Copper Grill Lobster & Steak Ho

My husband and I decided to try Copper Grill on Saturday, February 12, to celebrate our anniversary. In the past, we heard positive things about the restaurant. We were very disappointed. We started off at the bar, which unbeknownst to us, would be the most enjoyable part of the evening. We had reservations, and when it was time for us to be seated, we were escorted into what appeared to be a private dining area that they opened up for "over-flow". The lights were bright, stark white table cloths and no ambiance whatsoever. We could only look out into the "real" restaurant area. We asked to be moved, but they advised us there was nothing available. We decided to stay and at least give the food a chance and maybe it would be worth it. We got Oysters Rockefeller and Lobster Tails as appetizers and they were terrible. Captain D's could top these appetizers. My husband got Wagyu Filet and I got Lamb Chops for our entrees. Both were sub-par at best, not to mention the plate of asparagus that cost $10 and was nothing special at all. The staff was very friendly but not very attentive. My husband agrees with the previous review that the only thing decent was his salad, and also the wine. We are not complainers and this is my first negative restaurant review. When you pay this much for a meal you expect excellent service and food. I am writing this review to advise others so they do not waste a special occasion or lots of money on terribly overpriced food. I wish we would have read these reviews first. Our once a year celebration and $200 thrown in the trash. I would never go here again nor recommend it to anyone. more

My 12th wedding anniversary with my wife almost turned into a nightmare. It started like this: I was greeted by the hostess asking if I had a reservation and I replied that we did not. We were greeted by a knowledgeable waiter who seemed very well versed on the menu and specials. We ordered drinks and then appetizers. My wife had the Lobster Bisque and I had the special which was scallops with a relish. Scallops, looked awesome, little too rare for me, I should have sent them back to cook for a minute longer. However, I ate them and they were good with the bacon-mushroom relish. Lobster Bisque was the consistency of pudding, with the flavor of a salty gravy and would have been perfect if it was poured over mashed potatoes or turkey. After the waiter gave us our appetizers, he never checked on us throughout the entire time while eating them. I also had to get another waiter to get my wife a drink. It was at this point that I knew that my evening was going downhill. I started to pay less attention to my wife and more attention to why I was going to drop $200 in this place when I was ready to get up and go to the bar myself to get my wife a drink, having to ask for a refill on the water, etc. I have eaten at Ruth’s Chris, Morton’s and lots of other nice places and they all seem to have one common theme: take care of the customer, be attentive, be caring, ask how the meal is and make it a wonderful dining experience so that cost is not an issue. We finished our appetizers and were waiting and waiting for dinner. I noticed it was getting late and that the 2-top table behind my wife got their steaks before us. Now this would not be a problem, but they were seated 20 minutes after us. So I tried to find the waiter, no lie, seriously I timed it, the waiter did not come over for 10 minutes! I tried to flag him down TWICE to no avail and the gentleman behind my wife was laughing at me because he saw what was happening. I finally was so fed up that I got up and went to the hostess stand were the manager was and said “ok, am I getting horrible service because I do not have reservations?” The manager pulled me aside and spoke with me. She was very nice and wanted to just apologize. I finally told her that we did not want to continue our dinner and to cancel the steaks and we would be leaving because it was 9:30pm and we needed to be at the comedy club. Then the manager said that our steaks were at our table and against my better judgment I went to my table and proceeded to eat my steak. I ordered the Cowboy cut (ribeye on the bone) and my wife ordered the petite filet. We ordered 2 sides- the mushrooms and the twice baked potatoes. Mushrooms were really good; the twice backed potatoes were ok, bland; and the bread was really good and fresh. But, be careful because the dipping olive oil concoction was not very good-it had a bitter flavor. As far as the steaks were concerned the filet was really good,cooked just right, but small. The presentation of the steak was terrible-the tiny steak was served on a large, empty white plate without any type of garnish. The ribeye was the worst cut of steak I have ever eaten; I have had a better steak at Golden Corral. It was a big steak, but what was not grizzle was an 8-10 ounce bone. It was overcooked, no flavor, and not a typical $40 cut of a ribeye! So I ate what I could and told the waiter to bring me the check. He knew that we were not happy. BOTTOM LINE: OVERPRICED, BELOW PAR SERVICE, MEDIOCRE FOOD, WE WILL NEVER GO BACK YOU CAN TAKE YOUR CHANCES Pros: Not busy Cons: read below... more

I have eaten here at least 20 times. Unfortunately my now wife and I had our first date here:thus the multiple return trips. Our evening began with insects infesting our table. We were informed by our 18 something waitstafff that they could not bring fly paper to our table-no further efforts were offered. We asked for hot tea after our meal and were told we are out and haven't restocked, We wanted a bottle of wine on the menu and were told, we don't have that we are waiting for the wine truck. After that we asked for a manager and were told none were on the premises. Do yourself a favor, take a limo to the Jefferson and have dinner at Lemaire- this will save money!!!!! Pros: ridiculous Cons: food,service more

