Watershed on Ponce

The Watershed on Ponce
4/5

The Watershed is a clean, neat looking restaurant in what I believe used to be a hardware store space. Headed by the Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers, they aim to serve simple food with rich flavors. I had never been before, but an old friend I hadn't seen in a while suggested we meet up for lunch. When I asked my mother what I should get, her response was simple, "Anything." I'd heard this about Watershed's food, with the exception of a one time spider-in-the-watercress sandwich. Laura (my friend) suggested the chicken salad sandwich, and upon seeing it was not only one of the less expensive things on the menu but a white truffle chicken salad sandwich, I went for it.

The chicken salad was fantastic-- well balanced flavors, a nice surprise with golden raisins instead of the currently popular mandarin oranges, and the bread was fresh and tasty. The portion was enormous, and well worth the $9. Had I not been so enamored I couldn't stop munching, I would have been able to make two meals out of it! I would give Watershed a 5/5 simply for that sandwich, but our service was less than exemplary. I used to hesitate to criticize service, but having been a waitress for six plus years I now feel as though I can do so comfortably. Our waitress really didn't seem to care about us, and while I can understand wanting to pay attention to the larger checks, you can get just as little tip off ignoring a small table as well as not garnering more business for the restaurant. We were there for nearly three hours, we hadn't seen each other in six years, and we saw her more often when she was trying to get us off the table that nobody was waiting for than when we were actually eating or requiring refills on our drinks. I ended up leaving her a little extra on the basis that we had taken up valuable table space, but it was grudgingly so since my half was only $12 and we had to ask for refills every time.

The only other complaint I have with Watershed is that they don't serve sweet tea-- they buy in to the Texas mentality that sweet tea is the same as unsweetened tea with sugar or sweet and low.

All in all, I would highly suggest the restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed, but crisp, and surely the entire staff can't be as uncaring as our waitress was.

Edit: They apparently also have a habit of charging the wrong amount to credit cards, so I would suggest cash. I have to go talk to them tomorrow, and when I mentioned it to mom she said the same thing happened to her, but they are good about taking care of it.