Freshwaters

The food is delicious and freshly prepared to order and the owners are good stewards. Charlotte is a very fickle community however that from my experience haven’t supported good businesses like this restaurant and it was obvious by the lack of customers dining in when I visited recently.
The kinks in service needs attention. Except for the outstanding service and attitude displayed by the young lady who had the dubious role of serving and tending bar; one server in particular was a little too vocal and abrasive in demeanor. The lack of professional servers alone is an unnecessary distraction.
This is a great restaurant with a delicious cuisine. It is surrounded by hundreds of residents occupying the many condos and apartments, many which are in walking distance. I would like nothing more than to see them attract more business. They are definitely worth a visit based on the food alone. Wishing them the best going forward and although I reside in Huntersville NC, I will be back.

Delicious food and atmosphere. The owners wife is the hostess and welcomed us. The owner is the chef. Service was great. Definitely recommend this place. We will return

The food was very good, and I had a lot for what I paid. The cajun chicken was extremely good! The sides (rice and gravy, mac n cheese) were good, but not the best I’ve ever had. The service was good as well, topped by the owner coming by to ask how my meal was. I will definitely return!

This was a nice surprise. I loved that they didn’t use pork in the collards and sautéed cabbage. Both were great. Had the crab cakes fried, they were pretty good. Nice flavor. The catfish bites were nicely done. The music was a good addition. I will definitely come back.

Read other reviews, thinking they just had a bad day so decided to try the restaurant.
Told server it was our first visit, celebrating wedding anniversary. After delivering water and explaining menu, server left. Why did we have to wait 20+ minutes to try to place our order. Someone else was trying to get the servers attention to no avail. We decided life was too short, so we left.
Would love to support minority owned business but in the service industry it’s all about keeping the customer happy. We were not happy, left to go to a chain restaurant!

Was really good. I had the garlic shrimp, mac and cheese and cabbage… yum…I wasn’t a fan of the peach cobbler… it was a bit loose and runny…

This has become one of my husband and I favorite restaurants! The thing we love the most is how friendly the owners and staff are, the owner always makes sure she comes to speak and tell us about the menu. It is such a family atmosphere and they make you feel so welcome. The food is great as well! Love the salmon, shrimp and crab cakes. I haven’t had a bad experience to date.

Seafood platter was legit. Real soul food, cooked with heart. Owner came out to speak with us and her husband is the chef. Will be coming back and bringing friends.

The old Simmon’s is now Freshwaters and they have completely renovated the location with lots of lovely art and music and it’s absolutely beautiful. I stopped by for lunch but they were only serving dinner… weird…but ok. I tried the catfish fish fritters and crab cake and both were well seasoned and very tasty. The crab cake was all crab… awesome:-) I didn’t eat in, but looking forward to going back.
(This review is from when they first opened)

Ordered crab cakes, mac n cheese and collards for lunch. This was my first time at Freshwaters. I must say it was good! I will definitely be back as I love cajun & creole food. My Mother grew up in Louisiana. I know good cajun/​creole food and the food outside of the state of Louisiana just does not compare.
The reason I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 is I felt the food was pretty high in sodium. But being good olé southern food, that is what you’d expect.

I was thoroughly disappointed with the service and management this evening. This was my first time at this restaurant and I would classify the management as lack luster based upon how they treated the presenters of a seminar that I attended. While receiving valuable and life changing information from the presenter, management allowed a live band to begin to play and disrupt the seminar. Of the 27 patrons in the restaurant 25 were there for the seminar. There was no reason to begin the music during the presentation. Pure disrespect was displayed and an attitude which was reminiscent of what one would consider «ghetto». I will not return to this restaurant again as long as I am able to eat.