We dined at the Copper Grille on 12/22/2009, there were 2 other tables at the time, one party of 11. We were seated promptly, then we sat and sat some more until a trainee approached us 15 minutes later. I should have left at this point, my fault. It took another 15 minutes to get the drink order, we still haven't seen our main server yet to explain the specials and to answer some questions. He arrives, all the while 4 other servers line the walls watching the empty room and talking, I ask if they serve Grolsch Beer, "I don't know", "I'll go check", I'm still waiting for the answer. I own a fine dining restaurant myself and have been a chef for 33 years, but what happened next is comical. I order the classic caesar salad, my wife the lobster bisque, my daughter the ravioli appetizer. In my day the classic caesar salad is parmesean cheese, anchoivies, romaine, a made at the table dressing using raw egg and freshly made croutons. Wrong! Here it is a bottled dressing, raw red onions, capers and hard boiled eggs, for $8.00! The bisque had the consistency of pudding, and was as saltly a pudding I've ever tasted, it went uneaten. Our party of four order, the small filet, $29.00, the filet on the bone $45, and a Kobe Burger for a whopping $20.00. I asked the server if the Kobe was Japanese Kobe or American Waygu, he stated it says Kobe on the box in the freezer! We ordered two sides, garlic mashed, $8.00 and the Green Beans $8.00, the beans were great, the garlic mashed, well the potato was the side dish to the main course of salt! The burger was well done, not medium, the one lettuce leaf on top was rotten, and the tomato was a gas house hard tomato with the stem end, excuse me, for $20.00! The only good point were the staks, cooked to perfection and tasty, worth the price, hell no, tiny portions. My Filet on the Bone was overwhelmed by a 16 inch plate with no garnish, or anything else on it. During the course of all this, no service people were around. I finally had enough, I looked to the Hostess station, to see the Maitre'D, picking her teeth with her finger, gross! I called her over and the excuses started, it wasn't salt I was tasting it was "garlic", not. I explained as a classically trained chef with 33 years experience I know the difference, her response, "AWESOME"! It was the worst dining experience I've ever had, the server was with the 11 top all night, all the other servers, backs against the wall, did nothing. Even after removing several of the uneaten items off the bill, the cost was over a $100.00, we went out for pizza afterwards. Pros: Quiet, no one there Cons: At these prices I expect perfection, not even close more

For the money, you are better served heading over to Flemmings or Ruths Chris. Food had no flavor, steaks and sides were tepid at best . I expected what I paid for and this meal was not that. Creamed spinich tasted like boiled spinich w/ mile and consistency was very soupy. Garlic Mashed potatoes were very thin and no garlic flavor. Fries were greasy and cold. Pros: no wait, staff excellent Cons: food not good, too pricey more

It was a great place although this isn't part of DC .. Copper Grill can cook a mean steak. Represent for the CGL. Pros: Tasty Burger Cons: Some of the waiters were slacking more

I went on a Saturday night with a friend who has been several times - as the guest of company vendors. We had a 6:30 reservation. There was no one at the bar and the restaurant was almost empty. Because we were two females, we were not seated in one of those hideous leopard print snuggle-nest booths, we were seated at a table for two by the huge grill that is in the center of the room. Is this really necessary? Do I need to see trays of raw meat prior to and during dining? My friend had told me that the price of the surf & turf - filet mignon with lobster tail was $45. She was just there a few months ago. She failed to mention that all sides are a la carte to the tune of $7 to $10 each. She opened up her menu first and said, "Oh, the price has gone up a few dollars." Try $16. The surf & turf was $61. I vacillated between the surf & turf or a steak Oscar style for an extra $11, but chose the surf & turf because she had raved so over the lobster. I should have opted for the crab. The lobster tail was fair enough in size (but not for $61), but it was dry and not memorable. The steak ordered medium rare, was cooked perfectly despite its thickness. Something that was very noticeable was that my friend's steak was at least 1/3 larger than mine. I would have never served two people getting the same thing anything with such marked difference in size. We ordered two sides, creamed spinach ($8) and chargrilled vegetables ($7) because I was not told that the sides are enough to feed at least 4 very hungry people. If you get 2 sides they will easily feed 6. The creamed spinach was very good as were the veggies. Our total check for 2 people without drinks or dessert was $143 with tax PLUS a $26 tip. We had three waiters and the Captain did the least work of anyone. He took our order, and then when the food was delivered to the table he waited while we checked the doneness of our steak. I guess the high prices are to compensate for all the help they have. Pros: candy in the bathrooms, olive oil and parmesan dipping sauce for bread Cons: PRICES! PRICES! PRICES! You do not get what you pay for. more

