Blue Water Grill

This place was a gem… I loved the food and the location was key. The space was beautiful and the food was exquisite.
Every dish we ordered was remarkable and it was ashame to see it go.

I was very sad to see this place go. Food, ambience and service were phenomenal. I enjoyed the sushi rolls, but do not be mistaken, this is not a sushi spot, you will not get a large sushi menu, but the rolls were amazing and creative. Additionally, the seafood was great.

I didn’t know what Blue Water Grill was until my best friend started working there as a cook. I’ve been there twice, and both times was a pleasant experience. The second time was a much better experience than the first because we were being catered to by the sous chef!
On the menu, in order of courses:
First: Trio of tartars (salmon, tuna, and hamachi)
Second: Hearts of Palm, Lobster, Shrimp, Grapefruit and Green Curry
Third: White Gazpacho, Grapes, White Anchovies and Bulls Blood
Fourth: Fried Quail Egg, Parmesan, Arugula, Artichoke, Tomato Relish
Fifth: Halibut Cheeks, Pea Tortellini, Snap Peas, Pea Shoots
Sixth: Kobe Beef, Salad of Rapini/​Peppers/​Pistacchios/​Golden Raisins
Seventh: Poached Strawberries, Vanilla Ice Cream, Balsamic Reduction, and Candied Orange Zest
Eighth: Canteloup Gelato, Honeydew Mint Soup, Melon
Neither myself or girlfriend could walk after this meal! Thank goodness I valeted the car!

Blue Water Grill is not one of those places where the ambience is so-​so, but the food does the talking. The opposite is true. This is not to knock the food, but it is overhyped and overpriced. The service is too slow, also.
I love the fact that you can go here and start off with sushi (baja roll = amazing, but you can’t go wrong!) but finish with a steak. The fish is supposedly excellent, and I can say firsthand that the scallops are excellent. It seems a bit odd at first that they come with short ribs, but that’s just twice the deliciousness, I guess. Many people I’ve come here with love the chopped salad.
Very good restaurant. It’s decorated nicely, and you pay for ambience as well as food. This isn’t the only place for that, I’m sure!

On few occasions I’ve been able to grab a seat at the bar and enjoy a few, very strong cocktails and sample sushi. I dig the night time scene, ambient vibe of the bar and dimly lit. Seated at the bar, the staff there has always been friendly and thorough with knowing the menu and their suggestions.
One day soon, I’ll have to try their brunch.
Late saturday nights I haven’t found to be too lively, though you can find some interesting people to chat with.

What a hidden find for brunch! My sisters and I (and a good friend of mine) decided to take my mom out for a birthday brunch. There were endless brunch entrees that sounded amazing, but I ultimately decided to go with the lobster eggs benedict ($ 14). The hollandaise sauce tasted yummy, the potatoes were perfectly salted, the lobster eggs benedict was tasty. My only complaint is that I wish there were a few more pieces of lobster meat.
My mom ordered the shrimp and chorizo omelette ($ 12); this was delicious and had a tiny little kick to it. My sister ordered the crab cake eggs benedict. This was excellent! The crab cake was moist and perfectly seasoned. (The hollandaise sauce was definitely a bit on the spicy side.) My friend ordered the traditional eggs benedict ($ 9). Also, tasty.
As you can tell, the prices were extremely reasonable and the food tasted great. I will definitely be back to taste some of their other brunch entrees!
One warning: the service is painfully slow, so be prepared to wait for your food (and even for the waiter to take your order). It wasn’t busy at all, so there is no excuse for how long we had to wait for our order.

I will start this review by stating this place was recommended by my phone after I shook it a bit. Man does that phone know its food.
This place was actually really excellent and probably one of the best meals I have had in quite some time and I have been on a good run lately.
The menu doesn’t have extensive options but what is on there is unique, well thought out and presented perfectly. The menu is an interesting combination of sushi house and standard seafood restaurant, it by no means «fusion» though. Their wine list is actually a small novel and also extremely unique. I have been wanting to try a white burgundy, which I have been reading are excellent, under appreciated and difficult to find. They have about 6 or 7. We got a Pinot this time, but there is always next time which I think there will be plenty of.
The wait staff is very friendly, informed and although the place was dead they managed to find a good balance of not forgetting about us or being overbearing. The atmosphere in the spot is also very inviting. There are plenty of windows to view outside but not enough to feel like you are monkeys at the zoo. We sat in a booth that was comfortable and relaxing. Their music selection is probably the best I have heard in a restaurant that doesn’t have a live band or DJ.
Now to the grub, we got the hot rock beef that you cook at the table and I probably wouldn’t get it again. It wasn’t bad and I had always wanted to try it but since we got it out of the way it is done. The lady had Braised Short Ribs and Scallops which complimented each other perfectly. The short rib just fell apart and melted in your mouth and the scallops were amazing. I got the Sea Bass with Escarole and a real nice tomato type sauce. It is difficult to describe properly but it was excellent on every level. It was cool to see escarole used in a dish like that and not have it be an Italian place.
So now the best part, they have a funnel cake dessert that could be the best thing I have ever had and creates the serious possibility that we could be stopping back there just to have that. It comes with a fresh whipped cream/​mascarpone dipping sauce that is kicka$$. They really are more like French Dounuts then funnel cake but I’m not going to split hairs. We also got the three ice cream sampler, I would suggest Ginger, Pistachio and Passion Fruit sorbet.
Blue Water Tastiness for All.
RrL

