Waterfront Seafood Market — Restaurant in West Des Moines

If you’re looking for bland food and terrible service, this is the place for you. We went on a Thursday night. Server had 4 tables. It took us 2 hours to “dine”, which consisted maybe of 20 minutes of actually eating for those of us who did not return our food. It was our first visit. We were excited to go, because the restaurant gets so much hype, and we recently moved from Florida and are missing our almost daily seafood consumption. Even though we explained we’d need a few minutes, the server came several times within minutes, making us feel very rushed. Little did we know we should cherish those moments because she wouldn’t be visiting again other to drop off the food after taking the order. The “Best Chowder” in the Des Moines area was really thick and flavorless like canned soup. No salt and pepper on the tables to help (and we couldn’t request it because our server ghosted us). Our six year old “loved” his fried shrimp - that’s where the one star comes in. Also, I can bake frozen breaded shrimp at home with the same stellar review and flavors. We weren’t sure where they were actually going to put our food on the table, because it had been cluttered with our empty bowl of soup (again, rave reviews from the six year old) and our salad plates for the long time we waited for the main entree. When it arrived, I ate a piece of scallop, and found it was just sitting in a pool of grease and topped with flavorless bread crumbs. I finished the one scallop thinking maybe I needed to cleanse my pallet; maybe I didn’t get all the flavors in that first bite. Nope - my first assessment was accurate. Of course, our waitress had no clue (given her absence) until after my husband FINISHED his fish (the halibut, which he said was “OK”; his came with fries, which were also lackluster). So, to recap, we never saw our server once after food was dropped, and she assumed we were done - no checking on the food or providing refills. When I explained it had no flavor, her response was, “Huh. Usually it’s really garlicky.” NOT the appropriate response. At this point, I’m sure it’s obvious (given the two uneaten baskets of fries and my uneaten entree) that we were upset with the food and long waits. I asked for the bill. At this point, you’d think, at minimum, they’d be attentive enough to us to let us pay and leave. Nope! Apparently they wanted us to sit for awhile and think about our poor choice to eat there. After 15 minutes and finally sending my spouse out with our two year old that was losing it at this point, she handed me the bill and said the manager “adjusted” the price. The scallops were $34. She took $20 off. When I asked why I was paying $14, the server said it was for the sides - the fries we didn’t eat (which she invited me to pay for and box to take home) and the side salad I had that consisted of lettuce, one cucumber slice, two cherry tomatoes, and maybe a tablespoon of shaved carrots. At this point I was really over it. When I said that was way more than the items a la carte, she huffed and said she’d send the manager over. After 10 more minutes, the manger comes to the table (that’s right; we haven’t seen her yet), does not say hi or introduce herself, simply places a second bill in front of me and says “here you go” and walks away hurriedly. She was “gracious” enough to adjust the bill to a la carte pricing and only charged me $8 for the uneaten fries and sad salad. So, after a total of 30minutes from me finally getting the waiters attention and sharing my dislike of the entree, we left with a $70 bill and a box full of fries we were invited to pay for - oh and me having no dinner. $70 for a kids fried shrimp, my husbands pieces of fish, the two baskets of uneaten fries, two side salads (as described), and taste-like-canned soup. That will be our last visit. And for our friends who ask us Florida natives where we eat seafood in Des Moines, we will steer them to Culver before ever suggesting this place. Flavor, service, and prices and better there...

First impression, huh? The employees didn't give me a chance to try and get an order in. The place clearly shows that it closes at 10:30pm I call a 9:58 (last min hunger attack) to place an order. I ask for a couple of things and 2 shrimp tempuras rolls. The employee said that he would check the menu because he didn't think that they were on it, puts me on hold. Come back on the phone saying "nope we don't do those" so I say "thank you, please cancel my order" and apologized. I check their menu and under their "Rolls" it clearly says: Waterfront Roll Shrimp Tempura, Cucumber, Avocado

Well what do know, it has their name on it. (He waited 15mins of my time.)

I call back and say that I had just called to place a pickup order and was told that shrimp tempura wasn't on the menu, when they have it as a "Waterfront Roll", this person said "Well, now we're closed because we're empty". No apology or anything, just all out rude and empty of what?! It's not like I was asking for Steak, baby back ribs or a quarter pounder. Come on now it says "Seafood Market", did they run completely out of stock? And if it "were true" and they were "empty" wouldn't I have been told that 2mins prior, on the first call? First impression are a big thing and they were pretty good for making a *Terrible one. If that was just over phone, I don't want their services in person. X - on my suchi list. -No...

We experienced our worst visit to Waterfront ever. We came on a Saturday night about 7 pm to celebrate some winnings from the day. We waited about 15 minutes and then were called for seating. As we were seated we were told our waitress was busy and it would be a few minutes. Fast forward a half an hour and we finally get our order in for an app and two entrees. The app came within 15 minutes and was good. Then it all came to a grinding halt. I was brought a salad which I did not care for and promptly sat it on the other side of the table. 15-20 minutes later our waitress, Robin came over and asked if I was finished with the salad. I said yes and she said...great, I'll get your entrees. Obviously, they had been done and sitting on the warmer. She brought them out and told me hot plate...I had pasta. It was absurd....the food was warm at best. We had been there an hour and a half to get this terrible service and food. Waters were almost gone and most of the other diners had cleared out. We paid and left without eating. Our night went from celebratory to being pissed off. We'll probably be back another night, but we won't accept Robin as a waitress and if I'm ever seated and told the waitress is busy, I will ask to be reseated in another section. Waterfront you can do better!!!! This was unacceptable...