Susan H.
Yelp
****4 1/2 stars****
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When Cooper's Hawk first opened, the reviews weren't the best. Thus, we wanted to wait a while before trying it. Actually, we waited quite a while mostly because there were other places we wanted to try first.
We got there last weekend, finally. My husband made a reservation on a Saturday night for 4:45 p.m. We were able to easily find a spot to park. However, the sidewalk leading to the place wasn't shoveled out very well. In fact, getting from the lot and over the curb at the sidewalk was treacherous. Needless to say, we took it slowly due to the ice and snow.
Once inside, it was confusing figuring out where the host stand was. On entering, to the right is a bar with no seats. Also, there are tables with wine centric items for sale---not to mention several varieties of wine. Finally, we saw a small sign that pointed to "the counter", which was the host stand. We told the young woman at the stand about our reservation and she got us seated.
Going to a restaurant before 5 p.m. can involve waiting for the staff to get to you as at that hour of the day, they aren't fully staffed yet. We waited a while before a runner brought us some water. She said our server would be with us soon. It took a while but it never got to the point where we felt we had to find the manager.
Our server, Collier, arrived and apologized for the wait. He asked if we had been here before and we said "no". We were told that we could sample some of their wine and it was on the house. Honestly, we didn't care one way or the other. Still, he brought us each a small glass of one of their red wines (we forget which one it was). I found it to be too dry for my taste.
We knew what we wanted to order and gave him our entire order at once. For our appetizer, we chose "Classic tomato bruschetta". We really enjoyed this and we both thought it was one of the best bruschettas we ever had. It consisted of: "Burrata, basil, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic glaze". The burrata was whipped and cherry tomatoes were used as well as fresh basil and put on a piece of toast. The balsamic glazed was drizzled over it. All the flavors worked very well together and it was easy to pick up and eat.
To drink, my husband had the House Chardonnay. Collier explained that it was a middle of the road wine. It was mixed with a Riesling wine. My husband did enjoy it. I had an espresso martini which turned out to be the best one I ever had. It had in it "Absolut vanilla espresso, Bailey's Irish cream, Frangelico liqeur" and was topped with whipped cream. I found it to be quite tasty and not bitter at all.
For my main course, I chose "pistachio-crusted grouper". While the grouper was tender, the crust wasn't "crusty" at all. This dish would have been so much better if it had been browned. Instead the topping was mushy. It came with "mustard sauce, Mary's potatoes, asparagus". The potatoes were redskin potatoes that were made in house as one could tell by the texture. I like seeing some lumpiness in house made mashed potatoes. The mustard sauce was mild and the asparagus was properly prepared.
My husband had "soy ginger glazed salmon" which consists of: "Wasabi buttered mashed, Asian slaw". He said the salmon was properly prepared and the soy ginger glaze was delicious. The potatoes were basically "Mary's potatoes" with some wasabi added to them. He said that the wasabi wasn't well distributed. Some bites had none in them while other bites were overloaded with wasabi. He did like the Asian slaw.
At the end of the meal, we felt full. Collier told us that since it took him a while to get to us and take our order, dessert was on him! Well...that was an offer we couldn't refuse. I chose the "salted caramel brulee" and my husband chose "key lime pie". I wished that my brulee was properly salted as it would have really elevated this dessert. I only got a hit of salt and only in two or three bites. My husband liked his key lime pie but thought the crust was too thick. But...hey...dessert was free and we appreciated that!
As for ambiance---it does get noisy. We did appreciate that the tables weren't tightly packed in. We had a booth that seated 2 and had ample room.
Of course, this was a splurge of a meal but overall, it was well worth it. We both agree that we'll be back!