Queenseyes reported on The Waterline back on May 10th, and today we had a chance to get there for lunch. Located at 50 Lakefront Boulevard inside the Waterfront Village office building, it was a little hard to find because I came in the back way. I could see people sitting at tables and eating, I just wasn't sure where the food was coming from, so I asked a table of lunchers and they pointed the way. For reference, the quickest door to the restaurant is on the east-facing side, looking at the lot off of Lakefront Drive.
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Enough logistics; let's talk about the food, which is excellent. I had a Crab Cake BLT and a fresh squeezed lemonade. It was a perfect summer lunch, served with baby field greens and a "scrumption," which was a peanut butter cookie with a peanut butter chip smack in the middle.
Queenseyes had a tuna salad on whole grain bread with kettle chips and a pickle. Unlike WBFO Studio B, which we had just left, there wasn't much talking at lunch due to the quality of the food.
One of the nicest things (other than the food, the view and the nice people you run into) is that you have 3 options of where to sit at the Waterline. You can sit inside the restaurant proper, out on the glass roofed deck (with patio doors thrown wide open), or outside in the courtyard. We opted for outside on this beautiful day, and were given a small table stand with a number on it to carry with us. Our wonderful waiter, Charles, found us and delivered our plates, then made a second trip when we talked him out of a few more cookies.
We ran into Alan Bedenko (BuffaloPundit), whose law offices are upstairs in Waterfront Village. According to his Twitter account, he's happy to have the Waterline replace the "smelly deli" that was there. We also got a chance to speak to local writer Jana Eisenberg, who also works in the building for Synacor (more on that interesting business later). Another woman came over and introduced herself, saying that she has lived in the Northtowns all her life but now works downtown. She said her office has a Waterline-catered lunch twice per month, and she thanked us for Buffalo Rising, saying it was her introduction to downtown. Sweet - we didn't need dessert after that.
One more nice surprise we had was the pleasure of running into artisans Anne Bliss, Chary Robbins Michelle Hoff, Ann Peterson and a display of Avalon Scarves by Paul Morgan (but no Paul!) all set up in the lobby as day two of their roving jewelry and gift collective. How much fun is that?
So lunch turned into much more, and we would have stayed and chatted and worked all day, but the WiFi was spotty for me on the patio, and I went back to work, reluctantly.
It's no wonder The Waterline is a hit, and sure to be a lunch hangout for us, being so close by. I imagine the indoor patio will be great in the winter too, when I need a dose of sunshine without the rest of the elements. I can't wait to go back and sample more of the menu...and see who else I can run into. Isn't that half the fun of taking lunch downtown?
Be sure to check out The Waterline's menu online and go have yourself a very fresh, reasonably priced lunch in a great setting. Owner Jason Davidson, co-owner of Fables at the Central Library, has made this simple office building nook a destination deli we and a lot of other people are happy to give our stamp of approval to. Kudos, Jason!
Awesome! I'll have to stop by soon!