Report Card: Cooper’s Hawk

https://www.coopershawkwinery.com/

Overall GrubGrade A

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere: Grade A+: A word of advice for any of you on the wagon…you’re not going to want to schedule your next AA meeting at Cooper’s Hawk at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. The simple, contemporary décor might be perfect, and the generous table spacing might provide you with enough privacy to carry on a conversation, but oh how you’d be tempted. That’s because there’s wine everywhere at Cooper’s Hawk. Whether it’s in the lobby/waiting area where (at least on the day we visited) there may be 20 to 40 people crowded around the bars sampling some of Cooper’s vast wine selection. Plus, at nearly every table there’s wine being consumed. If you’re into your vino, then Cooper’s Hawk should be at the top of your favorite dining establishments. The restaurant was pretty busy when we visited, but the interior is so spacious that most of the noise seems to linger in the background, allowing you and your guest the ability to carry on a conversation. Cooper’s Hawk is simultaneously contemporary looking yet simply decorated. Bare walls and dark wood with muted lighting really set a nice scene for some good eats, and Cooper’s Hawk would be a nice place to take a date if you want to come off impressive.

High marks: Nearly perfect in design and decor

Low marks: Parking at Easton Town Center is always a chore

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Service: Grade A: Our server, David, was spectacular. He was very friendly and sociable without coming off as silly or as a buffoon. He showed up table side shortly after we were seated and introduced himself and gave us a brief rundown of the menu before taking our drink order. That is exactly how it should be done. We always find it frustrating when a server arrives at our table immediately after we’re seated and asks for our drink order. How about you let us open our menus first, huh? David ran our service like he majored in it in college. Another nice touch added by David is that he crouched by our table when he spoke with us. That way he was eye level and we could hear each other without raising our voices. It was a really nice touch that we usually don’t see in most restaurants.

High marks: Personality and attention to detail

Low marks: None

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Food/Spirits: Grade A: Now for the good part. First off, Cooper’s Hawk has a pretty robust menu. If you are at all indecisive with your food selections, you’d be wise to visit the restaurant’s website before stopping in to explore the menu. And if you are a winer, there’s a boat load of wine selections to choose from. We started off ordering the Over the Border Egg Rolls for an appetizer and Katina opted for an Island Mojito to drink while I ordered the house brewed Cooper’s Hawk Ale. The egg rolls were amazing. Much bigger than anticipated, these egg rolls break from the traditional 99% veggie, 1% meat formula that most egg rolls seem to employ. Stuffed with seasoned chicken, these egg rolls were devoid of all veggies except for the corn contained in the corn and black bean relish. The egg rolls were served with 3 sauces: cilantro ranch, tomatillo salsa, and a cashew sauce. Yeah, we thought we misread that on the menu as well – cashew sauce? Gross, right? Wrong! Of the 3 sauces, that cashew sauce was by far the best, although all 3 sauces were excellent. There’s really no point in describing them – just order the egg rolls when you visit and see for yourself. Katina’s Island Mojito was smooth with a huge pineapple presence and no alcohol bite. If you favor pineapple, don’t order this drink – you won’t be able to stop drinking them and might find yourself unwittingly tatered. The Cooper’s Hawk Ale was really smooth with just a hint of hops but a big malt presence, which is just how I like them and probably why I sucked down 2 of them. For entrees, Katina got out of her comfort zone and ordered Fish and Chips. If you follow this blog you know that was sarcasm. The fish were nicely battered and thick cod filets that were perfectly cooked and served with some lightly seasoned and crispy fries. The fish also came with a sriracha mayo and the traditional tartar sauce. And as awesome as all the rest of the food tasted at Cooper’s Hawk, their tartar sauce blows. The tartar sauce was way out of balance and had an overwhelming pickle flavor. I ordered the Chef’s recommendation, braised short rib cannelloni. This was maybe the 2^nd or 3^rd dish I’ve had where I thought that I had made a mistake after taking the first bite. There was a flavor that my mouth couldn’t decide whether it liked or not when I first bit into the dish. But like those other dishes, the more I ate the better it tasted until I was tempted to wipe my plate clean with my dinner napkin, hold it above my open mouth, and wring out every last drop of the dish into my gaping food hole. But I’m not an animal after all, so I decided to share Katina’s dessert instead. She ordered the banana ice cream sandwich. If you like bananas, this is the dessert for you. It pretty much describes itself, doesn’t it?

