TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Cooper island Beach club restaurant review post Irma

Yesterday we made a reservation for a 7:30 dinner tonight. 


The rebuild is georgeious. 


It's unfortunate that this is the only nice thing I can say


Let's start with the bushwackers. I have had many a great bushwacker here. Tonight was not that Night. The drink was very icy.  The worst bushwacker of this trip. 



Onto the menu.  There were very few choices. My favourites, chicken roti and the wonderful pasta dish have been removed from the menu. The roti is still on the lunch menu.  The menu moved upscale and includes some overpriced sharing dishes. 


The menu had a vegetarian dish,  a lobster bisque with no lobster, they ran out of their chicken dish, they also had a steak dish and a fish dish.  Eating steak on board tomorrow. 


I spoke to the manager and asked if they could accommodate us by offering the lunch menu. The manager was very firm and had a take it or leave it attitude. He did not care in the slightest about the fact that the menu did not have anything of interest. He could have offered the lunch menu. But no dice. I told the manager that we would order appetizers and desert and eat dinner on the boat. He did not care.


We are a group of 6. No one in our group was happy with the menu. 


Those that ordered the fish said it was good but the portions were small.  Two of us ordered the lobster bisque. It had very over cooked shrimp(3), no lobster and a few morals of shrimp. 


No longer do they offer complimentary bread.


We wanted to order a Bailey's ice dessert. They are out of that too. 


Cooper island is gorgeous. Eat dinner on board. You won't be sorry. Limited overpriced menu. Few menu items, staff with a cavalier attitude. 



The bottom line, disappointingly. 

Warren, so sorry to hear about your bad experience. There is no excuse for that. My guess is they were busy and ran out of food, so no chicken for chicken roti! Re-supply on an island is always a problem. Maybe the attitude is a consequence of little competition since Irma.

The wonderful chicken roti is only offered on the regular menu.

The manager steadfastly refused to offer anything from the lunch menu.

They are trying to go more upscale.

In my view, how can you have only 5 main choices. Run out of one and your down to 4.

It was such a wonderful place.

We visited there 15 - 20 times over the years.

The manager told one member of our group the he believed that we came to the restaurant intending to pick a fight.

I did tell him that I would be sharing our experience on TTOL.

I hope that he chimes in here. That way he can explain what they have done to the restaurant.

I know it may sound crazy...but sometimes it is not easy to offer up the lunch menu at dinner - and requires different prep - and since they really are just starting back up, that part I can cut them a little slack on. If they start doing that for one, they will have to do it for all — prices are also obviously different on the lunch menu and that would eventually effect their bottom line if they continued to let people do that.

That said....if they were running out of things that night and could easily supplement choices by offerong up some limited items from the lunch menu, it might have helped. Just not sure how prepared they would need to be for that.

What is with this apologist attitude on this board for poorly run businesses? If you are an open and functioning tourist business get your s**t together and prosper or fail.

I understand that they might not be able to offer the lunch menu. They did not even have salad on the menu. They did not offer any alternates to us after I explained how dissapoing the menu is. I am not surprised by higher prices post Irma, but $60 for a half chicken dinner with a bit more sides, described as dinner for two is ridiculous.

Here in the Unites States and probably the whole world the business with the highest failure rates are restaurants. You either adapt to your customers or you become extinct.

I'll kindly mention that there was a storm here in September that was bigger than any storm in BVI recorded history. It's a miracle Cooper is open at all this early so fact that they have anything to offer means they have their s**t together. Many places have a limited menu still. Luckily you found the best solution of your group and ate ashore. Too bad you couldn't suffer thru the 4 offerings and support the people trying to recover and earn a living so they can eat from the limited offerings the BVI has.

Actually Jason, there were two storms, one right after the other. But I agree with you,

Cooper is packed every night, very few options to eat dinner on shore these days. We will visit, but will probably book an early seating. Looking forward to whatever meal I don’t have to cook!

