Waterford Inn Cafe and Tavern

(Late post: we had dinner here early Sept. 2015.) We stumbled upon the Seafood Grille at the Waterfront Inn because we were famished and every other place was busy. Soon we learned that there was no wait here for a very, very good reason. Or actually, many good reasons.
First, we waited a loooong time for the host to seat us even though he saw us waiting.
After we were seated, we waited a looooong time to order. The bartender-​turned-​server (or the other way around) had no knowledge of the menu. I ordered the broiled cod. Blank look from the bartender/​server (let’s call him B/​S for short). He had no idea what I was talking about, and I had to point it out on the menu so that he could jot it down on his notepad. My husband asked if the grilled swordfish was gluten-​free, and B/​S had no idea what that meant. Instead of asking the chef (like my husband politely requested), he just wrote down the order. At that point, my husband was too hungry to care.
We were seated a few feet from the bar. After my dish was brought out, another server told B/​S that no swordfish was ordered. They were both behind the bar during this exchange, and may I remind you that we heard everything because WE WERE A TABLE AWAY FROM THE BAR. B/​S insisted to the other guy that he put the order in. No, the server says there is no order. Both resume doing what they were doing without bothering to tell us what’s up. EVEN THOUGH WE WERE RIGHT THERE. After giving them 5 minutes, my husband asked B/​S what was going on with his food. B/​S claimed that he didn’t know and would check with the kitchen. He then proceeded to make drinks for the next 10 minutes. RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. This guy clearly had no fucks to give. Finally, he left the bar area and came back telling us that it was the kitchen’s fault and it would be right out. My poor husband’s food came out after I was almost done with my (sad) dinner. His plate was plopped down the table without a word to me (husband had gone to feed the meter since we have been there for so long). After a while, B/​S came to apologize (halfheartedly) and offered him a beer. Too little too late. This kind of service for a $ 50 dinner (no drinks included) is ridiculous.
Lastly, the meal itself was sad. The food looked like microwave dinners. My cod was soggy and very, very salty (and I love salt!). His swordfish had absolutely no taste.
So steer clear. While waiting for my husband’s dinner to arrive, a table behind us just got up and left after waiting a while to put in their order (or, who knows, maybe they heard what happened to us and decided to go).
TL;DR: bad food, worse service, go elsewhere.

Shrimp scampi pizza, lobster mac, grilled shrimp & pizza were all good… not worth making a special trip but good. Service was extremely slow and limited liquors in the bar.

Service is non existent. Food was ok. Drinks are strong. A busser serviced the food. Then we were never checked on. We needed more drinks, napkins, silverware but there was never anyone to ask. I wait of 30 min after my meal for my check. Will not come back.

$ 1.00 per oyster in a half shell and little neck clam on their happy hour is the best! The rest is just fine.

Don’t go here !
Abysmal service. Had to ask for drink refills. Staff very unfriendly and seem bothered to be serving. Is a shame as the upstairs bar has great views.
Don’t waster your $$ here.
Management: Wake up.

I have had dinner here years ago (when it first opened) and it used to be wonderful. It seems to have really gone down hill over the years.
On this visit we did not have dinner here, only lunch twice. Both times the food was only ok at best. I had the kale salad on one visit and the lobster quesadilla the second time. My dining partner had the hamburger both times. The service is SLOW… we actually heard people complaining and watched them leave without ordering because it took so long for a server to come to the table. They also forgot to bring items (salsa that was supposed to come with quesadilla… ketchup for fries) and by the time we finally tracked down the server and received it the food was cold/​almost finished.
The restaurant also seemed dirty and unkempt. When the front of house isn’t clean it makes me worry about the kitchen.
I don’t need to eat there again… Lunch is better at Pepes, which has a nice view of the bay… or Bubalas which has good food and great people watching.

Went for late lunch at a time when it was not busy. The hostess sat us at a table on the back beautiful patio. We were very happy and then no one waited on us… not for a half an hour… nothing. Several waiters walked by us multiple times and no one even acknowledged our presence. We asked the hostess finally when she was walking by to go have a smoke with her friends, if we had a server and she indicated to the server speaking to the next table that we were his. What did he do? Proceeded to go into the restaurant area where we could see him bs-​ing with his buddies. He came over about ten minutes later as we were getting up to walk out. HORRIBLE… makes me wonder how you stay in business. We likely would have dropped $ 200+ for our dining experience… get with it.

