hidden (to me) vegan gem! blue water has never been on my radar for vegan options but they have plenty. blue water is actually on the water so the view while dining is lovely. there's an upstairs with all indoor seating and lots of windows. the downstairs area is partially covered and opens up to a patio + water view. there are bars both up and downstairs. our server was quick and attentive. though they were busy we received our food very quickly. they have multiple vegan meat substitutes and vegan cheese that you can swap into meals. they also have entrees that are vegan without adjustments. bread is available upon request with entrees and the bread itself is vegan. just make sure you ask for the oil without the cheese. on our first trip we ordered the wild mushroom polenta and the vegan "buttered" cauliflower. one our second trip we ordered the asparagus pizza and the wild mushroom polenta again. they also have a great kids menu. for our daughter we ordered the cavatappi (marinara sauce on the side) and fresh fruit as her side which was an assortments of berries. the asparagus pizza was delicious - pesto, balsamic, and fresh greens on top. the buttered cauliflower was a little undercooked, both the rice and the cauliflower, but the flavors were delicious. the wild mushroom polenta was the star of the show for me with a cashew cream sauce and umami broth. overall a great dining experience and great food. read more

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Blue Water continues to be a family favorite. The menu evolves from time to time, but there are some items that never change like the Blu Bar Eggrolls, the Blue Water Tacos and some of their signature salads. My boys have always loved this place and I do too. In summer, the outside space is perfect for having a relaxing lunch while the interior fireplaces provide comfort on a cold, blustery day. I have not had anything but good service as long as I can remember. They have had several burger options over the years, and all of them have been excellent. This will continue to be one of my favorite places for lunch or dinner. read more

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This place is absolutely gorgeous and has an incredible ambience, AND.. the service is just incredible . We were so happy to have Kelly and and Alisha serving us, Kelly is the bartender and Alicia is a manager ... they were very attentive and cared about our night..... So, the good and the not so good. The good was obviously the ambience and the service that we mentioned earlier ... came on a Friday night and it was very very busy, we sat at the bar, and Kelly was so on point that I was dumbfounded at how detailed she was on making sure that everybody was happy with every tiny bit of their experience. We ordered the Caesar salad and the lobster bisque, which was absolutely delicious and perfect.... The main course was the ribeye , 10 oz and it was quite large and shareable with a delicious sauce. However, the steak was literally cold and so was the sauce. The vegetables unfortunately were actually crunchy.. I love a tender crisp vegetable, but this was literally crunchy in the ears and cold in the middle.. Alicia sent our steak back & made sure it was warm & cooked, but the veggies were still crunchy ( sauce was finally warm and very delicious). Literally this restaurant needs one tiny tweak to be a five star dining experience.... It is too bad that they can't get it right! But the staff and managers do the very best they can to make sure that you have a wonderful night, and I couldn't give less than four stars because of them. And I have to mention that the cocktails were really delicious ... I had lemon drop, and it was strong and perfectly tart with a sugar rim ... Way to go ladies! read more

Very good food. Lovely lake view. The place is busy on a Friday night but the server was attentive and the food came out pretty quickly.

My friend and I loved the fish pond at the entrance, the fireplace inside and the view of the lake! It felt like we were dining at a fancy getaway. We went on a weekend, called ahead, and were seated right away. We both got pizzas mine was the breakfast pizza and she built her own vegan pizza. The pizza tasted great, but was a little hard around the edges so I wasn't able to finish it. I'm not sure if all their pizzas are like this but both mine and my friend's were hard. We will probably try a different menu item next time. Sipping drinks and eating with the lake view was an amazing experience and I can't wait to go back to sit outside when it's warmer! read more

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First of all, our waitress Sara B. was so sweet and professional, she did a great job! Visiting the area for a few days and came here with my mom for dinner. I'm so glad we did!! Sorry, phone didn't eat first, but I wish I took some pictures! Haha For appetizers, we ordered the bruschetta (if you're a fan, don't pass it up!!) and we got the whitefish spread, also very good! We both got the mahi mahi tacos with corn tortillas. You have to assemble your tacos which was kinda odd (makes it feel like a fajita kinda meal) but the taco was still very good, flavor was great, and mahi was tender and juicy! Easily made 3 tacos out of it all. Restaurant was quiet enough to have a normal conversation, isn't cramped, big windows to let in plenty of natural of light. read more

