(Sally Reichardt read my review of the Copper Brothel Brewery last week and send me some salient comments I thought were worth posting here. She lives in Sonoita and frequents local restaurants there, including the Copper Brothel. Enjoy!)
Sally wrote: “I think the CBB has been open for about 5 years. During COVID, they had to increase their prices. Prices pretty much doubled. During COVID, they had a message that they had to (understandably) increase their prices and something about looking forward to decreasing the prices when things got back to normal. Their prices have remained high and their blurb (as to why they raised their prices) is gone. They have an excellent pulled pork sandwich. They are always busy and I think they just decided to keep their prices high. I think the bulk of their business is pass-through people. Many locals eat at The Cafe. Good food, LOTS of sides to choose from. French fries, onion rings, decent side salad, their soup of the day, etc. at no upcharge for any. I’m actually meeting 5 friends for lunch at The Cafe next week. I do like CBB but they are quite expensive. Oh, their BLAT (I don’t get the avocado) sandwich is very good. One of my friends always orders the Chili Rellenos plate. I’ve never had that. Bryce likes their soup/chili or whatever it is. I don’t like it. Nice article.
Meant to say too ………………They used to charge .50 for a tiny side of mayo (about 2 tbsp) and never gave you even close enough salsa for their huge plate of nachos. Then charged .50 for a tiny cup of salsa (you’d need at least 4 extras). Another stupid thing they did was not let you order a half order of their sopapillas (which are really good). The waitress said, I so wish I could delete it but I can’t get the item without adding it to the ticket. It was either the manager or owner that I spoke to. I said that in all of our international and all of our domestic travels, I have NEVER been charged for a small side of mayo and that a customer should expect to get enough salsa sufficient for the nachos. This was before the COVID lockdowns. I said – if you start nickel & diming people, they will remember and simply go elsewhere. I also said – if you need to charge for it, just increase the prices. Also asked if there was a reason that they didn’t sell half orders (which would be 3 instead of 6). No, no reason, just policy. I told them I would rather pay more for the half order than not to order them at all. I mentioned that they were losing a sale almost every time I went in for lunch because there were only two or three of us and we only wanted one & sopapillas do NOT travel well. Terrible leftovers. Hahahahaha. The next time I went in there, I said ………….. if you charge me .50 for 2 tbsp of mayo, I will never step foot in this restaurant again. I wasn’t nasty, just matter of fact. They said ………..no, we don’t do that anymore. So, they DO listen to the customers and make changes. I don’t know about the sopapillas. They also have a half order of nachos that’s not listed on the menu. At least it wasn’t the last time I looked. I really do like CBB and would go more often but the other ladies I go to lunch with prefer the Cafe. Partly because of the prices and partly because they just don’t like change. The CBB people have done a great job with the restaurant. The Steak Out and the Cafe have live bands so I’m sure that’s why they are building an outside venue. Toni (one of the waitresses) said she thought they were going to build an outside bar too. I just love successful restaurants and it was great to see you visited & did a good write-up. Have to wonder why anyone would order a Cobb or Chef salad though. LOL.
