Last Saturday I met up with friends and took a ride on the Moondance, the catamaran excursion docked behind Shanghai Reds. The ride was great but, as it was a gorgeous afternoon, way too short.
We hung out afterward around the outdoor patio talking about where to go to eat (Shanghai Reds provides only a minimalist menu on its outdoor patio), and it dawned on us that between Harry’s Harbour Place Restaurant about 5 miles north and Hoak’s or Root 5 Restaurant about 10 miles south, there were no other waterfront restaurants that we could name. Marco’s on the West Side and Santasiero’s on Niagara Street might have a view of the water but for the elevated Niagara Thruway’s concrete and incessant noise blocking it off. [A Thruway right along the river. We have Robert Moses to thank for that.] And Dock at the Bay (and all its previous incarnations) is so inaccessible that no one goes there, with the expected resulting frequent turnover. Besides, the reviews are always bad.
I can’t imagine anyplace else in the U.S. where there would not be waterfront restaurants every few hundred yards apart. In Buffalo, the waterfront is practically undevelopable because of past sins.
After an hour of debating we ended up eating at the Greyside Grill in West Seneca, and watched Tiger Woods on TV instead of the sunset on the lake.
My comments on Canal Side notwithstanding, it is painful that even on the most beautiful of summer evenings, we do not have a vibrant waterfront.
BuffaloBloodDonor 
The only way anyything will change is if our so-called selfserving politicos are dumped. It is unconsciencable that most WNY residents don’t vote or question/challange. Can’t blame them though. I f anyone tries to uncover the truth about anything, they run up against a stone wall. This goes up from local town government, city, state and federal.
It wll come out little by little, but in the meantime the power brokers are getting fatter and the regular folk are suffering. Let’s keep trying. Go to your web sites and pull up anything that can uncover what we all know. Let’s make those responsible for actions that hurt rather help their constituants. Let’s at least make them less arrogant.