Waterway Cafe — Restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens

My family lives nearby and we were eager and excited to return to the restaurant upon its reopening. We are realistic people, so we expected hiccups given that it was the first weekend after reopening (believe they opened on Friday, and we went Sunday). Some good/bad from our experience:

GOOD The remodel is beautiful. They did a great job with the design and were smart to build the bar out where it’s now located. Very nice atmosphere. We ordered a side of Mexican street corn. Good taste, nice serving size.

BAD Cost. This place is WAY, WAY overpriced. We have frequented the Ritz, and if Waterway is hoping to satisfy/draw the incoming Ritz clientele, it’s in for a rude awakening. Waterway does not meet those standards. Some reasoning below… If you’re spending $40-$60 per entree, you should be receiving very good food. Of the four of us, three said their meals were underwhelming. Only one (salmon entree) felt their meals justified the cost from a taste/serving size perspective. We ordered the “Jumbo” lump crab cake. It costs $30 and to have the word “jumbo” attached to it is laughable. This costs 2x what it should given its size, and it also was on the underwhelming side from a taste perspective. One of us ordered a burger, which was described as it felt/tasted like it was sitting under a heat lamp for a while. The bun didn’t feel fresh, and the bacon slapped on top tasted as if it was made that afternoon and just reheated. No table bread is offered, which is surprising given the pricing structure. Most restaurants in this price range that the four of us have experienced in our lives have offered some form of table bread. (Whether you eat/enjoy it or not is your decision.) We ordered a side of sweet potato fries to share. This costs $12 and is listed as shareable. Maybe for one adult and a toddler? Maybe? It’s the exact same size serving that comes with a sandwich for one person. Another ridiculous markup and serving size. There is a 20% service charge baked into any/every bill. Our experience is that this is usually standard for larger parties, but here, it’s for every bill. We always tip 20% minimum, so not impactful for us from a cost perspective, but we felt that if you’re going to bake this into every bill, the service at your establishment should be TOP NOTCH, which this is not. This is casual service. Our server in particular needed to ask the kitchen a ton of questions (fair given the recent reopening), they forgot about us and our food/drink orders multiple times, at least a handful of meal options weren’t available, the beer tap(s) is/weren’t working, etc. There’s nothing about this place that justifies baking this service charge in.

Overall, we love the atmosphere, but walked away feeling that ownership believes Waterway is something that it is not, which is a high-end restaurant. This is casual fare with a huge, wild, and unjustified markup. We all shared the feeling that it is a place best served for us to have some evening/weekend drinks in the future and nothing else, simply to enjoy the...

Mediocre at best, disappointed. Was hoping for big things with this renovation. It was much needed, have been coming to the Waterway since the early 2000s...

Food has always been just ok or bad. Every other time id have a bad meal. Super inconsistent. I return for the views. You guys really need to step it up on the food.

Cliff Notes sort of-- 6 of us ate there plus 2 sub 3 year old kids. I got the shrimp po boy sandwich. Figured fried shrimp, semi safe, how bad can it be. They gave me a loaf of bread about 12-14 inches long. 5 shrimp, and the smallest drizzle of the sauce i have ever seen. I think it was coming out of the chefs pay or something if he used more god for-bid...

I got my daughter the kids mac and cheese. First of all, its $15+ ... In what world is mac and cheese $15? Not only that, the sauce was not even cheesy and they put Brocoletti in it. Its for a KID!!! Not someone with some aged Pallet that would maybe enjoy that. Who's bright idea was that to put some weird veggie in with mac and cheese for a kid? So she did not like it obviously, i tried it, it was absolute trash, so being a good dad and hungry still from eating the 5 shrimp off my dry loaf of bread i ate it and she ate my fries.

Service was just OK. The other couples meals with us were inaccurately described and supposed to come on a bed of lettuce but instead came on some other greens soaked in dressing. Overall was not enjoyable and yet again you guys failed. So while you may grab everyone a few times there to recoup your investment into that place, i will not be grabbed again.

For the owners or management, Fix your menu, actually sample what you are serving, i am sure you will be disappointed. Get a better food supplier, i am pretty sure all of South Florida uses CBI and i have better meals everywhere else... Just put a box of Kraft mac and cheese on a bowl for $8.99 and call it good that you made $7 off a box of noodles and only serve half the portion to make your investors feel good on the annual report.

I really love the location and i had come there like i stated for nearly 20 years with family and friends, just make it better please and let me know when. I am not a harsh critic, just why do all this work to serve crap food again?...

First of all. It’s odd that there are 5 star reviews from months and a year ago when this place was under construction Makes me think people associated with this place did that to help boost their ratings. Now for my review. Would not return after tonight. . Went there for lunch and sat outside. It was ok. Nothing great but it was nice to be by the water even though it’s a construction view and there is noise from the bridge. Went back for dinner tonight with friends…six total. My husband and I got there first and were seated at 5:25 pm….and waited 15 minutes til someone acknowledged us at our table. Ordered a bottle of wine and the fish dip. Took forever to get it and the server broke the cork opening the bottle. Our friends arrived and ordered drinks. One ordered a split of Proscecco so she would have the bottle to pour at her will. She never got the split, just a flute of proscecco. When our dinners came they had to ask us each what we got, like we were in a diner. I didn’t eat my pizza and took it home. Realized they gave me the wrong pizza. I ordered the apple fig brie pizza and I got the fennel sausage pizza. They have few tables for six and we needed to sit inside. So loud. Service was bad, our waitress was snarky. Food nothing special. Prices high for the value. Small selection of bottled wine. Oh, 20 percent automaticity added to the bill which is somewhat problematic because we are finding out from other reviews that this is not a tip for the servers. It’s for the restaurant and the servers get only a portion of it. I would not hurry back. River House and Season 52 and Carmines are so much better value and food. They did a fabulous job renovating this place, but I don’t think the locals will be hurrying back. It will be interesting to see what happens...