Cool Water Fusion Restaurant

7−3−15 Went by today and they are closed. Not sure if out of business or relocated. No signs on door and inside is gutted.

If you are planning on buying the Groupon… STOP.
My husband saw the Groupon & it sounded like a great deal. I mean, $ 82 worth of food for $ 27? We even had an extra discount though Groupon… but even the $ 20 we paid is too much for this food.
Oh, where to begin… I will list the negatives in bulleted points (because if you’re like me, you hate reading super long reviews).
{Beer Menu}
*out of most everything
{Appetizer}
*“Crab Cakes” = breading with crab flavor… not sure if any actual crab meat. But, tasted ok.
{Entrées}
*Sirloin Steak
–I guess when the menu says «hand cut», they actually mean they slice it before bringing it to the table. I’m not 5. If they were doing it for presentation, it was a bad choice.
–EXTREMELY chewy. It was a very laborious meal.
–the amount of chimichurri could have totaled 1 thimble-​full. Which was disappointing because, normally, I LOVE chimichurri. This one, not so much.
–lacking flavor
–green beans on side tasted like the microwaved bag kind

*Rainbow Trout
–a «whole trout» indeed. Head still attached. Not my thing, but whatevs.
–very small
–again, where’s the crab meat? A disappointing amount.
–same microwaved green beans
{Wine Menu}
*out of pretty much everything
*I’m not convinced the wines we had were the actual brand. Probably just box wine.
Bottom line, food wasn’t terrible… but definitely not worth what they are claiming. Save your money & go elsewhere.

My friend and I had dinner here this week. She chose the blue corn breaded onion rings (not as good as those at the Pueblo Harvest Café) and red Chile enchiladas. She said her meal was good but nothing outstanding. I had the blue corn breaded fried chicken plate. Very unusual dish but not lacking in good flavor. The garlic mashed potatoes served with it were fairly bland but not bad. The green beans were excellent. We were one of 3 tables that night. Great service.

Good food, terrible service! I called ahead and was told the restaurant was full. I told the woman we had a Living Social deal, and was told ‘you and half of the people in here’ very rudely. I asked when the earliest we could get a table, she said to come in, and she would make it work then HUNG UP on me.
When we arrived the restaurant was nearly empty. The food was good, but there is nothing like service with a smile, which we did not get! We won’t be going back.

We had a great experience with the food and service at this restaurant. The few star reviews I read did not stop me from trying this place out.
From the beginning to when we left, out service was efficient and friendly. The food was an 8.5 from a scale of 1 – 10. Nice to know there are great restaurants in Albuquerque next time we return to visit. will return for another great experience.

I had been excited to try this place… just the name alone sounds interesting but that’s where the excitement ends.
First, I neglected to read the fine print so we were supposed to make a reservation because we had an Amazon Local deal. The waitress/​hostess was kind enough to call the chef to see if we could still eat there because it’s restaurant week. Why this was such a problem I’ll never understand because the place was next to empty. After the tasting the food, I understand why.
The menu is uninteresting. It doesn’t seem to be a fusion of anything. Not sure why it’s called Coolwater Fusion. The food is also overpriced. The portions are nice but the food is literally blah. I ordered the shredded beef enchiladas (beef is in chunks, not shredded) and my partner ordered the crab stuffed trout (three pieces of lump crab meat doesn’t mean stuffed). The rice is boring and the beans are, again, blah. The green beans my partner ordered were way overcooked (floppy). He tried to get me to try them but I refused.
I ordered a margarita (two actually) and should’ve just opted for some juice. Not sure these even had alcohol in them. Luckily my partner had a beer — it’s hard to mess up beer from a bottle.
We also ordered the bread pudding which was nice, but again, nothing to write home about.
The best thing about this place is the service and the live fish tanks.
I wouldn’t even bother using a groupon, living social or amazon local voucher. Do yourself a favor and go grab something at Burger King. It’s guaranteed to have more flavor.

I was surprised when I recently dined at this small restaurant tucked away in a strip mall. I actually found it because I had purchased a Living Social coupon otherwise I would not have found it or considered dining there. My husband and I were in the neighborhood so we decided to stop in and have an early dinner. We were the only two diners there and were asked to move to the bar if we wanted to take advantage of the happy hour prices on our cocktails. We obliged. We ordered dinner and found the food to be flavorful and almost perfect. My spouse and I felt that we would definitely return until we were denied the use of the coupon I purchased because I didn’t have a reservation. Like I said we were the only two people there. We both felt we had very poor service and will not return.

