There’s nothing worse than pasta that tastes like it came straight out of the box, and that’s what we got at “Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant” over in Coconut Creek, Florida.
This Illinois-based chain, which first opened some 14 years ago, offers a “full-service” restaurant, a tasting room, and a retail wine store at each of its 30 locations in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
While their wines have supposedly earned hundreds of awards, and even though they claim to offer, “a modern, casual dining experience with warm hospitality in an inviting upscale setting.” And despite their promise that, “[e]ach dish is made fresh in our scratch kitchen, incorporating peak-of-season ingredients,” this place got no accolades from us. We disliked every minute of our experience.
By way of example, we ordered “Elle’s Chicken Piccata” — which was supposed to come with an angel hair pasta and a lemon butter caper sauce ($18.99).
Not only did we not get angel hair, but the rigatoni we received was woefully undercooked. The caper sauce, on the other hand, was acidic and salty, and did nothing to enhance the taste of a drab, just defrosted chicken, or the rock-hard pasta (which literally had a crunch).
Frankly, it also didn’t help matters that we waited a little over an hour for this dish to arrive. (It took some 45 minutes for our appetizer, and yet another 20+ minutes after that for our pastas to get to the table.) According to our server, the kitchen got “slammed” with a last-minute rush of orders.
Given we were served an unacceptable, school-cafeteria-style dish, we rushed to “slam” this place with yet another “F.”
Did I forget to mention how much we loved the (free) loaf of warm pretzel bread and honey butter? Forget their featured items. Get a few of those loaves, instead.
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