The Watermark

The view is amazing and the restaurant is filthy.
My first and second set of cutlery had food on it. The third set was ok. The water glass still had lipstick marks on it and when I asked for a clean glass, the waitress was not happy with me.
When my food order came, I moved the plate, on the underside you could feel it had dried food on it and was sticky.
The restroom has no hot water to wash your hands.
The food mediocre for the price. Stick to the seafood not the meats. Bring your own cutlery. Better yet, choose a different restaurant.

After reading previous reviews, we expected a lovely location on the lake but, mediocre food. That was not our experience. The location was lovely but, the food was quite good. We had the mussels which were in a garlic, tomato, white wine broth served with grilled garlic bread which was perfect to use as a sponge. The gazpacho was slightly spicy which hit the spot. We shared a grass fed steak to round out an excellent meal for a summer night in beautiful upstate NY.
And though it was a Saturday night mid summer, we were able to sit on the terrace to enjoy the view. The service was friendly and attentive.

For the area, this restaurant has a great selection of non-​pizza & non-​pub food. There’s a beautiful view of the lake and my server was excellent and attentive. I order the $ 15 veggie burger, which had an excellent patty of quinoa and black beans, but there was no condiment, spread, or anything else. It was a patty in a bun with tomato and lettuce-could’ve used something else. I’m pretty sure the salad salad had canned or frozen peas, but the fresh bread was good. The wine list was pretty shady ($ 6 for a glass of barefoot wine, which usually costs $ 6 for a bottle!) and overpriced. Great eats for the general area, but not particularly memorable as an out of towner.

Had dinner here with family on their opening day of the season-​may 22– and both food and service were good. Started with the crab soup, which comes with a separate serving of sherry so that you can use a little or alot. Delicious with bits of crab and very creamy. The grouper with a thai peanut-​like sauce was yummy. Didnt want the risotto so I swapped it asparagus. Only downside was that they were a little quick to clear the table. Next time please leave the bread until we’re done with our meal. it was opening night so maybe they haven’t gotten the rythym down yet. Friendly staff though.

Delicious food! Ambience delightful! Ate outside on a beautiful summer evening. Server attentive and pleasant. Will return!

We ventured here Sat night because we wanted to sit outside to enjoy the weather while we dined. The Watermark did not disappoint. The menu is large enough to satisfy 3 generations; we had halibut, chicken Alfredo, and lobster traps (pasta filled with lobster) and a Cobb-​type salad.
The service was good and the food was very good and satisfying. The portions were good sized and we would certainly recommend this large restaurant situated on the water

Well we are from California and are visiting the area, we looked on Unilocal to find a good place to eat. I found The Watermark and was blown away by the location and the view from our table. We ordered drink and an appetizer (martinis and the artichoke dip), the dip was amazing and the drinks were great but that’s about where this amazing adventure ended.
The waitress we had came by to take the order but that was it, other people brought drink refills upon us bugging and asking. I ordered the sea bass which the waitress said the rice with it was amazing, well the fish was good but not that warm, the rice was cold and extremely undercooked. The three others I was with ordered the ribeye, lobster and the choice steak. The steaks were not that flavorful and all of the sides were cold, the lobster was quote «alright».
We went ahead and ordered the brownie Sunday because it was my sisters birthday and that was probably the best thing we ate.
The bill came to 200 dollars and was not anywhere near worth that much! If you come for the view and the drinks this place is your spot, but if you want to eat steak and seafood I would try somewhere else.

dinner was better than most places on the lake. We liked the new menu as it featured lots of seafood dishes-​our favorite. My seabass was cooked perfectly with a great sear. Unfortunately, the risotto that accompanied it tasted bland and tinny-​like they used canned broth or stock. My husband’s steak had good flavor and was tender, if slightly overcooked. The servers are inexperienced but personable. All things considered, probably a touch overpriced.

We had a party of 8, just after 1 PM. The service was excellent. Appetizers were very well done, we had cream of crab soup, stuffed mushrooms and coconut shrimp. My rankings of them would be in the order above. All in the party were pleased with their meals, they were trying a new stuffed burger, which had the cheese and fixings stuffed inside and they were superb, I had the pepperjack jalapeño stuffed burger and it was amazing. Another member in our party had the bacon cheddar stuffed burger and he really enjoyed it. They were both cooked perfectly, which is a hard ask with a stuffed burger. Desserts were enjoyed by everyone, with chocolate cake and key lime pie being a great end to a delicious meal.

Rob, stop your snobbery about the clientele! Same issues with menu this year. This is the place for seafood indeed. Wonderful crab selections & a homemade coconut pie to lust for. Chautauqua is meant to be a vacation off the grid & this restaurant straddles that line between local eatery & more metropolitan offerings.

The food was really bland and over priced. The service was slow and we after 30 minutes of finishing our meal we had to hunt down our server to get our check.

We were staying at the Chautauqua Institute & had to escape for some dinner. We loved this place. There’s great outside seating overlooking the water.
The food was great. I had the seafood platter w lobster, crab, scallops & shrimp. Lobster was a little over cooked but everything else was great!
I’d highly recommend this place. Great atmosphere, wine & food!

Given the lakeside location and the fact that this restaurant has been open (seasonally) for eight years, I’m a bit surprised I’m the first to review it. Perhaps the issue is that it is a less than memorable place. Not bad … not great … just somewhere in between. I’ve given it four stars, but in reality it is more like 3.5 stars.
On the plus side, dining on the porch overlooking the lake is a great amenity and reason enough to stop here for lunch or dinner during the summer season. The menu is chock full of seafood choices … including a tasty house-​made cream of crab soup … as well as plenty of steaks and burgers. So something for pretty much every appetite. Unfortunately, while all the food was trelatively fresh and well-​prepared, the overall flavor palette was rather benign. Of course, given the nature of the clientele in the area, that’s pretty much what one should expect.
On the down side, we arrived a few days before the opening of the Chautaqua Institute summer season … and they were apparently still using menus from the previous season … in spite of having been open for a few weeks already. So we ordered, only to be told those items are not available. Seriously? Why not just tell us that when we sat down? It also did not help that our waitress was pretty much brand new, and seemingly barely trained. She tried hard and was very polite, but given the confusion of handing out old menus, management sort of short changed her here.
Overall, a pleasant place with a great view and above average — but generally unremarkable — food.