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Categories: Cajun/Creole, Food
Neighborhood: Outer SunsetMon-Sun. 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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Wow! Can't believe I never reviewed CoCo's!!
Fun, with great service, really strong drinks and SPICY shrimp, sausage and crawfish, even the mild servings are spicy. My favorite is the sausage, it has nice complex flavors and textures and isn't as messy as peeling the shrimp and crawfish. Definitely order corn to go with your meal, it's going to be spicy, too, but so yummy!!
I honestly dont know what the big deal is about Coco's. I think its a tad over rated.
We ordered shrimp, crawfish, a crab, corn, and sausage. Came to the table in plastic bag with the yumminess on the bottom.
The disappointment: the crawfish..it was dirty, didnt seem to be cleaned AT ALL!! We simply kept it in the bag after the first 2 and ate the shrimp and crab. The crab, I wasnt a fan of.
Is it just me? Ummmm, shouldnt shell fish be cleaned before cooked? For the price one is paying, I would think you can clean the shellfish before cooking/steaming. After reading all the raves and positive comments, maybe we caught Coco's at an "off" day?
One star for the corn, one star for the broth, and one star for Coco, who is very friendly and easy to talk to.
The crawfish...mehhhhhhh!!!
I should have left when I realized there were only 2 occupied tables at 7:30PM. I should have turned right around and ran as fast as I could! But I was desperate for some spicy goodness and this was the closest place. Shoulda woulda coulda.
My mom and I ordered 2 pounds of shrimp and 2 pieces of corn. We ordered it mild and I was surprised that the sauce it came in was watered down and not that spicy at all. Yea I got mild, but there was no kick whatsoever! The consistency of the shrimp was poor. I had some that were SO cooked, the shell was soft and stuck onto the damn shrimp (yes the shell was still on)! I fought with it a little and sprayed myself with shrimp juice. Not worth it. The corn was so disappointing. It's usually my favorite part but it was obviously overcooked and sitting for hours. It was rubbery and did not have that crunchy, fresh feeling when you bite into it like perfectly cooked corn. Lastly, the lime were cut like a week ago and were dry as hell. Totally messes up my salt and pepper lime juice dip concoction!
Service was eh. Waitress/cashier/whoever was text messaging the whole time - the iPhone notification sound is unmistakable. She didn't even bring us napkins until we asked (um, DUH?), although she did check on us and refilled our water without asking. I guess I can't blame her for trying to entertain herself - there wasn't much business to keep her working!
Then the bathroom. As I was washing my hands, I debated on whether or not I should pee now or hold it in 'til I got home (I live across town and I had to pee like an hour ago). THAT BATHROOM SMELLED LIKE A BUM'S ARMPIT RUBBED WITH A DEAD SKUNK. I needed a shower after being in there! I almost threw up in there, no joke.
Boiling Crab is infinitely better and well worth the drive. Please trust me.
This place is awesome!!!!
My husband and I are a huge fan of Cajun Creole/New Orleans food. Coco actually flies in her mud bugs from NOLA.
The menu has about a handful of items on it, crab, craw fish, oysters, clams and shrimp all served up with corn or sausage. The tables are lined with butcher paper, and on them are a stack or paper towels and paper plates with limes. You food comes is available in mild, spicy and holy crap on fire and is served to you in a plastic bag with yummy goodness, garlicky juice.
You have to try this place, it is my new favorite!!!
I made the mistake of wearing my work clothes to CoCo's for my first experience with crawfish. Like, two pieces in I already had chunks of meat and dabs of juices decorating my shirt. I wish I had a bib or at least wrapped one corner of the plastic table cloth around my neck.
Anyways, I orders 2 pounds of crawfish with a corn and sausage in medium spicy broth, which was served in a clear plastic bag. Love it! A meal in a bag! I also had extra butter and garlic because that just sounded tasty and artery clogging. What really made the meal was the broth. I made sure to soak everything in my bag before I started working.
Eating crawfish is a lot of work and the rewards can be minimal if you get tiny little pieces. Pretty much you are having the tail meat and some of the crawfish butter from the head. Just avoid the black sac that is filled with bitter juices when you are working the head!!
I like this meal enough to come back. Next time I think I will just go with a pound of crawfish and go with more corn and sausage.
Note -- my buddy did end up hitting the can 3 times that night and another 3 times that morning. I had a minor episode in the morning but I was fine. -- End Note
tell me why this place isn't out of business yet? they should turn this place to a lounge with all the space and the upstairs.
Anyhow, so I'm from San Jose, where I have high expectations for Crawfish, this place was quit upsetting...everything I ordered was out. They ran out of a specific beer, ran out of bibs, GEEZ!
