BluWater Bistro

Contrived atmosphere with a theme of indigo vice. Sweet wings with cooling blue cheese??? That doesn’t even make sense! Tiny dry patties on tiny dry buns with no aioli make no slider of mine. Clans were dry, over cooked, chewy. But the house bread was tops; no joke. Small plates were spendy and no more delicious than one would find at PF Changs.

I have eaten here several times over the past couple of years. It seem to have gone down hill. The food served from this last visit was terrible and the prices were high for what we got. Soggy pizza, pasta had way too much thyme, and the french dip was gross. The service in the booth area was not very good. I could see that the people at the bar were happy. Next time I have to meet people at Blue Water Bistro it will be for drinks only.

Just average… the place wasn’t busy for a nice Saturday evening, but the service wasn’t great. We ordered turkey vegetable soup (which was decent), clam chowder (my friend said she’s had better), and baked Brie. Just average, don’t go out of your way.

The crab wontons were delicious for an appetizer. Our table had new York strip steak, stuffed Mahi, salmon, and the crab Mack and cheese… all of which were delicious! The brownie we ordered for dessert was terrible but our waitress quickly replaced it with a new one that was great. Nice, relaxing atmosphere.

BluWater Bistro sits at an incredible location. The only reason for 4 stars and not 3 is the location. I visited BluWater on a sunny Saturday morning. It took a while until the staff even acknowledged us at the door. That was slightly upsetting, especially since they were not busy and had plenty of seats. However we were sat right by the large window that was open. The view was almost storybook as Green Lake was less than 200 feet away and the sun was shining down. This moment was quite memorable and was one of the highlights of my week. However, the food left much to be desired. The prices were higher than a normal Seattle brunch and did not delivery on taste. Before the meal, we did receive a few, complimentary, thin slices of banana nut bread. That was the tastiest part of the meal. I ordered the Avocado Scramble which had 4 slices of avocado and the rest was normal hash browns and eggs. There was not much special about it and I quickly forgot the taste. My sister got a NY Steak Sandwich. It was open faced with melted cheese on top, but was pretty good. Overall, I would not got to BluWater Bistro for the food as it is nothing special, but go on a sunny day and ask to sit by the window. The real winner here is the location while the food is subpar and takes a back seat to the gorgeous views.

Why I even went to tis place is beyond me. Its walking distance from my house but never again. I should have written a review many times too. I’ve been for breakfast and its pathetic. The food is so not worth mentioning and I have always wondered how much the kitchen staff/​cooks care. Because they SHOULD! Do they not know that real people are sitting in the restaurant paying their salaries. I went for happy hour one LAST time Feb 17^th and only two other people were sitting at the bar so no excuse for any bad service right? Nope. the waiter had an attitude and was bored, seemed disgruntled with his job. The wait staff was incompetent and irritated with each other.
The service was terrible and the food is worse. With all the new and upcoming restaurants in the Greenlake area there is no need to go to this old «has been» anymore! Look around Blu Water, there is much better out there… I also agree with the review from Griffin T and Matt T and Heather H.

I don’t plan to come back and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
We went on a Sunday evening when it was pretty empty, but the staff seemed incompetent and out of sorts. It took an hour for them to get us our food, which was a salad and a burger. But when they finally came, our server didn’t acknowledge how long it had taken and the burger was lukewarm. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to deal with it. A lot of this would make sense if it was busy, but it wasn’t so I’m convinced the staff was just inattentive. The quality of the food was mediocre, and not at all worth the wait, prices, or time.
Definitely skip this place.

Went here for New Year’s eve, and a good time! Their drinks are great and service was awesome.
It’s an okay service because New Year’s eve was particularly busy and our server was attentive to our needs. But in normal circumstances, I’m usually have to wait on the server to greet us when we’re first seated or I’d have to get another server’s attention.
I don’t know if it’s the new people or what, but in the last 1 – 2 years that I’ve been going to this location, the service has sliding in a bad way… I would still go for the food. Their Sunday brunch menus are awesome especially their mimosas!

