Waterman Fish Bar
Fish and Chips at The Waterman Fish Bar
I’ve been hearing very mixed things about The Waterman Fish Bar in Charlotte, but I hadn’t had a chance to confirm or deny them. So when I was craving some great seafood recently, I decided to give it a try and see for myself what the confusion was all about. After going, I completely understand why the reviews are all over the map with this place.
Lively vibes
You walk in and are greeted with a super cool vibe at The Waterman Fish Bar. It’s trendy, for sure, yet very coastal. It’s almost like what I’d expect to find in Santa Monica or Huntington Beach, with weathered wood accents on the ceiling. The oyster bar is made out of concrete, as is the geometric wall, reminiscent of what you would find in the entryway of a midcentury house in Palm Springs. The place was super lively with all types, from college students to young professionals to families with kids.
For our visit we sat at the oyster bar, and it thankfully ended up working in our favor. You’ll find out why as you read on.
Here’s the rundown...
As always, we ordered a bunch of food, a mix of apps and entrees, so we could get a feel for the place.
Chowder - It didn’t have much flavor, I’m sorry to say. It was very heavy on the pepper, and loaded with sodium. Not quite the quintessential New England chowder I grew up with. I tried adding hot sauce, which gave it some flavor, but I can’t say I’d order this again. A shame.
Charred Oysters - These are nice and garlicky.
Raw Oysters - We got Beausoleil, served with cocktail sauce and mignonette. They were small and briny, my favorite.
Lobster Roll – We ordered it Connecticut Style. There was a nice mix of tail, knuckle, and claw meat.
Mac and Cheese - Great flavor with the Old Bay seasoning, but I found myself really wishing the sauce was thicker.
Fish and Chips - Nice flakey cod in a crisp, perfectly-seasoned, beer-batter coating, served with a phenomenal house-made tartar sauce. The coleslaw lacked flavor though, as did the fries. A little salt would have helped the fries. With that said, this is where sitting at the oyster bar was very important: my friend and I watched the staff push around a plate of fish and chips, under the heat lamp, for a solid 25+ minutes. It was there so long that the staff removed the fish from the plate, threw out the fries being served with it, and put the fish on a side plate so they wouldn’t have to keep pushing it around. Sure enough, as it turns out, that was the fish and chips that they tried to serve me. Obviously, we immediately said something and sent it back to be remade fresh.
Unfortunate shortcomings
Overall, I’d give The Waterman Fish Bar a 6/10. I really want to love it here, I do, and it has tons of potential, but it has ample shortcomings that really can’t be overlooked. I would definitely go back for fresh oysters, especially since they have some $1 oysters during Happy Hour. But I would only order cooked fish if I was sitting at the oyster bar, and could watch how long it sits for again. And no one wants to have to monitor their food when they go out to eat.
