Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant — Restaurant in Wesley Chapel

We are in our 30's and 40's and dine out often. Coopers Hawk has been open since around Christmas time in Wesley Chapel, FL. We drive by there quite often and have been monitoring its progress and anticipating its opening. Once opened, the restaurant parking lot was jam packed all the time, great reviews. And mind you it isn't a small parking lot. Reservation times were full and the wait was extensive for walk-ins. All good ingredients for an expectation for a great experience, right? My boyfriend had just come back from the Philippines after a long trip and we were looking for something special with a good friend of ours. Cooper's Hawk missed the mark terribly. We were able to get a reservation time at 6:30. The place wasn't as full as expected, and there was actually parking. Something we hadn't seen so far since it's opening. Should have been a red flag, especially on a Monday Holiday (MLK) Everything started off ok, laughing, anticipation for what we had heard about this place, bubbly server. Place is nice, ambiance is good- very loud, even on a slower night. And..... -We started off with cocktails, and the margarita's were very sour- we had to send back 3 times to get it right, but unfortunately never did. I eventually traded my glass of Cabernet with my BF's margarita so he could have something a little more enjoyable. The server was so gracious and understanding. We had planned on ordering a bottle of wine or two but didn't because things just went down hill.

-Bread (dry, stale) came out without any butter or olive oil or anything to dip or spread. They were 'out' of it I guess. -Apps: -We ordered a cheese plate that was quite disappointing. (3) cheeses with accoutrements that didn't fit the cheeses paired with, later we found out some were substituted because of lack of product. Poorly matched. The candied bacon was great. By the way, it was $24. -Bruschetta- was actually our favorite of the evening. The stracciatella was awesome. $14, 4 pieces -Entrees: Braised short rib was dry, bland gluey mashed potatoes-in my experience should be served with a sauce reduction from the braising liquid. My grandmother could make better. ($36) 'Surf and Turf'- Pork chop and Scallops with roasted veggies and 'Betty's Potatoes'. Asked for medium rare pork, it was dry and salty, more like a small cutlet than a 'chop'. Veggies were burned (see pictures), scallops were good (with a bunch of bread cubes underneath I guess to make the dish look fuller? (4ea 10/20 scallops-) and the potatoes were ok. ($34)

'Salmon with Wasabi Potatoes and Asian Slaw- Salmon was cooked ok, to medium. Very salty, the slaw had way too much sesame in it, not edible. The potatoes were smashed and gluey with wasabi on top, not folded in. Not what was expected at all. ($31)

-Plating was messy and everything was on platters, way to big for the portion sizes.

We didn't get dessert.

There was no manager on duty, we were told he had gotten let go and the Chef was off for the night. In my opinion, if there isn't any management available it shouldn't be noticed. Training is key, and for the prices it should be flawless no matter what. You should never be a guest in any hospitality operation and not feel like its not a normal night just because there isn't any leadership or short staffed. Our server, Kristen was incredible. She had just been hired not too long ago. She deserves recognition. She asked us to give it a second try for lunch, we will see. Total bill was $235 for 3 people (mind you no bottles of wine), looking for something with the 'wow' factor I have been reading everywhere. They have a lot of work to do, I am sorry to say. Honestly, I have had better at Bonefish. Same pricing structure. I dont know where all the great reviews are coming from. Lot's of work to do, very...