High marks: Entrees, drinks, appetizer, cashew sauce, etc, etc, etc

Low marks: Horrible tartar sauce, but Katina doesn’t eat tartar sauce anyway so no loss

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Value: Grade A: Appetizer, entree, one drink for the lightweight and two beers for me – add on a tasty desert and we expected to hit well over $100 before tip, especially considering the quality of the food and the overall upscale experience. We barely broke $80. That was substantially lower than we were expecting, so we have to score Cooper’s Hawk an A+ for value.

High marks: High quality and extremely reasonable prices

Low marks: None …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Technical: Grade B: The website for Cooper’s Hawk is fairly robust. The entire menu is available to view online. You can also make reservations, buy some of their house made wine, or see what’s happening in many of their wine clubs. The ability to order food is not provided on the website, but Cooper’s Hawk is not really a take-out kind of place.

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Autism Friendly Score 6: Although Cooper’s Hawk probably wouldn’t be near the top of your list to dine if you’re towing around your little friend on the spectrum, if you did decide to pop in, fear not. With the simple décor and online kids and gluten-free menus, you could certainly do worse than stopping by Cooper’s Hawk. We would just recommend not going during “peak” hours because the place gets packed and can get a little noisy.

Report Card: Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy

http://www.abuelos.com

 

Overall GrubGrade B+

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere: Grade A-: My wife loves Easton, but I hate it. So I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice I made by accompianing Katina to Abuelo’s at Easton. Other than some parking issues, the restaurant itself is huge and very clean. The size of the interior plays games with the acoustics, and even though Abuelo’s was busy, the noise level was indicative of freight train derailment. The inside of Abuelo’s has a nice classical look, with pillars and lots of murals on the wall. We found the table spacing to be fairly generous, but the interior is cavernous and we’d be disappointed if we were sitting on top of our neighboring tables. Plus the noise level would have been intolerable. Not sure if we’d recommend Abuelo’s for a romantic interlude, but powerdrinking margaritas and eating you weight in tortillas fits nicely with the vibe. Abuelo’s is pretty nice looking and flirts with being more upscale than most Mexican eateries, but it’s relaxed enough for you to get your own bib out of your back pocket if you brought it with you.

High marks: Clean, contemporary and classic, nice table spacing

Low marks: Very noisy

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Service: Grade C+: Along with the long bench seat, one of our pet peeves is the trainee server. Sometimes it works out okay, but it usually translates to slower service and us having to repeat ourselves. It took quite a while for us to receive our first drinks from the bar. It was probably a bad night to saddle Kristin, who appeared to be fairly compentent, with a trainee. Save the training for the lunch service. Overall, even though our order was accurate, it seemed to take too long to get our food. One of the hallmarks of Mexican dining is that your meal usually arrives 5 minutes after you order – not the case on this night at Abuelo’s.

High marks: Accurate

Low marks: Slow and slower

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Food/Spirits: Grade A-: Here is where Abuelo’s shined. The complimentary chips and salsa were pretty good, with thin and fresh chips and a tasty salsa. The salsa had very little spiciness to it, but it was still flavorable enough for us to enjoy. For drinks, Katina ordered a peach margarita, which was nice to see her keep her drink selection in line with the theme of the restaurant. Katina is a bit of a wordsmith, so when I asked her to describe the drink I wasn’t surprised to hear words like “good” and “peachy” come out of her mouth (sarcasm intended). The margarita was smooth and had just a faint tequila bite to it. I have a feeling that it was stronger than it tasted because it made my face get all warm when I tried a sip, and by the time we left Katina was a little giggly. I opted for some traditional Coronas, which went down smoothly and quickly. I surprised Katina by ordering some jalapeno cheese fritters for an appetizer/side. I was afraid that since I was famished my meal wouldn’t fill me up, plus the service was so slow I had to fight the urge to do a drive by snatching of someone’s taco. The fritters were simple but tasty and they had a nice spicy kick to them. Katina even liked them, and she is not a fan of jalapeno poppers. We did find it odd that the fritters were served to us on a greasy napkin instead of small plates, but we can live with that. Katina ordered a combo of 3 enchiladas. One was ground beef and fire-roasted queso, one was chicken with sour cream, and the third one was cheese and onion with chili con carne. Katina felt the cheese and onion enchilada was the best tastine, with the chicken and sour cream taking second place. I ordered something called the Durano Burrito, which was absolutely fantastic. The meat, and there was a ton of it, had a really nice spicy kick to it, and the cheese sauce that topped it was a perfect match. Without a doubt, the Durango was one of the best burritos I’ve ever had.

