Copper Canyon — Restaurant in Atlantic Highlands

First, the good:

Great ambiance. Nice quiet location, well decorated.

Our appetizers were good, and our steaks were excellent.

Now the not-so-good:

If there were a ‘zero’ stars for value I would have chosen that.

Paper napkins in a place that sells $10 house glasses of wine, $35 margaritas, $15 small plates and $33 steaks cheapens the experience. Significantly.

The cost of appetizers was entirely too high for what was given. $12 for guacamole that consisted of one scoop of guacamole and some chips. $3 for chips and salsa that are typically complimentary. $15 for 4 very small southwest egg rolls.

We ordered sodas for our kids and were charged $3 per drink and $3 each for refills. $12 for sodas for a 9-year old and a 7-year old. Server didn’t indicate refills would be charged.

The only option for side for the $33 steak is French fries. The substitution for sautéed spinach as a side came with a $2 upcharge - again not disclosed. Mashed potatoes were on the menu with another item, but the chef would not allow them to be substituted for French fries so we had to order them as a side. We were charged EIGHT DOLLARS for a side of mashed potatoes.

After questioning the bill, the side of mashed potatoes was reduced to FOUR dollars (I have yet to have a side of mashed potatoes worth $4 - ever!) and the refills on the sodas were credited (but sodas were still charged).

This is Atlantic Highlands, not Manhattan. The management doesn’t seem to realize price gouging the locals who eat there in the off-season will only hurt them in the long run. Being FAIR to customers - especially customers who have the potential to be repeat customers - will earn repeat business. Nickel and diming locals leaves a very bad taste (pun intended) in our mouths. There are way too many choices in the area to tolerate being...

Unfortunately once again Copper Canyon leaves much to be desired. After calling to see if there was an available table we were told to come on in. On a Saturday night it was fairly empty and we were seated right away. Our drink order was taken and since we knew what we wanted our dinner order was taken as well. No appetizers were ordered. We then proceeded to wait over an hour for two steak entrées that never appeared. Our server seemed to vanish for 20 minutes and when he returned to the table we asked him why it was taking so long and he said he would go check. Someone appearing to be a manager of some sort came to the table and asked how everything was going and when we asked about our food we were told that our food was “being plated” but 20 minutes later we still had no dinner. Meanwhile a table sitting behind us who had arrived a half an hour after us was already in the middle of their dinner after having ordered appetizers as well. The main dining room was just about empty at this point and there were really only three tables being serviced since it was after 9:30 PM. The kitchen staff clearly was not overwhelmed with less than 10 people dining at that hour. Not sure what happened to our dinner. We asked for our check and said we were leaving because we did not want to wait any longer since it was now 9:45 PM. Our server returned several minutes later and said that the drinks were on the house which was little consolation since at 9:45 there was no other restaurant where we could have dinner. Food is usually not a problem at Copper Canyon it always seems to be the service. This will be our...

We celebrated a good friends of ours 50th birthday we had a 9 pm reservation for 8 people. We all arrived expect for 1 which was coming late. We told the waiter and staff that should would be late. We had appetizer first then we were ready to be served dinner at 10 which was fine with us. When our dinner came I ordered my fiancé dinner since she was on her way and they told me the kitchen was closed. Our food just was being delivered to the table how could it be closed. No one told us the kitchen was closing and they all new my fiancé was arriving late. They said the chef had left. Kitchen was closed. CRAZY!!! I told them to take my dinner away I wasn't eating without the husband of the wife who's birthday it was did the same. The manager did nothing. He was a total baffling fool. He should have never been in the position. The place hadn't changed it decor in 12 years. This place is done and old with no service!!!! I would never return. To add insult they put the automatically place the gratuity on the bill and didn't even offer desert for the host...