I am deeply disappointed with the treatment I received and the manner in which I was spoken to by the waitress, Jazmine, at the Coopers Hawk Wesley Chapel location in Florida on evening Sunday of December 12th 2024. We had to remind her after waiting for over 25 minutes for our soft drinks and water. Finally, our four appetizers began arriving, spaced approximately six to eight minutes apart. Since Jazmine has not been seen in a while, I inquired with the food runner if the manager was available. The manager promptly arrived at our table and rectified the situation. However, Jazmine returned to our table with an extremely unpleasant attitude and snarkily asked if she should place our dinner order, which we had given her approximately 10 minutes after ordering the appetizers. An hour and 30 minutes after being seated, Jazmine and another server arrived with our entrees. Jazmine stated “Was this fast enough for you?”. I responded that I was a frequent patron of the restaurant and that the dining experience had not been satisfactory this evening. She responded in a highly offensive manner, “oh yea the entire restaurant knows that you come her a lot and once you tell another server about how your experience is going the entire restaurant staff knows”. At this point, my guest and I lost our appetite due to Jazmine’s behavior. I requested grated cheese, but with an eye roll, Jazmine turned away and walked away from our table. At this point, I was deeply upset and decided to inform the manager about the situation. I felt as though I was bothering her by bringing her attention to Jazmine’s verbal abuse, but she apologized for the incident. While waiting several minutes for Jazmine to return with grated cheese, two other servers who had previously provided exceptional dining experiences approached our table after observing my distress. I informed them of the situation and asked if she can please bring me the check and boxes, as none of our food had yet been touched. Jazmine returned to the table with the grated cheese and I asked for her to clarify her previous statement of “Oh yes, the entire restaurant is aware that you frequent it often.” She looked at me with confusion and stated, “Of course, when an Ambassador dines, the host staff will write ‘Ambassador’ on the seat card.” (She spoke in a fake, polite voice while rolling her eyes.) I responded, “The way you phrased it earlier seemed more sarcastic than that.” She retorted, “Well, it wasn’t.” I then inquired if she was serving an Ambassador whether she should make occasional appearances at the table. Very rudely, she responded, “I will not prioritize your status over anyone else” as she started to laugh in my face and walk away. In summary of my visit on December 12, 2024, what was once my sanctuary for relaxation after a long day or week of work transformed into an establishment that I will likely associate with negative memories. I am deeply disappointed and hurt, especially considering that I had recently achieved Ambassador Elite status for 2025 and had booked the 20th-anniversary Cooper’s...

I just got back in the US from my vacation overseas and my loved ones decided to take me out for dinner. They chose Cooper’s Hawk in Wesley Chapel (We all never eaten here before) because of all the hype from the reviews. We were all exicted to try the place. The decors inside are magnificent and very classy. Our server Kirsten was very nice and attentive. We ordered 2 Cooper’s Hawk Margarita and Mule. We sent back both the Margaritas because they were overly sour (I’m a Margarita guy but this one was awful. I’m sorry to say that.) and Kirsten offered to replace it with the house Margarita instead. We got the Margarita but had the same problem and mine came out too bitter and sour so I ask Kirsten if she can make me a Margarita with pineapple juice. Well, I was little disappointed that the replacement didn’t taste good as I expected it to be. (I’m not a bartender but how can you mess up a classic margarita) My bf just decided to switch his wine with my Margarita because he didn’t want to waste it.

As for food, we ordered the Bruschetta and Cheese Plate for our appetizers. The Bruschetta is spot on (great job to that) but not really pleased with the cheese plate. It was plated on a huge plate with a very small portion sizes on food (I forgot to take picture of it). Not a big fan of honeycomb on top of Feta (honey was melted when we got it) it should be on the side on my opinion. Next, the berry jam was too tangy and was plated on top of goat cheese. Sour plus sour is not really a good combination; and they use cashew nuts instead of Marcona almonds (like what’s it said on the menu). The candied bacon, crostini and stracciatella cheese were the only good stuff on the plate.

I had the soy ginger atlantic salmon as my entree. The fish was perfectly cooked (I asked for medium). I was a little disappointed with the wasabi-buttered mashed potatoes. It was too chunky, it’s like eating straight boiled potatoes. The wasabi sauce was poured on top instead of folding it in the mashed potatoes. The Asian slaw is not very appetizing and was overly portioned. All I can taste from the slaw is sesame oil.

I don’t usually write a review but this was not a quite great experience for me specially I love food and trying out new restaurant. If not with our server Kirsten (she gave us her best service) I would have given a 1 star review. I’m not sure what happened with the dinner service tonight but it was a little chaotic.

We would like to give this restaurant another shot but we’ll try the...