Water Grill

I ordered takeout here, and when I when to pick it up, they forgot my chilean sea bass. I had already driven 7 blocks away before I noticed. They should have thrown in something when I went back, for the inconvenience. The manager came by and apologized, but that’s all I got for them forgetting my pricy fish. The tacos had big pieces of fish in them, but the flavor was meh, and the fish was quickly soggy. Maybe eating food in would be a better experience.

Yes. It’s pricey. Yes, it looks trendy. Yes, there’s about 3 billion other options down town.
And if you don’t like pricey, trendy looking places that serve DELICIOUS food, go some place else.
Listen — it’s good. Really good. And not «we slapped good fish on a plate» good. Good as in they work at flavor, presentation and balance. Their menu has some standards, but with enough variation you’re not thinking «I can get this anywhere». Seabass? Gonna curl your toes.
Service: perfect. There when you want them, not when you don’t.
Setting, they’ve got the newer style of roll up window walls that give you a street view that make it intimate yet open.
Very, very good.

Started off with great seating near a window, a great people watching experience of the Gaslamp night life.
Our server, Jett recommended the whole fish civiche, which only happened to be the best that’s ever touched my tongue. It’s basically a whole fish, sashimi and seasoned. Incredibly good!
The 20oz rib eye was excellent and so was the mash.
5 stars! Great service from Jett also!

My fourth time here the food and service are always amazing. Look out for David. Great man to look after you. His knowledge on the menu and various combinations was great
Thanks

Water Grill offers some enticing dining options but man… their menu is wildly expensive.
Our group of four stepped in to Water Grill as part of an impromptu and unplanned pub crawl in the Gas Lamp District of San Diego. From the street the restaurant looks quite elegant and with the baseball game being aired on their televisions we decided to stop in for a round of drinks and perhaps an appetizer or two. I walked up to the bar and ordered a Stone IPA which came to a very reasonable $ 6.50 before tip which encouraged me to ask to see a menu in hopes that Water Grill would have equal if not better values on their cuisine.
I could not have been more wrong.
$ 16.00 for a Crab Cake. Yes, just one. Big Eye Tuna Crudo? Pony up $ 15.00 (this was actually the only price that did not utterly shock me). Wild Jumbo Shrimp Louie Salad? $ 28.00. You read that right — $ 28.00 for a single salad and we aren’t even in the Entrée section of the menu yet. I am used to seeing exaggerated prices in Orange County and I would like to think I am pretty realistic about plate costs, particularly when the quality of the ingredients are superlative and a world class Chef is in the kitchen, but we are talking about a chain restaurant in the middle of San Diego’s largest tourist trap asking $ 58.00 for a 20 ounce Steak here. Outrage doesn’t even begin to define the awe I felt while reading the price list.
Needless to say we finished our libations and carried on to another restaurant for our sustenance needs that fateful day and now I could not be less interested in the opening of their newest location in the South Coast Plaza area of Costa Mesa this fall.

Nice interior, good service. Mediocre and overpriced food at a good location. Descent beer selection.