Yesterday I had lunch with my husband, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter at Blue Water. We sat outside with a great view of Versluis Lake. The food was delicious--I had the Zucchini Noodle Pasta and I would definitely order it again. My granddaughter enjoyed a generous kids portion of the Mac & Cheese with sides of carrots & cucumbers as well as the Fresh Berries. I had a bite of the Mac & Cheese and completely understood why she liked it. Everyone else enjoyed their meals of Ahi Tuna Salad and Frisée Pear Salad. Our waitress, Emily was very friendly, polite, helpful and efficient. I would recommend Blue Water for anyone and I know I'll be going back!! read more

Our table had a great view of the water. We had a great server and the food was delicious!

Another wonderful lunch with the Bloody Mary Bar. Tyler was amazing waiting on us. Thank you. read more

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Went spur of the moment in the late afternoon with group of seven. They were able to seat us pretty quick but half the chairs are high tops so we had to wait a few minutes for a normal table. Service was good. Food was tasty. Four of our party got salads of some type and they all thought they were good. I got the beer brat cassoulet which was very average - it was a little light on the brat content and smothered in a dijon mayo sauce that was way too strong for my taste. read more

Blue Water - Ahi Tuna Salad* - Seafood Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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Horrible service at the bar. Bartenders were too busy talking to one another and on their phone. I always enjoyed this place but won't be back. Waited forever to get drinks and could never get their attention to order food. It wasn't busy at all. Unfortunate. read more

We came here for my birthday dinner. Wanted something near water with outside dining. We ate on the lower patio - beautiful little space. Service was very friendly (once our waitress knew we were in her section, everything went swimmingly). We came during happy hour, right before the start of people coming for dinner, so our food came out VERY quickly. Both of us were happy with our dishes. The fish tacos are build your own, and you get a great portion of each item. My spicy cucumber margarita was great - fresh sliced jalapeños in it were just the right amount of heat. Peanut butter pie was rich & delicious. My gran enjoyed her walleye; she'd asked for the chile butter to be in the side (can't do spicy) and they accommodated her. Definitely a nice treat! read more

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My friend and I meet up once a month for dinner and try to go to different places. Blue Water is on our rotating list of defaults that we usually circle back to. Service at our table was fantastic and I loved my meal. Gluten-free options clearly labeled on the menu. They don't take reservations for parties smaller than 5, but you can call ahead 30 minutes before. Called at 5:00 for a 5:30 dinner on Friday and they said they were not doing call ahead because there was no wait. Walking in, there were 7-8 people waiting for a table. I went to the host stand and they said it would be a 25 minute wait for a table for 2. We opted to sit in front of the fireplace to catch up and the time flew by. Got on the waitlist at 5:33 PM with a text from Toast with a link to to track you place in line. Our table was ready about 20 min later. We were seated at the half bench half chairs tables by the bar. Our table was close to the ones next to us but I appreciate that they put us at a 4 top for the extra space versus trying to split the tables and cram another party of 2. The overall ambiance is loud because everyone is talking, but I surprisingly had no trouble hearing and conversing with my friend across the table. Our server came over right away and introduced herself and took our drink orders. I was starving so I ordered a bowl of the Butternut Squash soup on the Features menu thinking it would come on quickly and it did. Creamy delicious and satisfying. I ordered the Ahi Tuna Salad. I try to eat low sodium so I liked how simple the tuna was. The tuna was seared perfectly and the salad was not overly dressed. I ate every single bite! Our server checked in on us regularly despite clearly being busy. Our food was brought out to us by a manager (?) who wasn't in dressed in server uniform. He also came by later in the meal to see how things were. Bonus points for makitable touches! read more

Food was FANTASTIC and came out very quickly. Everything was GREAT. Super quick service.