Throughly disappointed with the treatment received by Sharon, the owner of this establishment. Being a transplant from the same state the owners are from (New Jersey) I decided to patronize the establishment by bringing my clients there for lunch and/​or dinner throughout the summer and fall season.
Food undoubtedly good.
Nearly 3 weeks ago I scheduled with Sharon my company’s professional presentation to be held at this restaurant from 6:30 — 7:30pm. My event was officially recorded in «the books» for a specific time. This event would be presented to 20 – 25 people needing space for a small screen.
I sent a copy of the advertisement & correspondence used for my professional event & called to confirm arrangements twice prior to. The day before I called to confirm with Sharon again.
It was on this day, less than 24 hours before I’m expected to arrive that she tells me a singer was coming during my time.
I expressed how that type of performance would be an interruption to my presentation. I added that knowing in advance would have allowed me to look for an alternative place to welcome the Realtors, Financial Professionals and Vice President of my company who were attending.
Ms. Sharon said she would have the performers start when I was done. I agreed to shorten it to possibly 45mins instead of the hour I had planned. Additionally, I planned to stay with my group to enjoy the performance after we were done.
Upon arrival, Sharon repeatedly stated to her staff that I was starting a half hour early at 6pm; utterly exhausted having to repeatedly correct her considering my guest weren’t arriving until 6:30pm. She too insisted that I end at 7pm instead of 7:30pm as scheduled.
My 20 guest arrived at 6:30 as planned with all intention to order food, drinks and receive the information prepared for them. Fresh Waters had 2 guest… two …dining before we started and only 2 more arrived during my presentation.
Abruptly, 15 minutes before we were done, in the middle of the Vice Presidents’s presentation, Sharon instructed the musician to start playing music. It was the most rude, obnoxious, unprofessional gesture I’d ever experienced from a business owner. I was embarrassed and appalled by the disgraceful behavior of an owner.
Her failure to keep her books accordingly and communicate accuracy in planned events caused my attendees to suffer confusion and inability to embrace the knowledge they looked to receive. Her mismanagement of events followed by her rudeness also caused disharmonious spirits resulting in most of my attendees not wanting to order a thing but instead leaving hungry and thirsty.
What professional would instruct someone to «just start playing» loud music in the middle of someone speaking to a group of people… claiming her 2… yes two… guest came for the music? REALLY!!!
I was disgusted with the belittling juvenile mannerisms my company received and even her own servers/​waitresses acknowledge that she was «dead wrong»!!
Patronizing or recommending patronizing this establishment is a «dead» issue to me.

I had high hopes for this place since the majority of the reviews were good. However, I am very disappointed that I did. We arrived at 146 for a 2:00 reservation we made two weeks prior. We were seated right away but it took twenty minutes before someone came over and took our drink order. They placed lukewarm corn muffins on the table and left. After another twenty minutes we had to pull a server aside and ask who was our waitress because we hadn’t received our drinks. Finally she took our order again and brought us our drinks, apologizing that they hadn’t arrived yet.
We ordered our food at 2:30. That time frame is unacceptable. It shouldn’t take 45 minutes for someone to come over and take our order. But the real problem arose as we were waiting for our food. It took almost two hours for our food to come out. Our server kept apologizing for the wait but the owner/​manager didn’t bother to come and tell us what the problem was. Once our food arrived it was bland and needed seasoning. But by this time we were so hungry we didn’t care.
When the manager finally came over to our table, she gave us excuses rather than trying to appease our group. She stated that the kitchen was trying to do the takeout orders as well as the dining room. Her comment was «We had to shut down the takeout menu. Notice the phone stopped ringing.» Not understanding what that had to do with anything because other restaurants are able to operate fully producing food for the dining room and to-​go orders. Then she stated «We make everything from scratch, made to order.» So do most other restaurants.
The final clincher was that the manager came back over and gave us some 10% off coupons for our next visit. Some people in our party had ordered some to-​go items and still hadn’t received them after we had been waiting for more than 2 ½ hours. When the manager was asked about this her response was «You already got your food.» She then stated that we would not be discounted for that current meal, even though the service was lousy and extremely horrendous. Not our server. She was great and we could tell she was getting extremely frustrated with the kitchen as well. But the owner was horrible. She offered more excuses than solutions. And she never apologized for the service just an excuse. After her display of attitude towards our frustrations we placed the 10% coupons back on the table and stated we weren’t coming back. We also wouldn’t suggest the place to any of our friends for them to be subjected to the same attitude.
I can understand that our food might have taken a little longer because we were a party of 6. But there was a table where there we only 2 people and they were waiting as long as we were. A lady came in and sat down while we were still waiting and then she waited for 30 minutes before anyone came for her. She finally cancelled her order and went to the bar to speak with the manager and the woman ignored her.
I will never come back here. If she had been apologetic then maybe I would have kept the 10% off coupon. But her attitude and service skills are ridiculous. That’s not how you do business. I don’t respect people who treat their patrons like crap.
Edited: The owner had the audacity to call us and tell us that some of our party hadn’t paid for their food. But she was the one who rang everyone up and closed out the checks. She said we were damaging her bottom line. No her crappy attitude and customer service is damaging her bottom line. Positive, I am never returning.