What do you have? People go to Red Crawfish, a whole lot better!
Terrible service. We were 1 of 2 tables one night so you'd expect good service right? WRONG.
After ordering, we were chatting and our server brought out a plate of oysters. We told her we didn't order this and she smiled at us and left. "Sweet! Complimentary oysters!". WRONG, she came back after we'd finished and said it was for another table and we'd STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM. After arguing for a few minutes we decided to just let it go and not tip.
BTW, the oysters were tiny and terribly not fresh. AVOID.
The Boiling Crab in San Jose is much better.
the last two times we went something was up with the crawfish. cause our stomachs did not feel right. Sorry!
I would actually give this place a 4.65 because the crawfish, shrimp and sausage are awesome. The… Read more »
I'm suprised im actually giving them a star... I've been here a handful of times and i always come back thinking i'll like it better each time. I'm sad to say i've been disappointed. Maybe it's because i've had boiling crab to many times to expect the same from Coco's? The last time i was here i brough my girlfriend visiting from OC and we were craving crawfish. I took her here and first thing we notice was where is everyone? Maybe it was a thursday and it's not their busy day? There was about 5 people having dinner including ourselves.
I was disappointed that the waitress was not very helpful. She took our orders and went back to a table in the front with her laptop and was glued until the back rang for our food. The was no service at all. She gave us our food and went right back to the laptop. I realize not only was she just a waitress but she's the owner! The food was just ok, nothing special about the sauces and the crab was over cooked. Yes minus some stars here.
Lastly i have to point out the bathroom. ehhhhhhhhhhhh.. should i wash my hands here or wait to get home. It's shasta mc nasty. Theres also a weird funky smell that i cannot descripe. Overall i don't think ill be back and i hope the service gets better because no one wants to go to a place and feel neglected and invisable. My craving will now how to wait til the next time im in San Jose.. Mmmmm Boiling Crab how i love you!!!
Conveniently located in my neighborhood of the Sunset... this definitely satisfies my crawfish cravings. Coming in the shop I feel the friendly neighborhood vibe. Most of the time I go in there it's empty which is kind of cool because I don't feel so self conscious about being such a messy eater!! When me and my girlfriends go there... we rip it up! Crawfish all over the table, all over our hands and mouths. Etiquette and neatness go out the window at this eatery!
The crawfish is ordered by the pound and comes in a big plastic bag... pippin' steamy hot! The thing that keeps me coming back for more each time is the sauce. mMMMmmmMmm... i love the sauce. I suck every morsel of my crawfish dipped it in that buttery yummy sauce. With a corona and lime to wash down the crawfish I leave Coco's very satisfied.
Garlic Mild Sausage with Crawfish, 3lbs.
BF's brother brought it home.
OMG! I didn't want to freeload all his food but it was so difficult.
Very addictive.
Though it's really only for the flavor, not much meat in crawfishes.
A little pricey for the tiny amount of meat.
I first heard about this place bout 2 and a half years ago. I never had crawfish before and I had no idea what I was in for. Since hearing about the place I have been there about 3 or 4 times. Everytime I have gone there I had alot of fun. Its kind of strange when you walk in. You see a few rows of tables lined with really cheap table cloth ( or paper if you will). You're usually greeted by a very petite Asian chick who's super nice and has a great smile. She will lead you to your table and take your order for drinks. Mind you this place is NOT fancy. You are here to get messy and have fun.
You're handed a bunch of paper plates and some napkins. Be prepared to get spicy and messy!
The last time I was there I went with a fairly decent sized group. I believe there was about 12 of us. We ordered a whole bunch of crawfish (medium hot) shrimp (hot) oysters, hotlinks and some corn. The food came pretty fast. We were handed plastic bags of crawfish and shrimp that needed to be shelled. One of the bags of shrimp had the corn and the hotlinks too. Once you open the bag you can smell the spicy goodness. NOW comes the fun part. You pull whatever crawfish/shrimp you want out of the bag and you deshell it yourself. Basically by the end of dinner, your hands are sticky and you smell like cajun spices. So don't come in all fancy. You're supposed to come in and get messy!
yummy!
The only gripe I have about this place is that they stopped serving bread with their meals. There have been times where we have brought in bread to dinner though. They let us 'slide'.
The price is fairly decent. All in all we paid about $20 each. I think it was well worth it for the amount of food we all had including beer, sodas, etc.
I would highly suggest topping dinner off with ice cream from the Baskin Robbins across the street.
Came here twice. Don't think I will visit again especially not with a big group since I do not want to disappoint any more friends. Plus the bf will not agree to come here.