Try the cookie dessert — it’s warm half baked cookie dough topped with vanilla ice cream :)
Also, this place has great ginger beer if you’re a fan of Moscow Mules!

Service: decent. The hostess was sweet. We were sat within a few minutes of our reservation time. My sister was upset because they didn’t clean the table well and she sat in chocolate.
Our server was also nice but she only checked up on us few times and felt distracted. Our waters never refilled. The whole restaurant seemed out of sorts, like they weren’t prepared for a Saturday dinner rush.
Food: prawn appetizers were good but they only gave us (6people) two appetizer plates which was odd (again they didn’t seem ready for a Saturday dinner service). My mom and fiancé’s steaks were not cooked medium rare (they were very rare in the middle). The rockfish was good but very greasily deep fried. The Mac and cheese and ravioli my sisters had were tasty. Cocktail drinks are not worth it.

I still try to avoid this place whenever I can, however we had an office meeting and this was the chosen place. I ordered the salmon salad, which came with all the greens and seared salmon on top.
After a few bites of the salmon I immediately noticed it was practically raw inside. I’m talking salmon sushi pink.
Now I should have sent it back, but honestly I was at a point of why bother anymore. I threw it away anyhow.
Water glasses had a few remnents of lipsticks stains and our waitress seemed spaced out for such a slow day.
Save your money and go to the PCC down the street.

Service was great, dessert was also very good.
Entrees and appetizers were bland, all over the map, and not worth the money at all. The place was super shabby, the ladies room flat out disgusting. This joint has been there for years and is always packed. Why?

Service was very good. Wine selection was great.
Food was bland. We likely ordered the most boring items on the menu: fish & chips, macaroni and cheese. For a fish restaurant, I did expect that the fish & chips would be better. The fries were good, the coleslaw was good. The fish was overbreaded and way way overcooked. It was three small crunch pieces of friend breading.
I will try it again and order a better piece of fish to see if that is what they do best.
I’ll go back for a nice glass of wine.

Not only was the food great, but the front of house and kitchen staff were both super accommodating of my dairy allergy.
Too often, restaurant people don’t take this seriously. These folks were not only accommodating; they were nice about it. And the food was delicious.

I haven’t been back here in a few years and wanted to have lunch with friends so we could then walk around Green Lake. Parking space right out front! It’s a sign, let’s eat here. OK, not a good choice.
First. Mostly empty at lunch, not necessarily a good sign. No lunch menu. Just the general menu and you adjust your choices and call it «lunch».
Second, and mostly: the food was not that great. I had an entrée-​sized blue cheese and pear salad. The greens portion were pretty wilted (not purposefully) and the thin pear slices had a big brown streak of rot running through them. Didn’t the person preparing the salad notice? Did they notice and not care?
My 2 lunch companions were similarly underwhelmed with their choices.
This place has a GREAT location. Ideal. Pretty cool architectural vibe as well. Why is is too hard to just make a decent meal to match? Last time I ate here I felt it was a tragically missed opportunity at something great.
After this lunch, I would have to say, sadly, that this remains true to date. :(