I've been in the BVI three times so far this year. I've been incredibly impressed by the strength and adaptability of the BVIslanders in responding to the damage from the storm. Not only are they resilient they have their priorities straight. By getting power and cellular systems back on line as a priority they have made everything else that must easier. My experience there bringing boats out on delivery, all of which required some local support to get ready for sea, has been truly amazing given the damage. Tortola and Jost Van Dyke are recovering nicely although there is still much to do. #BVIStrong

Warren's experience on Cooper is saddening and out of character. While it may be an anomaly in BVI it is a disturbing one. There is no excuse for the reception he encountered. Cooper Island has long been a favorite stop and the restaurant a "must do." I'll leave it to others to report on any possible philosophical recovery and plan to walk the beach, snorkel Cistern Point, and eat aboard.

We had a wonderful lunch served by very friendly people at Hendo's. The contractors at Cooper did an incredible job getting the facility ready. It's unfortunate that the staff were unfriendly as is very uncharacteristic for the bvi at present.

The snotty behaviour was uncalled for.

As previously indicated we have been to CIBC many times per year Over the past number of years. This was a bad experience and it was uncharacteristic.

The purpose of this thread is to inform members of this board so they make an informed decision regarding visiting that restaurant.

I will still go to happy hour or lunch but not dinner.

When I read about a change in menu and staff attitude, I will definitely be back.

Jason, I agree with some elements of your post and fully support the people of the bvi.

I’ll give them a mulligan. After what they went through they have a right to be grumpy. I will patroniIze this July.

Nah... no Mulligans
and Warren - stop being such an accepting Canuck

Bad is bad
They can do better... they know they can do better
Riteway(RTW) has no shortage of supply
and there is no excuse

Deliver, or people will find an "elsewhere"
Does anyone think people have not been looking and finding "elsewhere" ?

Nobody on Tortola delivers mainland prices

so...simple economics... in this day & age... no excuse is truly worth listening to
shape up... deliver... or go....

We had appetizers at Cooper last week and it was great. Drinks were awesome. I was impressed it was this good considering other places are still closed.

Redneck, if you knew me, it’s unlikely you would describe me as an apologist. There are many restaurants here I have refused to patronize over the years because, at that time, their food was poor, their prices were high, or the service sucked.

Living on an out island, I know that you can’t run to the store when you run out of something. And when you get to Riteway, they may also be out if it. Island supply chains are very different than mainland supply chains.

Eugene did a great job on Cooper. His first job in the BVI was out here - he was a great kid, and deserves the success be has had.

warren460, thank you for this post we will be staying on Cooper at the hotel for 3 nights in a couple of weeks and now know what to expect. We will be eating lunch late that is for sure. Do they have refrigerators in the room? ha ha ha. With the post also about the Willy T not being able to return to the bight and that island going to an upscale resort type I fear this might be our last trip to the BVI if all businesses now think upscaling and catering only to the rich is the way to go. That is not what we go on vacations for. I was also looking forward to the chicken roti . . .glad it is still on the lunch menu.

I did not specifically call you an apologist. I remarked on an attitude on this board of immediately jumping in to apologize for island businesses that fail to deliver, for whatever reason. I have observed this by being an unregistered user for years and reading many many such posts.

I am actually very aware of all of the challenges of island life. I have lived full time on STT for 35 years, personally experienced David, Klaus, Hugo, Marilyn (lost home), Irma and Maria. The 2017 hurricanes were 8 months ago and it is past time to stop making excuses. If you own a business you need to deliver what your customers want for a price they will pay and leave them with a memory that makes them want to be a return customer. That is the message. If you have grumpy employees change them out. If your BVI suppliers are still blaming all of their inadequacies on the storms dump them and switch to a supplier in STT, or elsewhere, that is brimming with merchandise - or stay closed until you can deliver on what clients demand.

Staff had a tendency to be rude before the hurricane. We took them off of our list after the manager was rude to our guests after they politely inquired about the lack of WiFi in the restaurant/bar area. I am sure the question gets old but if everyone is asking perhaps the policy needs to be reviewed. If you want to be an upscale restaurant be prepared to offer upscale service which includes hauling out the lunch menu if someone requests it.