Very nice friendly young Russian servers. Go out of their way to make sure everything is ok. BLT roll is great and the fried oysters were fantastic.

Great selection of fresh local seafood. Nice view of the street scene and water from the upper deck. Friendly and helpful service.
Only issue was the $ 1 oyster special did not include the local Mass. oysters (only those from Virginia ???) :-(

Just had a wonderful Seafood Cobb!
Loaded with Shrimp, crab, avocado, bacon, egg & more! Surprisingly delicious!

Very nice spacious room. Some staff friendly. No one ever at the front desk though. Great location. Breakfast was rubbish especially coffee and juice.

Every single time I am in P-​town, I visit Waterford Grill. The food has always been great. The service is notoriously spotty, as many of the servers are more concerned with visiting with each other, and other servers from other establishments that always seem to stop by to chat it up with the Waterford employees.
I usually go for lunch or drinks (not dinner), and most of the tables in the bar area are always what I call «tippy», meaning, they rock back and forth because the legs are uneven, and no one ever seems to address this. We just have to settle for faking-​it-​up with sugar packets.
Neither of the above issues are deal-​killers, but I will tell you what is – food handling issues. The last time I was there (September 2014), the friend I was dining with noticed that the person working the raw bar was not wearing gloves. My friend is a CIA-​certified chef and she just about threw up after finishing her oysters and glancing over to see that the preparer at the raw bar WAS NOT WEARING GLOVES. And not just for a moment or two, but order after order he was preparing with his bare hands.
This was astounding to us, because the raw bar is very much exposed, in plain view from the restaurant and the street. I told our server this information, and he said he would tell the manager on duty because it was not his place to mention this health violation directly to the offending employee. So my friend and I sat back, watching and waiting what would happen.
After about ten minutes, there was no change and we finally just left because we had other plans and needed to move on. Won’t be back — and it’s too bad, too. I will miss that part of my traditional P-​town visits.

Mostly good.
Unfortunately, the food took a long time to come. Our waiter seemed to disappear after the appetizer was served. We had to ask about our food (after lots of waiting and the table next to us that arrive 15 minutes after us being served their dinner) and we also had to ask another waiter for the check so we could leave.
There are plenty of places to have a nice dinner in Ptown… maybe try those first.

First off, the $ 1 oysters simply can’t be beat. Second, the early dinner menu is a remarkable deal at $ 14 for three courses. My mussels over linguini in an Asian sauce were great, and I’m Asian and picky about that stuff. My kids loved their fish and chips, which were much better than we get at other places on the Cape (obviously good cod, but they also serve up french fries that are way better than elsewhere). And the cost for four dinners (not kids meals), 18 oysters, a split of prosecco? Under $ 100 simply because the family dines before 7pm. An incredible price for a great splurge.

Stopped in for lunch. I had the seafood cob salad which was very good. My friend had the fish tacos which were excellent. She really enjoyed them. I tasted them as well as while my dish was very good, I wish I had ordered the fish tacos!

My family and I came here last night, it was our first dinner in P town and we were spoiled! In the midst of a disagreement between my brother and I about dinner, since he insisted on pizza but I wanted some local seafood, we passed by many restaurants that were either too crowded or did not have an eclectic menu. Until we came to The Grille! We were greeted by a smiling waiter, and ushered into a windowside table with an amazing view of the small town. We ordered lobster bake, shrimp scampi pizza, fried calamari, and house salad. All dishes came prompt and everything was freshly prepared and of the highest quality.
They even have coloring pages and crayons for little kids. Definitely a family friendly and charming place to dine.
Good also for couples!

