My scoring for The Copper Hen is like the ebb and flow of the Pacific Ocean at Mission Beach, San Diego. Sometimes, warm and amazing and sometimes cold and chaotic.
There is no way I can give this place 3 stars, but then again, enough was super goofy to not give it 5.
We had a $50 voucher we bought for 1/2 off from Twin Cities Live, a local food and entertainment show I watch on a daily basis. The head chef came on and seems like a real cool guy and he looked like he knew what he was doing. He was actually there today during brunch, in the PACKED establishment.
We made noon reservations, and got seated at 12:25, which I know is not the restaurant's fault, but these guys seriously need 2 or 3 more servers during this rush hour, ours was cool, except for one thing commentated on later, but there are just too many people. (I know, a good problem for them.)
I ordered the Bloody Hell bloody Mary and it was AMAZING! Even the olive was the best olive I have ever tasted, it was stuffed with some kind of spicy pimento or something. There was spicy, chunky, flavor, possibly the best bloody Mary I have ever had.
For food, we asked if we could order just one pretzel for my wife, since she doesn't eat a lot and 3 big pretzels would just be a waste and we saw that you can add just one pretzel to their regular order for just $2. Nope....Is what the waitress said, you can only order one pretzel during happy hour. Seriously, people are dropping a minimum $20-$30 here and you can't be cool? Or if it were me, after she had to order $2.50 worth of toast for 2 slices with no butter on it, how about throw a pretzel on there instead, just so stupid to make a bad impression for such a small amount of time and money for the restaurant. Now, forever, we will remember them as the place that wouldn't give her a pretzel, even though she was willing to pay for it. Just stupid. Plus we will probably tell anyone that asks us about it, that they wouldn't even be flexible on a stupid pretzel.
I ordered a Woke up Crabby Toast, which had avocado spread, crab cake, heirloom tomatoes, country bacon, poached egg, on our house-made naturally leavened toasted bread. It was almost cold when I got it, but not bad enough to send it back, but the crab tasted fantastic. I wouldn't get it again, since it needed to be nuked about 30 seconds, but the crab did come out. Maybe the avocado made it cool down quick. Plus I wanted a runnier egg. #EdinaProblems.
I got a real nice porter they had on tap as a second drink, nice that everything here is local and quality is there.
We had some extra money on our voucher, so we got the Brussel Caesar which had shaved brussels sprouts, caper vinaigrette, pecorino, egg yolk, 1000 croutons with pulled chicken. It was okay, but it really needed more dressing, it was as if there were none on it. The chicken and presentation was good though.
The place is LOUD! Which is cool for a bunch of hipsters enjoying their Saturday, just be aware, you will barely be able to hear each other without shouting, again, I get it. Hipsterville, Minneapolis, just know what you are getting into.
I liked it and was disappointed at the same time, but I am glad I tried it. read more