When BWG first opened in Chicago I used to go very often after being a fan of the NY location as well as many of the other BRG restaurants across the country. The interior is sleek, modern, and trendy without trying too hard and the food is always consistently outstanding.
I hadn’t been in a while, but we chose to dine here tonight. Between our party of four, we split two sushi rolls to start out — the special roll of the night was a crunchy tempura tuna, pineapple, wrapped in soy paper and topped with rock shrimp as well as the fillet roll which was delicious. We split two salads as well — the ceaser and chopped which were great as well. For entrees, two of us had the NY strip which was cooked perfectly medium rare and the flavor was on par with traditional steak houses, the other two had the fillet and halibut, also great. We finished dinner off with the decadent Slice of Blue Water cake which is pretty much like s’mores in a cake form. Enormous and definitely not meant to be shared by less than 4 people!
We have a few friends that work at BWG so we were taken care of with complimentary champagne. Our server Laura was cool and accommodating and if you end up in either her section or Greg’s you’re sure to have a great evening.

3.5T
his place was amazing… not because of the food but the service. We went here the weekend of the marathon because it was my bday… bad idea because every\where in the city is jammed. But anyway, our server was great… it totally made my experience memorable. The food was good… not amazing. I had sushi, my bf had filet… he loved it, I thought it was ok… the lots of wine is what made this experience great. The service was great. Plus we were at a windown seat so we werent inthe mix of the Sat night tourista crowd… which I fucking hate like no ones business. I would go back and do an entrée… honestly sushi isnt anything to rave about but the salad I had with chickpeas was delicious and the wine was amazing!!!

yawn
A friend and I were trying to grab a quick lunch in River North, and we walked by this place. I looked at their menu and immediately recognized that it was a watered down chain restaurant sort of place, but my friend thought the menu looked good, so we settled on it.
As far as quality of food goes, you get exactly what you pay for. No more, no less. But it was sooo unmemorable and lacking in flavor. Sure, you get a good serving of lump crab in your crab dish, and crab is expensive, but what about bringing out the crab taste and making the most of it?
Service was so-​so. Competent but not good. I hated my wine (a New Zealand sauvignon blanc with a weird after taste, or so it seemed to my admittedly inexperienced wine palate), and apologetically and politely told my waiter I wasn’t happy with it. His response:
«So, what, do you want something else instead?»
Er, even though I didn’t have the wine list, and he didn’t offer to bring me one. I was a part time server at a restaurant myself, and if someone was unhappy with a wine my response would be to ascertain what she didn’t like about it and help her choose one fitting to her taste. And a customer certainly can’t choose one by herself without a wine list! He seemed slightly impatient and annoyed, even though he only had one other table. Not a big deal, but the place strikes me as a place that’s used to catering just to tourists. The level of service should reflect the concept of the restaurant, and it doesn’t here.
Anyway, if in the future I were to take friends out for sushi, I would take them to Toro or Sushi Wabi, where the fish tastes a lot more fresh and interesting and the service is perfect every time.

Came here with my girls on Saturday after a movie and some shopping. We sat in the lounge area which we actually preferred as we enjoyed the ambiance of it. We decided to order some maki rolls and were very pleasantly surprised. Our order of the rolls (in descending order of yumminess):
Spicy salmon truffle — My favorite! The flavor was outstanding with this one.
Baja — I loved the uniqueness of this roll and I love salsa so this was really great.
Creamy wasabi tuna — Crunchy and creamy… delicious.
Green zebra — I don’t remember too much of this one… just that it tasted great.
Dragon — I was really excited to taste this one as this one is described as having tempura sweet potato and a fiery eel sauce instead of just eel sauce. It was good but I was somewhat disappointed as I could not differentiate this between a normal dragon roll.
Tuna and lobster — I was not too crazy about the pineapple in this.
Had a great experience and our server was friendly and awesome… will definitely be back soon!

