Restaurant Review: Waterfront

Mari and I have started a "lunch date" tradition. One day in a week (typically thursday), we'll go out and have lunch somewhere in town. So far we've been to Waterfront, which is the sister restaurant to The Smokehouse Cafe (which we've also visited and have pretty good memories of, nothing outstanding but quite solid) in Mapua. It is pretty much across from the Boatshed (a restaurant no longer frequented by us!) on Wakefield Quay. The views from the dining room overlook Tasman Bay and the Nelson Sailing Club.

They have a pretty good lunch menu and on our two visits we've tried four different dishes. All of them were quite solid and well worth it for the price. On our first visit I tried the chili calamari with potatoes and a summer salad and Mari had the moroccan spiced turbot with a summer salad. The turbot was pan fried and quite delicious, the calamari was tender but not as spicy as I expected it to be. On our next visit Mari tried the nelson bay scallops with fries and a salad and I got a steak and mushrooms with fries. The fries were thick cut and not very good. The scallops were quite excellent with a nice white sauce. The steak and mushrooms were ok, I'm not a major meat eater so can't really evaluate steak very well. I suspect we'll try a few other places the next few weeks before going back there. Its close, quick, good and reasonably priced. What more can I ask?