Water Wheel Tavern — Restaurant in Plumstead Township

Visited 6/5/2021 with a party of 6 including one 4 year old, and I'm still unsure if we will visit again. They were out of many of beers on their printed menu and the waitress couldn't tell us what beers they actually did have on tap. So most of us ordered cocktails, but even that was an issue for the bar. My mother-in-law ordered a Kahlua and cream over ice and was brought a large tumbler full of Kahlua with a splash of cream in it. We asked them to remake it with more cream, but I believe she was charged for both drinks even though she only drank one.

My cocktail was good and so was my husband's, but the rest of the party was disappointed with their drinks. The waitress [or whoever poured the drink] seemed clueless to what is appropriate for children and instead of bringing out a child's cup with lid and straw (that we saw at other tables with children), she brought out her drink in a large glass cup, no straw, and our niece was barely able to lift the glass herself. She's four, how is that appropriate? We tried to ask the waitress for a child's cup multiple times, but she either forgot or didn't care.

A few of the party ordered French onion soup and they seemed to enjoy it, but the little kid scissors for cutting the cheese was just weird. No other restaurant I've ever been to gives you scissors for cutting the cheese, and I was just imagining how many people touched those scissors before me. No thanks.

My husband ordered the surf and turf [steak and shrimp] special and the steak was barely edible. It was all gristle and overcooked, but he's not one to send food back so ate what he could of it and didn't complain. I had a reuben (which I no longer see on their menu) and it was fine. Not the best one I've had, but not the worst either. Their fries were especially good, and so were the onion rings my brother-in-law had with his meal.

Their outside seating area seems really nice and updated, but their inside restaurant area is weird. You have to walk through the bar to get to your table and there was very loud live music in the small bar area. If we had been seated closer to the bar, I would have been annoyed but it was easy to tune it out where we were seated.

My main complain is about the service. I know it's been hard for restaurants to find servers lately, but everyone we interacted with at the Water Wheel seemed incredibly clueless. We asked about a couple menu items and our waitress couldn't tell us anything about them, and we had to point to the items on the menu because she asked us to repeat ourselves multiple times while trying to order. She repeated everything back to us and got several things wrong, but we were able to correct that before she put to order in. It was just weird. Also, it took about 45 minutes for the soup to come out, and then the meals came out 10 minutes after that, so it seems like they need to pace their checks...

I typically don’t leave bad reviews, but after my experience last night I had to say something. My girlfriend and I come to WaterWheel quite often, and usually have decent experiences and food. Last night, however, I ordered the Jerk Shrimp skewers and as I was eating the shrimp, I realized it was undercooked. I spit up part of the shrimp, and it was grey. Within a few minutes my stomach felt queasy. I went to the restroom and ended up vomiting for about 10 minutes. I’ve ordered this dish before and never had this reaction to it.

Apparently the manager came out and spoke to my girlfriend while I was in the bathroom, and said she would check in on us later. When I returned, after vomiting in the bathroom for quite some time, our entrees were on the table and the manager never came out to check in or see how I was doing. Our waitress said the shrimp skewers had been comped and our two drinks, but again no one asked if I was ok…after being served undercooked shellfish and vomiting. I guess talking to my girlfriend was sufficient enough for the manager, even though I was the one who had the undercooked food. After our waitress returned again, we asked for to go boxes; this would’ve been an opportune time for the manager to come out again. Instead, our waitress returned with our bill, which we quietly paid and then left.

It’s about 24 hours later, and I still feel unwell; I have also not heard anything from the restaurant. The undercooked food experience is enough to concern me, but if this is how a risky and potentially dangerous situation will be handled, I will never return to WaterWheel. I’m lucky it was just a vomiting reaction and not a hospital stay. It’s extremely disappointing that this is how they chose to handle...

First time there. Will probably give it another chance.

Server was new and struggling. Had a hard time navigating the iPad to put in our order and food didn't come out as we hoped. A tipped drink tray landed out first round of drinks on our table/ my lap. I was wet, but more concerned about the wet table and glass that shattered. Nobody told the manager, including our server, and she used a lot of napkins, over multiple trips to clean it up off the table and floor. Everyone has a bad night and mistakes happen, we get it, but it was a mess and disappointing that she was left solo to clean it up for a while before someone else came out to help. We did a glass check ourselves since glassware definitely broke. Even a chance to move tables would have been appreciated, but wasn't offered.

Food was overall good except for the crab cakes. When the plate came out, it was notably hot, so we're assuming it sat at the pass under heat light to die. It was super dry and bland, and no one checked in, so my wife left hungry. At the end of the night the manager did take it off, which we appreciated.

Super loud space...live music in the bar was great, but overly filled the main bar and eating area. It was more at the volume I'd expect at 10pm+ but, at 7pm during dinner service, it was a bit much. The furthest room in the back where we were seated was pretty insulated from the music, but with all hard surfaces and a ton of tables packed in, it was definitely loud and hard to even hear each other for a bit.

Again, will probably give it another...