Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant — Restaurant in Lee's Summit

My boyfriend and I decided to try something different last Saturday, November 12, 2022. We had never been to Cooper’s Hawk at any location and thought we would give it a try. Upon our first look at the restaurant, we both thought it looked more like a diner or cafeteria from the outside. He parked and I went inside and it was extremely crowded in the winetasting area, but after all, it was a Saturday night. I went to the hostess desk and they were pleasant and took me to our table. The table was teeny tiny and was what they called a booth. There was a translucent wall between myself and a man sitting next to me not a foot from me. There wasn’t much room to walk between the tables and my first thought was how bright it was and loud and crowded. We were wanting something much more intimate. I even asked the hostess if there was a way they could turn down the bright lights from the ceiling as I think the chandeliers hanging would have been more in order. When my boyfriend sat down, it wasn’t long before a very nice server came over to our table. She was very friendly and smiled and she covered most everything on the menu as well as wine. My boyfriend is not a wine drinker so we opted for cocktails. The service was a tad bit slow but we weren’t in any hurry and we finally got our cocktails. He had a vodka martini and I had vodka and club soda. His martini was $16 and my vodka club soda was $14 which for the ambience of the place seems a bit steep. We each ordered another cocktail before dinner and had our lettuce wrap appetizer which was good but certainly not anything outstanding, I’ve had much better. I believe that appetizer was around $20. We were prepared to spend money because we go out every Saturday night so that was not really a surprise. The ambience in the restaurant with the noise level and the crowd and all of that obnoxious lighting and no privacy in the booth at all was obnoxious. The worst part was our dinner. I had been looking forward to grouper for a week or two after I heard that you had it on your new menu. When my plate came, the grouper was very small and was not cooked through, it was gray and extremely SALTY as was my asparagus. There was no garnish and the plate looked bare with the small servings of 4 asparagus, very small piece of grouper and small scoop of Mary’s potatoes. They were just plain mashed potatoes and shiny and gooey. I love mashed potatoes but not Mary’s. Very disappointing. My boyfriend paid $33 for the grouper, gooey potatoes and salty asparagus of which I should’ve sent back and I don’t like to do that so I just didn’t eat it. He had a chicken dish with a large helping but again no garnish and looked like something you would get in a diner, overcooked and SALTY. The server did ask us if we wanted dessert but we said no and ordered coffee. The coffee was cold and when he added his cream it was worse than cold. We didn’t complain, though my food should definitely have been sent back to the kitchen and replaced with something edible. My boyfriend paid our bill that I believe was around $150 before tip and we left never to return to any Cooper’s Hawk restaurant. At least the server didn’t charge us for the coffee as we did wait a while for that. I am very disappointed in the lack of ambience and I feel sorry for anyone that comes who are celebrating an anniversary or an engagement. We had just recently become engaged and it was a very disappointing experience with terrible, terrible food. You should be pleased that you have pleasant people working there because that was the only plus. We will...

Went to Cooper’s hawk for my mother in laws 86th birthday. WOW big event and she close here! Well so me and my husband work night shift 7p-7a we were that last of 2 of party of 11 reservations for 4pm we showed up at 408pm! My son called at 404 and stated they could not see them until the entire party was there for the experience. We said we would arrive in 4min. Upon arrival they agreed to seat the party we were literally arriving through the doors approx 404pm. We all ordered drinks they were brought. We all order our food every one got their food except my son and my brother in law that is super picky and specially ordered NO cheese on his double burger. Every one’s food came out except my son’s pasta which my sister in law had to get up 3 times to ask where his food was while we were all eating! It took 15min to bring a simple pasta dish out. Took 35 more minutes to fix my bother in laws burger. Drinks took 15 minutes to receive new drinks. I’ve been spoke to the manager, Brandon or Tyler. I can’t exactly remember his name but when I explain the situation about how they told us, we had to wait to be seated until our entire party was there for the experience and then explain to him all of the delays in our food and drinks, etc. he just said oh I apologize and had no answer. I work in customer service and I can tell you it is never OK to make an 86-year-old woman standing and wait for seating when we reserved the table a week and a half prior to the birthday and reservations. They knew there was a party of 11 of us and again eight I’m sorry nine of us were already there pending me and my husband showing up four minutes late for a 4 o’clock reservation, which is an early dinner on a Saturday so again I was just super disappointed and my sister-in-law has a subscription with Cooper’s Hawk and they spend a lot of money there so shame on them for not seating my mother-in-law at 86 years old for her birthday party telling me that it was their policy to not sit people until the entire party was there. I then told him that maybe he should take that up the chain to their management corporation, etc. that it’s not acceptable to make people wait when more than half the party is there waiting to be seated and they are of geriatric age. It is just unacceptable me and is not in the customer service realm that it is even remotely OK that that can ever happen. We will not be going there ever again for any special events due to the inconvenience lack of service and lack of acknowledgment of how wrong that was on their behalf to not seat a senior citizen on her birthday because two of the 11 people were not present for their party and we showed up four minutes...

When we arrived it was approximately 3:00 in the afternoon the place was relatively clear. We found ourselves always looking for our waitress.. It was just a little things that made you feel as though she was not prepared to serve. such as having to look for her for more bread, having to ask for to go boxes... not having any straws or having an ink pen to sign your receipt... So the experience of readiness and good service was not there.

We moved on to our wine tasting where I was celebrating my daughter's birthday. The young lady that we had a blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail was not the best at her job. If it's just opening a bottle of wine and pouring it into a glass I would give her a C considering every time she handed me my glass back it was never a clean one and it always had my lip gloss on it. She knew absolutely nothing about the wine that she was serving nor did she care to stick around and discuss it with us we were constantly pulling her from other customers where there were several other servers standing. We assume the conversation must have been fun because every time we wanted to move to the next wine we knew where to look to find her. Her lack of knowledge in the wines was disheartening. Her only questions was did you like it?

My experience at Cooper Hawk's on the Plaza was quite the opposite. Our wine tasting was a fun light-hearted experience full of knowledge and willingness to serve our pallets. He asked great questions, informed us of the wine that we were drinking and the expectations that we would experience when drinking it. I'd like to see his name was Jim or Jimmy but I can say they were hands on and hiring someone who truly enjoyed the customer experience of sharing great wines.

I think that the one in Lee's summit has got some catching up to do and I look forward to visiting them again when they've had some time to train their staff.

My suggestion your first visit should be to Cooper's hawk on the plaza that away you will set your expectations on a true wine tasting experience. If you're celebrating that's the one to go to... You're greeted from the moment you walk in the door.

Should you choose to join their wine club it's important that you watch your membership you're allowed Free bottles of wine for joining but somehow they put down that they gave me my free bottle of wine which they did not. And you get a free bottle with your birthday as well or at least $15 in credit but somehow when I ask for that it was not available to me either. I think that the Cooper's hawk in Lee's Summit has some...