Watercress at Bridge Street

I had a birthday last Wednesday, and Grandma took Smalls and me out to lunch. Because it was a special occasion, and because I needed to spend the gift certificate to Anthropologie that Grandma gave me RIGHT THIS INSTANT, I chose Watercress. Watercress is an upscale restaurant in Bridge Street, down near the Monaco movie theater. Beardy and I have been to their former location in a converted house downtown, but this was my first visit to the one at Bridge Street.

This is not somewhere I'd take Smalls for dinner, and I only chose it for lunch because it was a special occasion. The other clientele were people having business lunches, and there were no other kids. Smalls was incredibly good; the only unnecessary noise she made was RAWR-ing a little too loud when she was pretending to be a dinosaur, and she dialed it down when I told her to. And she put her napkin on her head a lot, but that didn't make any noise.

Quiet, napkiny hijinks.

If you do want to try Watercress, and want to brave it with the kids, go at lunch (or Sunday brunch), and look at the sides menu for more kid-friendly food. I packed Smalls a lunch and ordered her a side of pommes frites, which she liked a lot, of course. Pommes frites just sound better than french fries, don't they? She also ate the broccoli that I snuck onto her plate. The lunch prices are also more reasonable than the dinner prices. You can view the dinner menu here and the lunch one here.

Grandma got the shrimp and grits (mini review: the shrimp and grits at the Classic on Noble in Anniston is better), and I got fried catfish on a cornmeal pancake (looked almost as weird as it sounds, but tasted pretty good). If only they had kept that catfish bites appetizer they had downtown. Beardy and I TOLD the chef not to take them off the menu, but maybe they didn't listen to the ramblings of patrons who may have had a little too much wine.

I like Watercress, and I don't like giving it low ratings. Remember that these ratings are for those times when you have your kids with you. If this blog was for upscale restaurants to go to without kids, I'd give it much higher ratings.

Toddler friendliness ratings
Atmosphere: 2 out of 5 booster seats. Our waitress was really nice to Smalls, Grandma, and me at lunch, and she even poured Smalls' water straight from her pitcher into Smalls' sippy cup, and that impressed me for some reason, but it's just not set up for kids.
Food: 2.5 out of 5 booster seats. No kids' menu, and it's pricey, so if your kid doesn't like their fancy grilled cheese and tomato soup, you're out $10.

Lunch: Monday-Saturday 11:00 AM-5:00 PM
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 3:00 PM-Close
Sunday brunch: Sunday 11:00 AM-3:30 PM (Closed for dinner Sunday)
There's also a happy hour Monday-Saturday 3:30 PM-6:30 PM. The bar looks small but classy, so find a babysitter and try it out.

Watercress
365 The Bridge Street NW, Suite 125, Huntsville, AL 35806
(256) 585-3265
http://www.watercresshsv.com