Thanks to my friend who recommended this amazing seafood restaurant! It was our first time visiting but we were all blown away by the quality of their food and service. This is a huge restaurant, which has two floors with a full bar, an oyster bar, and private rooms for events. You can easily make a reservation online so you don’t need to wait during the busy hours. We visited on a Sunday night which wasn’t busy at the time when we arrived but tables were nearly all filled up when we left. We had an amazing time there and really enjoyed their service and food.
Drinks: overall excellent cocktails all around!
PIMM’S CUP — excellent drink, refreshing, balanced flavor between Pimm’s and lemonade
6TH & J — also an excellent drink, a little stronger than Pimm’s cup; however, also well balanced in flavor and easy to go with your meal
Appetizers: amazing selections along with raw bar and raw crudos
CLAM CHOWDER: this is a must-​have!!! It’s creamy but not overly heavy. The flavor is just pefect with lots of ingredients and real clams! This is the dish you will remember and want to come back for it.
CRUDO SAMPLER: excellent appetizer in sashimi style of wild tahitian bigeye tuna, wild eastern sea scallops, wild stikine river king salmon! The difference is that they added light flavors to the fish to make it interesting. Our favorite was the bigeye tuna! I also recommend this dish.
FRITTO MISTO: mixed fried seafood with smokey marinara and tzatziki on the side. Calamari was excellent. Lightly breaded so you can still taste the freshness. Another excellent appetizer if you like calamari.
Entrees/​Sides: excellent selections of various fish and cooking style
BLACK COD «MISO» (SABLEFISH): this is the bomb!!! No kidding by other reviews that this dish is amazing!!! The black cod was buttery, flaky, perfectly seasoned and cooked. With the red miso sauce, the flavor of the black cod was complimented very well. Along with dried fish flakes, the whole dish is Asian flavor influenced and excellently executed. I highly recommend this dish and yes, I will come back because of this dish alone.
My friends tried other dishes as well. Our second favorite was CHILEAN SEA BASS, which was also excellent fish quality and flavor. For sides, we had FRENCH FRIES and ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS for the table. Unfortunately, their fries was so-​so. But their Brussels sprouts were excellent.
Dessert: don’t skip their dessert beccause it is just as amazing as other dishes on the menu!
CARAMEL BREAD PUDDING: OMG! For me, a person who doesn’t like dessert, I love their bread pudding! It’s dense but perfect with the ice cream. The caramel favorite was just right without overpowering everything else. This was a wonderful finish of our dinner.
The price of this restaurant is on the higher side; however, the quality of their food does worth every dollar you spend. I like the variety of their fish and options. This may not be your every week or every month restaurant; however, it is an excellent option for the special occasion!

I don’t really write a lot of reviews but for this experience i had to share.
Because it was one of the most enjoyable dinning experience.
The food was full of flavor, i got the Halibut and it was nothing but exceptional.
The Oysters were very fresh and up to very high standard.
The drinks were strong and tasteful served in the right glass and right quantity very professionally.
But the highlight that made this dinning experience truly exceptional was our server Garrett, he was very professional and friendly, took the time to explain everything on the menu with honesty and detailed information and all his recommendations were on point.
He even took us on a tour in the kitchen to see the live king crabs and he was very accommodating, he truly was the highlight of this experience along with the amazing burst of flavor, freshness and the ambiance of the place made this one of the most enjoyable dinning experience.

My favorite restaurant in San Diego. Awesome fish. Raw bar. Great cocktails. David was knowledgeable as all hell.

Garrett was our server and even though we came 20 min before closing he gave us perfect service! My boyfriend didn’t like the beer Garett recommended so he got a new one on the house. Also, we ordered 3 oysters and they were a little small, so we got 3 big ones extra on the house.
The atmosphere was cool, but since they were closing at the time it was a little noisy.
The prices are a little pricy but I think it’s worth it, because the seafood was really good!
Our server, Garret was talking a lot to us about the area and our home country Norway, and that was cool. Overall, a good experience!

My friends and I were just walking around downtown and we came across Water Grill. Not sure why I never noticed it after living in San Diego for 11 years.
I love the upstairs décor. Edison type lights– not sure if they call them Edison lights but they sure look like they are from that era.
We were not hungry so we ordered a bottle of wine and their cheese platter. — Yummy
Our server was fun, helped us pick our wine and suggested great desserts on the menu which were delicious.
Visited their location in Santa Monica as well– But this location is my number one simply due to their beautiful interior decoration.

I’m a fan. A friend and I discovered this gem during a visit in January and on two occasions since I’ve made it a point to go back. It’s a beautifully rehabbed corner factory with loads of brass, wood and copper. We weren’t disappointed… AGAIN.
Try it out… if you enjoy it half as much as me, you’ll make it a regular stop.

