Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant — Restaurant in Clive

4.6* (out of 5) Food: 5* Atmosphere: 5* Value: 4* Service: 4* Would I go back / Recommend?: 5* (Definitely) Total check/person: $71

06/27/2025 My wife made the reservation so I agreed to go back, even though my last experience left we doubting I would return and I admittedly walked in with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Overall, I'm glad we went back to give them a second chance as this experience was much better than the last. This is a very nice restaurant that is a part of over 55 in the growing chain that started in Overland Park, IL in 2005.

Our friends in Wisconsin recently mentioned Cooper's Hawk and how good their Ahi tuna was - and given how much we enjoy Ahi tuna, that likely played a significant role in my wife's decision to make a reservation. Beyond the wine flight that my wife ordered (see picture), we started with Asian Ahi Tuna Sashimi (see picture). As you might expect (sashimi), the portions were quite small...but it was quite delicious. Food and Drink Guy Tip: The soy dipping liquid was also great and the leftover mix was quite tasty on the pretzel bread loaf.

For our main courses, my wife ordered the Trio Medallions (see picture) and I opted for the Chicken Giardiniera (see picture). As we always do, we shared tastes of each other's dishes and the Trio Medallions were fantastic - tender, juicy, flavorful and perfectly cooked (medium rare). While our waitress Jennifer (who was great by the way) described the Chicken Giardiniera as spicy - neither of us found it very spicy, but we both found it delicious - tasty breaded chicken breasts soaking in that wonderful giardiniera juice!

Food and Drink Guy Tip: Given my love of good bread soaked in tasty juices and sauces, I asked for another loaf of the pretzel bread and used it to soak up all that remaining delicious juice on my plate and sauce on my wife's plate. I highly recommend this, as it was so good that I treated it as my dessert! The plates were so clean after this that a member of the wait staff commented that we mustn't have liked our meal very well...

While this clearly isn't the cheapest place in the area for dinner, they do serve high quality food in a clean, modern atmosphere with above average service, so deserves to be on your short list for your next special occasion.

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December 2022 Food: 4* Atmosphere: 4* Value: 3* Service: 3* I had read about the 4 wine samples for $10 offer in the paper, so told the waiter I saw the 4 for $10 wine and wanted it. While I gave him an out in case it wasn't available at the table, asking "unless it is only available in the front" - he responded that wine flights are available in the front or the table. Buyer Beware: we didn't review our receipt until later and were surprised to see that we were charged $20-$22 for each flight.

Food: For our main meal, I ordered the Gnocchi Bolo, my wife ordered the Surf & Turf with pork & shrimp and our friends ordered the Trio Medallions and Blackened Ahi Tuna.

Service: One of the wine flights for our table that was ordered at the same time as another was not delivered at the same time. After at least 10 minutes had passed, we finally asked and it still took another 10 minutes. Empty glasses and dirty plates were piling up on our table. After moving them to the front edge of the table and that not working...I asked the waiter to take them away. Lastly, an order of soup had not been delivered after we were half done with our meal and had to ask before it was delivered.

Bottom Line: The food and service clearly did not meet my expectations nor reflect a good value for your money - possibly a result of it being their first week. Given our experience with the wine flights described above, a follow up call to the manager on duty that night and receiving absolutely no offer to make things right ("sorry that you mis-understood that..."), I'm not sure that we will return.

Photos copyright:...

Update 4/23/23: After posting my review below, I was contacted by the manager, Nick Smith. We had a lovely and constructive conversation about my most recent disappointing experience. He promised some follow up actions with his staff and unsolicited, he sent me two complimentary dinners and one appetizer and one desert which I appreciated.

I decided to take my family of 6 to dinner on Sunday night at 7pm. I called the day before (after making reservation online a week prior) to confirm and ask for a quiet table vs. let's say by the noisy bar. When we arrived, we had to wait a bit, nothing too bad and then seated at table. I really had high hopes for a better experience, especially for family members who haven't been there before. For reference, we are all non-drinkers.

