Cooper's Hawk Winery

This was my third visit to Cooper's Hawk, and nothing compares to the first visit. When they opened back in August, the service was really on point. The food was spectacular.

Tonight, my waiter was super initiative, and just got the order all wrong. However, the free wine samples were very welcomed. The white sangria is a must sip. And if you have a gluten allergy, they have an expansive menu, covering everything from appetizers to dessert.

Well, I really want to like Cooper's Hawk but just can't do it for a good dining experience.  And I am not picky.  The service was bad.  Perhaps some of the worst service ever.  Again, no bread delivered until I asked for it.  I finally got a chance to ask for it when our food was delivered (our server was MIA from the time we ordered until the food was delivered).

The server was very pushy.  He asked several times if we wanted an appetizer, wine, dessert, etc.  "No" means "no" buddy.

I had the scallops.  Decent but pricey.  $26 for 4 scallops, a few pieces of asparagus and some jasmine rice.  Hmmm...perhaps they should include a soup or salad with it at that price.

My "date" started with the lobster bisque and said it was really good.  Her crab cakes were good but not the best in the area (she mentioned a bar next to Cold Stone Creamery in Crown Point has the best in the area--sorry, can't recall the name).

Recap:
Service is bad here.  Not sure if I can give it another try at this point.  Note that I did have good service one time when I stopped in the bar for a quick appetizer early on a Friday evening.

Food is average but pricey.

The wine is good and the wine tasting is fun.  Perhaps that is the only reason I will visit in the future.

SUMMARY: The wine was great, the food was great. PRETZEL BREAD & LOBSTER BISQUE, Get some. Back room is loud (the sound just bounces off the walls), don't sit there.

More info...

I have visited the Orland location which was always really great! I am not a huge wine fan but I do like the wine here and always get a flight (4 different wines to try, about equal to 2 full glasses). My husband doesn't like wine at all, he ordered a mojito, I don't like mojitos at all until this one. YUM!

It is on the pricier side, just a heads up. I think it is reasonable enough and worth it though.

We went as a party of 4 on a Friday night (which was packed), thankfully, we had made a reservation and were seated right away. Everything that we ordered was as expected. I was disappointed that they were out of a few dishes and it was still early for a Friday, about 6:30-7:00 but our waitress and the manager were very accommodating and pleasant. I just chose something else. My husband's meal was "going to be late" but they offered soup, salad, etc. while he waited. (His wait was literally about 3 minutes longer than ours). The location is still relatively new and little things like those can be expected and forgiven.

Some people find this to be a "fancy" place, I don't think so. Come on peeps...it's in the mall. I'm not saying it's not nice, it's a nice place you just don't have to get fancy to go.

The one thing that was hard to get over was the noise level in the "back" room. Originally we were going to be seated there and before we even sat down, we asked if they had something else and they moved us. It was really ridiculously loud in that part of the restaurant, I am sure that it has something to do with the building itself, it wasn't the people, it was just really loud. The middle area of the restaurant was fine.

All in all, it was very good and we will be back again. I am glad they have a closer location to me than Orland now :)