High marks: Excellent Durango burrito, good enchiladas, perfectly mixed maragita

Low marks: Jalapeno cheese fritters served on a napkin

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Value: Grade A: We feasted on some pretty high quality Mexican grub and escaped barely breaking the $50 mark, which was less than we expected. Had the service been quicker, this grade would have been an A+. But if you want some good Mexican eats, Abuelo’s should be near the top of your short list – just don’t visit if you’re in a hurry.

High marks: High quality, lower than expected price

Low marks: Speed

 

Report Card: Bon Vie Bistro

http://bon-vie.com/index.html

 

Overall GrubGrade B-

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere: Grade B: We’re fans of Brio and Bravo, so there is no reason that we wouldn’t be big fans of Bon Vie since they are all owned by the same parent company. We stopped by the Bon Vie Bistro at the Easton Town Center at about 4:30pm on a Friday. The restaurant was fairly empty, so it looked like we beat the evening dinner rush. We’re not exactly sure that Bon Vie was even ready to go with the dinner service since we were seated with lunch menus to order from. After a few minutes of looking at the menu and wondering why some of the dishes we saw on the online menu were absent, Katina figured out we had lunch menus instead of dinner menus. We stopped a passing server and were promptly brought dinner menus. The décor was nice and the restaurant was clean. But, one of our big pet peeves was present – the bench seat. Check out our review of the Cheesecake Factory to see how much we really hate the bench seat. I know my wife appears to be out of my league, but I do assume that most of the restaurant staff know that we are on a date. As such, why, may I ask, do you insist on sitting us at that stupid bench seat? Since we were the only ones there, it wasn’t a real big deal at first, but by the time we left we had groups of 4 on each side of us, so privacy was nil. Couple that with the fact that the music was too loud, and any romantic atmosphere that Bon Vie started with was quickly wiped away.

High marks: Clean, not crowded (at first), nicely decorated

Low marks: Given lunch menus, that horrific bench seat, no privacy

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Service: Grade B: If you look up the word “stiff” or “serious” in the dictionary, you might see a picture of our server, Tim, with the definition. And while all our needs were met and our service was timely and accurate, we were a little uncomfortable because our server seemed almost too intense. We certainly appreciate someone who takes their job responsibilities seriously, but diners want a relaxing experience when they visit a restaurant, and we just didn’t feel relaxed when our server was nearby. We still had to give Tim a “B” since he performed his duties professionally, but had he cracked a joke or projected some friendliness, that grade would have probably been an “A.”

High marks: Accurate, timely, very professional

Low marks: Too stiff and formal

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Food/Spirits: Grade B-: We both started out with raspberry mojitos, which has strong but not overwhelming raspberry flavor with no alcohol bite. Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of a wait for our drinks. While we were waiting, our server brought us some bread. Now since Bon Vie has a French vibe going on, we were assuming the bread would be really good. It was mediocre, and certainly not sliced at all. Other than eating crab legs, when we are paying for a meal, we’d like to keep the manual labor down to a minimum. So, Bon Vie, we suggest you take a couple of minutes and slice that loaf of bread for your patrons next time. We ordered the Sweet Chili Calamari and Shrimp for our appetizer. The calamari and shrimp were lightly breaded and had a nice flavor, but the sauce was a little on the skimpy side, and that was where most of the flavor was stashed. But, overall it was a pretty nice appetizer. By the end of our appetizer, our drinks were dry so Katina ordered a Strawberry Basil Lemonade and I ordered a beer called Kronenburg 1664. The strawberry lemonade (we’re not sure where the basil was hiding, but we never found it) was very sweet and sugary tasting. The beer, on the other hand, has almost no flavor. It would be a good beer for someone who doesn’t drink a lot of beer. For entrees, Katina ordered the Crab Crusted Tilapia and I ordered the Grilled NY Strip. The tilapia, like the appetizer, needed more sauce. The fish itself had a nice flavor, and the haricots verts that accompanied both entrees were fantastic. The tilapia also came with a vegetable blend that was also very tasty. The NY Strip was cooked to the perfect temperature, but way under-seasoned and dry. The menu stated it was supposed to come with truffle butter, but we couldn’t detect and butter anywhere in or on the dish. I opted to swap the baked potato for their fries, which was a good call as the fries were delightful. Had the quality of the preparation matched the quality of the cut of beef, then the dish would have been much, much better.

