Water Grill — Restaurant in Santa Monica

I spent $480 on a special Valentine's dinner and wine pairing. The food was above average and the drinks were good (loved the bartender's recommended cocktail actually), but overall it was poor value for the price and the service was totally unacceptable for a high quality dining experience. I presume they overbooked the evening, but the real failure was how they handled it. There were many moments where they could have made this right, but failed to do so. If you strip away the expensive food, interior design, and beautiful beachside location, this restaurant is run more like a Cheesecake Factory--not what I had in mind for my romantic date.

The hostesses couldn't seat us at our reservation time and they were not in any way apologetic or even sympathetic for our negative experience. We tried to make the best of things by getting a drink at the bar. However, the hostesses appeared to forget we were there. We had to make our presence known to them multiple times and, after all that, we were still seated about 20 minutes after our scheduled time. No one ever apologized or tried to make this right. I truly don't care about the money, but they should have compensated our drinks or at the very least apologized. This was about respect and facilitating a positive customer experience on a special occasion.

Even after we were finally seated it still took another 7-8 minutes before our waiter came. He was polite but did not realize that we had selected the wine pairing when we made the booking. He then proceeded to explain that "they don't tell us those kinds of things." I don't fault the waiter. I fault the management. They allowed for this gap in their technology and processes. Moreover, it was evident that the waiter thought it was appropriate to show the cracks in his company's operations by shifting blame to others at the restaurant.

Throughout the evening, there were multiple occasions where someone would walk by and just set food down on the table and keep walking without saying or explaining anything. This happened with the first food we received, the bread. Someone walked by the table, set down bread and butter somewhat forcefully, didn't give us eye contact or say anything, and then abruptly continued on to put bread on other tables. Then for the main courses, our waiter explained two of the four courses, but for the other two they were set down in front of us without a word. No comment was made about any of the wines in the pairing. I actually liked them, but no gestures were made to make this feel like a special experience.

The final straw for us was when they brought the dessert. Right after they set it down a staff member started noisily changing the trash and recycling bins right next to our table. At that point I was starting to feel like I was at a food trough, or at best a cafeteria.

To be clear, I'm totally ok with a low-key / hands-off experience when I'm at In-N-Out or Chipotle, but when you're paying $135 per meal and $50 per wine tasting I expect some actual service. I wanted to try this place because I knew it was where David LeFevre earned them a Michelin star in 2008-2009 (which was later downgraded in 2019). I absolutely love David's own restaurant, the Manhattan Beach Post. I cannot recommend that restaurant highly enough. However, regardless of what the Water Grill brand may have achieved in the past from its LA location, it isn't that now--or at least, not with consistency. David LeFevre cares deeply about the customer experience at his own restaurant, but the same cannot be said for King's Seafood Company. At my most recent visit to MB Post two weekends ago I spent about 1/3 of what I spent at Water Grill and MB Post had better food and much better service -- and it's not even really branded as a fine dining restaurant. At MB Post the servers know the menu well and are passionate about recommending and explaining items. I didn't see any of that passion and commitment at Water Grill.

(Don't offer me anything. This review stands as is. You earned it. Own it...

Better for lunch than dinner these days, I prefer Downtown LA, although this Santa Monica location has a very nice outdoor dining setup. The staffing and service is great, except that one time I made it clear I had a nut allergy and was served ice cream with peanut butter and immediately began to break out in hives. The server DID NOT ask if I was okay or need an ambulance, she just hopped on the defensive and insisted there was no peanut in the dessert even though my father and sister both let her know they absolutely taste peanut as well. Anywho. The food quality is still solid, just not as impressive or delicious as it once was. The raw bar items are still a banger, the bread rolls are NOT. They’re currently basic bread rolls (hopefully they get back to the older recipe cause the bread rolls were a highlight). I do really miss the pre-pandemic calamari; thin sliced, crispy, served with fried zucchini and onion as well. But I meeeeeean, with enough liquor and the right people, the service and atmosphere will make it a good time. The prices are what you would expect for upscale dining, nothing too crazy.

