Waterman

We had a lovely evening at The Waterman. Our food was excellent; flavoursome and hearty for a cold, wet, winter’s night. We highly recommend the beetroot tartlet, celeriac and apple soup, the ox cheek and the chateaubriand, oh, and the brown bread ice-cream, which was amazing. Service was very good - friendly and welcoming but not overbearing. The staff also went out of their way to accommodate our requests.

The Waterman provides a superb, high-end dining experience in Belfast. The absolute standout is the steak, which is flawlessly cooked, tender, and easily one of the best in the city. The drink menu is equally impressive, serving up lovely cocktails that are expertly mixed and perfectly balanced.

< Stepping into Waterman, you immediately get a sense that you're in for a delicious food that truly stole the show, as a charmingly chaotic service. From the moment our plates arrived, it was clear the kitchen at Waterman knew its stuff. Each dish was a vibrant explosion of flavors, perfectly cooked and beautifully presented. Seriously, the food here is a must-try. Now, about the service. If you're looking for military precision and seamless execution, this might not be your spot. There was a definite buzz, a charmingly uncoordinated dance of servers, and perhaps a slight delay here and there. However, it was delivered with such genuine warmth and earnest effort that it added to the restaurant's unique character rather than detracting from the meal. It felt less like inefficiency and more like a bustling, passionate family kitchen where everyone is doing their best to ensure you're fed well, even if they occasionally trip over each other's feet. Ultimately, Waterman offers an unforgettable dining experience. Come for the truly outstanding food, which alone is worth the trip. Stay for the lively, slightly unpredictable atmosphere that makes for a memorable story and a distinctly Dublin welcome. Highly recommended.

Visited in Feb and we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food vs the cost. Such beautiful produce cooked perfectly and at very reasonable prices. The calamari on a regu starter was especially incredible!

+1

Went for a lunch with my 11 year old. Food were sublime. We had froed courgette with ricotta, pastrami crusted salmon, beef tartare, cod, armagh cheese, and sticky toffee madeleine. Everything were really delicious and aptly portioned. Although we selected from ala carte menu, they also provided 2 course and 3 course menu with a good price. There were good selection of drinks as well. Service was great - the server was really attentive and happy to explain the menu to us and pointed out which menu that does not suit our dietary restrictions. She regularly checked on us to make sure everything was going great for us. Overall atmosphere felt homey and welcoming - an overall awesome place to have our meal.

+2

Absolutely Incredible — A Must-Visit in Belfast! From start to finish, our experience at The Waterman was truly exceptional. Every dish—from the starters through to dessert—was absolutely incredible; the flavors, presentation, and quality were simply outstanding. What really set the evening apart was the warm and gracious service. The owners went above and beyond to make my sister-in-law’s birthday celebration extra special, which we all sincerely appreciated. Their genuine hospitality made the night unforgettable. If you’re in Belfast, do not miss this restaurant. I will absolutely return every time I’m in town!

This dining experience offers a blend of creativity and refinement. The attentive and friendly service provided by the waitress enhances the overall ambiance. Additionally, the establishment boasts an excellent wine selection, featuring a variety of international imports. I highly recommend it.

Had a wonderful lunch: great ingredients, spot on flavours, really interesting menu. Couldn’t be more pleased by discovering a new place in Belfast. Lovely project, I’ll be back very soon!

First time there. Pretty open and fresh space very clean and decorated simply with two large pieces of wall art. Liked the decor. Been a while since been out for dinner so on initial arrival seemed noisy but acclimatised pretty quickly. Food was excellent. Service super. Can’t wait to get back and try more dishes.

came back fkr an evening meal....oh my word...wish I had come sooner Starter...Spiced Carrot and Ajo Blanco - got receipe from Chef! Main...N'juja with ricotta Ravioli with peas carrots and herbs Had to try the cheese.....Grommit! Totally accidental, but perfect fkr vegetarians! 💜 Thank you Sean 👏👏👏 Had the most delightful simple lunch...Cauliflower soup and foccaio..delicious...hit the sweet...so looking forward to coming for a mea spotl in the evening

Small and cosy Bristol with friendly staff. Chicken & mushroom tagliatelle was delicious with a flavorful cream sauce. Must try their homemade ice cream & Guinness caramel which is not too sweet. A hearty dinner❤️

I’ve been to the waterman a handful of times now, and each time is better than the last. Last night we were celebrating so went for the chateaubriand for two, which was priced fairly (£65 including 2 sauces) and served beautifully. Great drinks selection and delicious side dishes (we had the cabbage with crispy chicken skin and confit potato). The only let down was the lack of dairy free dessert options. Our server told us that there were no dairy free desserts, then a short time later returned to say the chef would whip something up - which was much appreciated.