The food was so good and my burger was amazing. Especially with a fried egg. The scenery was amazing. You could look out onto a lake from our table and the koi pond was magical. Our server Tyler was also amazing. He was very kind and treated us fast and well. 5 stars! read more

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I was told to send my address to their customer service regarding my online order that was very bad. I did that. I sent it as soon as I saw the comment. I just want to say: no response. None . Zero. Why ask me to send it and then not respond ? Just wrong. read more

Great service and our food was excellent! We ordered the egg rolls for an app, pork chop with peach sauce, and salmon with a delicious pepperdew glacé. The atmosphere is very pleasant with nice views of the lake. read more

Blue Water - Faroe Island Salmon* (GF) Grilled Peach Pork Chop - Seafood Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

All the food I've ever ordered over the years has always been good and with my food allergies, they are respectful, knowledgeable and cautious so they are a safe place to eat!! read more

Incredible service and food. We had a party of 8 that was handled flawlessly! Live music was not too loud and great song choices. Couldn't have had a better experience. read more

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I hate everything Gilmore! This company is absolute trash and can't run a successful restaurant. They're so desperate to be portrayed as fine dining yet serve McDonald's with a side of glitter to try to make you feel special. All of their "great" reviews are all paid for to promote their sorry excuse for fine dining establishments. Blue water was nasty, everything tasted fishy and undercooked. My husband decided to get a pizza and that was also undercooked because he was chewing dough as if it were gum for half the night. Don't get me started on the service and management. HORRIBLE! Waited for over an hour for drinks and then another hour just to put our order in. Mind y'all this was on a Monday evening around 4pm. We didn't leave till around 9pm because that's how long it took for everything else to get to us including our bill. Damn near could've clocked into that place and made some money since we were there just as long as the servers. The ambiance was also horrible. Yeah the view of the river was nice but the restaurant itself was like being in an outhouse. It stunk like urinal cakes is how my husband liked to put it. Never will I be going back to a Gilmore owned establishment and especially not blue water outhouse when I can just go to real fine dining at red lobster. At least they have a real seafood boil thats worth every penny unlike blu cheese grill! read more

Bloody Mary was very watered down with very little taste. for a restaurant that advertises their Bloody Mary bar on weekends, I had hoped that the drink I ordered at dinner would be excellent. there was no spice, slight tomato juice flavor - the drink was pink in color, not red. I ordered beef tenderloin medium rare. whss as T I was served was medium well - no pink in the middle and quite dry. while the flavor was ok, the dry texture ruined the experience. we have frequented the Gilmore Group restaurants for years but I will not be returning to Blue Water nor recommending it to anyone read more

The customer service is just absolutely horrible. They have no respect for people's time, or how to talk to customers. The food is okay for the value. read more

Good time good food and the atmosphere and friendly staff made date night memorable we'll be back and almost guarantee we'll enjoy it!

This restaurant was just not my cup of tea but it was a nice restaurant, excellent staff, and varieties of food choices but I wasn't feeling well and it affected my being there and quickly leaving the premises. I promise to give this restaurant a chance. I promise. read more

It's been years since I last went to Blue Water, so I was excited to check out their brunch recently for a friend's birthday. We arrived right when they opened at 11 am on a Sunday and were seated near the fireplace. The brunch menu was small but had a couple sweet items, some savory dishes, and several different types of mimosas. Most of our group opted for the bloody Mary bar, which is one of the best I've seen in town! For $10 we each got a glass rimmed with spicy salt and Tito's vodka and a little wooden boat to fill up with garnishes. There were tons of different mixes, spices, lots and lots of pickled things, sausage, pepperoni, shrimp, cheese, olives, veggies, an impressive array of hot sauces, and finally, two baskets full of bacon. I loaded up my tray and was so happy. I would 100% come back during brunch just for this bloody Mary bar. Our food came out pretty quickly even though they were super packed by the time we left. I ordered the mahi mahi tacos as I'd read a lot of great reviews about them. The presentation was nice and I really liked the addition of the mixed greens. It was plenty of food, enough to make three tacos stuffed full. Nate got the mushroom scramble which he enjoyed. I particularly like the type of breakfast potatoes they serve. We saw another table got the breakfast pizza, which looked really good and enough to share between two people, so I'm looking forward to coming back for that and another bloody Mary soon. Definitely make a reservation if you can! read more

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Found this place when we had some friends in town who are vegan. They loved everything they got and raved about how good the vegan food was (vegan pizza and vegan chicken sandwich). My wife and i split the egg rolls and the elote salad. Both were very good and the dressing on the salad is something I wish I could replicate at home. We sat outside on a fall day that had summer like weather. The view of the lake I amazing. Service was a little slow seemed understaffed like everywhere these days so no fault of the server just allowed us to enjoy another beer. read more