High marks: Decent calamari, great haricots verts and fries

Low marks: Entrees needed more sauce and more seasoning

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Value: Grade B-: We weren’t blown away by either the portion sizes or the quality of the food, so coming close to dropping a Benjamin for just the two of us seemed a little steep (and, I am ashamed to admit, we had a coupon – so it would have been over $100). Parts of the meal were really good, but others were just slightly better than average. Bon Vie Bistro is certainly a viable choice if you are out at Easton Town Center and want mix it up a bit, but we wouldn’t recommend making a trip out there just for the dining experience.

High marks: Parts of meal very nicely executed

Low marks: A little expensive for the quality

Report Card: FlipSide

FlipSide

http://www.flipsideburger.com/

Overall GrubGrade A

 

Atmosphere:  Grade A:  You might be able to guess what type of restaurant FlipSide is by the name, but certainly not from the outside of the building.  Inside, however, we found the place to be quite clean and very bar-like in its vibe.  FlipSide just  gave off that nice, easy feel that you get from your favorite local watering hole.  It was a little noisy and reasonably crowded considering we were there at around 1:00pm on a Friday.  Thankfully, there’s some decent space between tables, so the noise wasn’t too bad, but I can’t imagine how loud it gets at around 5pm on Fridays.

High marks:  Clean, simple décor, relaxed vibe

Low marks:   A little noisy

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Service:  Grade A:  We had a wonderful server named Eric.  Since we were first timers, Eric took a moment and explained how the menu worked.  Drinks and food all came out in a reasonable amount of time.  Eric was very engaging and knowledgeable and really friendly.   This is an example of how dinner service should be done (in a week or two, we’re going to give you an example of the exact opposite).  I have seen some other reviews of FlipSide where the service did not get any compliments, but we have nothing but positive things to say about the staff at FlipSide.

High marks:  Friendly, quick service

Low marks:   Nothing

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Food/Spirits:  Grade A:  Since we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us, we had to keep it under control with respect to our grown-up drinks.  Katina ordered a Blueberry Lemonade, which tasted pretty much exactly like the name suggests it would.  I ordered a New Holland Dragon’s Milk, which tastes like the heavenly offspring of Guinness and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale…all the flavor of the Bourbon Barrel Ale with the color and texture of a Guinness.  For an appetizer, we ordered the chili cheese fries.  These turned out to be much tastier than they appeared.  The cheese sauce was thinner than the sauce that’s usually on chili cheese fries.  Initially this concerned us, but it turns out the thinner sauce allowed for more complete coverage of the fries, so every bite had chili and cheese unlike most other chili cheese fries where the cheese is only on the top portion of the fries.  They turned out to be the some of the best chili cheese fries we’ve tried.  For her burger, Katina ordered the FlipSide Burger and I ordered the Smokey Burger.  The FlipSide Burger comes with aged cheddar and apple wood smoked bacon (which Katina always removes and gives to me – she super finicky about how her bacon is cooked.  She calls it extra crispy, but most of the rest of humanity would call it burnt).  Add balsamic vinegar and red onions and you’ve just about hit all of Katina’s favorite burger toppings.  The Smokey Burger comes topped with beef brisket, smoked gouda, jalapenos and BBQ sauce (and thanks to Katina, apple wood smoked bacon).  The burgers were excellent, and cooked perfectly.  Our medium well done burgers had just a ribbon of pink in the center, exactly as they should.  We were both very impressed with the quality.  It is also worthy of note that you can get any burger with chicken, turkey, or bison substituted for beef.  We also split a side of mac and cheese with bbq beef brisket added.  It was really excellent – in fact, I might drool on the keyboard just reliving the experience.  We’ve had this incarnation of mac and cheese at a few places, and it has always impressed us.  More restaurants should offer this version of mac and cheese as a side.

