A beginning nobody photographed
The 1930s. The Brno Reservoir is brand new – it will be finished in 1940, but people start gathering by the water while it is still being built. Families from Brno ride the tram to the end of the line to look at the huge lake growing between the hills. And where there are people, there has to be food.
The first refreshments by the reservoir were not a restaurant. It was a wooden hut with a tap and a sausage in a roll. Nothing fancy, nothing elegant. But the feeling – sitting by the water with a beer, watching the surface – was already there. And it is still here today.
The war and what came after
The Second World War stopped everything. The reservoir served other purposes, people had other worries and the wooden hut fell into disrepair. After the war, though, it quickly became clear that the people of Brno wanted their trips to the water back.
In the 1950s and 1960s the reservoir grew: a pier for pleasure boats, a swimming area and, gradually, restaurants. Not all of them survived. Operators came and went, buildings fell apart, were repaired and fell apart again – a story typical of the whole reservoir.
Our place always endured. Not because the building was indestructible, but because people always wanted somewhere to sit by the water and eat well. That basic need never changed.
A new beginning
After 1989 a lot of things had to be rebuilt – not just physically, but in people's heads too. What does a restaurant by the reservoir mean? Is it a sausage stand, or can it be something more?
The current owners, DUEVO 2000 s.r.o., took over the restaurant with the belief that a place by the water deserves proper food. Not luxurious, not overpriced – just honest. Fresh fish, Czech classics, homemade desserts. Things that make sense in a place surrounded by water and nature.
It wasn't an easy start. The building needed repairs. Guests remembered the old days and weren't always ready to pay for quality. But things gradually turned around – not thanks to marketing, but because people who came left happy and told others.
What has changed and what has stayed
A lot has changed. The kitchen is modern. The interior has been renovated several times. We have online reservations, card payments and social media – things nobody here could have imagined thirty years ago.
Some things haven't changed. You still sit just a few steps from the water. You still watch the boats glide past the terrace. You can still hear the water. And families still come with three generations – the grandad who came here as a boy, the parents who had their first date here, and the children seeing it all for the first time.
This continuity is no accident. It is why we exist. No app can replace a place by the water where people meet.
Fish as our identity
From the start we decided that fish would be our identity. Not because it sounds nice, but because it makes sense. You sit by the water, you eat fish. There is logic, tradition and flavour in it.
On the menu you'll find salmon trout, carp, gilt-head bream and other fish depending on the season. We prepare them simply – herbs, lemon, butter. The result is food that tastes of the water and of this particular place.
Our name isn't an accident either. Přístav means harbour – a place you return to. U Vodů means by the water – because the water has always been here and always will be.
Stories of people, not buildings
When people ask about our history, they expect dates and facts. But the most interesting part is the stories.
A couple who had their first date here and came back years later to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. A grandad who brings his grandchildren every summer and always orders the same thing – fried carp and a beer. A family who celebrated the birthdays of three generations here in a single afternoon.
These stories are our real history. Not a founding year on the façade, but the people who keep coming back because this place is part of their lives.
The next hundred years
What will happen in a hundred years? We don't know. But we know what tomorrow brings: fresh fish, a cold beer, a view of the reservoir and family around the table. The same as yesterday. The same as fifty years ago.
If you haven't been here yet, come. If you have, come again. The place by the water is waiting for you – as it always has.