Terrible food. Very dry without any flavor. Selection seems vast on the menu but they were out of many items on a Friday night.
The server seemed very annoyed by the most basic questions about seasons used in entrees and how items were prepared.
The portions were very very tiny and the plating of the food was sloppy and unappealing. Not worth going even if dinner is free.

This is the first time we have tried this place. we happened to come in just before they closed to get ready for dinner and they still seated us. The service and friendliness was very good. and the food tasted pretty good itself. We were very full and the price was about the same as anywhere else. I can see us going back again. Next time not so close to closing time.

Had the green chile cheese burger and steak fries! Great meat and high quality is what brings me back to see Glenn and his crew. Love there beer and happy hr.

Oh, where to start? I was so disappointed by this experience from booking the reservation, to the meal itself. I left 2 voice mails trying to get a reservation booked (I had a living social deal so they require you call 24 hours in advance to book) I received no call back and had to just keep calling for 2 days before someone finally answered the phone stating that they had been really busy and so they weren’t able to take messages, etc. I find that hard to believe since, when we got there for our 7pm reservation we were basically the only people in the restaurant.
The blue corn crusted boneless hot wings were delicious even though I hate boneless wings usually… but that’s where the good stops. My husband’s t-​bone steak (which we had to pay an upgrade fee for) was so chewy, you couldn’t even swallow it. My stuffed trout which was described to me as «de-​boned and stuffed with crab» was NOT de-​boned at all and hardly had any crab (or flavor). I definitely won’t be back.
Our server was pretty good except for toward the end of our date, she was socializing with (what I guess were regulars) and started taking drags off of a customer’s cigarette. Ew… won’t be returning.

My review should technically be more of a 3.5, but Unilocal doesn’t offer half-​stars, and this place is pretty darn good so I’ll round up.
Ambiance is upscale without being stuffy. From what I gather there’s a hopping happy hour here; when we arrived at 6:30 there was a small crowd outside sipping cocktails. Other than that, the interior was empty, and we had the place to ourselves once the happy hour crowd cleared out.
Service was nice, very personable and on top of things. Menu had a nice selection; I liked the blue corn chicken tenders and the blue corn onion rings. Great beer and wine list. Overall, I got the impression that the chef is very deliberate in what he puts on the menu. Speaking of which: the specials. We had the Steelhead and the filet. Both were fantastic, though my steak was a tad over medium-​rare. Still, not a bad cut of meat and wrapped in bacon with a demi-​glacé it wasn’t anything to trifle over.
My only real grip with this place was the music being played over the stereo. It wasn’t the genre (smooth jazz) that bothered me so much as it was The.Exact.Same.Song. Over and over and over again. We were there over an hour and by the time the appetizers came out my ears had picked up the repetition, and it was subtly driving me nuts. I was enjoying the food and experience, but having the track on perpetual repeat was tugging at my sanity.
But don’t let the notion of repetitive music keep you away. Try this place, it’s one of Albuquerque’s better eateries with a nice vibe and carefully crafted dishes.

There is a lot of potential here. Our waitress was sweet, but I was surprised that it was just her and the chef. There is a lot of bussing involved with the cloth napkins and tablecloths and seating and running and… A small place, but a cool vibe.
Food wise, the shredded pork was really good. Once we took off the over-​seasoned salsa, our bruschetta was quite tasty. The mashed potatoes here are so tasty and my green beans were good too. My husband felt like his burger had too much going on. The egg over the pork or the burger with egg with that awesome bun would’ve been much better than both meats and egg. The coating on my fried chicken was interesting but the chicken needed to be brined or something and the coating came off it in one big piece, juicy but bland.
I’ll try it again for happy hour.

Pretty great food
Has a nice kids menu
Great waitstaff
Make sure u call ahead if you have a Groupon
We came out of town and had the spinach artichoke dip which was amazing and the wedge salad with house made blue cheese was amazing
P. S. enchiladas not that amazing but ok :)

Though they weren’t terribly busy for a friday night I was surprised that before 7pm one waiter and the chef (s) were the only ones running the show.
The food was good, very flavorful and proportionally so. The most disappointing thing about our experience was the over priced, yet tasty, spinach/​artichoke dip. The entrees could have been presented better… you ever get a delivered pizza with all the toppings slid to one side… yup! I had the whole stuffed trout and my date had the tilapia. Both were done nicely. But for a place that touts the menu items to be organic and local I can guarantee that both fish came from a farm far away from here. With that knowledge I can only give three stars due to overpriced fare that could be had elsewhere for a third less.