High marks:  Good drinks, perfectly prepared burgers, excellent cheese fries and mac and cheese          

Low marks:   Had to restrict drinking, couldn’t return the following day for a repeat visit since we were going out of town

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Value:  Grade B:  The only reason FlipSide doesn’t get an A in this category is that our bill was a little high considering we were eating burgers.  Portion size was adequate.  However, we want that to in no way discourage you from stopping by if you haven’t yet.  Again, that’s why the value category carries the least amount of weight in the calculation of the overall grade.  Frankly, a lot of times the old adage that “you get what you pay for” actually turns out to be true.  This was one of those times.  Bravo FlipSide…what a nice way to kick off our little trip.

High marks:   Excellent quality, decent portion size

Low marks:   A little pricey

Report Card: Mitchell’s Ocean Club

www.mitchellsoceanclub.com

Overall Grade B+

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere:  Grade A-:  As you walk toward the open, double doors guarding the entrance to Mitchell’s Ocean Club, you can’t help but be impressed by modern décor.  Don’t turn you head to the left!  Oops, too late.  Well, you just forget the giant plywood square announcing the coming renovations.  Just pretend you didn’t see it.  In all fairness, Mitchell’s Ocean Club is an upscale seafood restaurant, and the décors back that up — usually.  Tables are nicely appointed, and the menus are finished in finer leather than my car’s upholstery.  The Ocean Club would get and A for atmosphere instead of an A- if it weren’t for those pesky renovations.  Maybe on our next visit, we can bump up their grade.  Noise is at a minimum, and the hostess has enough common sense not to sit you on top of the other customers if the dining room isn’t crowded.

High marks:  Pretty much everything

Low marks:  Ongoing renovations are a blemish on an otherwise perfect setting

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Service:  Grade A-:  Our server was knowledgeable, and not pushy.  I love it when a server lets the customer control the conversation.  We weren’t bludgeoned with detailed descriptions of specials in which we obviously had no interest.  Drinks, appetizers, soup/salad, and main course were all appropriately spaced, and there was little wait between each.  It is hard to get an A or A+ in this category, because our expectations of a great server are extremely high.  An A- in this category is extremely solid.

High marks:  Knowledgeable server, good spacing between courses

Low marks:  No “wow” factor, but good service nonetheless.

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Food/Spirits:  Grade A-:  We’ll go in order of occurrence.  Katina ordered the “Berries and Bubbles” which looked as interesting as it tasted, thanks to a strategically placed piece of dry ice. It bubbled and smoked like something out of a 1950’s horror film.   I ordered the “Pineapple Saffron” which tasted fine but didn’t knock my socks off.  The best part of that drink was the pineapple wedge that came with it.  I switched to Guiness for my second drink (no “lush” comments, please).  Katina fell madly in love with the complementary pretzel bread.  It was quite delicious.  We ordered the calamari for our appetizer, which was well prepared but a little devoid of sauce, which kind of defeated the purpose of ordering it in the first place.  Katina ordered the French onion soup and I the lobster bisque.  Both soups were delicious, but neither were the best we’ve had (Katina kind of has a thing for French onion soup, by the way).  Katina had crab cakes for her entrée, and I had blackened snapper.  Both entrees were very well prepared.  The jalapeno corn tartar that accompanied the snapper lent a very nice kick to the dish.  Portion size was adequate for both dishes and probably could have been slightly larger considering the price.

High marks:  Well prepared entrees, good mixed drinks

Low marks:  Soups lacked “wow” factor

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Value: Grade C+:  As previously mentioned, we found the portion size on the entrees to be adequate.  When you account for the price of each dish,  that drives our value grade down to a C+.  That should not be an indicator of the quality or flavor of any of the dishes.  In most cases, you get exactly what you pay for…and in the case of Mitchell’s Ocean Club, you’re paying for premium seafood and steaks.  It shouldn’t be cheap.  You will thoroughly enjoy your trip to Mitchell’s Ocean Club, especially if you’re a seafood fan.

High marks:  High quality food for a premium price

Low marks:  Portion size should lean more to the generous side for the price