Headwaters Seafood & Grille — Restaurant in Easton

Let me preface this by saying we are restaurant people, my husband managed and was director of operations in fine dining restaurants for over 20 years and worked in restaurants for an additional 15 years before that. My background is also restaurant, catering and boutique hotel/ B&B management for 25+ years. Our kids all grew up in the hospitality industry too. We know exactly what it takes to ensure a GREAT experience, and it isn't the food, it isn't the drinks, it is the service. We also are painfully aware of how hard it is to wait on a table with tired, hungry kids - we ALWAYS clean up the mess, and kids or not, we leave a 25 to 30% tip - every single time, even poor service still gets 15%. Except today.

When we got to Headwaters it was exactly noon, we asked to sit on the back patio, where we were completely alone, 4 adults and three kids. Between noon and 1:30, there were maybe 10 - 12 other diners. The food was very, very good, the Crab Pretzel appetizer, build your own burgers, fried shrimp, and the kids' meals, delicious, fresh, and beautifully presented. My daughter and I had grapefruit crushes, and they were honestly the best we have ever had. We did ask for a Shirley Temple and were told they had no cherries, so we ordered her a Sierra Mist and I ran over to Harris Teeter and got a jar of cherries for $1.69, I have to question why nobody at the restaurant thought of buying a jar of cherries - but whatever, no big deal. Everyone was having a wonderful time, even ordered a second round of those delicious Grapefruit Crushes.

From the beginning, the service from Vicki was not welcoming, but it was Ok, again we get it kids in a restaurant - ugh - they had just gotten back from vacation and were tired and grumpy, but, again, we were all alone on the patio, we sat there for exactly that reason. We weren't happy that Vicki had her mask firmly under her nose, but we were outside and not overly concerned. The table was in the sun, so we moved an umbrella (and put it back when we left). After lunch the now happy children were playing on one of the empty patio tables, if anyone had come out we would have seated the children instantly, but the tented area was more appealing than the sunny patio to the other guests. I moved one of the center panels on one of the tables slighly to the side so it was more fun for the kids to roll their Match box cars through. Vicki came out to gather plates and waved her hands around and said in a very nasty tone of voice, "Can we not do this? Push the tables around, play on them?", and walked away in a huff. We had not moved any tables, nor chairs and would have put the panel back when we left, as we did the umbrella. We wiped down the chairs before we sat down, one had bird poop on it - but being outside, it happens. Had she not said anything we would also have sprayed down the table the children were playing on, we always have sanitzer when we are out with the kids, and we are VERY COVID aware, we even cover our noses with our masks.

We ran up a $144.00 bill - for lunch - in a restaurant with 10 - 12 other diners. Normally our tip would have been $36.00 or more. we left $20.00. We are all locals, and were talking about planning another visit. We won't be back, the food was delicious, the bathrooms spotlessly clean, and while the location is less than wonderful, it is still OK, Vicki completely ruined it with her attitude, cost herself a nice tip, and lost local diners for the restaurant owners. The restaurant is so small, that the chances of having her wait on us again outweighs the good. ...

We came here to meet with family as a midpoint between Baltimore and Ocean City. We had a family member with food restrictions and clearly communicated their request. We ordered drinks and an appetizer. All of which came out quickly. We ordered our entrees and reiterated the food restriction (salmon grilled with no seasoning or toppings, completely plain). The waitress acknowledged the request, read it back and said it wouldn’t be any problem. It took over 20 minutes to receive our entrees. We had a party of 5, including two kids. The waitress notified us that the plain salmon had been mistakenly taken by another server and they would need to make another one. My portion of the stuffed rockfish was not smaller than expected and not proportionate to the price of the dish. I also never received my salad which I had chosen as my second side. The waitress never noticed. About 15 minutes later, after the rest of the table was mostly finished eating, the new salmon was delivered. It had sauce over the top of it. So not plain as requested by us and confirmed by the waitress. We ultimately ended up sending it back again and declined getting anything else. The waitress was sincerely apologetic and I don’t believe it was her fault. However, I would consider this to be the type of experience that would warrant a manager making a stop at our table to ensure that this isn’t the standard they strive for. That never happened. Overall, the food was decent, the waitress was pleasant but not on top of the specifics of our orders and the atmosphere was good enough. As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Well, this was a disappointing first impression and will likely be the first and last time we come here. The details in this demanding industry matter and it seemed to me, at least, that they haven’t quite figured out how to be more than just average at pretty much all aspects of...

TWEEKS ROAD TRIP FOOD REVIEW!! So when I go to the coast (where I grew up), I've got to have seafood.

Me and my two sons pigged out here. They got the blackened salmon BLT, and fish and tots.. and I had the fish sandwich. But I wanted to sample more, so I also ordered us all the calamari + the seared buffalo salmon bites with spicy Sriacha ginger honey sauce + one crabcake and the cream crab soup. All the food was surprisingly yummy.

The calamari was well done, tender and not overdone, but not that surprising, except for the Sriacha/ginger/honey dipping sauce. That rocked! The crab cake was overpriced at $24, but was really good. Not your typical over breaded old bay puck.. it was super chunky, chocked full of meat instead of mostly breading. They forgot to bring out the cream of crab soup I also wanted to sample, but they were rather busy, so I'll let that slide.

My son said his salmon BLT was amazing.. and he's now a big seafood fan. My other son's fish and tots were huge chunks of cod were really good... But too much for him to eat.

My fish sandwich (also beer battered cod) was one of the best I've ever had (and I grew up on the coast). The fish breading was a little heavy, but the combination of sweet Hawaiian butter grilled buns, red slaw and spicy Sriacha aoli sauce was a perfect match. The flavors were awesome together! I normally slather a fish sandwich in tartar sauce and malt vinegar... But not this one.. I didn't want to change the flavor at all. I think I maybe drizzled a touch of lemon on it.. but it was the star of the night. NOM!

Glad we found this place. (See photos of each item we ordered.....