Hubby and I dined here for our anniversary and were blown away. First off, the service is excellent! You can tell that everyone that works here genuinely enjoys working here. Our server, Garrett, was exceptional. He was friendly and offered great recommendations. He took the time to really explain the menu and gave us more insight about the restaurant. Garrett had perfect timing and knew when to check in with us and chat and when to let us have our time to enjoy the experience.
The food was delicious! I am sure that everything is excellent and I can’t wait to go back. Everything we ordered was amazing.
The Spanish Octopus — unexpected smoky flavor with a rich tomato putanesca type sauce
The bitter greens Caesar — So simple but the ingredients elevated the salad.
The Chilean Sea Bass — OMG good! Worth every dollar.
The Black Cod — Yummy Asian flavor with charred shishito peppers. So good!
Kale — Again, simply prepared but a great complement to the richer fish dishes
Mashed potatoes — what you expect
The caramel bread pudding — Great for someone that loves salty sweet. A bit heavy but GOOD!
Strawberries and Cream — light with bright lemony flavor.
Some tips — there is no cork fee so bring your favorite wine to have with dinner. You can bring one bottle per person in your party so enjoy! Also, they can split the salad with no extra charge.
I want to go again and try their lobster roll and bahn mi sandwiches. The ambiance was fun and there is parking nearby which makes this an ideal spot. Don’t wait for a special occasion, treat yo self and check it out!

My BF and I always do this, for a special occasion we like to splurge and hit up the hottest places (according to Unilocal star rating)… Seeing that a Water Grill had 4.5 and a considerable amount of reviews we were ecstatic! But then in the end would leave disappointed that we just spent $ 150 for mediocre food.
Seafood tower ($ 85 for the deluxe, feeds 3 – 4): this was our favorite item. We should have stopped here and finish on a high note but we decided to get the bottom 2 items below. The seafood tower comes with 3 different oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, lobster, crab, jumbo shrimps and small shrimps. We loved everything except the mussels and small shrimp. The only way you can eat mussels is if it has a broth, this was cooked and it was the blandest thing ever. No flavor. Then the small shrimps with heads, why would you give us this when you give us really juicy good jumbo flavorful shrimp then these little shrimp tasted like nothing and was mushy. It was like eating their best then the worst. I would love it if they didn’t give us the small shrimp and gave us like 4 more of the jumbo. Everything else was delicious, especially the crab, clams and scallop.
Lobster Roll: this lobster roll was probably one of the worst. Or waitress said that they give you a good amount of lobster which was true but it was weirdly presented. It was stuffed in this oily brioche bun and hard to eat. Everything fell out because the grease/​oil in the bun was too much. The lobster was over powered by the oil and grease… Tone it down and make it a regular lobster roll then it’ll be super good. They were trying to be too cool with it.
Mussels with garbanzo beans: OMG. Who thought of putting garbanzo beans in a mussel broth should be shot. It was disgusting. I only wanted to try it bc I love steamed mussels and broth. The broth was thick and tasted like broccoli chowder or some thing odd. The garbanzo beans didn’t make it any better. I forced myself to finish it. Avoid at all cost.
The seafood tower is a 3 and the other 2 dishes were a 2 and 1. We made he mistake of not ordering a cooked fish as we saw another table nearby and it looked better than the other 2 dishes combined. I can’t say next time bc for the amount you pay and it sucked the first time around I wouldn’t want to spend another dime here.
*On a good note, no corkage fee, BYOB.

Plus:
We got the seafood deluxe tower for $ 85 and it was exquisite. It came with large peeled shrimp, small unpeeled shrimp, mussels, lobster claw, half crab, clams, scallops, clams and oysters. It was sort of enough for the two of us. We thought we could have eaten two towers, but we’re fatasses so I guess one is fine for most. Not sure what the mussels had to offer, but everything else was awesome!
On to the lobster roll… Now I know that I’m not a fan of lobster rolls. Leave it to the New Englanders to soak seafood in butter and serve stuffed in a bun. I don’t think I like them very much. I’ve had quite a few of them and I think they are just so so. No offense guys, but I’d rather eat a hot dog. I just don’t have the palate for it! I know I suck ass, but I can’t get myself to ever be satisfied. Anyways, we had an overall nice experience, just way too over priced for such regular food. Great service and ambiance!