The good: "Some" of the food tasted good. Said complementary cards dropped the total bill by $100. That's about it.

The bad: Some of the food tasted bland or average. Everything took a long time. Once again, we had to ask for the complementary pretzel bread and was told "They were looking for some" and eventually brought us the very last one, What! Waitress was way too busy and did not check on us much. We observed table next to us getting an order wrong. Music does not match the atmosphere.

The Ugly: It's expensive for the total experience expected for the price. Maybe experience will get better with more tenured staff (in all positions) and better quality food. At this point, I think you're paying $$$ for a $$ experience. End of update

This is a tale of two distinct experiences. Lunch and dinner. I've been there for lunch twice. First experience, we had a new waitress. Nothing bad, just green. Second time, my son and I had a wonderful time. Accomplished and attentive waitress who made sure to accommodate our gluten free needs very well. Food was delicious. We did not have any alcoholic beverages. It's pricey but not totally outrageous. Very good.

Second experience is when I took my wife to dinner for our 30th wedding anniversary. When I called to make the reservation, I asked if they can provide "something special" for such an occasion and they said yes, they'll mark it down and asked me to also inform our server when we get there. When we arrived at our 8:15pm Saturday reservation, I can already tell it's going to be a different experience from lunch time because it was so packed and noisy. We were seated on a two person high table by the bar area instead of a booth. Hardly a romantic setting. Greeted by an enthusiastic young waitress, but clearly overwhelmed and probably on the newer side. I did mention the anniversary as instructed. The place was really noisy and high chairs uncomfortable. The food took a long time (but tasted good) and we weren't checked on often. I even had to ask for their complementary pretzel bread as opposed to being offered. We couldn't really carry on a decent conversation without yelling. And at the end, nothing "Special" was presented, paid the check and left...

We went here last night for our Valentines dinner. This place is a whole vibe! The staff were amazing and very helpful. I mean we had a girl that wasn't even our waitress just happen to hear on her way past our table that I said my hands were a bit sticky from the appetizer we had and she took it upon herself to bring wet naps to the table for us. Our waitress was also great and attentive but not overly hovering. She really was good at reading our energy and anticipating what we wanted or needed. The food was amazing! The Salted Carmel Cremé Brulé literally gave me goosebumps. It was the perfect blend of creamy with the crunch of the caramelized sugar on top. We started with the candied bacon and cheese appetizer, which was delicious. It had pairings that you wouldn't expect, and the flavors worked nicely with each other. Also, the presentation of the food was beautiful. Koodos to the chef! We sampled the barrel wine which was a bit on the tart side, not my style, but my fiance loved it. He said it was very smooth. We also sampled the passion fruit wine as well as the chocolate noir and the blueberry before finally settling on a bottle of the romance red which we absolutely loved so much that we grabbed another bottle to take home. The passion fruit wine was the most shocking of the wines we sampled. It was an unexpected punch to the face in a good way! It's literally like taking a bite straight out of a passion fruit. The chocolate noir was also good but not as a stand-alone unless you really love chocolate. It would bring out the flavor of their chocolate truffles nicely though. The blueberry wine was also good, but it did not wow me like the passion fruit. Although I did drink the others before sampling the blueberry and had nothing to cleanse my pallet before trying it so my review may not be doing that one justice. We decided to skip dinner as we didn't want anything heavy, but I did get a cup of the crab, shrimp, and lobster bisque, which was surprisingly good as well. I think there may have been some tuna in there, which I didn't care for. But overall, it was a wonderfully pleasant experience, and we will most definitely be returning to Cooper's Hawk! I wish I could remember our waitress' name as well as the woman who stopped by to drop off the wet naps, but if either of you are reading this, you know who you are. Keep up the fantastic work, and we very much appreciated both of you. Also, to anyone else who wants to try Cooper's Hawk, I suggest you make reservations, as they are quite busy, which speaks for itself. Also, don't forget to check out their gift shop before you leave. They have some beautiful stemware, candles, and great gift sets for that wine connoisseur you know. Keep up the fantastic work Cooper's Hawk! Until...