Water Grill Denver — Restaurant in Denver

I have a number of handicapped friends so I have become very sensitive to access issues. The Denver Water Grill is in the far northeast corner of the Market Station development which encompasses a full square block. Valet Parking is in the parking garage at the far southwest corner--a two block walk from the restaurant (perhaps a bit shorter if you cut through the arcade). The only drop-off point by the restaurant entrance requires parking illegally at a very busy bus stop on 17th Street (don't even think of access from the Market Street side). There is a nice ramp once you get inside the front door as most of the restaurant is several steps above street level. I cannot give five stars to a recently-built establishment with such poor access.

The owners' families started in the restaurant business in 1945. The current business was started in 1983 and includes 22 stores using six concepts, mostly in the southwest. There are six Water Grills in California, Las Vegas, and now, Denver. The group includes its own seafood distribution company, started in 2008.

The space is a bit rustic, but elegant, with multiple dining areas, a huge raw bar, a large open kitchen, and a substantial fireplace. We went for an early dinner, but the place was packed soon after we arrived with virtually every seat occupied. Lunch is much more peaceful. The space has a high ceiling and almost all hard surfaces, so it became so noisy at dinner that it was difficult to conduct a conversation. The prices are breathtakingly high, but everything was so exquisitely fresh and so beautifully prepared that we had no complaints.

I've tried six varieties from the fresh oyster selection. Every one was exceptional with a perfect taste of the sea, both Eastern and Pacific. They are shucked to order, of course. There does seem to be a bit of a backup in the shucking department as fresh oysters do take some time to arrive at the table. Water Grill introduced me to Paradise oysters from Baynes Sound, BC. I found them marvelous.

I've also tried the Jumbo Lumb Crab Cake which was nicely presented with a celery root remoulade, the Wild Jumbo Shrimp Louie Salad with deviled eggs and bacon, the Wild Ross Sea Chilean Sea Bass with butternut squash gnocchi and sage brown butter, the Wild Alaskan Black Cod with soba noodles, green onions, and spiced fish broth, and--somehow--I also found room for the Key Lime pie. There is a very nice bread service, but don't fill up too much on the delicious, fresh rolls as the appetizers and entrees are all good-sized. The desserts are large and should definitely be shared.

The crab cake was a fair size and came with a tiny salad of lightly pickled vegetables along with the remoulade. The shrimp on the Louie salad were exceptionally tender and flavorful. Both the sea bass and the black cod were large, irregularly-shaped cuts, but every bit of each fish was magically perfectly cooked. The black cod in its Japanese-style broth was just amazing. This is phenomenal food, prepared by one of the best...

7 o clock reservation on a Sunday evening , show up & no table ready. Sit at the bar order a drink and it was a very well done old fashioned, my wife had a glass of wine, & the bartenders where attentive. After awhile they have a table ready along the window but right next to the bar. Horrible lay out in my opinion, You have people walking next to you the whole night and also two bar patrons towering over you at the bar, & cherry on top you get sports on TV. You are in the bar patrons conversation and they are in yours. We sat down to ordered oysters (1/2 dz east coast, 1/2 dz New Zealand )from the raw bar & cocktail shrimp. All domestic oysters on the menu except the New Zealand variety which I was very intrigued to try, I told my wife they where going to be out of the New Zealand variety before we had our order taken. Sure enough the server took the order rang it in & 5 minutes later came back to inform us the Kaipara oysters where not available. She was obviously unaware they where out for the night, which happens in restaurants all the time, but communication between FOH & BOH needs to be better. We will just have the others & the shrimp. The others where fresh but lacked any depth of flavor. The pineapple salsa/mignonette sauce was unique and delicious. The sour dough bread & soft butter where very good, but the sports bar vibe does it call for bread service? For our mains my wife had the scallops & I ordered the halibut. The scallops dish was well constructed and great flavors. Why they chose to only sear one side of the scallop was/is beyond me, but if they would change that to both sides would be a outstanding dish. The halibut was served with what the menu called fire roasted corn w/ peppers and cojita cheese. The server called it Mexican street corn. This dish is where it all fell apart. Good looking sear on the halibut, but way over cooked. The “street corn” had no fire roasted marks or flavor. We are in peak sweat corn season and the lack of flavor and moisture in the corn led me to believe it was either previously frozen or stale from to long in the cooler. This dish has no sauce which is fine but if that is the way you are going to serve it you need to execute the cooking of the fish. It was so dried out it was not really any moisture in the fish left. I felt bad that a tremendous fish had to end up like this. I found my experience overall to be fine, but there was little to no value in it. I’m disappointed this is where I chose to eat on one of the few nights in Denver. Hope it was just an off night from the kitchen, but I think they need to rethink some of the...

Where to begin? I brought my daughter here for dinner before a show, spent $130 before tip and likely got food poisoning.

To start, daughter was craving salmon. If you’re familiar with adolescents, you know nothing else will suffice when a desire hits. Plus, this was a special “treat the girl” evening.

There was no kids menu online and I was pleasantly surprised that they offered one in the restaurant. The atmosphere was a nice blend of upscale and casual and the lobster tanks were fun to see.

We ordered milk from the kids menu and a cocktail for me. The waiter (who was excellent) returned to say they were out of milk. Sure, water is fine.

Our clam chowder arrived and, honestly, it was divine. We ate that and our waiter stopped by again to say they were out of kids salmon. Um, ok… he explained that the restaurant was out of 4 oz fillets so I decided to ditch my dinner order and ask for them to split the adult plate. Some how, they could do an 8 oz fillet, but not the smaller portion.

He also asked if I wanted to add a vegetable since the adult salmon was served with a grain. Yeah, why not? So I ordered asparagus and broccolini, not realizing these were about $14 apiece and I’d be charged every cent, despite the supply issues.

We ate, the salmon was fine. The asparagus was overcooked. The broccolini was meh. Nothing we ate was wildly delicious but it served the purpose and we were rushed to get to the performance so didn’t want to make a fuss.

Toward the end of the meal, our waiter (again, he was lovely) stopped by to offer a free dessert, which my daughter desperately wanted. It was good!

My biggest, most concerning surprise came with the bill. They charged us for a split plate charge ($44 on the menu and $56 on the tab) and offered no discount for the sorry state of their children’s offerings.

When I was expecting no kids menu, I had planned on the split plate fee and intended to skip cocktails and appetizers. I only ordered more food because the kids menu existed and there was no mention of fees, which is the only suggestion I’d offer the waiter.

When I returned home and had gotten everyone to bed, my stomach began turning somersaults and I haven’t slept since. So I’m awake at 5:00, asking family to please bring this single mom some antacids and writing a Google review.

If you don’t care about money or transparent pricing, this is a decent spot for okay seafood. Otherwise, you’d be better...