Copper River Grill — Restaurant in Kentucky

Ate there Feb 23 about 1pm. I should say we gagged down a few bites of our food. We’ve eaten here before. One good experience one not so good. This time was one of the latter. My wife wanted pizza and didn’t want a chain store pizza. Copper River had a good pizza at one time. We ordered drinks and an onion Haystack for an appetizer. The Haystack was extremely salty and greasy. The oil it was cooked in should have been changed weeks ago. We couldn’t eat this pile of greasy batter. Tried. Gagged down less than half of it and gave it up as a lost cause. We ordered a Vito pizza with a side salad.

The salad was pretty good actually except for the honey butter on the croissant. Doesn’t anyplace serve bread without honey butter drizzled all over it? Just bring me some regular butter. I’ll put it on my bread thank you.

The pizza arrived. On a dinner plate. This allowed the center of the pizza to sink down and all the greasy goop to migrate to the middle where the crust absorbed it, along with the condensation from hot pizza on a cold dinner plate. I cut into the pizza which was very poorly cut into slices. The crust was made of some unknown type of dough. It was soggy, I mean seriously dripping wet. I tried one bite and guess what? Cold, wet, drippy, greasy pizza. Totally nasty gross. My wife tried it too with similar results and comments. By the way CR, pizza is supposed to have sauce on it. The waiter offered to bring us another pizza but we declined the offer. We should have cut our losses and left, but the waiter offered to replace our meal. He said he could get meals quickly so I chose the chicken tenders while my wife asked for blackened chicken Alfredo.

I really wish the waiter had run next door to Canes for some chicken tenders but, alas for me, he didn’t. The chicken tenders he brought mush have been over cooked in the same rancid grease they used for the onion Haystack. Wait a minute, did I say overcooked? I meant to say blackened in grease. Not edible at all. I tried. I really tried. I dipped them suckers in the honey mustard sauce and gallantly consumed a couple of the before I was halted by the rumbling sounds coming from my gut.

My wife’s blackened chicken was cut from the same cloth. The noodles were soggy. The sauce was tasteless and runny as if the noodles weren’t drained before being plopped on a plate and some type of sauce was poured from a can over them. Never figured what kind of sauce it was. A few chunks of chicken were scattered over the top. She couldn’t eat hers, although she gave it a heroic effort.

The waiter got the “manager”? Who graciously offered us the opportunity to only pay for our appetizer and salads all the while apologizing for the so called meal. We paid and tipped the waiter (yes tipped him. It wasn’t his fault the meal sucked).

Needless to say, we will not, for any reason ever go back to the Copper River Grill in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Not unless and until they change management and get some new kitchen staff. Eat there at...

My husband and I sat near the bar in the corner, directly below the "emergency exit" today around 1:30pm. I have raved over copper river for years to my husband, so was genuinely excited for him to go. The host and a waitress, Morgan, were so sweet upon arrival. Lunch rush was pretty much over but they were busy... to be expected. We were seated and Eric was our server. To clarify, this review has NOTHING to do with our service we received from him. He was GREAT from start to finish. We ordered our drinks and croissants... both great. Ordered our food, and we waited 1hr. and 20 min. Eric came over to refill our drinks and apologize for the wait several times, we didn't mind, we've worked in the food industry and know how it can be. He had me cut into my steak.. right in the middle, it was correct. I ordered it medium and at that exact spot, it was... everywhere else was tough as shoe leather. The vegetables were good. My husband got the Ahi Tuna sandwich... dry as a bone. His "loaded potato" didn't have butter in it... no bacon and 1 chive. Eric asked if everything was good.. we told him it was because we didn't want to a.) draw attention and b.) wait another 30 minutes.. we were hungry after our wait. Now, the part that made us angry. One of their waitresses let in an elder gentleman through the emergency exit. He had a walker and looked confused, so she did him a favor and kindly let him in, which was so sweet. When that same gentleman left, he went back out that door. It didn't bother us at all. The BARTENDER however, minded a whole lot. I think the wind may have swept some napkins into the floor which was such an inconvenience for her to go around and pick up. She VERY LOUDLY expressed her exasperation, "I guess some people can't read that's an EMERGENCY EXIT... UGGGGGHHHH." ALL the tables around her stopped eating and looked disgusted for her lack of care/ respect for the elder gentleman. It was VERY RUDE and unappreciated. We paid our bill and Eric apologized for the wait again.. we left him a hefty tip because again, he was GREAT and none of what happened was his fault. It'll be awhile before we return which is bad for me because I visit Copper River weekly for lunch. Keep up the...

Ugh. I really wanted this experience to be better than the last 2 I have had here. Honestly the ONLY reason I keep coming back is the kickass house salad dressing. The food overall is pretty good. The service however- oMG could not be much worse. The 2 times before this- the service was off. Like completely lacking. Food was cold. Steaks over cooked the Last time. No refills. Server complete MIA until check time. We thought that maybe it was due to being a bit busy. Nope. It seems that is the new norm for this place. This time our server takes our drink orders, makes drinks, goes to the kitchen with our drinks to sit them on the pass and pick up Togo container for someone else. Finally picks up our drinks with melting ice and literal puts them on the table as she walks by- not a single word. No “I will be right back to take your order”. Nope. She then goes to the end of the bar to stand and gossip with another server- about a third server who said something to her about doing her job and she had a smart retort 🙄🤷‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️. Anyway after literally 4 min of me staring straight at her- she walks to the kitchen and then back to finally take our order. I ask for more ice - as ours has just about all but melted. She responds that well yeah it’s hot outside. Ummm yeah. It’s hot in there too- I guess their A/C was on the fritz because it was miserable in the restaurant and no reason provided. Food arrived and it was hot and flavorful. Had to flag her down for refills. And a box and our check. She just wasn’t interested in waiting tables. I left a decent tip- more than she deserved. Not sure we will be back. It honestly is not worth the hassle for food that is usually pretty good but can be hit or miss if you like you steak anything...