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Downtown Acworth has been going through a renovation over the last couple years. Several notable restaurants are located there, including Henry’s, The Old Mill, Fusco’s Via Rome, and my most recent discovery the Waterstone Grill.
Full disclosure: Waterstone Grill invited me to review their restaurant. I had the pleasure of chatting with owner, Joanne Tubo and learning about the history behind the historic building. Turns out, Joanne and her husband own the buildings on either side of the Waterstone Grill. In fact, Waterstone Grill was once home to Henry’s before they moved a couple doors down a bigger space.
Joanne told me they spent 2 years completely renovating the space. And it shows from floor to ceiling. Beyond the dark woods prevalent throughout the intimate restaurant, you’ll see stamped ceiling tiles, brick walls, and against the back wall, a beautifully tiled drink station. Architecture lesson: the space was once an alleyway and converted into a building using the walls of the exterior buildings on each side, the term being an infill building. When you visit, note the different styles of brick on each side of the restaurant.
Shortly after being seated, Jackie, our server for the evening, suggested we do a tasting of Waterstone’s house wines. I obliged thinking, “how good is house wine?”, especially at only $5 a glass, but I was pleasantly surprised. Of the whites, the Sauvignon Blanc was the best, and of the reds, the Merlot was a clear winner. The brand, called Foxbrook, is one I’ve not heard of and Joanne told me they aren’t available for retail, one of the reasons she chose the brand.
Waterstone Zucchini Rolls
Our complimentary rolls included not only regular rolls but a zucchini muffin type of roll as well. These were slightly sweet and very moist. I like that they offer something a little different than average rolls. I’m not the only one who likes them this much – they’ve become so popular with regulars, that the AJC has published the recipe in a recent issue.
Soup of the day was Crab Bisque and Jackie didn’t have to twist my arm much to give it a try. It was creamy, a tad spicy, a chock full of crabmeat. Hands down, some of the best crab bisque I’ve ever had. Now Glen went for the French Onion soup. His mom has a special recipe she prepares every Christmas that I just love and this tasted just like it. FOS can be tricky as it is pretty easy to over salt it, but this was the perfect balance of sweet onions, gooey cheese, and flavorful broth.
Waterstone Grill French Onion Soup
Although my soup was small, it was very filling, and I could have quite easily jumped into the main course, but I absolutely had to try a couple appetizers: calamari and bacon wrapped shrimp with spicy bbq glaze. Be warned: the glaze is pretty hot, so if you don’t like too much heat, I’d avoid this app.
Waterstone Calamari
As for the calamari, when I saw that there was a lot of friend peppers within it, I thought the peppers were there as an extender, but once I started eating I found the calamari was complimented by the peppers. It came with a marinara and a soy ginger dipping sauce. I really didn’t care of the ginger sauce – it seemed to have too much soy and not enough sweet to it.
Waterstone Calamari
At this point, we had had quite a bit of seafood, and perhaps it would have been a good idea to try a steak or chicken dish, but we just couldn’t resist the scallops with potatoes au gratin or sesame trout. When I saw our dishes come out, I knew we’d made the right choice. My scallops, 6 of them altogether were cooked just right and the orange scented cream sauce paired well with the scallops, which I later found out is one of both Joanne and Jackie’s favorite dishes.
Waterstone Sesame Trout
The trout was a huge portion; the 2 large pieces could easily feed two. And it is coated in both white and black sesame seeds. I found it to be tasty as Glen did, cleaning his plate. Our sides (yellow rice and potatoes au gratin) were winners too, not just there to take up space on the plate.
For dessert, we sampled the crème brulee and the blueberry and lemon pound cake. You can’t go wrong with either one of these desserts, although I’m slightly partial to the pound cake. The combination of tart blueberries with the sweet lemony cake is delicious.
Waterstone lemon-blueberry cake
I kept a rolling total of our bill in my mind – $75 for everything. That included wine, 2 of the each: soup, appetizers, entrees and desserts. Beautiful atmosphere, great service, tasty, moderately priced food and free parking! Good luck finding all of that ITP.
Waterstone Grill is open for lunch and dinner everyday but Sunday. I can’t wait to visit again and try the Pear, Walnut, and Goat cheese salad along with their Smoked Gouda Risotto – a bargain at under $4 a piece. And they have a martini menu that has nearly 10 specials including a Snickerdoodle martini.
Extras: On Saturdays get a bottle of house wine for $10.
4849 North Main Street
Acworth, GA 30101
770 974 4899
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