Coopers — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

Mixed 1st impressions. Entering the building is somewhat unnerving as it is very rough looking, however I do love the retro/old look throughout the interior. Staff v friendly and welcoming. Popular place but it didn't feel crammed. Got 2 glasses for water, but had to send 1 glass back as there was a lipstick mark on the rim 😜 A lot of options on the menu. For vegetarians there were 4: thai curry, mushroom bruschetta, penne pasta or stir fry (all £10)... Stir fry was really good 👌 Peppered chicken was good, although it did look a bit bland on the plate. A bit of garnish or veg (ie colour!) and it would've been perfect. Sides all £4. Didn't have room for dessert! Would be keen enough to go back again at some point to try out other menu options.

Update! (48 hours later!) Back for late lunch. EOTHO scheme still running. Stuck with my veg stir fry... Soooo good! Other diner had hake. They really enjoyed it and it was well presented. Good size portions.

Update after 3rd EOTHO visit Badly let themselves down. First error was when they brought 6 drinks for 5 people (and subsequently charged us) Asian prawn noodles should come with a 'hot' warning. Couldn't be tasted properly. Two orders of the mixed grill. One steak ordered as medium, the other well done. Yet they both had the plate swimming in blood. By the time the replacement well done steak came down, the rest of us were almost finished and the side of chips had been eaten on their own. Somehow managed to get an extra portion of pepper sauce which wasn't ordered (we already had 3 at our table!), the guy hadn't a clue why, and eventually said we wouldn't be charged. Didn't really understand their thinking.

Anyway. Glad we tested it on the EOTHO scheme due to their prices.aybe that's something they've looked at since so you don't pay dinner prices for a lunch date. Not so pleased with the overall results, so likely won't be going back.

Good luck to them, and please listen to all feedback from customers, both...

The decor is nice and the atmosphere was good, but the waitress walked away multiple times when we tried to order drinks, empty glasses were not taken away until the end of the meal so the table got very cluttered.

I ordered the ceasar salad, which was just chicken and bacon on top of a bed of lettuce with no other mixed leaves and was very bland. Others in my group ordered the steaks and mixed grill, which seemed to go down well.

The matter of the bill was very difficult to settle, as they were unable to split it for each person so we had to work it out ourselves. This turned out to be a stroke of good fortune as there were items on the bill we had to dispute. We did not realise that the menu prices do not include tax, so each had to add 17% to our estimated total. And a small ramekin of peas marked as a "mixed greens" side would have cost over £2 had we not noticed it. There was another member of staff who was very helpful and friendly, he explained everything and thankfully removed the item from the bill.

It was all a bit of a headache and soured the evening out with friends. I probably wouldn't return as the bill was a nightmare to solve, and the waitress was so hard to flag down.

If they work out a way to split the bill I would be much more likely to dine here again, but order something other than...

As this was a new restaurant in Coleraine we thought we would give it a try, even though there are existing Covid restrictions in place. Firstly, we were not asked for any contact details and the staff were not wearing face coverings. We were shown to our table and immediately asked would we like a drink, which we ordered, and started to choose our meals. On returning with our drinks we were asked if we would like to order food. We ordered and sat talking. During this time staff constantly circulated the tables, unmasked, watched for people's drinks getting low and asking "would you like another drink". We waited over 45 minutes for our meal to arrive (only one course). I couldn't help but think if the staff circulating watching the drinks to get low helped with serving and clearing, we would have got our meal quicker. When the food finally arrived it was good. It was a pity we couldn't fully enjoy it as we were so hungry and had to go on to another appointment. Clearly trying to get customers to drink more at the expense of good service is more important to the owners. Which is a pity, as the...