The Waterman Seafood Grill

Wasn’t sure about going since it received a 3 star rating… Really glad we did! We had jalapeño boudin balls, coconut shrimp, lobster ravioli, keylime pie, bread pudding and drankss… Everything was absolutely delicious and the service was excellent. Great ambience, right on the water and great service! We would definitely eat there again!

The food was good and you can’t beat the view but our server Olga was the absolute best server ever sharp and attentive by far the best server there. Ask for Olga even if the place is slammed she’ll take care of you.

We came here on a friends referral and they were right it’s fantastic to eat here we got here at four pm on a Sunday. the snapper southwest was excellent and cooked properly thank heavens finally someone knows how to cook fish just right .The manager waited on us and what a super funny guy loves football so if you want to get a fantastic piece of fish don’t go to Willie G’s it’s over rated yuck over cooked everything. this is a gem and gorgeous view

Even after reading all the bad reviews of this place some how we ended up here.
In a nutshell, I’d pass on it. We were looking for a locally owned, locally sourced seafood place. Seems high
priced, slow service and no input from the waiter Hugo as to what was fresh, in season or catch of the day. Wife had shrimp kisses. Basically bacon wrapped and fried shrimp. I had cold peeled shrimp. Not bad I’ll admit but as I said, a little pricey. Plus two dinner salads. Not bad either. But for the money I expect a little more service. I guess that’s my biggest complaint is the slow service and no interaction from Hugo. Kids had kid dishes that neither of them finished. They are good eaters and when it’s good they eat it all. Not in this case. It’s a great location and view but I don’t want to spend $ 100 bucks for a view. I get that at the condo. Plus when I see people reviewing a place that have been going there for thirty years and the manager telling them not to come back after complaining I’m skeptical. Should have known better. It’s our first day on island so we’re heading into town tomorrow to look for a nice mom and pop local joint that will give us some love. All in all I’d say I could give this place a three star but lack of service and the high price forces me to give it a two. Be careful sitting outside at dusk too. As in any gulf port city when the sun goes down the bugs start to eat you.

This recommendation came from the «First Mate» on the boat we chartered for a day fishing. He told us this was a favorite for «locals». This place looks like it was once a great place but it’s now past it’s glory. Some in our party thought the food was fine but surely Galveston has better to offer in way of a «Seafood Grill»
Food and service need improvement. This could be a great place again…

Outstanding bisque with VERY fresh crab. Snapper was very fresh and light. No issues with food at all! Come early before crowds get here is my on advice.

Zinfandel wine is an endangered species. Please drop the ravenswood and bring back the ozv. Substituting a 79 point wine for a 90 point is very insulting. Your Somalia is a phoney no doubt. 0 stars.

The food was tremendous. The service was terrible. I ate some really great blackened redfish. It took three hours to do so. We were in a large group but made reservations. The meal took 2.5 hours. I was generally frustrated the entire time.

Beware of there black mold problem. Owners could care less about the place. None of the seafood is fresh. Overpriced go to giados they do it right. :)

I want to give more stars just for the food, but the service was beyond horrible. We were originally told 45 min to an hour wait for our group of 10. We understood as we arrived at 6:30 on Saturday, July 18. We went downstairs to the bar which was not air conditioned and didn’t have cross flow from the open windows. We tried to play pool, but it looked like the pool table hasn’t been maintained in about 10 years. The drinks down stairs were good and strong, so we didn’t mind too much, other than the fact that we were sweating beyond belief! After an hour we go and check upstairs to see how much longer the wait is going to be, and she tells us 30 more minutes. By this time we are annoyed, but don’t want to leave because we are going to have wait no matter where we went. Finally 30 min later, we get seated. Our waiter, Oscar, was rude from the get go. We said it would be separate checks to which he seemed utterly annoyed. Then he abruptly asked if we were ready to order. We had just sat down. So we said we need a little more time and if we could have waters for the table. 10 min later he finally brought the waters and asked again if we were ready. Luckily this time we were. So we ordered our appetizers and dinners at the same time… big mistake. 30 min later, our appetizers arrived promptly followed by our dinners on the same tray. We were pissed at this point because we have to choose eating our appetizers and let our dinner get cold, or eat our dinner and let our appetizers get cold. Then, our food orders were messed up. My friend wanted blackened crawfish in his lobster bisque. We were told that because of the large party upstairs they couldn’t blacken the crawfish. Uh, what? You mean the cook can’t cook something because another party is taking their resources. Then you shouldn’t have private parties with the restaurant opened for regular service. Oscar never came back to refill our waters or see if everything was ok. We had to get other wait staff to help us. On top of this, when we get our checks, we have gratuity added, not the usual 15%, but a full 20%. He didn’t deserve 10% much less 20%, then we had to get another waiter to process our checks. We asked to speak to management, but no one showed up. To say this restaurant is run poorly would be an understatement. The food was great, at least the part that wasn’t cold. I would not recommend this place until the management and wait staff turn over. Food will only take you so far.

This place has the worst customer service
Our waiter was so bad, unfriendly and just down right rude! We didn’t mind waiting
the hour and 40 mins to be seated
Because the food was very very good
We ask to speak to a manager to inform of the horrible service but were told that he couldn’t be located??? Really?

In short, great food, great service and great view of the bay at sunset. Some details are —
Atmosphere is traditional four star marina setting with an enthusiastic wait staff. We ordered shrimp, grilled red fish and panko crusted chicken. Each meal worthy of the price which was a consistent with the setting and the view ($$$). We will certainly go back and will certainly recommend to our friends.

They’re working hard at their Sandbar. I’ve been to several good bands on the weekend and they”ve now added a frozen drink machine. I think they made the beer colder. One thing still needed is ambiance and maybe some out door grilling!
Be good to have more finger food and burger type food in the sand bar.