We stopped in to the Waterford on July 5^th after the hurricane on July 4, and I suspect the fact that the entire city was making up for lost time might have a lot to do with our experience. Overall, I think it would be best to break down the visit into categories since things were either delicious or… interesting.
The food: striper for my partner, swordfish for me. Delicious. Well-​cooked fish, decent sized pieces, fresh toppings, and tasty (although kind of crunchy) carrots as one of the sides. Average but kind of dry rice as the other, not overwhelming portions. 4.5 stars, I think.
The servers: stampeding around in a panic. Granted, we were sitting next to the kitchen and the POS, so we probably saw more of that than most. The server who took our order did okay in general, although we did not receive any of the delicious-​looking bread that was sitting at a server’s station right next to us and had been handed out to every other diner in the place. Then we got into it. When we realized we had forgotten to order a skewer of scallops (vacation!) we were told that ordering it at that somewhat-​later time (after he arrived with our drinks) was a big problem because the kitchen was busy. Suspecting that we wouldn’t ever see the things, we decided to pass. I guess that’s okay, but I’ve never really been told that I was causing a problem by paying an additional $ 10 for a side dish before at a restaurant. Another server came by to deliver our food soon after and knocked my full glass of ice water off of our table and directly onto the people sitting at the table next to us. After he scurried away without apology, we sat there awkwardly until our original server came back and my partner offered to wipe up the water with his napkin. The server took over after my partner started the cleanup (first time I’ve had to clean up someone else’s mess at a restaurant), and his napkin was never replaced. We ordered another drink (VACATION!) and finished our dinner before they arrived half an hour later because the bar tender was busy. Once we overheard another server tell the table near us that they were out of everything but ice cream for dessert, we decided to leave. The servers seemed nice enough, but pretty bad at the whole waiting-​tables thing, so, one star.
The manager, or something?: equipped with walkie-​talkie and busy with problems bigger than ours. He sat us without a reservation at what was supposedly the only table available in the place, which I really appreciate, and I later overheard him direct the servers to fix the problems of a lady who waited half an hour and never received appetizers for her table.
Overall, I might give this a try again next time I’m in town based on the food and the fact that the other reviews are good. But as of this writing, I’m pretty disappointed at dropping a hundred plus on the most awkward and ineffectual service I’ve seen in a long, long time.

We went to the seafood grille last night bc we didn’t realize we would need reservations if we wanted to eat at either Fanizzi or the Mews. So when we saw most, but not all tables taken here, we asked to get seated outside.
The service was a little slow at first but the location is great for people watching. They served us some nice bread and butter as we took a look at the menu. I decided the lobster Cobb salad sounded good and my hubby got a burger and fries. Both entrees were done to our liking and generous in size. The Cobb had tons of lobster meat!
The drinks were a little pricy but I felt worth or for the location. I’d surely go again for the salad!

Well this is a fun little place. When you walk by, you are greeted almost every time by a cute host/​hostess dressed in beach-​town professional clean-​cut attire. They welcome you to the East end of town and invite you in for a meal or refreshments.
I am always drawn to this place because of the mannequin positioned on the steps, or seated at a table, usually with a cocktail umbrella on him and a martini in hand. Hysterical!
I attended the opening party for the 2013 summer season, as I have attended many of the other restaurants in town. They were serving up some delicious bites for our eating pleasure, all free of course. Naturally, when one goes to such an event, it is customary to tip your server and indulge in some alcoholic drinks.
I came for dinner on a Sunday night and chose to sit at the bar. I enjoyed the views around me, fire lit floor displays, living beta fish in large martini glass aquariums, and candles all around. The location is perfect for enjoying your meal, drink, and people watching as the masses parade on by.
The clam chowder: the best I’ve ever had. I truly enjoyed how thick and creamy it was, reminding me of a delicious vichyssoise. The pizza was tasty, but if I have to be critical somewhere — it’ll be here — it could have probably used a few more minutes in the oven — to be a little less doughy and perhaps the toppings (spinach) could be cooked with the pizza instead of being sprinkled on top.
As I was sitting at the bar, I got one-​on-​one time with the bartender. I had decided that I wanted to spend the night drinking wine, and had my heart set on Chardonnay. As I ordered my first glass, and was enjoying the crisp flavor, the bartender «Patrick» suggested that I try a higher quality Chardonnay, and offered me a taste of it. SOLD. It had such a vibrant combination of fruits and oak that was exactly what I was craving. Thanks sir!
The pricing is adequate for the luxury of fine dining in Provincetown and the service is well worth the visit. You will enjoy!

Nice place. Takes a while to get seated, but once you do, you can get some decent food. I had a salmon BLT, which was decent (the salmon was good). Prices are not too bad compared to other places in Provincetown.
Also, if you’re on the roof there’s a puppy that comes out on the balcony across the street to say hi.