THE FOOD: nothing too salty, some items may need salt, pretty even with flavors.

Fried Calamari: I say pass until they get back to the thin sliced calamari. These thick rings do not allow for a good crisp nor is the taste of the actual meat good. And the sweet sour sauce is just silly. I need that herbed aioli back.

French Fries: meh. Look better than they actually are, although, I like the thickness of the cut. If you’re in the mood for a french fry and ketchup, these will do it.

Mac and cheese: not as cheesy and creamy as it once was. Over the past year it has actually been dry.

Broccolini: uh. Taste good, but like the calamari just really big pieces, loosing its essence. Had more of the earthy roughness of broccoli. I didn’t mind it, if you don’t, get two orders.

Spiny Lobster: fun adventure , but I’ll pass. To be clear, I am not a lobster fan, however I know what good lobster is supposed to taste like. I DID like that this was grilled, but I did not like the toughness of the meet. The butter was not enough more me, I’d probably would of like a salted garlic butter situation. And you had to fight with lobster to get the meat out. No thanks.

Rockefeller Oysters: done well if you like this sort of thing. It’s pretty rich. I like to taste my oysters so the butter, cream,cheese, and breadcrumbs were too much for me.

Raw scallops: hittin. I liked these.

Sautéed Scallops: mmmm. I bit of a disappointment. I mean not what they use to be. And I strongly disliked the purée whatever they sat upon.

Sushi Roll: hittin. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised because they the rest of the raw items are good.

Crab Cake: hittin. This has been consistently delicious. Made with real crab. Thank you.

Fish Tacos: really good…and now I want to return for lunch and get some. Lol

Louie Salad: is served deconstructed and with three pieces of lettuce so it’s more of a small appetizer of cold shrimp and bacon and avocado. Uh. Super disappointing lol. We had to order a plate of lettuce so my dad could actually have a meal. He still enjoyed it.

GUARANTEED GOOD FOOD ITEMS Crab Cake Fish Tacos Alaskan Salmon Chilean Sea Bass Raw bar...

I would not recommend this restaurant even to enemy.

We had the worst restaurant experience at around 8:30 pm, May 4 2023. The fact that not only the receptionist was rude and unprofessional, but the food was gross that I couldn’t swallow gave me so much disappointment towards Water Grill.

The table we were seated was right next to a big group which was too loud that we couldn’t hear each other. So my friend went to ask the receptionist to change the table which was ignored. Then I went to ask and he seemed to give me attitude. No smile, rare eye contact. Later he guided us to other table which was fine. There was four seats for the table and we seated on the outside seats. And the receptionist took away the table setting in front of us and left instead of taking away the inside table setting that is not in front of us. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, it clearly gave me a message that he doesn’t want us to be there at the restaurant.

We ordered Caesar Salad, Cioppino, Filet Mignon “Double R Ranch” 12 oz and two cocktails (Rosewood, Accidental Crossing). The salad was a bit too salty but bearable and the cocktails were okay. But Cioppino made me sick. The ingredients in Cioppino was NOT fresh and really smelly. The taste was dull and not good. I had to suffer from nausea for a while due to the spoiled mussels. I felt like to throw up and had to keep going to restroom after. The steak(Filet Mignon 12 oz) was literally the worst steak I have ever had. It was extremely dry and salty. We ordered “Medium Rare” and it was way too overcooked as you will see from the attached photo.

I have been to many restaurants but never had such terrible experience like Water Grill Santa Monica. I sincerely believe there should be a customer service training to the receptionist and Water Grill should not discriminate customers whatever the reason was. I regret not having much time to complain about this problem to the restaurant on site as my friend didn’t want to make a fuss since it was our reunion day after years and we were in rush to take a taxi but hope the owner takes it seriously, does some investigation and fixes...