The Pump House

Brunch was great. Food atmosphere and service were all fantastic and well worth it.

Every person we interacted with was extremely friendly, the service was great and food was delicious

Great atmosphere. Service was truly excellent. Food tasted great. Small portions were disappointing though. Main entre meat was fine normal expected amount but the sides it came with were tiny. You really have to order an additional side.

Our server was awesome and I made sure she was well taken care of. Unfortunately my dinner was ruined by having my filet prepared wrong twice. I order a well done steak, yes well done. The first one came out rare, they were gracious and took it back. My wife ate her dinner and the second steak came out, medium rare. Not sure how you can mess up a well done steak twice. The managers were great, tried to help, apologized and took it off the bill. That's fine but all I really wanted was to eat dinner with my wife. Our server was great, not her fault. Just disappointed, preparing a well done filet isn't difficult, just takes attention and knowing the temp. Sending out a rare, then a medium rare made it seem like they didn't care. Just my thoughts.

Great night and experience from start to finish.

First, we made a reservation. We did not wait at all. However, we were taken to our table in the private dining area. It is a small room with glass windows that overlook the river, and main dining area. We were seated up against a plain white wall, in a corner, away from the windows, and at the doorway to the room, where all the wait staff entered, roughly 100 times or more during our meal. When we voiced our displeasure with our table, the hostess apologized, and told us our lack of ambiance would be made up by our fabulous waitress. She said she was the best they had. Well, she was decent—but let us know she’d only been there for about 4 weeks. Everything we ordered was her favorite. And the beer, she didn’t know about—she brought in another waiter, with more experience. The food was very good.

Afterwards, we both needed to use the restroom. None on our floor. So, we took the elevator to the rooftop bar. Behold! Windows and balconies overlooking the water in all directions. A great looking bar. And an atmosphere the most diners would really appreciate. Oh, and an upbeat manager who welcomed us, had some fun, and was truly engaged with his work.

A sandwich board advertised “Dining with a Unique View.” True, we stared at a plain white wall, and the rest of the diners in the firehall like atmosphere.

Do better, folks. $130 for two shouldn’t leave you feeling that disappointed.

We have many times...took friends this time...Nicole was excellant and so was Michael. Thank you for a great evening out!

Nicole our server and the mgr were exceptionally nice and professional.

Sat outside on a chilly day for lunch with friends from out of town, stayed perfectly warm with the heaters going and had a wonderful meal. The service is always top-notch!

A truly outstanding evening! We went with friends and everyone was impressed...the food was spectacular, the staff couldn't have been better and the ambiance was excellent. We couldn't find anything that needed improvement. We will be back.

The entire experience was exceptional! Our server, Mathew, was delightful. The food was not only delicious, but it was also gorgeous. It was so nice to look out the window at the peaceful movement of the river water as we enjoyed our meal. We will be back!

Excellent view/atmosphere/service. Very solid main course, desserts were not as good as the entree but I don’t consider that a problem.

The $60.00 per person menu was a bit too pricey given the options on the menu. Besides that, we had a great night.

This a beautiful restaurant but the service was not good at all. I received my appetizer and I waited an hour for my entree and no one checked on me and my company to see how we were doing and they did not update us on our food or anything. The waitress was not knowledgeable about the menu.

Went for Valentine’s Day which they had a special menu for at $60 per person. Considering how much that price tag included I don’t think it was a terrible price however I would say this restaurant is generally a bit overpriced. With that said, I love the restaurant’s feel, look, and ambiance. It is a big added bonus that it is secluded to itself right on the beautiful little lake. Truly the definition of a “cute” restaurant. Not overly fancy by any means yet elegance is not lacking one bit, I really found the restaurant lovely. They even gave each of us a complimentary glass of champagne for a toast to the evening. As for food, I felt our appetizer of Ahi Tuna Tartare was good definitely but nothing special at all. Felt the same way about the dessert. The great news is that the stars of the night, our main courses, were absolutely delicious. I had the duck with mushroom risotto which I was a bit hesitant on but the duck literally changed my life, it was one of the more delicious meats I have had in a long long time. My lady got the filet and shrimp and the steak was fantastic. Quite rare towards the center which we loved. The entrees really were the highlight along with a few fantastic drinks we enjoyed as well. Great experience overall and will definitely return to Pump House for its atmosphere and some good meat.

Amazing. Anna was most delightful.

We visited on Valentine's Day. This place was certainly prepared for the day. We waited in the rooftop bar since we were early, and they came to get us right on time. Our table was ready, our waiter Allen was spot on with his service. The food was excellent! We will go back soon.

Highly disappointed. The food was mediocre, over priced, and the staff was far from accommodating. Had to wait for a meal to be recooked so the other got cold. Went to celebrate a birthday and there was no acknowledgement for it. The birthday guest did not enjoy the experience. No apologies and paid full price despite inconvenience they caused. Also was not told by open table that they only had a prix fixe meal the night of our reseveration, so we ended up stuck paying a lot more and not having the options we wanted. I wish we went somewhere else for the birthday.

Absolutely love this place. Service was a bit slow but I know it was busy because of Valentines Day. I was a little disappointed that my wife did not receive a rose when every other female got one on the way in but that’s ok. The food was really good and this is our second year in a row going for Valentine’s Day. We will definitely be back.

We were disappointed with the Valentine menu offering. The sauce on the filet was bitter and did not add value nor taste.

