Water Grill

12/07/09

Best seafood

by Janne F at Citysearch

I am impressed, finaly found the best seafood in LA.

• Pros: all in the review

10/12/09

Very tiny portions

by orchidchic at Citysearch

Four of us went to Water Grill before the theater. The appetizer of fish was small. But the portions of halibut and swordfish were even more disappointingly small. But the dessert was almost not even there...the tiny carrot cake was like a little igloo... a tiny mound with a white topping. "Where is the dessert????" I asked.

When I spoke to the maitre d', and with a smile he said,"I am sorry to hear that but enjoy the show!"

That was not the comment I wanted to hear! All four of us definately did not enjoy the meal!!!

• Cons: Too pricy for such small portions

03/06/09

Don't do it!!

by CSMobileUser at Citysearch

Tasteless food, not enough on plate, service under par, reputation and quality is below average. Lobster tasted like cardboard, fish tasted too fishy

02/08/09

Hadn't been to WG for a year, and went for Dine LA on Wednesday.

by rstfan at Citysearch

I wish I could go to Water Grill all the time but it's too $ for me. I went for Dine LA on Wednesday and had an amazing time. Generous portions. Great fish. I had the Sturgeon, my friend the Organic Salmon. Our waiter (great service) let us know they will be serving $44 Dine LA menu all February! I'll be back.

01/12/09

GREAT PLACE!!!

by comedyman21 at Citysearch

Cant wait to go again. :)

06/28/08

AWESOME EXPERIENCE, GREAT WINE SELECTION!

by pvico at Citysearch

What a fantastic place! I went to Water Grill with a friend for the first time about a week ago. Beatiful restaurant, great service, top-notch cuisine, and a great innovative wine list. The service was inpeccable, not only by our waiter, but also by the wine director Andrews. With great sophistication and knowledge he presented us with a fantastic winelist, including top producers from around the world. We decided to look at domestic wines and he suggested to start in the Pinot Noir section. He described it as the focal point of the wine list with the most tie to the cuisine. This was one of the best Pinot Noir selections I have seen in the country. Great small artisan wines and well known name producers single vineyard selections. We ended up with a bottle of Native 9, a small winery from Santa Barbara. A fantastic wine that paired perfectly with the tuna dish. The tuna was beautifully prepared with a red wine reduction, lentils and brusell sprouts. Awesome expreience, and if you are into wine this is where to dine!

• Pros: Awesome wine list, great service
• Cons: None

06/10/08

so fantastic i'm writing my first review ever

by cocorules at Citysearch

I went to Water Grill with a group of five to celebrate a new job-- I had heard great things about it, and had high expectations.... Not only was it an amazing evening, but it was the best seafood food I've ever had! From the minute we walked in we were treated fabulously- excellent cocktails, attentive (but not annoying) waitstaff, black napkins for those of us with dark pants (you know- the little things), lovely wine suggestions, and so forth.---------------------

We started with the fruits of the sea platter-- all cooked perfectly with yummy sauces for the side. The appetizers/salads were killer- particularly loved the beets, also had the best crab cake EVER. But, seriously, the main dishes were so good it was RIDICULOUS- all of the fish was fantastic. The Barramundi with cous cous, and the Cobia with some sort of corn and epazote were my favorite; others liked the tuna the best. ----------------------

Portions were just right-- no "food coma" sensation. And, it's a good thing, because I am now able to say DO NOT skip dessert here! There was a Doughnut with two kinds of Creme Brulee that was spectacular! While we were winding down, the chef even came out and chatted with us for a bit- super friendly and fun-- seemed like a really cool guy. -----------------------

I am no restaurant critic, but our entire evening at Water Grill was so special that I literally felt the need to write about it......Elegant without being pretentious, TONS of attention to detail, and innovative seafood dishes- this is one classy place, and they know what they are doing! Definitely worth it for a special night out!!

• Pros: best seafood EVER, innovative treatments
• Cons: can't think of any

03/24/08

Just average.

by zee11 at Citysearch

I've heard nothing but amazing things about the Water Grill; it's supposed to have the best seafood in L.A. I grew up on the east coast, so I tend to be very picky about my seafood, and this just doesn't measure up to 'the best' of anything. When you walk in the restaurant the walls are covered with awards and Zagat ratings, and I really thought that might mean something, but apparently no. It's not even that the food was bad, it just wasn't great. It wasn't even good, it was just average. Maybe if I hadn't come from an amazing meal at Blair's two days earlier I might have felt differently. The crab cake appetizer was just so-so. Maybe I'm biased having grown up in Maryland, the home of the blue crab, but it was a bit dry and just passable. The scallop entree was good, if small portioned, it made me rather glad I'd eaten a salad a few hours earlier. My desert though, completely fell down on the job. From the menu you would think that their deserts would be the best thing ever. I had a peanut butter and chocolate souffle, that was supposed to be garnished with banana and marshmellow. They failed to mention the banana gelato on top, the popcorn or the caramel sauce or the chocolate sauce. It is possible to just go entirely overboard and this most certainly happened here. As I said before, it's not that the meal was bad, it's just that based on the hype it certainly should've been better. At least the champagne was fantastic, but then again, that was pre-packaged.

• Pros: Ambience
• Cons: Food doesn't measure up to hype.

02/15/08

Delicious, High Quality Cuisine, Good Service, Ambiance needs improvement

by glorianaf at Citysearch

Went there last night for the first time to have Valentine's Day dinner. I had the 5 course menu and everything was spectacularly delicious. Lots of interesting combinations and assertive flavors that worked together seamlessly. The service was good but not what I expected for one of the 18 (only) restaurants in all of Los Angeles to receive a Michelin star. The most surprising aspect of all is the ambiance...it feels like an upscale Cheesecake Factory. There is a storage cabinet in the middle of the dining room where the servers wrestle with silverware all night long. What??!!! So much for a nice intimate dinner. The food is truly special, no complaints there but IMHO, good atmosphere is a critical component of a fine dining experience and here is where Water Grill misses the mark. Go there for a delicious seafood meal if you're in the area for a show but don't go out of your way to come here for a special occasion.

02/10/08

Tasty, delicate food. Bad service :(

by stephll at Citysearch

The food was wonderful, however the portions are very, very small. I am sure that they put a lot of time and money into each dish, however, the portions/price ratio was a little off. It's fairly overpriced for the amount of food that you get. I'm not asking for huge portions either, but I mean, one appetizer is about 2 bites. Nonetheless, the oysters are wonderful.

The biggest issue for me was that the service was inconsistent and fairly horrible. The host was wonderful and they were sweet enough to print my name and "Happy Birthday" on my menu. The server, on the other hand, was very bad. We weren't served for about 10-15 minutes. And then, there was some confusion so we had a couple of different servers at first, and then finally were given one who didn't seem like he wanted to serve us at all. He was not very attentive since we saw the runners and bussers more than we saw him. Also, after dining there for about an hour and half (on my birthday), he asked us to leave. We still had half a bottle of wine left and he basically made us drink all of it and rush through our dessert in 10 minutes. He said "I have to wake up early tomorrow morning." I feel that 1 1/2 hour-2 hours is a pretty reasonable time for dinner at a fine dining establishment and his attempts to get us out as soon as possible was very disconcerting. Service is so important at restaurants, and if it's not consistent with the food and overall ambience, it throws off the whole experience.

• Pros: Very good food, Great Hosts, Incredible Wine
• Cons: Service