Cooper's Ale House — Restaurant in Greensboro

I came here for the first time on 1/30/21 with friends. This was our last restaurant/bar spot of the day! We had been to M’Couls, Greys Tavern, Natty Greene’s, And Odens Brewery. We arrived around 6:25pm.

Location: Coopers is right beside a hotel (Wyndham Garden Greensboro). They are actually connected through a hallway. The restrooms are located in the hallway.

Food: An an appetizer, we got the crab dip and bang bang firecracker shrimp. Pita bread came with the crab dip and it was soft and delicious. My friends who had been here before said that it’s normally a bit crisper. I actually like it the way it came. For my entree, I got the 3/4 lb boneless wings. They were half lemon pepper and half Thai sweet chili. It came in a to-go box because I ordered last and everyone else’s got theirs in one. I actually wanted mine regular because I ate them while I was there. Not a big deal tho. I did not like that the ranch on my plate was spilled out. I don’t even like ranch. One friend got the sweet baby Ray’s boneless wings. She enjoyed them. One friend got the shrimp Alfredo (to go) and one got a wrap (also to go) but I don’t remember what kind, lol.

Drinks: We had been trying lemon drop shots all day at other bars. The lemon drop shot we got here was probably the best. It was good in between from the one at Greys Tavern that tasted like juice and the one at Natty Greene’s that was very strong lol. The one here was just right. It was $7. At the end, we all took a shot to celebrate our friends birthday. 2 friends got the lemon drop shot, I’m not sure what one got, and myself and the birthday guy got something called a gorilla fart, which is 151, 101, And Jagor. It was $9. The waitress told us it was a got shot if we wanted to get f*cked up! Lmao. I can’t really say how it tasted because I try to make sure my shots go straight down my throat. This the secret to be able to keep going and not needing a chaser, lol.

Service/COVID/Extra: Our waitress was Konstance. She was attentive and we had no complaints. Masks are required and staff were wearing them. They have barriers, like guards, at the bar every two seats. There is hand sanitizer at the entrance. Upon arrival, I had to use the restroom. The door was propped open and I noticed that it was dirty as toilet paper was on the floor. Before walking in, I noticed that a female employee was in there cleaning it. I decided the just come back. When I came back, it was clean.

Overall, it was a good experience. I would come back. My friends told me that it’s...

They snuck an 18% automatic gratuity onto the bill despite not mentioning it anywhere! I was charged $2 for water "because the machine isnt working so you have to get bottled." The bartender was literally sitting at the other side of the restaurant with headphones in eating a meal and ignoring everyone the majority of the time I was there. Then after adding 18% to the bill when given my ticket, they rang me up and gave me a receipt to sign that asked for a tip all over again. They're clearly just trying to get double tips hoping people don't notice. SCAM.

If I knew I was gonna sneak my way into automatically getting tipped 18%, I probably would be a bad bartender too, but she could have at least had a good attitude. She acted like we were inconveniencing her by patronizing the place she works.

If the water machine is broken, your bottled water should be free. Its not the customer's fault your machine is broken and you haven't fixed it.

If you are going to add 18% to the bill as a gratuity, be up front about it, give service that deserves an 18% tip, and don't ask for another tip.

The food was good enough, but I will NEVER return. Went 12/2/23 around 2:00 pm.

EDIT: I checked their website and apparently the fine print on the very bottom of the front cover of the menu says they charge 18% for parties of 5 or more and after 5 on Fri-Sun. It is pretty well hidden, so please be warned. I was not with a group of 5, and it was not after 5pm. I should not have been charged the auto-gratuity, but I guess they just charge it whenever they want.

EDIT #2: Notice how the owners did not say a thing about their poor service in the reply? If the machine is working why did your bartender force me to either pay $2 or go thirsty? I did not eat there at a time the automatic gratuity applied, so I don't know why you are so dismissive of a customer's complaint. Your employee is mistreating and charging people extra and you respond with condescension? "After five year people are still helping get the word out" because you do a poor job of informing them of the policy lol. Maybe that is why it was so empty. As I said earlier, I will...

A friend of mine suggested I visit Cooper’s one weekend to experience the litness of the environment and try some of their delicious menu items but did I choose the wrong day? I arrived around 10:00pm on Friday assuming there would be no crowd but boy was I wrong. The line was out the door and by the time I reached inside you’d think the place was over capacity. With it being as crowded as it was, I experienced the worst customer service experience I could’ve ever imagined. It seemed as if there was no structure and the waitresses were just picking up on tables/orders to satisfy the infuriated and impatient customers for the moment. I had to grab two different waitresses attention just to receive an update on what was going on with my order so you can imagine I was pretty over it. When I did finally receive what I thought was my order..it turned out to be completely wrong which added on to the frustration. There was a lot of commotion going on between sports being watched on one side and karoake happening on the other. As customers left their tables nobody ever came to clean the space so that others could be seated which made me question the cleanliness of the other areas in the restaurant as well as if these people are in any way concerned about the poor customer service they provide? When my waitress finally comes back around nearly an hour later with my food, my food was cold & looked as if it had just been sitting out for who knows how long, so at that point I just requested a refund. As I get ready to make my exit a fight broke out which led to drinks being tossed and fist being thrown, which put the icing on the cake for me. Although I was told a lot of good things about this place, I wanted to get an experience of my own and that .. I did. I’d definitely give this place zero stars and wouldn’t recommend unless you’re willing to wait hours for your food and drinks, potentially have to stand while eating and drinking, and don’t mind getting caught up in brawls...