Water Bar — Restaurant in Virginia

PLEASE BEWARE. DO NOT COME HERE.

Planned a nice evening lunch/dinner with family given how nice the space looks and when I say … it was a complete nightmare, that doesn’t even cover how bad this experience was.

As soon as we sat down, we had a server ask us for drinks, etc. we asked for drinks, but at least 2-3 of the cocktails we asked for were “not available.” Fine, no big deal. We ordered alternates and moved on.

Then, we went ahead and ordered food. The plates seemed good on paper, so we went ahead and ordered the bbq sandwich, a couple of oyster mushroom sandwiches and a salad, plus one appetizer (broccolini with Parmesan). It’s important to point out all of the sandwiches said in the menu (comes with house chips). Server took our order (with no questions or confirmations, etc) and then we waited.

Now this is where it gets bad — we wait nearly 35-40 minutes to get our plates. What was more bizarre though was that the server kept on checking in on us and asking if everything was good, except we had nothing and asked him to check in on the food a couple of times and never came back with anything.

Finally, we get all the plates (minus the salad) … but they’re all extremely cold. It seemed rather odd and I can only assume they were placed to pick up and never came to us on time. But also, we noticed that all of our sandwiches had a house salad … and no chips. I was confused so I decided to call the waiter over to see what happened.

After a couple of minutes of trying to flag him down, he comes back confused and I ask where the chips are. He responds with “oh we don’t have chips so we just gave you all the salad instead.” To which I was like … “oh you never mentioned this when we ordered the food, this would’ve been great to know, because (while that’s understandable), we could’ve been offered another type of side to replace that.” And he was just like, “yeah that’s the replacement.” I’m sorry, you cannot just conceal the fact there’s not something you’re offering, and then decide on behalf of the customer what the sides will be. They didn’t even know if any of us had allergies, etc. An apology would’ve sufficed and just a replacement of the sandwiches.

He then goes on to call the manager, who comes up to us only to tell us that he was told we had been informed about the lack of chips and that the replacements for chips were automatically salads. Again, we understand no chips, but you still have to ask folks if that’s fine. I also mention the cold sandwiches. Manager then proceeds to “make it right” and tell us he’ll cover the side of broccolini, is making chips so they’d come, and he’d provide a replacement for one sandwich. I asked how long that would take and he ensured it would be quick and take a couple of minutes. The server then comes back to ask if everything was fine and 30 more minutes had passed and still no replacement sandwich, so we just let him know we haven’t received that and we’d like to just pay the bill. He then offers to box the sandwich to go and brings it to us 10 min later … with no chips.

We close out and are just about as happy to leave this nightmare only to notice that the side the manager “graciously offered” to cover was still there … plus an automatic 25% tip chosen for us … we mention the side situation to our the server to which he seems completely clueless and we just decide to move on and get the heck out of this place.

We had high hopes for this place but this was just another level of bad … and toward the end we just wanted to inform the manager while walking out about the bill and the remaining service but he conveniently walked into the back closet.

So, please be warned. You will not get good service at this place. And they will not rectify their mistakes or take ownership of it. I really, really hope they change before this...