Hidden gem! Me and my fiancé came here on a Thursday night. I love that they have a parking lot! Restaurant is nice and cozy. Décor is nice. This is honestly a perfect date night spot. They had someone playing the keyboard. I think his name was «Groove». We were immediately greeted when we walked in and got sat right away. I loved hearing the specials and the popular dishes to help us with our order from the owner. Staff was friendly and personable. We each got the seafood gumbo. It was delicious and flavorful! I got crab cake, catfish and grilled shrimp all blackened style. My side items were potato salad and red beans and rice. Potato salad was good and smooth. It’s yellow based which I like! Red beans and rice had a good flavor. I added hot sauce to it to spice it up. My fiancé got the salmon. It was the biggest piece we’ve ever seen from a restaurant! Slightly crispy on the outside and melt in your mouth in the inside. He said it was cooked perfectly. He also got okra and tomatoes and collard greens. Music wasn’t too loud and the ambiance was just right. Staff was caring and knowledgable. I would definitely go back, especially on Thursdays when they have music! You can tell all their food was fresh and home made and that they genuinely care. Give it a try!

It is an assuming place that is tucked in a little shopping center in4thward. Upon entering the owner happily greeted me. She was very welcoming and generally seemed to appreciate my business. The wait staff was very friendly and tried hard to please. Now to the food. It was delicious and the servings are large. I had the fried catfish New Orleans style, which had a brown gravy and shrimp on to top/​When I tell you it was sooooo good! I also had the sautéed cabbage and mac and cheese for side which were also tasty. The four stars is because they don’t currently serve any alcohol, I was anticipating getting a hurricane, but they are working on developing the bar. In the meantime, it is BYOB. Again, the owner is really sweet. She promised my 2 yr old some ice cream if he ate his food. He did and she fulfilled her promise.
I will be back.

Had grilled catfish & shrimp in brown sauce w/​collard greens and green beans. Fish was excellent, beans were good, greens were just OK but went good w/​the cornbread muffins. My wife had her «Phylliss» platter blackened, crab cake was maybe the best I’ve ever had, virtually all crab. $ 37 for both orders (and I had a $ 40 for $ 24 LivingSocial, which made everything even better;)
One drawback was heat. AC must’ve been out or not working well, they had many ceiling fans going which made it tolerable. Looking forward to coming back.

I went there for lunch with co-​workers. I really wanted to love this place because I have a special place in my heart for Simmons, which occupied the space before it. While I found the staff friendly, the service was a little slow, and the food just okay. Even though I ordered a grilled pork chop, they brought me a fried one. However at that point I didn’t have time to send it back. My co-​worker discovered what he thought was bones or something in his crab cake. But he rolled with it anyway.
The lunch prices are reasonable, and the place is very well decorated. In the end, they emphasize the wrong aspects of the dining experience by over reaching. For example, they take the time to put place settings at all tables, but they fail to get orders right. My co-​worker had a to-​go order, and when he asked for a bag for his leftover entrée and dessert, the staff returned with two dinky brown paper bags which couldn’t accommodate the containers.
What was particularly striking was while the owner was explaining their addition of jazz night and a full bar, she watched my friend struggle to squeeze the containers in the bag without any apologies or offer of assistance. My advice is scale back the décor, and hire more experienced staff for better service and quicker turnarounds on the tables. Get larger bags for to go orders. And drop the crab cake, it’s not that great.