Really awful. Used a Groupon and the waiter was obviously put out when I told him. One other customer at lunch and it took forever for the waiter to bother getting us water, take our order, and eventually schlep it to our table and slam it down with a frown. My salad was about what one would expect from a place that faces the WalMart parking lot — iceberg lettuce and packaged shredded cheddar. Meh… I’m bored just writing this… gotta go take a nap. Won’t be going back.

Not so much sad or angering, but… disappointing. My wife and I have been hardcore fans of this restaurant since the day it opened — unfortunately, our most recent visit did not live up to our many meals here in the past.
We visited for lunch and each ordered dishes we knew we loved, our old standbys: I ordered the Indian Taco, and my wife ordered a Cuban sandwich. We were initially relieved to see that prices had not gone up, but this did not last long. Sides are no longer included with entrée dishes, and corners have been cut with the entrees themselves; these both represent stealth price hikes that left a bad impression on us.
My wife’s sandwich was visibly smaller and narrower than the last time we’d ordered it. It was also very skimpy on the signature mustard that used to gave it a nice, snappy flavor. My own dish (Indian Taco) initially looked unchanged, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. The spicy red sauce that used to cover the entire dish was now relegated to a mere spoonful in each corner of the dish, leaving the majority of the taco flavorless and underwhelming.
I really wish Cool Water had found a way to keep making dishes at their past level of high quality and just gone ahead and raised prices a dollar or two. I work in a service business, and if you try to compete solely based on price, you will often lose — but if you compete on VALUE, you will win.
Cool Water was always a good choice in the past because, even though not very cheap, everything you ordered would be great VALUE: high quality ingredients, perfect portions, elegant presentation, and some bold flavor combinations. We saw none of that on our most recent visit. The drop in quantity and quality is serious enough to call into question our desire to visit the restaurant again, even after years of being loyal customers and trying to spread the word to others.

Terrific! As always! One of my favorite places. Food is always excellent, service is great, and always friendly wait staff. An excellent restaurant for a pleasant evening. We enjoy having a place to go for excellent food and courteous and friendly service. Everything we have tried has been delicious, the blue corn creations are magnificent, the steaks are to die for.
It is difficult to say enought good things about this restuarant.

This place is awesome! All local menus from local products. For ex: the beef is from local farm raised, grass fed cattle. I had the boneless short ribs, and it was very good. My wife had the blue corn crusted chicken, a delight!
You must try blue corn crusted onion rings as an appetizer, it’s an award winning combination. Service was good. Restrooms clean. Music was complimentary to the ambience. Nate was our server and all of his recommendations from the menu to the beer list to the wine menu were right on the money! Nice spot.
We will return!

(4÷28÷11) When my brother said he received a certificate for his birthday for a place he had never tried before, I was excited. I love trying new places with people.
This is located in a small strip mall near a Dos Hermanos and in the large parking area of the Wal Mart. Don’t let that discourage you, the ambiance inside is charming and casual. Perfect for a quaint quiet dinner out.
There were three of us and we comited to each ordering something different so we could all sample. They had a simple menu and offered several daily specials. Between the three of us we ordered the short ribs, blue corn fried chicken with honey chipotle glaze and the shrimp fettuccine. We also decided to start our meal off with the bruchetta of the evening which was an ancho pulled pork with garlic aoli topped with a roasted corn salsa.
The fried chicken was a breast of chicken coated in a well season blend that included blue corn flour. The chicken was moist and the crust well flavored and crispy with or without the honey glaze.
The short ribs were classic comfort food. The rich moist gelatinous texture of long simmered short ribs can be a love/​hate relationship for some. I personally enjoy the texture of well cooked short ribs. The sauce was more rich and homey than I was expecting. With the garlic mashed potatoes and green beans (the starch and veggie of the day) it all worked well.
The pasta with shrimp was quite nice. Flavorful but not overwhelming. The shrimp were not small and prepared well.
We left rather impressed with this new find. A place to get a some ambiance and a good quality meal.
For those who must be «connected» during your meal they do offer free wifi.