It is hard to find a wonderful seafood restaurant in the heart of the country. When you do find one, the seafood never has that fresh taste or appeal.

Yes, we do have a Red Lobster and a S&P Oyster Company, but do we have anything that even compares to an oceanside restaurant? In the heart of Kirkwood lies a little seafood restaurant where the seafood is always fresh and tasty.

The decor is one that even Jacques Cousteau would be proud of. The place to which I am referring to is The Blue Water Grill.

The Blue Water Grill opened its doors in 1988. Its original location was on Hampton near Interstate Highway 44 in South St. Louis. They moved to their present location at 343 South Kirkwood Road last year. In the almost twelve years that it has been opened The Blue Water Grill has become the seafood standard in St. Louis.

When you enter the restaurant, you have the feeling that you are beside the ocean. This atmosphere adds a nice wonderful touch to the night’s dinning. Reservations are recommended because the tables go quickly. It did take a while past the reservation time to be seated, but the evening was quickly rescued by commendable service.

The dinner began with two appetizers. The first was a Crispy Potato-Wrapped Crab Cake ($6.50), topped with a horseradish cream fraiche. This was truly an excellent version of a familiar favorite. The cream fraiche added the right kick to the crab cake.

The other appetizer was the Seafood Stuffed Red Pepper Ravioli ($6.50). The ravioli were big, stuffed to the brim with all sorts of seafood. A creamy lobster sauce topped off the ravioli. The dish was a little rich, but for an appetizer it was very good. Both of the appetizers were on the smaller side, but plenty for two people.

The Blue Water Grill serves a plateful of three kinds of bread, all fresh baked. The plate includes a jalapeno-corn bread, a baked tortilla and also a white Italian bread. All three were excellent and the vegetable cream cheese accompanied the three breads nicely.

The next course of the meal was the Tossed Green Salad ($3.50), served with the house dressing, an herbal vinaigrette. The house dressing was tasty, but the salad was topped off with an ungodly amount of onion. It ended up being a good salad, if you could pick through the onions.

Every great meal depends on the main course. Everything leading up to the course can be thrown out the window if the main course is not good. The Grilled Salmon with Mango barbecue sauce ($15.95) kept everything in tact.

The dish was wonderfully prepared, and the presentation was top notch. The salmon was fresh and grilled to perfection. It was topped with a chipotle cream fraiche, a spicy sauce with lots of taste. The salmon was served on a mixture of grilled vegetables. Each piece of the salmon was enough to keep you from eating salmon anywhere else.

A different selection of fresh seafood is the special every night. One of the specials that night was the Grilled Mahi Mahi ($17.95) served with Chipotle Chive mashed potatoes.

The Mahi left a little to be desired. It was on the dry side even though it was topped with salsa. It seemed that it was missing a baste of some kind.

In spite of that, it was still good. The mashed potatoes made up for it, though. They were full of flavor and quite original. Besides seafood, The Blue Water Grill offers steak and chicken.

The way to finish off any great meal is with a tasty desert. The Blue Water Grill offers a wide variety of sweet treats including their specialty, the Chocolate Enchilada, a chocolate tortilla stuffed with fresh bananas, strawberries and whipped cream. It is then topped off with a chocolate sauce.

It was an awesome dessert, so make sure to save some room. Another great dessert was the Ginger Pumpkin Bread Pudding. The bread pudding was moist and had the right mixture of ginger and pumpkin.

The Blue Water Grill offers a full bar and a nice wine menu. The dress is semi-casual to fancy. The table service was quick and friendly. The best part was that the waitress timed the delivery of each course with the perfection.

Saint Louis University students are in for a treat upon deciding to head to The Blue Water Grill. The dining experience was one that will have you coming back again and again.

After tasting seafood the way it was meant to be, you will be disappointed if you visit a different seafood restaurant.