Being a New Orleans boy I just had to try it.
There interesting thing is they don’t cook with pork which for me is usually a deal killer. But I was in a generous mood so I decided to take them up on that and Was pleasantly surprised.
I ordered the jambalaya and it was excellent.
All the vegetables are fresh and they have pretty good corn muffins.
I put a bug in the ear of the chef and maybe next time they will have French bread.
This is a nice, cozy and comfy restaurant tucked away in the 4^th Ward.

Today We all ate at the Freshwater restaurant in the Forth Ward since we are visiting Charlotte NC. for the CIAA … First I must say the restaurant was absolutely stunning. Second thing, was that the that the staff absolutely polite courteous and attentive. The owner met us at the door and her introduced herself and began to explain the restaurant the menu and their experience in cooking New Orleans style cuisine for over 20 years. The first thing that they brought out to us was the cornbread muffins. They were not what we have become accustomed to when it comes to a soulful cornbread muffin. It was northern style but we’re down south so if you love Martha Stewart cornbread then you’ll love these !!! Now if you love Patti Labelle cornbread skip them there not worth the Calories .The second thing Was my seafood platter… i am from the Washington DC area So when it comes to Crab Cakes these we’re terrible!!! Because I am a Marylander and we have the best Crab Cakes in all of the World !!! I just shouldn’t of order them !!! its probably just a Chesapeake bay thing with us. If you never had a real Jumbo Lump Crab cake from Maryland then you’ll love them Hahahahahah !!! Third thing was the the Ribs they were fair. A simple oven baked Rib with Barbecue Sauce nothing fantastic… The Pecan Crusted Catfish was Fair the rice & gravy was OK the Greens we’re cut up very small and reminds us of glory Greens in the Can. The Mac&Cheese was a Truly disappointing you can not have a restaurant in North Carolina Be Successful without having Fantastic Mac&Cheese… Now after saying all of That I must Say Freshwater has the BEST CATFISH NUGGET & Catfish I have every had !!! Period… Light, Crispy, Golden, Flakey & Fantastic… Sharon & her Husband (the Chef) should Change the name of this Restaurant to «Carolina Catfish»
I will eat here again in One Years Time when I come back for CIAA to see if anything has changed but until then the only thing I would eat here would be The Catfish & please Tip the Staff well they are doing the best that they can with the Cards they were dealt …

This is one of those times when I wish that Unilocal allowed for half stars. This restaurant ranks between a 3 and 4 but I will round up and call this place a solid 4.
This place considers themselves a fine dining restaurant. I will say that it is hard to find a soul food restaurant in Charlotte that doesn’t serve their food in styrofoam so if you are looking for a place like that, this isn’t it. When you first enter the restaurant you the tables are set using chargers and all. There is some african american art on the walls for décor and a fountain with water. I think this place has potential.
As for the food, I order the seafood sampler which came with a crab cake, 4 shrimp and fried catfish. They also serve cornbread before the meal but in my opinion it didn’t taste very fresh at all but the people I was dining with loved it. I will say that crab cake was amazing and I wish I would have just order those. You can actually taste and see the crab in the cake. I don’t recall there being any flour in the crab cake. The catfish was decent but I think I personally could have used a little more seasoning in the batter on the catfish. The two sides I ordered were collard greens and macaroni and cheese. I could have done without the macaroni and cheese because it wasn’t very cheesy to me. As for the collard greens I wish their was a little kick to them but again that is personal preference because the people I was dining with really enjoyed them.
Overall, this is a decent restaurant. It isn’t your typical soul food place you will find in North Carolina.