My wife and I wanted a nicer date night so we gave Blue Water a try. It's one of those places in town where you see people in suits/dresses or sweat pants and hats. It's not a fancy restaurant but some people treat it like it is. The hostess stand area was absolute chaos with people standing everywhere, takeout orders trying to be paid for, and servers cutting through the area with trays full of food. We were told it would be 30 minutes for a table outside so we went to the downstairs bar to have a drink and appetizer from the happy hour menu. It's kinda confusing to have another dining room and bar downstairs because you either walk back out the front door and go around or sneak through the entire dining room to find the right door to get downstairs. After ordering downstairs, we got a text that our table was ready after only 5 minutes. Can't complain about the time being so fast but they weren't even close so we felt bad telling the bartender we actually couldn't stay. He made sure our appetizer would make its way to our table. I ordered the New York Strip Steak and it was average at best. The size of the cut was massive but it was pretty flavorless and tough to chew. The vegetables underneath the steak weren't bad but somewhat cold. My wife enjoyed the tacos and the portions were large. I tried to use the check in deal for a free dessert but after you check in to use it, it then tells you that you can't use it on Friday or Saturday, which was annoying. We still ordered dessert and it was the highlight of our dinner. Overall, too many good restaurants in town to come back. read more

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First time here - the food was delicious! Very unique side dishes that paired perfectly with the entree'. Will definitely go again!

Delicious sausage goat cheese pizza!!! Excellent service..... happy hour starts at 2 pm $5 house wine need to add light beer choices on happy hour menu perfect view from dining room read more

Blue Water - Sausage goat cheese pizza!!!!! - Seafood Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

It was a great experience. Everything was tasty. Lobster Bisque ordered a bowl and came out same time as my meal and was a cup. Beer was good the egg rolls were good not great and the pork chop was the same all in all a good family friendly bar restaurant. read more

Love Blue Water for its ambiance, service, great food, and drinks. Awesome staff! No reservations is the only downside read more

Went to Blue Water tonight for the first time. Honestly a kind of picky eater and most of the food was not my thing. Had the Blue Burger and it was amazing. Atmosphere was great. Most impressive was our service with Nate. Top notch, truly. He was very appropriately attentive, meaning it wasn't too much or too little and he was quick. Very professionally down to earth and friendly. Great personality. His type of service is what would draw me back there. Well done sir. read more

Beautiful setting, friendly staff. Delicious food and nice drink menu. Food is fresh. Love the goat cheese pizza read more

Blue Water - Blue water menu - Seafood Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Service and ambiance were very good as usual, but my fish tacos were a colossal disappointment. Little (1/2") square chunks of fish -- it was a $20+ "build your own" from a combination of uninspired Tex-Mex "off the line" accompaniments. The fish was barely recognizable as fish and very over seasoned. Impossible to recognize what kind of fish it was. Do not recommend ordering this "featured" dish on the menu. read more

The view was gorgeous- great customer service. The food was ok, but the prices were ridiculous (especially to drinks) I had the Brussel sprouts which were delicious. I didn't enjoy the salmon salad nor the kale salad. The Kale salad was sickly sweet- read more

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Blue water never disappoints. We prefer the chefs table (being retired food service workers). Winedown Wednesday Tuna appetizer Sausage Goat cheese pizza Excellent dinner and a show! read more

Blue Water has been one of our favorite places to dine for a long time. We went this past Saturday for dinner and don't think we'll be back for awhile. Rib eye steak was thin and flavorless. I know beef prices are high but for $40 you still expect a fairly decent cut of meat. Chicken sandwiches sounded awesome, but underwhelming. Burger was ok. Surprised and disappointed that the Gilmore Collection would impose a Wage Recovery fee on its customers. Seems like a money grab. read more

Robin was a wonderful host! She got us a great table outside and was so accommodating to our table when we had any needs. Jojo was our server, and she was so wonderful! She always came to check on us and made sure everything was how we ordered it. Would definitely come back to Blue Water for these two ladies! read more

The location of Bluewater is an absolute gem, it has plenty of outside seating with a Lakeview. The menu is not overwhelming and very focused. Which leads to quality food. The service was, I would say a little off. We had to ask about the happy hour special. It was not suggested to us. We had to wait quite a while for someone to come to the table. Otherwise it's a great stop for dinner or lunch. read more

The Steak Eggrolls were delicious, I got the goat cheese stuffed chicken for dinner and it was amazing just very small portions for the price and mashed potatoes that were lukewarm at best. Our server was amazing. Raspberry sorbet for desert which was also very good. Overall it was a great experience. read more