Copperhead Grille / Classic American Burger – $9.99
Allentown, PA | copperheadgrille.com/
Obviously, Copperhead Grille isn’t the type of place you’d take someone on a first date. At least, you shouldn’t be having your first date at Copperhead Grill.
Come on, you can do better than that.
Copperhead Grille is good for one thing: watching the game. With dozens of TVs and several HUGE projector screens, there’s not a bad view in the house. As a sports pub, especially during football season with seemingly every NFL game plastered across the walls, Copperhead can be a really fun, raucous environment.
The food at Copperhead is secondary to the experience. If Applebees were to become a sports pub, Copperhead Grille is what you’d wind up with. Nothing that comes out of the kitchen is ever going to be all that memorable, and that goes for the burgers as well.
The Classic American Burger is an Angus chuck and sirloin blend, served on a brioche bun, with American cheese, lettuce, pickles, red onion, and 1,000 Island dressing. Sounds a little like a Big Mac, but you might soon be wishing you were at McDonalds instead.
Presentation isn’t bad, and the burger arrives looking pretty appetizing. Ordered medium, the burger is slightly undercooked, noticeably underseasoned, and with no discernible char. The top bun is cold, chewy, and not toasted at all, while the bottom bun is completely soggy and saturated in juices, fats, and blood from the burger, rendering it completely useless and turning this burger into a fork-and-knife affair.
While there appears to be more than enough American cheese, somehow it goes nearly unnoticed on the burger, while the lettuce, pickles, raw red onion and 1,000 Island dressing completely mask it’s flavor. The 1,000 Island dressing seems to be house-made, and for 1,000 Island dressing, is actually quite good.
The fries, which as listed as being “double fried”, seem to be battered, rather than double fried. They’re mealy on the inside and quickly become soggy as they sit on the plate.
Very little about this visit to Copperhead had any redeeming value. Even the service was atrocious, as we sat without acknowledgement for at least 15 minutes, until we finally asked an employee who kept walking past out table who our server was supposed to be.
Final thoughts:
The food at Copperhead is far from bad. But it’s far from good as well. Again, mediocrity reigns here, but you’re not here for the food. You’re here for the game. And perhaps to throw back a few beers, remember?