The Water Grill in San Diego has the most fabulous ambience, food and service. Seriously, it hits the restaurant trifecta.
I grew up in a U.S. Coastal region, so I appreciate excellent fresh, tasty seafood when I can get it. That’s not as easy as it sounds, but the Water Grill came through with flying colors. Our shared Fritto Misto and Grand Platter could not possibly have been better if it had been caught and served by my dearly departed grandmother, as she had throughout my childhood.
Our service by Garrett was impeccable. He was perfectly on top of our every need with perfect timing, friendly without being intrusive. I loved that he was able to open our champagne without wasting any in overflowing, but also the final «spa» touch of fresh lemon and a hot towel. What excellent service when you feel pampered and special.
However, I loved the actual physical restaurant as soon as I stepped foot in it. I didn’t think it was possible for an industrial look to feel elegant or cozy, yet the Water Grill managed both. I absolutely adored sitting in the wide window and admiring the décor, as well as the view outside, not to mention the fresh breeze. Can’t wait to go back.

This was our choice for our anniversary dinner this year. We’ve walked by it so many times, admiring the huge windows, the large crowds, the impressive-​looking plates on the tables. It didn’t take much discussion for us to agree that this would be a good «special occasion» spot.
We went kind of late on a Monday night, so the restaurant wasn’t terribly busy. The dining room was doing a good business, but they certainly weren’t popping at the seams.
We were shown to a small table in the corner, right next to the windows that we’d spent so much time admiring, which initially made me very happy. But once I took my jacket off, I realized that those lovely windows let in a lovely draft. It was cold and windy that night (it happens in San Diego sometimes), and that cold wind worked its way in through every crack and crevice in the wall.
At any rate, our waitress, Jocelyn, was a doll. She didn’t hover, offered her opinion, gave us options, then left us to discuss the menu.
We decided to share the raw crudo platter (big eye tuna, scallops and salmon) to start. I went with the local white sea bass, and the hubs got the filet. We supplemented our meals with a glass of wine each.
This is where I pause. The wine list had a large section at the top touting their wine of the day. I figured, if it’s good enough to be called a wine of the day, it’s good enough to order. And yet… it was more of a dessert white wine than a dinner wine. It was thicker than a chardonnay or pinot grigio, and very sweet. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor was excellent, and had I been chewing on a cake or pastry at the time, it would’ve been an excellent pairing. Alas, I was eating seafood, and the dessert wine was just too strong. It really would’ve been nice to know that about their wine of the day prior to ordering it.
Anyway, the crudo platter was divine. I didn’t expect to be blown away by the scallop, but it was by far my favorite of the three. The wasabi sauce it was served on gave a nice kick to the freshness of the scallop. My second favorite was the tuna; served with a beet concoction, it was a perfect balance of fatty and earthy. My least favorite was the salmon, which shocked me. The salmon itself was delicious, but the pairing was off for me. The apple bits were good, but the agar and the grapefruit just didn’t work for me. The grapefruit was too bitter, the agar too bland.
Our entrees were very good, though. I love me some sea bass, so I had high hopes for this dish, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was a large piece of fish, and it was served on top of a bed of farro risotto and a parmesan cream sauce. Delicious. The fish may have been a teeny tiny bit overcooked, but that didn’t stop me from finishing it off. The farro risotto was perfectly cooked, and the cream sauce was heavenly.
After all that food, I was ready to tap for the night, but the hubs asked to see the dessert menu. What’s a girl to do? Order the warm almond cake, of course! My husband went with the rice pudding (me: really? Rice pudding?)
That dessert, man. The almond cake was so good! It has a red wine poached apple on top, which was then topped by a scoop of ice cream, which then had a wine caramel sauce drizzled all over. Decadent!
My husband enjoyed his rice pudding, but beware the cognac-​soaked cherries at the bottom. He did not know they were there, and about fell out of the booth when he took a spoonful. He said they were so strong, we could have set his breath on fire. =)
Bonus, they gave us both desserts for free, because we were celebrating our anniversary! Really did not expect that, but it was so very appreciated.
We had an amazing time there that night. Between the service and the food, we were well taken care of. This restaurant will be added to our rotation of «special occasion» restaurants for the future.