Please avoid Water Bar if you can. If you do go, please avoid drinking from their tap water. This is by far the most horrible and disappointing experience I’ve had as a patron. My fiancée and I went to Water Bar this past Saturday for a quick early dinner before going to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to watch a movie. We made a reservation and got to the restaurant about 10 minutes early. As we walked in, a gentleman who had a terrible attitude greeted us and pointed us to be seated at one of the cocktail tables. We had to ignore his behavior not to mess up our day. Towards the end of our meal, we noticed a small packet in the water bottle that we had been drinking out of. They serve their tap water in a glass bottle and it’s kept on the table in a chiller so we were not able to see the bottom until we picked it up to pour ourselves another round. We immediately brought it to the l attention of the same gentleman that sat us who turned out to be the manager. This inexperienced manager was super defensive and quick to try and convince us that it was just a piece of paper floating in the water and that he would comp our meal and everything should be fine. He picked up the bottle and immediately walked out of the restaurant with it while ignoring us asking why he is leaving with it. The item that was in our water turned out to be a Tobacco/Nicotine Pouch according to the so called Manager himself who’s name is Armando(the same person that was very certain it is a piece of paper) and the police officers that later on joined the scene. Armando kept down playing the situation repeatedly stating that it’s just a ‘Tobacco Pouch’ and firmly kept insisting that it ‘was okay’. Given that it was impossible for this person to communicate to us in a respectful manner, we asked him to get an incident report filled out for us since we called the police and would like their report to match the restaurant’s report. Armando unsurprisingly suggested that if he has to go get the paperwork it will take so long and we would have to be sitting there waiting so as long as our bill was taken care of we should just call it a day. We still insisted he fills out the report so he left and came back with the form in 5 minutes and proceeded to tell us he needs us to leave the restaurant so we can go talk some “quieter”. To which we also declined. Shortly after, another manager came to our table. This manager, Camron, told us that Armando is new and that he obviously didn’t handle the situation properly. We ended up having to go to a clinic to get tested. Armando is a disgrace to the hospitality industry. He profiled us thinking that we were trying to get a free meal when we were scared for our lives thinking that the pouch could be a harmful substance. As someone who have worked in the hospitality industry for several years, I am so disappointed by how we were treated at this restaurant and I will make sure that I tell everyone I know to avoid going there. Please train your managers better, teach them to respect all people and most of all take issues like this seriously since it can damage your restaurant’s reputation and someone’s wellbeing. Thank you for messing up...

My boyfriend and I went to Water Bar because I had seen it on Instagram, and I wanted to check it out. It is a beautiful space! However, when we went to the bar to have a drink, the service was severely underwhelming. We sat in the middle of the bar and were not greeted by the one bartender who was busy chatting with two female customers. There were already other people at the other end of the bar, and you can tell they were trying to get their check. The bartender never looked their way or checked back in with them. She just stayed with the two female customers who were sitting right in front of her. A young man eventually greeted us and gave us two menus. At that point, the bartender still had not acknowledged us. As we waited for her to take our drink order, I could hear her talking to the two female customers about being from DC and how much she loved DC. She also mentioned that it was her birthday weekend and that she had big plans. She eventually acknowledged us and took our drink order. It did take a while for her to make the drinks that were on the menu. It just seemed like she didn't want to be there. At one point, she said out loud, "Is it 8:30 yet?" I was hoping it was 8:30 if that meant she was going to be leaving. While sitting there, she never once went to the other end of the bar. Customers came and left without even ordering. While I think the water bar is beautiful, service has to be better. And most restaurants make money off the bar, so when you have a bartender that won't even acknowledge you, that's money lost. She literally cost the restaurant money that night, and it was noticeable. She was also vaping on the job and texting. She never tried to hide the fact that she was texting on her phone. She never tried to hide the smoke coming out of her mouth. At one point, she accidentally poured a glass of Hennessy, and when she realized her mistake, she got a funnel and poured it back into the bottle. I just couldn't believe myself. The service was so bad. I have been to severely crowded restaurants and bars, and this was the first time I've ever seen bar service this bad. I understand engaging what customers are part of the job, but when you have multiple customers sitting at the bar, you can not just refuse to interact with other people. It just appeared that she didn't want to be there. It was her birthday weekend, and she was hoping to be out and about. If that was the case, she should have just taken off work rather than cost the restaurant money like that and provide poor service. I am a believer of giving restaurants a second chance, but my boyfriend is not. That whole debacle was very impactful. And we were actually served. Think about how impactful it was for the people that weren't acknowledged or served. I'm not saying she needs to lose her job, but maybe she doesn't need to be the bartender if she doesn't know how to work the entire bar. I definitely think the water bar is in trouble if that's the level of service that's going to operate at the bar. Overall I love the ambiance but the...