Last updated: January 30, 2020

In the Weeds

I was knocking back oysters on the half shell at The Waterman when I remembered one of my personal tests, a gastronomical meter stick of sorts, that I use to measure just how passionate you are about food. It’s simple: if you love raw oysters, we can become the best of friends. If you pass on the raw but embrace steamed, baked, or fried, we can still be good friends. If you pass on bivalves altogether, we might be able to remain friends, but I will cast a suspicious eye your way while eating. 

Located on South Boulevard, in that murky territory that has come to be branded as LoSo, The Waterman Fish Bar ignites my aforementioned love of oysters, if not much else. The restaurant is divided into two levels, a patio with a nice view of the skyline up top, and a more conventional dining room and bar down below. If weather permits, the patio stays open. If not, you’re stuck below deck. The interior down below feels like it’s trying too hard to be both a hip new eatery and a throwback to the fish camps of Charlotte’s past. Kitschy nets and oars and a mural of a grizzled old fisherman contend with polished concrete floors, a sleek, earth-tone bar, and scrubbed wood ceiling, giving me the distinct feeling this restaurant was designed by committee. 

The menu at The Waterman also seems to be trying to cover too much culinary ground, including dishes as wildly varied as a wedge salad, shrimp cocktail, clam chowder, gumbo, hot chicken, po’ boys, burgers, tacos, fish and chips, poutine, cheese fondue, and low-country boil. In addition to all of that is a daily selection of oysters from across the U.S. and Canada. Their weekday $1 oyster special from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. is well worth the visit. 

It’s when you get to the rest of the dishes on offer that things begin to come undone. The crawdaddy poppers look great on paper but only half-succeed in actuality. Most of the crawfish flavor is lost in the cream cheese and tartar sauce that dominate the dish. I was intrigued while reading the description of the hot oysters, but similarly disappointed as I started to eat them. Fried oysters in a spicy glaze covered with pickles and ranch over Texas toast sounds like a good idea, but the flavors of the seafood were once again dominated by the thick, overpowering hot sauce and giant globs of ranch. 

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the shrimp po’ boy. Served open-faced, it looks pretty enough on the plate but quickly disintegrates in your hands. The shrimp are passable if meager in size, the tomato slices tough and flavorless, and the Waterman sauce a poor substitute for the creamy zip of Louisiana remoulade, the traditional po’ boy condiment. I will say that the fries served with it were crispy, flavorful, well-salted, and saved the meal. 

Other dishes on the menu do a better job of satisfying. The Fisherman’s Pick, a fish sandwich, isn’t overly greasy, nor lacking in robust seafood flavor. The beer batter on the generous portion of fried cod is balanced out by the acidity of the house-made pickles and the mayonnaise in the cole slaw and tartar sauce. The buttery Connecticut-style lobster roll also pleased the palate, even if the lobster itself can sometimes have a rubbery texture. The tacos offer an interesting array of different flavor profiles, but the selection of the scallion pancake-style instead of the traditional corn tortillas left me longing for the aroma of steamed corn instead of the waxy and rather flavorless scallion pancake. 

The cocktails, or boat drinks as the Waterman prefers to call them, mostly make up for the deficiencies of the food. The Jabroni Negroni offers a twist on the cocktail classic with the addition of Aperol. The deckhand, a spicier take on the Mexican Paloma, has all the tartness and bite you would expect from grapefruit and tequila with the additional heat of jalapeño. It’s a shame it is served with too much ice, diluting the cocktail and making it appear more substantial than it really is. 

The fish house punch, on the other hand, is simultaneously too tart and too sweet and whips your taste buds with the flavors of cheap sweet tea and lemonade. It’s as if a drunk who’d never heard of an Arnold Palmer was asked to make a boozy version of the refreshing beverage after a night of cheap shots. It’s also served in a camping mug for no discernible reason. Their wine and beer list is basic, though I was pleased to see the addition of oyster shooters on the menu, always a fun and flavorful way to kick off a night of eating seafood. 

The raw bar is The Waterman’s best offering. The restaurant does oysters on the half shell as well as anyone else in the city, particularly the oysters they are sourcing from Prince Edward Island. These PEI oysters are larger in size and offer more flavor than their stateside cousins, and are some of the tastiest oysters I have come across. Not only do you get the usual briny sea flavor traditionally associated with oysters, but there’s a sweet, almost succulent, side that sneaks up on you as they slide down your throat. Another positive is the attentive service I received during each visit to the restaurant.

Besides certain poorly-executed drinks and dishes, the biggest struggles facing The Waterman are price and identity. If you’re going to charge $6 for a single taco, you better make sure that taco is memorable, something The Waterman has failed to do. The $21 price tag on the fish and chips seems almost like a slap in the face. You can get a superior take on the British classic at Big Ben’s right down the street for under $15. I was also scratching my head over the $24 low-country boil. For a few extra bucks I could make the same dish at home for my family. 

Sea Level and Ace No. 3, Waterman’s sister concepts, both succeed where Waterman fails — for two separate but equally important reasons. In Sea Level’s case, it’s a commitment to a fine-dining experience that lets the fresh seafood speak for itself. For Ace No. 3, it comes down to a refreshingly trim menu that focuses on delivering delicious hamburgers. With an unfocused menu that is doing too much, too poorly, and with prices that raise your eyebrows, The Waterman Fish Bar is a great place to come and knock back oysters during happy hour.  It’s a shame to say that it has yet to achieve much more than that. It neither lives up to the comforting legacy of the Carolina fish camp, nor tries to expand the boundaries of what a seafood restaurant can be. With time and reflection that might change, until then, The Waterman is still on ice. —Travis Mullis