COV Wayzata — Restaurant in Wayzata

RUDE and PRETENTIOUS My family has now had two unfortunate interactions with the hostess staff at the Cov in Wayzata. The first came this past Thanksgiving when my family and I arrived on schedule for our reservation. We were told by the young ladies at the hostess stand our table was "not available" and we would be required to wait "outside" until we were called. When we inquired if my 78 year old mother could please wait in the restaurant, where it was warm, we were told there was no space. After waiting for about 10 minutes in the unheated vestibule that separates the restaurant from the street, I said so be it, and I brought my mother into the restaurant where she stood for another 20 minutes while we waited for our table. When we were at last seated, not a "sorry for your wait" or a "we apologize for the inconvenience" was uttered. None of us were thrilled by the time we arrived at our table but this was our Thanksgiving dinner and we decided to let go of the early unpleasantries and enjoy our meal. Unfortunately, the food was also hugely disappointing, but that is a digression I will not go into here. The second occasion occurred mid-afternoon on a Saturday in June of 2024. My husband and I arrived to a half empty restaurant and were escorted to a table in a back corner near a family with two toddlers. My husband politely asked if we could be reseated away from the small children as we were hoping to have a quiet lunch. He assumed this wouldn't be a problem as the restaurant wasn't bustling and there were many free tables. This seemed to irritate the hostess and she begrudgingly asked where we wanted to sit. My husband suggested a open table near the window to which she snidely responded, "I don't what the difference will be, you're still going to hear the kids." After a few more tense words were exchanged we decided to leave. There was no reason for this rude behavior from the hostess, and at that point neither of us wanted to have lunch there anymore. For an establishment that charges $45 for a salad at lunchtime, I expect a wall to wall good experience, not to mention excellent food. On our way out the manager thanked us for dining with them, and I decided to tell him about our experience with the hostess. He didn't seem to care very much. We're a gay couple and maybe the Cov doesn't want our money? In the end, I suppose the Cov thinks they can treat customers without a bit of courtesy and it doesn't really matter. I'm sure the Cov will chug along and they'll continue to pack people into their bar and out on their terrace for an overpriced Wayzata experience. For those of you reading this though, there are plenty of other superior dining options in Wayzata. Bypass the impolite, haughty Cov for a better...

Came to Cov with my wife. Been here atleast dozen times over the years. Actually had a company event on my yacht here two weeks ago and brought the whole team and ran up a 4 figure tab. Food great. Service no issues. So tonight they wouldn’t serve my wife. Same place that has served us a dozen times before. Why, cause she’s from Australia. They wouldn’t accept her Australian license to verify her age nor her permanent residency card. Manager comes up, says it has to be a passport. Well she never goes out with her passport she’s had her purse stolen before. She’s been advised by her government not to go out with in domestically. There’s no Australian embassy here. It’s a major issue. Keep in mind my wife is 34 years old. Across the state of Mn, we’ve gone to bars, restaurants, clubs, liquor stores, Uber eats, deliveries, since 2008, that’s 15 years. Atleast 10,000 places. Never. Ever. Has she ever been denied liquor by proving her age with a foreign ID or a PR card. Manager says it has to be a military ID, or a foreign passport, we offered photos of the passport… no go. So ok. These people take their jobs really seriously. We get it. They don’t want the liquor license police to catch them serving a 34 year old permanent resident of this country that’s paid taxes in the millions of dollars ok fine. Whatever. So I order a drink. They bring out the cocktail, serve me, I start drinking, then realize they never carded me. Oh no. Wait wait. This is breaking the rules…. I was really concerned the liquor license investigator was going to audit their illegal pour so I quickly spit the alcohol from my mouth back into the cup, close call, so I cordially informed them, BEFORE, I consumed the drink they served me that they didn’t follow the rules! I offered my ID and whewww…. They checked it BEFORE I drank my drink. Sheesh. Close call. Almost got the whole establishment shut down.

So now my wife is offended. Cause it feels discriminatory. I’m white American I fit the image in Wayzata cake eater town. She doesn’t. She’s off white, she has to be carded. Not me.

Left and went to 6 Smith. No issues. Just like every other establishment in the State of MN we have ever been to in 15 years. Better food. Better cocktails. And they appreciate our business here. What a concept....

This was our 1 st visit to Cov Wayzata restaurant and I have to tell you it is not going to be the last. There is a construction going on by the restaurant so be prepared to find a spot to park your car. After entering the restaurant we were directed to the patio, we had our reservation so we were seated right the way. Since some tables are blocked for “ social distancing” it is a good idea to have a reservation. The location of the patio is right by the lake, the view is incredible. The table was nice and big, the top looked like it was made or marble, very solid. Chair nice and comfortable. Patrick was our waiter, super nice guy and very attentive. We started with a couple of cocktails: Cucumber and Pink Lady. My second Cucumber cocktail was somehow vey light on vodka, otherwise both were nice and fresh, these drinks are very easy to drink. Before our dinner we had a LOBSTER GUACAMOLE , it was tasty and fresh. Our entries were : HALIBUT PICCATA with house-made gnocchi, lemon, capers, spinach. Gnocchis were harder than I would expect, either they were made early during the day or I think they used too much flour. The halibut was excellent. CIOPPINO north atlantic lobster with scallops, shrimp, mussels, roasted fennel and with tomato fumet, this was really fresh and tasty with a very nice spicy fumet. Both entrees were fresh, exciting and nicely presented. We enjoyed them very much. We had the following Sauvignon Blancs with our entrees: La Playa from Chile ,smooth, light, refreshing and Kim Crawford from New Zealand very classic Blanc from NZ...light, grassy, with a green apple finish. Our friends also had BUFFALO fried cauliflower with blue cheese crumble and house-made ranch, it looked great. For the after dinner drink we had cappuccino, which was not warm enough for me and a very nice, refreshing glass of Porto 10 y. In my opinion the food was excellent, price was high, service by Patick was friendly and professional. The entire restaurant decor, ambience is like you are dining in California by the sea. The Cov is a very cool place. My thank you goes to the chef and the team; you did a good job.We...