unaware the kitchen staff is. The steak on top of the mashed potatoes was 5 thin slices, about as much as a small burger. Lastly, the trout dish was delicious, the entree filled the plate and was well appointed with complementary sides.

Overall: we were truly disheartened at how much the food and service had declined since our many visits in the past. Since Omni has greatly improved the food and service at Jefferson's, sadly, we may just have to skip the Waterwheel restaurant...

i went here for my birthday dinner last night and the food was good but the service was absolutely terrible. i am not being hyperbolic when i say it was the worst service i’ve ever experienced. i’ve worked in the service industry for years and do not take leaving a bad review lightly but our server literally was at the table next to ours no short of 20 times for the 4 or 5 times she visited ours. that included at one point FOUR servers arriving with food at the other table while we had not even had our initial order taken. we were at our table for over 45 minutes before our orders were taken and it was an hour and fifteen minutes before she brought us bread. she barely spoke to us when taking our drink orders and never asked if we wanted more drinks, which we had planned on ordering. meanwhile the other table was having wine refilled, i could hear her chatting with them and we were sitting there for so long waiting that it became impossible not to notice the stark contrast in the service we were receiving. when you see others having such a starkly different experience you start to wonder why and as a group of lgbtq people we were all quietly wondering if we were experiencing homophobia in a way we never fathomed we’d be encountering this weekend. on top of everything, the discrepancy in service was never acknowledged and we understand being slammed, but this was not that. what was intended to be a celebration turned into what felt like a slowly unfolding horror movie where we were realizing we were trapped somewhere we weren’t welcome.

re waterwheel’s response: i hear your assertion that there was no discrimination at play here but what i didn’t mention in my first review for the sake of brevity was that there were three other tables in the same room who were also receiving a standard pace of service in addition to the “high maintenance” table, ordering and receiving desserts and checks long before we were addressed.

one of the people in our group is a former restaurant owner and all of us have worked in the service industry, we have a lot of empathy for being underwater. one thing that could have made it feel believable that there was no discrimination or ok that we were waiting for such a ridiculous amount of time is an acknowledgment of the situation at the time but that didn’t happen. i’m not sure why i would ever pay several hundred dollars to be treated that way again, but i will absolutely not...

The 'wheel has always been on my bucket list so I was stoked to finally eat here. The restaurant couldn't be any more gorgeous; I don't understand folks who are giving 4 stars or less for ambience. Temperature-wise though it was chilly - I about froze my knickerbockers off. Afterwards I had to crank the heat in my motel room to thaw out! Note to self: come back in the summer, haha.

Anyhoo, the hostess/ manager was very friendly as was my server. I ordered a mocktail of mango nectar and ginger beer which was so good I could have sucked down about 3 more in no time. Big points for having mocktails for us non-boozehounds! They were serving drinks with these cute bamboo straws - never seen them before. The server also brought out some delicious warm focaccia and house citrus butter.

I started with the duck confit sliders. Loved the diced apple and toasted bread but it would have been better if the duck weren't served chilled. Beautiful presentation though. Next I ordered the poached egg and asparagus salad, and oh my goodness - this was definitely my favorite thing. The egg was perfectly poached (photo), the cured salmon was out of this world, and the best part was the truffle vinaigrette! After inquiring I found out that you can buy a bottle if you let the chef know in advance.

For the main course I had the 10oz Rib Filet mid-rare with béarnaise, horseradish mash and roasted carrots. The steak was cooked to perfection but not salted heavily enough for my taste. It was topped with (fried scallions?) which added some nice flavor. I could have licked my plate of the béarnaise - yum! The carrots were tasty - sweet, salty and just tender enough. I was super unimpressed with the mash; I got little to no horseradish and it was a bit thin and sweet.

All in all a good experience. This is the perfect restaurant for a special occasion like an anniversary. Be ready to drop some money, but order anything with that truffle vinaigrette and it will...