Water Works Review: Schuylkill-tini, Sunset on the Schuylkill, H20 from Denmark and Mayor Nutter

Last night I had an amazing dinner date with my boyfriend at Water Works Restaurant and Lounge.  It is one of Philadelphia's finest dinning experience with the most romantic settings tucked away behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art right on the Schuylkill River. Water Works also has a lot of history behind it because it is the city's and also the nation's first municipal water delivery systems and there is now a museum depicting the story.


 Valentine's Day was our first time there and we liked it so much we decided to come back. This time there was no special occasion except that I had an Opentable Spotlight Gift Certificate that I needed to use before it expired! We started the night with a toast at the bar.  I had one of the Water Works' signature specialty cocktails, Schuykill-tini.  It was a citrus vodka concoction with a big red Swedish fish candy on the bottom of the glass! 

enjoying a Schuylkill-tini at the bar before dinner

We showed up a little early so we had a drink at the bar before being seated on the terrace outside that overlooked the Schuykill River and Boathouse Row. Next we had a look at the wine and water list. That's right, a fine water list! The water list was longer than the wine list. Last time we were here we just got tap water so we wanted to give something different a try.  We ordered bottled Artesian spring water from Denmark, Iskilde.  It was cold, refreshing and thirst quenching. 

Fine water list at Water Works

To start our meal we both ordered salads.  My boyfriend ordered the traditional Caesar salad and I had the Baby Arugula Salad with pine nuts, goat cheese and watermelon.  It was delicious and a perfect springtime menu item with the refreshing watermelon complementing the bold taste of the goat cheese. 

Baby arugula salad

Next we moved right on to our entrees.  I had the Artic Char which is a pink fish that is cross between a trout and salmon. If you like salmon you will enjoy Artic Char, I did! It was served with a few homemade green olive flavored gnocchi and grilled artichoke hearts. 

Artic Char plated with the skin 

My date ordered the chicken dish, Jidori Chicken, served with truffle fondant potatoes and Vidalia onion jus. I tried a bit from his plate and it was very tasty. Both photos of the entrees don't really do them justice. I think they tasted better than they look here. 

Jidori Chicken entree 

We were mid meal when I looked up and walking towards us was the Honorable Mayor Michael Nutter!  He was kind enough to even stop at our table shake my hand and ask us how our meal was.  The last time that I shook hands with Mayor Nutter was when I was a runner last May at the start of the Broad Street 10 miler run. Mayor Nutter is such a personal guy and having an brief conversations with him during our dinner really made it even more special. He was also seated outside just two tables away with a large party of about eight men.

  

As we continued eating the sun continued to set on the river and we had front row seats. It was so beautiful and if you ask me I think we had the best seats in the house.  I loved our terrace view of Boathouse Row at sunset.  I highly recommend dinning at Water Works if you are looking for a great meal, friendly service and a beautiful setting.  I hope you like it as much as we did. 

Date night at Water Works

pink skies at sunset on the river