My husband and I ate here for dinner on a Saturday night (5÷30÷15). When we got there at around 7:45 they said the kitchen was backed up, so they wouldn’t be able to seat us for at least ten minutes. But we sat at the bar and just kept checking back with them. Bartender (lady, didn’t catch her name) was very friendly and very helpful and very patient, as I don’t drink often and I had no idea what I wanted. She made me a Seabreeze, which was good. For 2 Crown & Cokes ($ 7.25 ea.) and a Seabreeze ($ 7.50), our bar tab was $ 24.
They finally seated us after about 20 minutes. Hannah was our waitress and she was AWESOME! Answered all of our questions about the food.
Ordered an appetizer of onion rings. They were hand-​battered and good. It was a big portion for the two of us. Would prob have been a good portion for 4 – 5 people as an app. It was $ 10.
I got the Grilled Redfish and my husband got the Seafood Platter. They were each $ 27.
My entrée said it came with a starch and the vegetable of the day (rife pilaf and asparagus, but I subbed the asparagus for steamed broccoli) and his came with fries and coleslaw since it was a fried food platter.
I found three fish scales and only one small bone (they do have a warning in the menu about bones), but other than that it was all good.
The Seafood Platter comes with something they call shrimp kisses. They’re shrimp stuffed with pepper-​jack cheese and wrapped in bacon. Pretty good, but you don’t taste much of the pepper-​jack. My husband said the meal was «very filling.» He brought half of it home.
I don’t know why it only shows 2 $ signs on Unilocal,because I considered that to be more of a 3 $ place.

Could be great if it was staffed and run better. We opted for the Sand Bar because we didn’t feel dressy enough for upstairs. The band was just starting and they sounded good. We asked for menus and they give us the ones from upstairs?! Full priced meals with high prices for a hot loud bar? I’ll go upstairs if I want a nice dinner, with A/​C and a real waitress. We did notice a burger so we ordered (but at $ 14 that’s pricey).
My recommendation to the owners?
#1 — get a bar menu together and make it simple like burgers, sandwiches, appetizers, easy things to eat, that you can order all day and night. Easy things to get down the stairs too. Use baskets or tins to serve the food in, paper napkins, causal like it is in the Sand Bar.
#2 — get a waitress or two to work the tables — not just 2 bartenders and a bus boy.
#3 — have the band play a little softer until about 9pm because you can’t eat and talk and enjoy the music. It’s just too loud — unless you want to treat the lower are as just that a loud bar (but you do say on your website — food at the sand bar).
Cons– food was just ok and they dropped it and ran — no ketchup, mustard, napkins, silverware. We had to go get them to give us the things we needed to eat. Bus boy was the expediter for the night too. You need more people working so your employees aren’t frazzled.
Food — pricey!
Pros — off the beaten path, good band, and nice to have a casual area and a nicer area to eat. If I had a boat it’d appeared to be a nice mariana.
From the reviews it looks to be hit or miss on how things run there. It’s too bad, because it appears to be a great spot. Maybe when the new expensive homes get built they’ll get there act together. I’ll give it one more chance though but maybe just stop in for the music & beer and no food at the bar. You really aren’t equipped to do food down there so maybe don’t advertise it?

We have been to Watermans about 12 or so times now. Our server last night (Nathan) was awesome — very attentive without being overbearing, knowledgable, and polite. By far one of the best servers we have had there.
I highly recommend making a reservation if dining on the weekends (especially a holiday weekend).
Fried Calamari and Cold Shrimp Appetizers — absolutely delicious!
Texas Snapper is always a home run here — highly recommend.
Yes, it’s a little pricier than most places, but I would much prefer eating here than on the Seawall.
Nice deck outside to walk and have a drink on.
Waterman’s loses a star because the hostesses are consistently awful. It takes a lot to upset me, but they are just so darn rude to the customers. But that’s not enough for us to not come back.

Mediocre, over-​priced food. I want to like this place because there aren’t a whole lot of options on the west end, but this place is terrible. Nate’s West End is much better and at a lower price.

We love this place. Great food, off the beaten path, nice views. It’s hit or miss with service but who cares… we’re on vacation anyway. Tonight we got lucky with an awesome live band! Take your Landrys and Gaidos… we’ll take Waterman’s!

It was a late Sunday Afternoon that we decided to check out Waterman’s because we heard the food and the view was great. We walked in and it wasn’t very busy so we asked to be seated outside. There were tables that hadn’t been bussed yet, so we said we would wait at the bar until one became available. The server said he would come bring us when a table become free. At the bar, I asked for a glass to go with my beer (I don’t like drinking out of the bottle). Bartender said that they had been really busy at lunch and ran out of chilled glasses. No problem. We waited for about 20 minutes and my husband asked the same server if a table was ready, he curtly told him that he had to talk to the host/​hostess. And then we see him go behind the bar and get two chilled glasses for someone outside. We paid for our beer and ate at Sapori. Will never come back.

Stopped in this past Sunday afternoon around 2pm with my family of 4. While we waited at the abandoned hostess stand, the waiters and waitresses passed by without acknowledging us. When we asked if there was a hostess one of the waitresses replied… «uh, well, uh not sure… were you wanting to sit out side on the deck because I don’t know if there are any tables».
I told her we did want to sit out and enjoy the weather and she lead us to the deck where there were about 18 tables. 4 with people sitting at them, 6 dirty with dishes needing to be bused, and 8 open so she sat us at one.
10 mins later we had to flag someone down to take our drink order. 15 minuets later with still no drinks on the table, we walked out without anyone saying a word to us.
The food may have been good but we’ll never know.