AMEN! -- to the posts above. Good Lord, people - serve peanut butter crackers, if you must, but do it with a grateful attitude and a warm spirit, or I'll keep my happy [censored] (oops - butt cheeks) on the boat.

Ain't nobody got time for that on vacation.

And yes- I know Good Morning, Afternoon, and Evening, and I ALWAYS approach with a huge Texas smile and open heart.

Bless their hearts. I can't imagine being so grumpy with all that beauty in your backyard.

I really have not enjoyed CIBC as much since Toby sold it. It lost a certain island "looseness" and I just have not been able to relax quite as much. Kind of like the difference between Pirates Bight and Billy Bones or Saba Rock and Pirates Pub.

I am sorry....but as someone who works in the restaurant industry....the whole “haul out the lunch menu” idea is not realistic. I work as a server in a restaurant on Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida and we cater to the tourist industry. If we “hauled out the lunch menu” for every tourist who requested it? Our profits would be cut in half quickly....since people would very likely prefer to pay less for their meals. We make a few of our most popular items on the lunch menu available upon special request but that’s it. CIBC could possibly make the chicken roti available in that same way...but making their entire lunch menu available? They might as well just do away with their dinner menu. I don’t know of too many upscale restaurants in the states who allow you to order from the lunch menu during dinner service...they could also solve it by having a bar bites menu.

Just an FYI I guess you had to be there to fully grasp the situation, as I was a guest there same night you would be shocked to hear the manager tell you hat the steak is very fatty and don’t order it unless you like fat , I was not a happy camper as I don’t like fat . When you want chicken and they don’t have that when you want desert and they don’t have that . The staff was 100 percent rude you would also not feel good about the dinner . Everything Warren described is 100 percent accurate . The whole management team seemed like they did not care. As it is my 5th time eating there over the years I would say something has changed . The rebuild of the premise is amazing loved the new dock and building , just wish they had the food to go with it . Hopefully next time they will have figured it out .

Toronto Boater

Paul

Wow....that is really too bad....bad service is bad service....no excuse for that. I have to smile in the face of rudeness quite a bit — and it doesn’t sound like that’s what happened here — I work with some fellow servers who have been in the business too long....that’s a nice way of putting it....but our food brings the customer back since it is consistently good. CIBC will really need to get their act together, post-Irma difficulties and all....Leverick and others have.....

(Checking the Cooper) webcam, they seem to have open moorings overnight the past week or two (whereas it was pretty full every night in March/April). Guessing it's the season slowing down? Or is everyone in PI GH waiting for Willy T?

Exactly

Looking pretty packed right now!

Soggy Dollar cam shows White Bay is very quiet on the other hand.....

No excuse for rudeness...ever. I wont put up with it in the BVI's or here in Sonoma where we deal with loads of high end tourists. Word spreads fast when you have a bad experience and it should. Sad to hear this about Cooper and I hope someone higher up reads it.

Rudeness and poor service in the restaurants in the BVI has been rampant for the last 30 years.
You can complain but its not going to end anytime soon.
Basic manners and courtesies disappeared in the late eighties

Rudeness does not exist at my favorite BVI eateries..and, yes, I have certainly noticed it in some places..and I choose to avoid them and tell guests and friends to do the same..

Let’s not forget that Cooper is still a wonderful place to visit. Great facilities including the deck, rum bar, ice cream parlor and dive shop. Great snorkeling too.

My post was merely trying to inform people about our experience at the dining room for dinner.

Lunch on the deck can be wonderful (I hope it still is).

Just got a new review from friends who are down there now - They ate both lunch and dinner and had great food both times. Service was friendly - only complaint was that food at dinner took way too long to arrive - 2 hours past seating. Delicious...but took a LONNNNG time.

She did say that the chicken roti at lunch was the best ever.

That’s what we were looking forward to, the best ever roti.

Maybe the regular chef was off the night we were there as the food was just meh.

I expect that they got wind of this thread and hopefully are a little more pleasant.