Lovely roast lunch - had the two course set menu for £24,50. Absolute bargain, great portion size. Such fluffy potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.

The food were amazing highly recommended for those who love truffles and all. The neighborhood was great for photos and very clean restrooms.

Delicious looking menu that delivered in flavour too. Despite it's infancy, highlights of fried artichokes and lamb rump puts this place right up there with the well-established greats of Belfast.

Another excellent visit to the Waterman, this time for a late Sunday lunch. Gorgeous pre dinner cocktails, followed by great value 2 course deal. My soup and fish was outstanding. The orange rose wine was just perfect with our food. As for the Friend at Hand truffles that accompanied our calypso coffees….just wow! See you all again soon

Never mind the fact that the food quality is exceptional, I suffer from a neurological issue that can make dining difficult - yet every time I book a table at Waterman for a special occasion the booking team and service staff go above and beyond to accommodate me. I'd be reluctant to dine anywhere else!

We ordered the Cook & Dine at home option and highly recommend it. Delicious food made with high quality ingredients. Portions are generous - it would easily serve 3 hungry people! The reheating and cooking instructions were very clear. A small problem with the initial order was swiftly sorted. Excellent all round. We shall order again and get back to the restaurant itself as well.

We were recommended the Waterman by Jim, the guide in The Troubles walking tour and it proved to be an excellent recommendation. It was a Saturday night, but we managed to reserve a table for 4 at 9:15. Excellent food.

We had a fabulous meal here a week ago. Everything was extremely tasty and staff were very professional.

I have across this venue a bit late, a quiet interesting menu and lovely, calming interior made me to go in. A big thanks to Peter, who was very well coming and accomodative, although the kitchen had closed, he let me in for my choice of the Irish cheese platter with a glass of wine ! All staff very friendly and professional

Food was great! However, it's rather noisy, which counters the impression from the food. And the air was stuffy

+1

We enjoyed our lovely dinner. Ordered the bread and butter starter and mozzarella, beetroots and figs dish to share to begin. Then had the herb gnochis with pesto and tomatoes. For dessert, we went for the baked Alaska. The bread was delicious, especially the one with herbs. Highly recommend the gnochis (large), possibly the best we've ever had and the tomatoes tasted super fresh. Baked Alaska is delicious, quite big and with a contrast of temperatures and textures as the outside merengue is warm and it has ice-cream and cake inside (despite being tasty if you don't have a sweet tooth, you should go for another choice) . Despite the good culinary experience, we give it 4 stars because being charged 6.60£ for the service, we felt the waiters were quite pushy for getting us to order drinks as they repeatedly asked several times. To be fair, though, they were all very friendly, but if service is to improve, that should be noted.

+2

Delicious food, good service but there were 2 weddings and a full dinner service on at the same time which meant we were waiting quite a while for our food and felt we had to rush as we only had our table for 1.5hr. Think there was just too much happening at one time but we'll definitely be back. Food was delicious and would highly recommend to anyone visiting.

I came out very satisfied. It’s fancy enough that it could feel like a nice date or special treat. The food was all very good. A bit eclectic maybe. Our dish selection might not have been the best. There were some things we chose that were deli-like which can make it hard to really appreciate the cooking and prep that goes into a dish. The main courses were pricey but faultless cooking on the venison and potatoes. Great puddings as well!

+3

When you 1st arrive it looks like a tight squeeze. We were lucky to get a table at the window and then our fears were washed away. The server gave us a great recommendation on the wine and we chose the food from the set menu which was unbeatable value. Unfortunately the starter came with 2 mins of us ordering and we hadn't even had our wine which was disappointing. You like to come in and enjoy a sip and the atmosphere before being served food. Thankfully the staff were wonderful and took the food back without any hesitation. The rest was sensational. The cooley for main was delicious and the brown bread ice cream was beautiful.

The restaurant looks very nice in decorations which made me recall some of my favorite restaurants I’ve visited in my country. The food is ok, but all the dishes with meat tasted a little fishy. But I would still recommend it because it’s still cost effective and good for enjoying with friends.