After having been to the Pump Room, and always had amazing meals, I visited the Pump House on Valentines evening, for a meal with my girlfriend. The meal was a prix fixe meal, and it was offered at $60/person. The choices were very limited (5 or 6 entrees), and the appetizer was burnt, and with the meal all of the rice dishes were too salty, and finally, the duck breast was bland, lacked character, and did not have a distinguishing flavor of it's own.
I called the manager over to my table, and while he was apologetic, he did nothing for us at all. In fact, I suggested that he immediately go into the kitchen and check out the rice, and the appetizers, and if he bothered to do this, he never came back to our table to give us an acknowledgement. It seems to me that when you end up spending $200 for a meal on a special occasion, the restaurant really needs to deliver, and it's very unfortunate that the Pump House failed to do this in every possible way.
While I'm inclined to give them another chance to prove themselves, I've seen no evidence that they care enough, to bother to correct the problems, or treat their patrons properly. For the foreseeable future, I'm staying away.

Catawba River View, Delicious Food and Unique Building History

Limited Valentine’s Day menu was nice because it allowed very quick service. The rose for ladies and automatic small glass of champagne for all of age were nice touches. Service was good and food was very good - excellent flavors - with the only exception being that one of the oysters seemed over cooked (very chewy). They were also “out” of one of the two dessert options by 5:45P, but they were able to offer us a different option so not a big deal. Tables seemed far too close together for having reserved a table in the “private dining area”. Dinner was set price $60/person (not including drinks except the champagne) which seems overpriced for what it was. We wouldn’t do it again for that price but $35-$40/person or even $40-$50/person with fewer tables in the room and we’d be back. Difficult to say if price point is typical or just due to Valentine’s Day. It was very good, but we can do as well or better going closer to Charlotte at a lower price point.

My wife & I had heard about the Pump House and decide to try it out on Valentines Day. It was beyond our expectations. We were somewhat shocked at the prices, thinking they would be very high only to find out just how reasonable they were. The food was delicious and very satisfying. Now the waiter (Joey) was very professional and one of the best waiters we had ever had.
We look forward to our next visit.

Great service. Always a good experience. Will go back

The atmosphere and unique location of the Pump House makes it a special place to take out of town guests. The waiters are always attentive, helpful, and extremely service oriented. The food is good although generally uninspired. For example, the fried green tomatoes appetizer has the right crunch but it's not seasoned much at all. The ahi tuna, although sushi style, which we usually love, was not appropriately seared. The tuna was very red in the center, when it should have been pink, and the taste again, was pretty bland. (Compare Pump House's ahi tuna salad with the delicious ahi tuna salad at, say, 131 Main.) I would like to see the kitchen take a few more risks and really experiment with preparing food with stronger, more interesting flavors and not depend on the sauces and sides to spice things up. Still a nice very place to go. Love their fried chicken sandwich marinated in sweet tea. Very juicy and cooked perfectly.

Super friendly staff and really nice atmosphere. It was really busy the day we went, which I don’t think is the norm. We did have a reservation so we got a seat right away, but it took a very long time for someone to get our drinks and orders. But the food was amazing and everything else was splendind!

Had a RSVP for 7:45 pm , we arrived at 7:20pm. Checked in with the hostess, said they were running a little behind , help yourself to the bar and we will seat you shortly. We were seated an hour later and food wasn’t served until 9:00pm. Manager wasn’t very apologetic- very slow service- nice atmosphere but do not go here if you don’t have a few hours to spare. I will not waste another $150 bucks at this establishment!

We had excellent Food and Service. Manager spoke to and checked on our food and service,

I had an exceptional experience at The Pump House. There was a slight delay in greeting upon entry of the establishment however the continued customer service was awesome and friendly.

Can’t wait to go back I had a wonderful experience my server Sarah was the best she helped us with the menu and everything was delicious

Second trip to the pump house
Great experience and great service

Had a wonderful time. My first time there and definitely will be back even though I live in Salisbury.

One minor complaint. We had read about the 1/2 price Happy Hours drinks and were looking forward to that.

We got there but the rooftop had a private party so we sat in the Restaurant on the outside patio area.

We expected to still be able to get that deal since it was not our fault that we could not sit up there. We were informed that we could not but that we could move to the little bar area inside and still get the deal but we opted to stay put. This made no sense to me but it did not ruin our evening.

Unique setting. Good food & drinks. Excellent service.

A Local favorite! Always consistent, love the roof top but sat outside dining room, completely covered, with heaters and cozy with a view of the River. It keeps calling us back!

It was a first time visit for my date. Zachary made the visit and atmosphere definitely enjoyable. He was extremely attentive and polite! Well done, Zachary for making the first time experience for my my date memorable!

Celebrated our anniversary with wife and her mother. Staff were very courteous. Brought out champagne and small dessert at end of meal. Sign card from staff was the best! Will be back for spring/summer at the rooftop and other special occasions.

Seated next to a large group having a party. Very loud. Terrible. Was subsequently moved to a quieter location on lower floor. You need separate room for parties and if you do and are booked don’t accept more party groups at the expense of everyone else. You sell ambience in addition to good food. Good food doesn’t matter if it is so loud you can’t hear yourself chew.

Never disappointed with The Pump House! Great food, drinks and service every time!

Great view, great service, great food! Will definitely be back!