After a long day of bridesmaid dress shopping the girls and I decided to stop in at Blue Water Grill to grab some dinner. The lounge area is really nice. Although Blue Water Grill is known for their cooked seafood, we decided to order from their raw bar and was very satisfied with the results.
Let me rank the maki rolls from my most favorite to least.
* indicates must try
1. Spicy Salmon Truffle*
2. Creamy Wasabi Tuna*
3. Baja*
4. Green Zebra*
5. Tuna and Lobster (The pineapple inside gave it a sour aftertaste)
6. Dragon (Nothing unique from Dragon rolls at other restaurants)
Disclaimer: The Baja roll has a unique flavor from the salsa that may not be to everyone’s liking. One of the girls in our group did not care for a second round of Baja. The other three of us would put Baja in our top maki picks.
Overall, a very pleasant experience and would definitely go back.

This is a great place for a classy seafood dinner. The ambiance is cool and elegant, and the service is top-​notch.
I had an interesting soup (lobster/​coconut/​mushrooms) which was a bit of a miss, and then two items from the specials menu: a Mexican-​style maki roll and the skate-​wing entrée. Both were excellent. Excellent. I don’t recall my date’s order but she enjoyed her food as well.
For dessert, I usually go for something chocolate, but we were finishing up a bottle of crisp pinot grigio. The waitress suggested – nay, strenuously recommended – a dessert special consisting of cantaloupe balls, yogurt, honey, and granola. She was right – it was amazingly delicious and paired perfectly with the wine.

I had my first ever visit to Blue Water Grill today for a business lunch. Honestly, I can’t believe it was the first time I’d ever been to BWG, especially since I’ve lived in Chicago for a long time. I was SO excited to dig in to some yummy sea-​fare.
While I had my mind set on some grilled mahi-​mahi or something of the like before I even walked in the door, my mind quickly changed when I happily discovered the sushi section of the lunch menu. Oh Daddy. I do love sushi rolls for lunch and dinner. Hell, who am I kidding? I’d eat them for breakfast, too.
Our table ordered appetizers including the crab cakes which were good, but nothing outstanding. They did come with quite a bit of fanfare like fruit on top (?) and lots of colorful sauces on the plate, but the cakes themselves were on the small side. We also got the fin sushi platter, which had a spicy tuna roll (great), a baja roll (out of this world) and a few peices of sashimi.
Since I hit the raw stuff with the appetizers, I ordered a california roll and a Maine lobster roll for my meal. Both were fresh and absolutely delicious. And well priced at 7 – 12 bucks per roll!
I’m back in my office now with a tummy full of sushi and I couldn’t be happier!

I would have never put two and two together and even considered ordering sushi at a place known for serving fish (duh) but sure enough, that’s exactly what I did.
The thing you have to keep in mind w/​me and sushi places is that I’ve come to accept the fact that a «perfect» sushi place does not exist w/​me. I’m of the firm belief that if you can find a place that does a few items perfectly, you can consider yourself lucky and only go there for those specific items only.
With that said, I’d like to point out that the Baja Maki at Blue Water Grill is among the best rolls I’ve ever had. Period.
If you read the menu, the Baja Maki is described this way: yellowtail, tuna, jalapeño, avocado salsa. This is your «traditional» ‘Texas/​Mexican Roll’ but the way it’s presented at Blue Water Grill is beyond comparison to any of the previous incarnations.
What the menu doesn’t really explain is that the salsa is actually poured on top of the roll and plays a huge part in making the maki work. There are slices of fried plantain (?), avocado, onion, cilantro, jalapeño and a slight touch of lime that just ignites the roll to life.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on my sushi reviews, you already know I’m not a big fan of fancy-​shmancy rolls that try to over complicate things but the Baja Maki is a shining example of what happens when a perfect union of cultural tastes fuse to create a dish that showcases the best of each individual input.
Simply stated, this is one maki roll you should not miss.
—
The restaurant itself tries a bit too hard and is really not friendly nor attentive (which really should drop this review to 3 stars) but just by the strength of the Baja Maki alone, it still gets 4 stars from me.

B.R. Guest owns several of my favorite eateries — Fiamma, Ocean Grill, David Burke’s and of course, Blue Water Grill. I was really impressed my first few times at Blue Water, and the hits just keep on coming! Not only is the food and service always top notch, but the raw bar always kicks ass and that kind of consistency is definitely deserving of 5 star kudos.
Blue Water Grill is not only one of the best seafood restaurants in Chicago, but has the setting to match. A modern twist with lots of seductive lighting, wood, mirrors and steel makes BWG ideal for date nights, entertaining clients and groups alike. The bar on the main floor and hip Starfish lounge upstairs both serve awesome signature cocktails like the Tokyo Rose and Honey Pear — they also mix this girls favorite, a mean extra dirty martini with overstuffed bleu cheese olives, which is a great precursor to the fantastic menu options.
I always get something special from the raw bar… they have some of the freshest oysters, clams and sashimi you can find in Chicago. I actually sampled Sea Urchin for the first time here and thought it was surprisingly tasty — I’m sure that may have been a feat elsewhere. It was nothing in comparison though to the creamy wasabi tuna maki and rainbow maki. If you like sushi, try these rolls, they’re delicious!!!
On all my visits I’ve always ordered fish for my entrée so I can’t really comment on their meat selections, although many a dining partner have raved about their surf and turf. My personal go-​to choice is the Mahi-​Mahi with lobster dumplings in a miso broth. It is outstanding and pretty low-​guilt especially for this girl who loves her red meat.
Blue Water Grill should be on any Chicago food lovers list… let your server guide you with the freshest daily catch and don’t forget the ginger glazed carrots… they rock my socks off!