I have been following the BlueWater Brand since Bart and Dan took over the DuckDodge on Lake Union. Since then they have moved away from Lake Union and once settled in all parts of Seattle Under Dan and Bart’s leadership, the place was one of my favorites. Once they got a name for themselves, the prices went up a bit, but in my opinion they earned it. The food was great, the atmosphere was great and the service was great!
The day before TAX DAY I stopped in for a steak and it was great! It was a great reward for spending a day with my accountant!
A few months later I learned that the ownership had changed.
With a fond memories of my history with the BlueWater and recent «TAX DAY Experience», today I took my wife and two kids to the BluWater for a late lunch:
Pros:
1. Atmosphere had some new flare. I like the new tables in the open windows.
2. Waitstaff were nice. Everyone was very patient with our kids after having spent a few hours across the street at the wading pool. They were a little off!
3. Kids menu was in line with what my kids like.
4. My Manny’s was «cold!» and it showed up quickly
5. My wife really liked the ceviche.
6. They stuck with the bread tradition.
7. My daughters chicken strips looked good and the portions were good. I didn’t try them.
8. Deserts looked good, but seemed like something had changed???
Con:
1. The Menu had changed quite a bit. I felt like the appetizer menu lost it’s legs.
2. I ordered the chicken fettuccine. It looked good, but there was no taste. Portion was good, but somehow it was boring? Chicken was missing something? I guess I was expecting something else?
3. My son didn’t eat his pizza, my pasta was boring so I tried it. The sauce was really sweet? The pizza was missing something? Maybe it wasn’t cooked enough?
4. My wife’s salad and wings were too sweet. What happened to the wings that used to get served there? The BluWater has/​had great salads?
The Bill was $ 72.00. Seemed a bit pricey for what we had? My wife doesn’t drink, my kids ate from the kid menu and I had one entrée for $ 14.00 and 2 beers? We could have had a decent sushi dinner at our favorite sushi place for a few dollars more and walked out more satisfied for the dollar.
I will be back for a beer and a steak thanks to their late night dinner hours. I don’t think we’ll venture back with the family for now.

We came here for happy hour. They have several drafts for $ 3.50/pint which isn’t bad at all and they had Superfuzz!
The happy hour menu was decent with many healthier, lighter items which is a nice diversion from your typical deep fried happy hour appetizers.
We had the caprese (4 pieces on a bed of greens, $ 8) and salmon (wilted greens and a small portion of salmon, I’d guess 4 oz., $ 9)
The happy hour items weren’t particularly cheap but the quality was good. If we were hungrier we could have easily shared 4 items I think which would have put the bill around $ 50 for happy hour for 2 ppl.
There were flies buzzing around inside everywhere. Not close to the food thankfully but you could see them all in the air which is not that appetizing. It’s an open air spot when it’s warm. I’m not sure how they could remedy this but something should be done.
Service was nice. Bathrooms were kind of icky. When a bathroom isn’t up to snuff it makes me question the rest of the restaurant.
I enjoyed the food and the setting but they need to make sure their bathrooms are clean and take care of the fly problem.

The place looked nice. We were drawn in by the sign that said «Happy Wednesday, $ 6 cocktails all day». When we get to our table we ask about the drink specials and are told that there are none. We then ask our waitress and she states the same. We mentioned the sign out front and they scoffed and said, ‘it must be wrong’. Not a good start.
We got drinks and appetizers but decided to not order anything more based on the service and quality of the food. The clam chowder was barely warm and sour (ick??) to the point that neither my wife nor I ate it. The caprese salad was made with cheap mozzarella, the tomatoes were so-​so, and the balsamic was super sweet, not my style. The waitress was impossible to hail and it was the bartender that finally came over and took our credit card that was sitting at the edge of the table. I may try this place again since I live next door but I’m going to have to be very desperate.
My gut feeling is that most of the workers at this establishment have let the place go and seem to coast off of the regular green lake traffic. I doubt it will be able to maintain such level of service much longer.

Such loud music on New Year’s Eve. Can’t even hear the waiter to order food. Asked to talk to a manager but none came. Asked for the volume to be turned down, was told by our waiter that he wish he could but can’t. Our table of 8 people had to text each other the whole meal to have any kind conversation. Ridiculous.
We also wanted to order dessert and coffee but didn’t due to the loud music. We just asked for our bill and left as soon as possible.

I admit that my husband gets burgers from here almost every week, but he always gets them to go, and I get sushi from the place across the way, and we bring them home and eat together! He loves their burgers (The Bluewater burger specifically), but I was always hesitant to try this place because the menu looks fairly unhealthy and the Unilocal reviews were very mixed!
Today though, I wanted some breakfast for lunch, and Bluewater had that to offer! I got the waffle plate with a side of scrambled eggs. It was delicious!!! The waffles were unbelievably amazing. They served them with whip cream and strawberries on top, and the syrup was yummmmmmy. The scrambled eggs were good too.
I will definitely be back! Highly recommend for brunch, and I’ll report back on their food at other dining times as soon as I return :).