My boyfriend surprised me with the best Valentine’s dinner date at Water Grill. Newly opened in San Diego, but Water Grill is a Santa Monica/​LA native. The ambiance is perfect — wooden tones, rustic, warm décor. Lively and trendy. Casual, but chic at the same time.
+ Complimentary bread — I know it’s just their bread, but I have to make a note that it’s sooooooo good here.
+ Oyster sampler — choice of half or a dozen. High quality, fresh, delicious.
+ Iced shellfish platter — Comes in three combination choices. We ordered «The Grand» which serves about 1 – 2 people and come with: 4 oysters, clams, scallops, wild jumbo brown shrimp, mussels and half a pound of lobster. Unbelievably fresh. Heaven on a platter!!!
+ Chilean sea bass — pan seared with herbed ricotta gnudi and brown butter. Seriously the best fish entrée I’ve ever had. The sea bass just melted in my mouth and the ricotta was the perfect side. I just wish there was more of it! $ 42 is a bit steep, BUT I have to say this dish was executed perfectly.
The service was impeccable – our waiter was very attentive even though it was soo busy. We had an amazing time all around.

ALL FIVES! This place is beyond gorgeous. I literally walk in and am in awe at the design and ambiance. This is a wonderful place to bring anyone, it will totally impress them as it has a second level that overlooks the first floor and is just a very grand dining spot with many areas with different moods to them.
You can tell with this place they put a lot of love into everything they do from the food to the service. I came here with a party of 25 and we were all taken care of extremely well and never had a moment where my glass was empty. They stay taking care of you and making sure you have an amazing experience.
I tried multiple items on the menu however the bread is too die for, the chicken is mouth watering and the side dishes are all flavorful. They did mention they take reservations — when I came it was rather empty but I am sure this place gets crowded.
I would like to come back and sit at the bar — it looked really trendy and I want to try the desserts yum!

What a GORGEOUS restaurant! The ambiance is upscale, fancy, rustic, and inviting. The dark wooden décor is incredibly visually appealing and I couldn’t help but admire the restaurant when I first walked in. So spacious too — two stories!
The manager was at the host podium and greeted my friend and I right away. We were seated at a beautiful booth in the middle of the restaurant. I really wish I remembered our server’s name because she was delightful. She came by our table shortly after we were seated and offered us still or sparkling water. She was very knowledgeable about the menu and also offered several of her personal recommendations. Very friendly and engaged with us in conversation throughout our entire meal. She stopped by our table frequently to ensure we were enjoying our food. Which we did, our meal was pretty good!
— They bring you out warm bread to start with butter. Freshly baked goodness!
— Oyster Sampler; We ordered the half dozen, all different types. Incredibly delicious and a great choice for an appetizer
— Bone-​in Prime Rib Eye; Huge portion (20 oz) I shared with my friend and requested Medium Rare. It was cooked to perfection temperature wise. The flavor was alright — it had a smoky taste to it that I’m unfamiliar with when it comes to rib eyes and also needed a little extra salt (which I added)
— Fries; Not a bad side. Meh, average tasting. We ordered fries based off the server’s recommendation — apparently they have a «Fry Guy» who is a designated person who makes fresh fries all day… (?)
— Wine; We got the bottle of Ancient Peaks (a Cabernet) which paired great with the rib eye!
— Bread Pudding; Came as an extra treat and was warm, sweet… topped off with Vanilla ice cream. Yum!
The menu is on the pricier side but comparable to a nice seafood/​steakhouse — the ½ dozen Oyster Sampler was a little less than $ 20. The rib eye was $ 54 and I believe the bottle of Cab was around $ 60.
I originally thought I was going to try one of their seafood dishes but went with steak instead. I’d love to come back next time I’m in San Diego to try a seafood entrée.
I really enjoyed my overall dining experience at Water Grill. Everything about the restaurant looks and feels spectacular and the service really tops it off. I would definitely recommend this restaurant for special occasions, a business dinner, or a fancy date night out!