Water Street Café
July 13th, 2008 at 11:34pm Cathryn Vaulman
Gerlinde’s Water Street Café
Located across from the Rockford Register Star news tower, Gerlinde’s Water Street Café seemed to us like a little piece of France in Rockford. The quaint patio overlooking a forested view of the River and the international flair of the music have quickly made this one of our favorite lunch spots.
We’ve noticed this café numerous times while parking at the convenient municipal parking lot above at night; however, it’s always been at night when Water Street is not open. They are open for breakfast and lunch, though you can make reservations to eat there for Saturday dinner. On Saturdays, head chef Gerlinde cooks up French delicacies for those willing to pay about $60 per person.
We mostly enjoyed their chicken salad sandwich with a fruit cup on the side. The fresh chicken salad features a perfect blend of white meat chicken salad and grapes, which gives the sandwich a little flair. The fruit salad is similarly fresh.
We also tried the Dutch Potato soup. We are always fans of soup in any flavor, but this Dutch Potato was exceptional. It was much thinner than potato soups often found in the Midwest, but it was equally filling. Another customer favorite is the black bean soup.
As for the café portion of the name, we tried their chai tea and were impressed. To go along with your drink of choice, we suggest you try one of their life-changing muffins. Is “life-changing” a little dramatic? Maybe. But they are all seriously good.
Everything is pretty reasonably priced for the excellent quality and friendly service. Most items are under $10. The next time we go, we’ll be sure to secure a nice table on their patio and try one of the seasonal salads on the list on the board inside.
[Water Street Café is located at 115 N. Water Street. Call them at 815.962.3310.]
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1 Comment Add your own
1. Laura Schweitzer | July 16th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hi, ladies, I’m sorry to say that my two co-workers and I had a much different experience. We visited the Water Street Cafe for the first time yesterday and were sorely disappointed. When we asked if we could order to go, we were told that if we sat down to eat, we would get our food faster than if we got it to go. We sat down and ordered. I didn’t get asked what I wanted to drink; I was automatically brought water. We waited for fifty minutes for our food. Granted, the restaurant was fairly busy, but all we ordered were sandwiches. The waitress had no idea what was going on and constantly huffed, puffed and complained about how busy it was. She never once asked how our food was or if we would like more to drink, and forget about asking if we wanted dessert (no one else checked on us, either). We heard her tell one lady who asked for help that she was too busy to help her. We waited a further forty minutes for our check to be received and processed. Needless to say, we will not be going back to the Water Street Cafe. If you want awesome food for about the same price (cheaper in some cases) with wonderful service and a cool atmosphere, go to Cru or Octane. Don’t bother with the Water Street Cafe.
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