It's a pleasant enough space though it could do with acoustic dampening especially when the "Ladies Who Lunch" are 2 bottles of wine into their performance. Service was fine and not intrusive. However, the menu is limited - not in itself a bad thing - but a little more variety would be appreciated. Starters were verging on microscopic and the duck rillette was bland and served too cold. It also bore an uncanny resemblance to a small slab of thick carpet underlay. Main was a failsafe dish - venison rigatoni - large portion (apparently) - had to ask the waitress if it WAS a large portion and, to my surprise and disappointment, it was confirmed as such. Again, the dish was largely tasteless - the venison had no flavour having been left stewing for too long, and I suspect, being the dregs of that day's batch scrapped off the pot - it would explain so much about it. Dessert was delightful - freshly baked Madeleines with - again, taste-free Chantilly cream. Don't even consider purchasing a bottle of wine unless you're on an expense account, but they do have a decent selection albeit at exoribtant prices. Expect the 10% service charge "automatically added for your convenience" - another aspect which grates, this is not America and at those menu prices the staff should be paid well enough. In short - go for show and appearances, go to be seen, just don't go for hearty or flavoursome meal. N.B. this was not the Set Lunch option - that may prove better value for money

Visited with a friend for lunch. Had Parmesan Arancini with Truffle Mayo as a starter which were nice. Then had Turkey and trimmings. Pretty good however they don't provide any roast potatoes or sides with it so you have to purchase those separately. Dissapointing upsell technique. My friend ordered a large pasta dish which didnt look large portion-wise. Had a lovely Gingerbread Ice Cream to finish. The wine prices are prohibitively expensive. Service was pleasant but another place with a 10% discretionary service charge. A few things let it down from what was generally good food.

+1

While the food met all expectations the service let us down. It was a Sunday night and the staff probably wanted to go home but they shouldn’t have let us know that hard. We arrived at 8:05pm, got informed the kitchen closed at a quarter passed, we ordered starters, mains and dessert and got our dessert served at 8:55. In this kind of restaurant you don’t want to feel rushed, you don’t want to feel unwelcome and this staff made sure we got out before nine. Not professional, good food but not the best experience.

Rushed meal and denied dessert We dined as a table of four. Due to traffic we arrived 10 minutes late, though I rang ahead to let the restaurant know. Unfortunately, the meal felt very rushed. While the staff were polite in tone, they were sharp, we were told a few times that the table needed to be returned for the next booking. Despite a long wait between our starter and main, our plates were basically cleared before we had finished, and we were then denied dessert for the same reason, the table had to be turned over. We were rushed to finish our wine, the bill was brought immediately, and the card machine presented straight away. The food itself was good, but the service let the evening down. I have never been refused dessert in a restaurant before, and I doubt that arriving 10 minutes earlier would have made any real difference to how rushed the experience was.

My family and I were aware that there was a dining time limit, which we completely understand and respect. However, the overall pace of service was very slow — it took a considerable amount of time for our food to be served. As a result, although we were seated well within the allotted time, we were only just starting our desserts when we were handed the bill and soon after, asked to leave. We had barely begun eating our desserts when one staff member told us we needed to vacate the table. While we were still eating, another member of staff came over and repeated the same message, stating that the next guests were waiting. We found this approach quite discourteous, especially as we were still in the middle of our meal and the delay was due to slow service, not us exceeding the time limit. We believe that if time limits are strictly enforced, the restaurant should ensure that food is served in a timely manner to allow guests to enjoy their meals properly. Communication and service should also be handled more professionally in such situations.

+3

I think it is a bit over rated restaurant, especially since it is on the Michelin guide restaurant. First of all, during our experience, almost every dishes was send to the wrong person. One of the services almost dropped off one dish before we even make any order yet. And there is 10% service charge. Well, I think at least for our experience it was definitely not worth the 10%. The food just so so. We ordered some soup, pasta, and beef. The beef is so hard, I think it was a good exercise for my jaw.

I was expecting a much better service and quality of food based on the prices and the level of food they assume they serve. Staff unfriendly and food much below our expectations. The sirloin steak that I asked for was burned. Burning the meat is not translated to well done. They have no clue how to serve a well done steak. The presentation of the food was below average for a restaurant of this level and also they didn’t inform us that the roasted vegetables that should be included in our menu( who can eat just a steak with no sides?) they were charged extra. Unbelievable they serve in a Christmas menu a steak that has no sides just plain. Terrible concept and low level. In addition it was so noicy there and the ambience wasn’t very relaxing.

