Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

It was my birthday and never have issues at Cooper’s Hawk, but this is the first time we dined at the international Drive location. As soon as we sat down. The hostess was very accommodating. We were there early for our reservation and she was able to get us in right away, which was awesome and I appreciate that.

As soon as we sat down, I overheard the server saying is that a 2 top to the hostess, where the hostess replied, yes and seemed to get into a bit of a mini-argument about us being there, which at that point, made us uncomfortable. The server Judy, then proceeded to come up to us ask us if we were part of the wine club, we told her no, as we are not very big drinkers, and from that point forward, she kept trying to push it on us, I had to specify that I’m just here for the food we like coming here to eat I rarely drink and my fiancé never drinks so we are good.

From that point on our service sucked tables around us were getting much better service because they were drinking. The server focused on them refilled their drinks, they even got their appetizers and food before us even after sitting after us, usually everything is handled in a timely manner, which is what Cooper’s Hawk usually is, a great place to have a good dinner and entertain friends or family or just as a couple. The food took too long, she said she spaced it out, but my thought is she forgot to put it in since she never wrote anything down. Me working in the food and beverage industry, In every capacity for over 20 years tells me she forgot ,starting off as server and being up to a food and beverage Director, as I am now. You always write the order down. We got our appetizer and then waited another 50-55min for our entrees. The food was tasty yet we’re waiting forever for prebussing of our table and refills. We ordered the Drunken shrimp, Lobster and Crab bisque, the shrimp and scallop risotto and the churrasco steak, all delicious. At the end of the dinner the server wanted to give us a free dessert because it was my birthday, which I didn’t expect but thanked her and we waited, 20-25min passed, we never got it, and waited and waited and were attending a show across the street at Mangos and the entire pacing was taking way too long, so I finally asked for the check and had to fight to get it as she wanted to “celebrate me” and wanted to make sure we got it, my fiancé and I just wanted to go. I felt held hostage by not getting my check when asked.

Overall horrible time, the star for service was for the hostess as she was a delight and super sweet and friendly and accommodating. The food was delicious as always but the entire service experience was slow, drawn out, uncomfortable and awkward. We felt as more of a burden because we didn’t want to drink or be part of the wine club and we were a 2 top so the server thought there was no money to be made at our table, little did they know ($30 tip on a $110 check, on incredibly bad service, imagine if the server actually cared about us).

So honestly quite disappointed in this and a ruined birthday dinner on a nice Friday evening...

They don’t know how to cook steaks. They will butterfly your filet mignon without asking.

I worked near this please for years, but it always looked a bit high end for me. Finally, work took us here today and I was excited to try it.

The entrance area and decanter area have a really nice vibe. The service seemed better than you’d expect for the area.

The real killer for this place? They don’t know how to cook steaks.

Some backstory: I love filet mignon. It’s the only cut of beef I will eat and it’s been that way for about 15 years. I know what I like: medium. The problem? When I ask for medium it inevitably comes out medium-rare. I don’t like the texture of medium-rare or rare. So over time I’ve always asked for medium well.

So we get to today where I once again asked for a filet mignon medium-well. No further instructions given. My steak comes out and I thought it looked like some thin sirloin but I really didn’t think anything of it. It was really overcooked. Completely gray. Dry. I asked the server to remake but I wanted it medium-well but more on the medium side. He apologized and sent a manager out. It wasn’t a big deal. So about 10 mins later a new one comes out. The exact same issue. And then it dawned on me why it was so thin and didn’t look like a filet and was dry: they BUTTERFLIED it. I asked the server why on earth they would butterfly a filet. His answer: we do it for everyone who asks for a temp above medium. I asked him to send it back and that I didn’t want anything else but I did want to speak to the manager I spoke to before.

The manager comes over and apologizes. I asked him point blank why they butterflied filet mignon if someone didn’t ask. He repeated again that they always do it. I explained that anyone who is spending 50 bucks on a filet mignon is not wanting it to be butterflied. It loses all its juices and it loses all its tenderness. I don’t care what temperature I wanted it, I didn’t ask for it to be sliced into two grey slivers. I told him point blank they need to stop doing that. Most people probably wouldn’t be as open with him as I was but steak people shouldn’t come to this place. They don’t understand steaks and they probably think anyone who wants a filet medium-well is a terrible person, but I cook them at home this way all the time with zero issues. Still incredibly juice, still mostly pink with a little grey on the outside. He asked me if I’d like them to make it again and I said no because I don’t trust them. Whoever made and delegated these decisions should be removed from restaurants.

The manager really didn’t come across like someone who was going to do anything to fix whatever wrongs the kitchen is doing to steaks, so I’m here making sure someone sees it and knows that I won’t be coming back. If you are the owner or GM of this restaurant and you’re reading this, please STOP ruining steaks. If someone wants it butterflied, they will tell you or you can have the servers ask. Do not butterfly steaks...

Mannnnnnnnn

Eight of us showed up at 6.30 for a 7.15 reservation. We wanted to have time to do a wine tasting.

We let the hostess know when we arrived, and that we were going to be doing a wine tasting, and would be ready at our reservation time.

We reminded the hostess at 7.10 (five minutes before our reservation) that we were ready and waiting for them to call us.

When they finally sat us, at 8.00pm, 45 minutes after our reservation, they told us they needed to put us on the patio, because they didn't have seating for eight inside. Not exactly what we wanted, but, we went outside. It was (for central Florida) somewhat chilly, and someone within our party asked if they were able to fire up one of their heaters. They assured us they'd send someone out. We thanked her profusely.

Also, we were the only ones out there. Most of the restaurant was empty. And there were multiple employees hanging out in our view, with no customers to attend to.

Well, legit, 30 minutes later, we hadn't seen a waiter/waitress, and no one had turned on the heater yet. My wife went in to politely ask the hostess if we were forgotten about.

Shortly after, our waiter came out.

There were six of us, three couples. Each couple ordered an appetizer and their dishes at the same time.

The appetizers all came out about five minutes from each other, which was inconvenient. But then the mains came out, staggered in-between appetizers. Which was, again, horribly inconvenient.

I ordered a filet, which I got a few minutes BEFORE our appetizer came out. And when the food runner brought it out, she asked "who had the Caesar salad and the filet?"

I responded that it was me, but, I hadn't seen my salad yet.

When she left, I cut into my filet. It was ordered medium rare, and, it was delivered horribly blue rare. Barely cooked, pretty much raw.

About five minutes after my steak came out (which I didn't eat,) my starter salad came out. So I started eating my salad, and about five minutes later the waiter finally made an appearance.

He looked at my steak and asked if I wanted him to put it back on the grill. By this point it was almost 30 minutes after they closed, so I asked him to just take it off the tab.

We had (my) undercooked steak, overcooked steak, incorrect dishes, missing dishes, and everything else you can think of.

We spent over three hours there, most of it waiting for service and/or food. We waited almost an hour past our reservation time, a half hour after we were sat, and another half hour waiting for food to come out - incorrectly - before we could actually have dinner... We decided to meet AT TACO BELLY after we left, so we could all eat, and enjoy the evening.

All in all, this was a horrible...