This place is completely overpriced and over rated. We went at 6:00 with a reservation on a Saturday night, and were seated close to the heat lamp-prep center of the room, even though there were only there were only 10 other people there...we asked to be moved. All through the 'experience" we overheard talk buzzing through the servers/cooks walkie talkies, and honestly it felt like we were in TGI Fridays. The "Caesar" salad was an odd mix of chopped egg, chopped tomato, and capers....anyone else ever call that a Caesar salad?? We split twin lobster tails, which @ $65 looked to be the size of the ones you get frozen at Kroger for $9 a pair. As we were starting our entree, the hostess seated a couple behind us, and there was clearly not enough room for the lady to sit behind my husband. The lady asked if we could MOVE THE TABLE, which WE did, as the hostess stood there with a stupid smile on her face and a stick up her rear. If we had known that the lobster tails came with rice, we wouldn't have ordered mashed potatoes, Oh, and charging $7 for a side of garlic mashed potatoes is absurd, especially considering you can get them at Escoffier in NY with TRUFFLES for $5.50. p.s., the prices online for the Richmond location are not correct, not sure when they took the jump up even higher than stated, but they should at least update their prices to let people know what they're in for. Better yet, don't go. Will never, ever eat there again. I wasn't able to rate this with zero stars, so I had to give it one. more

Our group of 6 had reservations at 8 p.m. on a Friday night. Of course a couple of folks in the group had already checked out reviews of the place earlier but we decided to give it a try even though some of the comments were not favorable. Hind sight is always 20/20. Based on our experience, online reviews are very helpful which has prompted me to write my first review ever. The service was slow and sporadic but an 18% gratuity was automatically added to each bill. You actually paid for each side dish separately. I had steak and lobster tail. Nothing outstanding about either. For the price, my expectation was definitely higher. I would have to say that when you dine there you are paying for the fancy serving dishes, drinks and atmosphere. The cost is definitely not in the food. We all left there knowing we will never dine there again. Pros: Ambience, Drinks Cons: Service more

My husband and I had an early V-dinner at Copper Grill - it was excellent! 3 waiters waited on us. You can watch the chefs grill up the steaks in the middle of the swanky restaurant (which is always playing very classy Sinatra, etc., in the background) and smell the delicious aromas. I ordered the "Surf and Surf" - the lobster and shrimp melted in my mouth. The portion sizes are huge - my husband had half a rotiserrie chicken and 4 diferent sides, all for $23. Yes, you do pay top $ for the steak and lobster, but what you get in return is unparalled service, quality, and ambience. For $100 (including a nice 20% tip that I left), we had two entrees, fabulous bread, wine, dessert, and coffee. This place is big with wine and coffee conneissuers (sp?) - they will bring you your own French press to the table for wonderfully fresh coffee! Be sure to make your reservation on-line and request a booth. Also, the dress code is business casual (they prohibit hats/caps), but who wants to go to such a nice place dressed like a slob? This restaurant is top notch - equivalent to a Bobby Flay Mesa Grill, Roy's (in Hawaii), or any of Wolkfgang Puck/Emeril's restaurants. Believe me - we've been to them all, so we know. Pros: ambience; value; huge portions; excellent service Cons: might be expensive for some - best for special occassions more

Atomsphere was loud - background music to loud(but good quality for atomsphere) neighboring tables were talking loudly to be heard over music, it was very hard to hear what the waiters were saying, steaks were not cooked to desired done-ness, grills are to hot for cooking steaks properly. Portions were large but for the price not very good taste. Wait staff knowledgble but were not very attentive, took 25 minutes to get our appetizer order to waiter - took 3 hours to complete our meal with 7 people. Bill came to one price with 20% graduity built in - menu states 18% for parties over 6. paid with credit card and the total came back different from orginal bill. still trying to correct 3 days latter. Manager was not responsive to our need for attentionto correct bill errors. Went on a Saturday night. Overall not a good evening. Pros: knowledgeable staff, atmosphere for large group Cons: food valve, atmosphere for not for romance or a quit evening more

We had a great dinner with salad and main dish, however when it came to desert, we were had. Creme brulee with Grand Marnier flammed with sugar base. The desert was $6.50, the Grand Marnier was $35.00. No mention was made about the extra charge for the liqueur. We went last Sunday for the Lobster special, 5lb. for $99.00, after ordering, we were told that no 5lb. lobsters were available, and that we could get a 6lb. lobster for $20.00 a pound. Also, a vodka martini with house vodka cost $1.50 extra for Absolut (not requested). For a high end resturant its a nickle/dime operation. Pros: Food, Service Cons: Business ethics, Pricing more

Walking into the Copper Grill, I was immediately impressed by the service and ambiance. The service was top-notch with what seemed like 2 waiters for every customer. The food was excellent and came in optimal portions. I ordered the New York Strip steak and it came out exactly like I ordered it. We also ordered the Sampler platter which was enough to feed 4 people. I'd highly recommend this place again to anyone. Excellent price for what you pay for. Pros: Service, Food, Value more