Elevated Taste at Waterfront in Downtown Stuart

With 180-degree sweeping views of the St. Lucie River, Waterfront is one of the newest additions to downtown Stuart’s dining scene. The relaxed, casual downstairs outdoor lounge celebrated its first anniversary last month, and a new, elegant upstairs indoor dining room opened in early December 2023. “Ultimately, we wanted to provide a couple of different experiences at one venue,” says co-owner and Stuart resident Derik Shambaugh, who partnered with James Corrigan to open the 12,000-square-foot Waterfront under S&C Restaurant Group. “Downstairs features ginormous Havana chairs with winged backs, couches, 75-inch TVs, and wood-clad walls. Upstairs is more of an elevated experience. It’s chic, modern, and has a Miami-ish feel with more of an intimate setting.”

The upstairs space features blue velvet bucket-seat barstools with chrome frames
and white quartz–top dining tables. A mural painted by a local artist adds a pop of color to the blue, white, and black decor palette. Downstairs, an outdoor dog-friendly lounge offers 175 seats, including 29 barstools, protected from the elements by wind shades. Both levels have VIP areas for private parties and business meetings.

Executive Chef Ron Williams brings experience from the cruise industry, Marriott hotels, and Farmer’s Table to Waterfront’s scratch kitchen, making fresh purees and syrups for cocktails and reductions and demi-glaces for food. The number one–selling cocktail (and Shambaugh’s favorite) is the Peartini, made with pear vodka, fresh lemon, organic pear juice, St-Germain, and a prosecco reduction.

The menu includes American fare and seafood, such as a pan-seared salmon fillet wrapped in prosciutto with a miso glaze that gives the entrée an edge. The Moroccan
Cigars—fried eggrolls stuffed with tender braised beef short rib and smoked Gouda with golden barbecue sauce—are a unique and popular appetizer.

“We wanted to make sure that every single item on the menu had our own unique twist,” Shambaugh says. “The diver scallops is one of my favorite dishes. Ron does it on a nice Parmesan risotto. We create a blood orange reduction, which is the best flavor I’ve ever had.”

Waterfront replaces Mulligan’s, which Shambaugh says he used to frequent for drinks, appetizers—and the view. “When we saw that this building had become available,
it was just a no-brainer,” he says. “It’s the perfect location. It just needed a lot of love.”

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