My husband and I recently had the opportunity to visit the new Cooper’s Hawk at Waterford Lakes Town Center in Orlando.  Sorry for my wonky picture of the place.  It was raining and I was kind of sick (and tired of standing out in the rain).  My husband chose to park in the farthest spot from the building.  

When you enter, you are greeted by a person handling out samples of the wine of the month, or something, but we got missed.  No free sample for us.  That’s alright, we wandered over to the bar and were met by a very happy and pleasant bartender.*  (* I don’t know what her official title was, but she was very sweet and very attentive to us.)  She advised us on the different wine tastings and served everything.  We chose the Sweet Tasting, which gave us 8 different wines for $7.  The pours were generous.  I probably should have eaten something in the preceding hours.  I felt a bit light-headed and giggly…

The bartender was knowledgeable and was trying to sell us on the Wine Club they offer.  I have a natural and immediate reaction to decline anything of the sort, so I will not make judgment on the pros and cons of membership.  I should also mention that the “lobby” area was full of specialty food, wine, and general kitchen items.  I didn’t pay enough attention to be able to give you much about these items.  

During the time that we were doing our wine flight, our reservation buzzer buzzed.  The bartender took our buzzer and said that they would hold our table for us until we were ready to eat.  As soon as we were done with the wine, we paid and went back to the hostess for dinner seating.  There was a bit of an awkward moment when we realized that were not able to write in a tip on the tab for the wine samples.  This is clearly an injustice to those acting as bartenders* because the girl who helped us did a great job and deserved a tip.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have any cash…  Cooper’s Hawk?  Change your policy so we can take care of your people.

We took our seat in a large but not overwhelming space.  There were booths along the edges with tables and chairs in the middle where we were seated.  Truly, by the time we got there, I didn’t need anything to eat, or anything to drink.  So we ordered an appetizer sampler and I ordered another glass of wine.  As far as I know, the food was all pretty good.  I didn’t come close to finishing the glass of wine.  I think the prices were pretty reasonable, making my unnecessary $12 glass of wine even more glaringly unnecessary.  Still pretty sure that I passed out at home around 10:00 p.m.  I don’t drink anymore.  I’m a light weight.  Ask anyone who knows me.