Watercourse Foods — Restaurant in Denver

Update: this review truly pains me to write, but I've given this restaurant FAR too many chances and they've utterly let me down.

Quick context: this was my wife's and my favorite restaurant in Denver since first visiting in 2013. We've always lived within blocks of it and order VERY regularly.

Ever since COVID, and since they came under new management, SO MANY things have gone wrong at this restaurant.

I'm going to start with the straw that broke the camel's back, which is getting undercooked battered cauliflower from here TWICE in a row. My wife ordered the Southern Plate the last two times we've eaten take out from here. The first time she realized it was undercooked too late and got sick.

Last Saturday was the second time, and she knew better to check and not eat it. Serving undercooked food is simply not acceptable.

And the thing is, we haven't called them right away to get it fixed because we just simply can't. We raise our child with no family or help, and when we're getting take out on Saturday nights, we have razor thin margins between eating dinner and our son going to bed. So we just don't have the time or energy to call the restaurant to complain, then go back to the restaurant to pick up a new order that just got rushed through only to have to eat it cold after our son goes to bed.

So we let the first time slide thinking it must've been a fluke. NOPE. Happened again last weekend, and like the first time, we were out of time in the night to "fix" it.

This restaurant has SERIOUS operational issues.

The first sign of trouble was the unbelievably consistent amount of inaccurate orders we would receive from here. If you place an order online to pick up, go in with the assumption they messed it up somehow. We've experienced nearly 80-90% inaccurate orders from placing them online.

I switched to phone orders out of annoyance after multiple complaints with no fixes, and even then the order may still come inaccurately. I literally have to be the guy that opens up the stapled bag and checks the food inside before leaving. Most of the time I do this outside. I rarely do this because it feels really Kareny and I'm not trying to be like that. I shouldn't HAVE to.

The next sign that things were not changing for the better was them constantly changing beloved menu items for the worse. It's fine to be experimental and change things up, I like new things. Changing old things that people consistently order at your restaurant is stupid. And IF you're going to do that, make them better, not worse. This may be just my opinion, but they've ruined at least 3 different items I loved from back in the day.

I've let them slide so much because I've loved this restaurant so much and didn't want to believe it had fallen off. But we're giving up. We've given way too much money to this place to be so consistently disappointed, given inaccurate orders, or WAY WORSE, getting sick from their undercooked food.

We're done.

Whoever you are that has taken over operations here, I certainly hope you read this in earnest and make some massive efforts to save this restaurant, because you've killed it for us, some of the most hardcore fans you could have ever inherited.

Old 2018 review: So few restaurants in Denver are capable of competing with how good Watercourse is, regardless of it...

Update to last review.... I am happy to say that Watercourse has definitely starting getting their footing back and are incorporating more delicious meals. For a while they fell flat. I've been going there almost 2 years and there was a 6 month period where I had to stay away because they changed their menu and it was not great. They also had some servers who were just not fantastic.

Now they have brought back the amazingly delicious turkey and brie sandwich. This is the closest thing I have ever tasked to an actual turkey and brie. It is so amazing. Also the servers that they have there now seem to all know some good customer service. They also incorporated a new dish which is the classic Philly. If you ask them to add sautéed mushrooms that thing is so good. They say that they change their menu "seasonally" so that is of course the danger of falling in love with things here. There may be a time when you walk in surprised that the thing you were going to order is no longer on the menu. I have my feelings about that type of model. Of course I am not the owner or EC. If it were up to me I would find dishes that we could do really well and keep those things on the menu. Just one woman's opinion. They have some of the best dips and sauces like cracked pepper aioli, ranch dressing, and they used to have a maple and mustard sauce that knocked out socks off. I don't know what they did with that. It must have been seasonal.

One thing to stay away from is the gnocchi. The potato gnocchi with the sweet potato falls very flat. The flavor profile is bland and unsurprising. I think they may keep it on the menu just to elevate the place. That is one dish I wish was seasonal.

I would also recommend giving brunch a go too. They have some good options especially the French toast.

The atmosphere is ok. I really do not like the art in the place. My husband and I specifically have to look away from two large paintings because they are so bad. The bathroom graffiti definitely doesn't elevate the place either. But I like the wooden benches, the plants, and the dark lighting. All in all I would recommend at...

Used to be great food. Almost always poor service. Fees for the last few years have always made the bill hard to swallow.

This was once our favorite restaurant in Denver. Then once the quality of food started to slide we couldn’t look the other way when it came to the other issues.

Food quality has declined. Blackened Caesar wrap was once the favorite along with the turkey and Brie sandwich. They’ve had other great options. But you can tell something is off now. Maybe skimping on ingredients.

Service has always left a lot to be desired. It’s hard to find a server (and we’ve had a bunch) that truly cares about the service aspect of their job. Maybe it’s the 20% tipping fee they add automatically (this has since gone away but now a back of the house fee has been added that I’m not a fan of). Many times we’ve hardly been greeted when walking inside. As a host/take out person, you need to acknowledge that someone new has walked up to you. Even if it’s a “hey I’ll get to you in just a moment”. It’s common practice. A host at Applebees is better trained in this. The entire “service” experience feels like they are too good for you. Ps this also feels the same way at their sister restaurant City O’ City. We’ve seen a lot of the same FOH staff over the years but the ones that actually have some life in them don’t seem to stick around too long.

For the quality and ingredients of the food, the prices don’t seem to line up. I know inflation is an issue but at the end of the meal it just doesn’t feel right. It’s hard for me to not tip 20% as I’ve worked many jobs in the restaurant industry but the last two times we’ve been there I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I just received an email that they are cutting their hours drastically but also changing their menu. Hopefully these big changes will actually move things in the right direction. It does intrigue me which is great because the last time we visited we said that it would...