We visited with a group of 8 last night and I have a few observations. First the good. The food was wonderful. Very tasty with complex flavours. Everyone at our table seemed satisfied. The bad. Our server, was very cold and bordering on rude. She did not once engage with us in anyway other than to “do business “ with our table. She did not welcome us, did not smile and stared at us as we navigated the menu indicating impatience and showed displeasure when we stayed we needed more time to look at the drink menu. She did not check on us to ask how our meals were and but continued to give off “ you are an inconvenience “ feeling to our entire group. We spent a considerable amount of money at the restaurant and for an establishment of this quality the service was no where close to where it should be. There really is no excuse for bad service and just to be clear we were all kind and respectful and did nothing to our server other than try to have a good time. I will never go back as the service is a key aspect of what makes an enjoyable evening. Please do better at training your staff and make a change if needed.

We visited as a group of 10 for a family celebration and, unfortunately, left quite disappointed. Several meals were below the standard we expected, the children’s fish dishes were overly greasy, the soup contained tough, inedible fibres, and two chicken mains were served undercooked. We raised one issue on the night and followed up with an email, but never received a response. A real shame, especially as we had chosen this place for a special occasion based on strong recommendations.

Had dinner last evening in the Waterman, which was my sixth visit. Each time the level of service was getting poorer but I stuck with it however last evening not only was the service poor so was the food. My wife’s starter and main course was so disappointing. My meal was fine.

Promises so much and delivers so little. Starter of duck rillette (on menu as duck rillettes) was bland and boring. Burnt brioche served with it and some miserable looking pickles. Very hard to eat. Other starter of carrots with ajo blanco was a sloppy mess and massively over salted. My partner couldn't eat it. Mains, my cod was fine but again very sloppy dish and it just didn't eat well. Other main consisted of burnt gnocchi with again over salted accompaniments. Desserts, apple crumble with baked Alaska was a massive let down. Stewed apples with bit of crumb on plate and sickly sweet meringue. My dessert was sticky toffee madeleines. Madeleines were burnt black. You get a bowl of sauce. And a bowl of Chantilly cream. And 5 or 6 madeleines, and a spoon. How you are supposed to eat this is beyond me. The whole meal was like lofty ideas with really poor execution. I do appreciate the staff's efforts with providing complimentary lemon cocktails and truffles and for not charging for the food we couldn't eat. After all this I still left a tip beyond the added on service charge. But I barely got any acknowledgement for this.

I am writing to express my disappointment with my recent visit to the waterman. Unfortunately, the overall experience fell well below expectations. The food was largely flavourless and did not justify the high prices charged. For the cost, I expected a far higher standard, but I left feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied. In addition to the food, the atmosphere significantly detracted from the experience. The lighting was unpleasant, the tables were placed far too close together, and the restaurant was excessively noisy. The poor acoustics made conversation difficult and created an uncomfortable dining environment. Taken together, these issues made the visit unenjoyable and not something I would be inclined to repeat or recommend. I hope this feedback is taken constructively, as there is clear room for improvement.

Visited Waterman on 28/11/25 with a few colleagues and the whole experience was honestly terrible. The place had a really unpleasant smell as soon as we walked in, and the tables were crammed so close together that we were basically touching the people next to us. It was so loud we had to shout to hear each other. The food didn’t redeem anything either — it was dry, bland and completely forgettable. The worst part was how we were treated at the end. As soon as we finished dessert, a host (who hadn’t spoken to us at all up to that point) suddenly appeared, handed us the bill without us asking, and said they needed the table because they were overbooked. About thirty seconds after we paid, he came back and told us we’d have to leave, and even suggested we finish our bottle of wine outside on the street. To be fair, the servers themselves were lovely and clearly doing their best, but the management felt totally uninterested and had no idea what they were doing.

Disappointing Sunday set lunch. Meat was dry and tough & veg was bland. Service was alright and there was an alright atmosphere. Much nicer and more vibrant places to eat for much less.

Worst Christmas dinner ever. Cold and flavourless soup. Roast potatoes so hard you couldn’t cut them open. Gravy was grey and pure liquid with no taste