I love fish and few places do it better than the Blue Water Grill. I hadn’t been here in awhile, and so on a recent weeknight– trying to stifle my craving for some sushi and tuna– I stopped in.
What I like about this place is that the upstairs seating area and main floor seating area have a very different feel to them. We ended up on the main floor for this visit and since I had never sat there before-​it almost felt like I was in a totally different restaurant.
After a brief fumble as to where our server was when we were seated, we were quickly off to the races for some great raw starters. We had oysters and some cherry neck clams to start with– quite good although the cherry necks were pretty small but tasted like being at the ocean smells. I wanted to just keep eating them! We also had the sushi roll special of the day– which while good– was a bit over the top for me– think tuna roll with a piece of plum, poblano pepper and topped with a blueberry. Too many contrasting flavors for me but tasty, nonetheless.
For my entrée– I had the ahi tuna perfectly grilled rare which was served with some Asian vegetables and a potato gratinee. Ahh– perfection on a plate! My friend got a filet and it was absolutely perfectly done and melted in your mouth. The Parmesan fries that came with that were also quite good. Hard to believe that a «fish place» could do steak so well!
All in all– the food was just as wonderful as I remembered it. What I couldn’t figure out is why I haven’t been to this place in such a long while. Oh well– that is certainly going to change.

We had brunch here a few weeks ago.
All I have to say is: CHALLAH FRENCH TOAST.
Comes with sweet cream (so good without it though) and bananas.
Oh so yummy… I could eat you for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
BF had the lobster eggs benedict. I would have taken a bite, but I was too busy making love to my french toast.
Will be back for the dinner menu. Heard the raw bar is pretty fantastic.
UPDATE: 08÷06÷07
BF and I met up with some friends for brunch and got the same dishes. My french toast was divine (as usual), but his lobster benedict was awful. The service was TERRIBLE. Not only were we ignored, but our food took FOREVER to come out, and they got the order wrong too.
I’m bummed because I really like this place. But we’ve axed them!

Oysters and maki rolls is where it’s at as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had an entrée (big eye tuna) there and it was good, not any better than I’ve had anywhere else… I’ll tell you what is good…
The oysters. Have had two fabulous oyster experiences, first one was so fabulous we went back again within the month. We decided to give some of the maki rolls a whirl and holy crap is the Baja Roll fabulous. So fresh, so spicy, but a good heat spicy. It was incredible. We had a special rock shrimp roll that was awesome, simply awesome. The toro w/​scallion roll sucked. We probably should have complained… it was very metallic tasting, not fishy, just a funky metallic taste. We didn’t have much for nigiri, but did have a wasabi tobiko, unfortunately they don’t have quail egg, but one of the few places that wrap it nicely in a perfectly thin cucumber. Best, clear out your sinuses wasabi tobiko in the city.
Go to Blue Water Grill and stick to the raw side of the menu and order a cocktail, you’ll have a great experience.
Oh yeah… and the lollipop’ems or whatever are highly overrated in my opinion.

I went here for an early Valentine’s Day celebration last night and as always Blue Water Grill was oh so good. I used to to go the blue water grill on my frequent trips to NY so I was very excited when they opened it in the old Spago space almost a year ago. I’ve taken my family and many of my friends there and everyone has loved it. The sushi & other entrees are amazing (my favorites include the crab cake appetizer and seared scallops). You usually do have to wait at least a half hour for a table (with a reservation), but they have a great bar area downstairs and an even better lounge upstairs where you can enjoy a drink while waiting. Also make sure you try the «slice of blue water» for dessert… it’s extremely rich, but it’s pretty much a slice of heaven!
Edit 10÷29÷07:
So where can you go for brunch where there’s absolutely no wait, delicious omelette’s, pancakes and other brunch food, and the price is right! Yep, Blue Water Grill! I was shocked too, but I had the most delicious egg white farmers market omelet from there yesterday for $ 12– and it came with a drink of choice (mine being a bloody mary) as well! Half the restaurant was empty on the Sunday afternoon I visited Blue Water Grill, but I think that’s only because no one knows about this amazing brunch!