The first time my friend took me here and it was my first time having crawfish so I had nothing to compare it to. At that point, I would have given it 5 stars. Food was delicious; everything was flavorful and spicy. Only negative thing was no rice or bread on the menu for all that yummy sauce.
Then I discovered Red Crawfish and Coco's has nothing on Red Crawfish. The second time we were with a group of friends that wanted to try crawfish and came here since Red Crawfish was closed. BIG disappointment. Cajun sauce lacked flavor. Not spicy at all. Shrimp was too overcooked. Crawfish were small. The meal was expensive for its quality.
I always have a hard time opening the door. It's HEAVY!! I had to use my body to push the damn door open since I did not want to get the doorknob dirty (no matter how many paper towels you use your hands will still be greasy). Outside appearance also not that great. Too many bird poop.
I always find people who come here and I tell them to try the other crawfish place. With the guys, I joke that the only thing Coco's has that's better are the younger "eye candy" waitresses.
Be prepared to get down and diiiiirrrrty!
This was my second time eating crawfish, so I was ready to get my hands dirty. It's a lot of work for such a tiny amount of meat. There were six of us, and we ordered three pounds of crawfish( http://static.px.yelp.... ), three pounds of shrimp, and 12 corn on the cobs. We finished all that and ordered three more pounds of crawfish and 3 more corn. They were originally get everything SPICY, but I whimpered, and they changed it to medium. The crawfish weren't that spicy, but when you eat the corn on the cob, the juices get on your lips and burn like hell! That's one way to get those Angelina Jolie pouty lips!
It's a lot of work for such a tiny amount of meat. The shrimp give you way more meat for all the effort you put in, but the crawfish are juicer and tastier. If you're really hungry, and want to eat right away, this is NOT the place to go. But if you want to try something new and fun, give it a whirl! You can even request a bib, so feel free to rip those heads off and suck out the guts!( http://static.px.yelp.... )
**aftermath http://static.px.yelp....
i like this place, the food is good, the crawfish is clean not like other places, atmosphere is really nice
BUTT the restroom is REALLY DIRTY and it stinks.
they have middle school kids taking our order and cleaning up the mess! even tho they are family they are not suppose to let little kids take our order while they just sit there on their laptop doing nothing.
the little kids arent even suppose to be working yet, they arent even prepare for work, they dont even ask us how we want our crawfish, and when we told them we wanted it spicy, it came out medium, when we asked them about it, the kid said oh i forgot to tell you we only have medium. like WTFF??
oh and when we asked for extra sauce, they would give us a small bowl of extra sauce, when we asked for another one they gave us a bigger bowl, and they ended up charging us 6 bucks for the sauce! other places would just charged 2-3 bucks for it, i rather save that 6 bucks and eat somewhere else
NEVER AGAIN! This place gave me food poisoning and I was sick in bed for two days! We were a party of 7 who ordered 5 pounds of shrimp, 6 pounds of crawfish, corn and a bunch of sausage and 2 of us became sick. I don't know what it was that was bad but I will never come back. The restaurant itself isn't the cleanest and the restroom was nasty!!!
It's a shame because I really wanted to like this place..
We wanted to try this place so we came in here around 6pm. It was a lil foggy outside with that outcast weather. And inside they had the lights off, saving energy, yeah cool, but its 6pm....its a lil dim don't you think? Took them a while to realize it was dark.
I agree with the previous review about how you have to ask for everything. We didn't have napkins, so we had to ask about that.
When we ordered our crawfish, she didn't ask us about the spicy level we wanted, so i figured she forgot to ask. I came up to the desk and asked if we can get our crawfish spicy and she said "sorry we don't have spicy today, only mild" WHAT? haha wow. okay, thanks for letting me know now.
We also ordered their "cajun" fries and it took sooo long to come out. We asked a few times to remind her that we ordered some fries and when it finallly came out, we were pretty disappointed because they were frozen fries w/ sprinkled on spices. ehhh
Overall i thought the portions were smaller than usual & the flavor was just okay. I've had better.
*i forgot to mention that their bathroom is disgusting!
I'd been hearing good things about this place, so i decided to go try it when i got one of my food cravings again. The decor... or lack there of was just a large panel mirror spanning the restaurant.
Got the pound of shrimp, pound of crawfish with corn, and the extra butter and garlic sauce. It comes out in a huge plastic bag, juices and everything. Just eat right out of the bag and dump the shells on the butcher paper left on the table, and oh my did the sauce have flavor. The shrimp was hard to peel, and not enough napkins on the table to wipe all the juice off your hands, but that doesn't really matter. My boyfriend and I were elbow deep juices.
Now, I'm the kinda girl that's not afraid to suck the brains out of those poor shrimp. YUM! The crawfish were a little small, but they were so sweet and succulent! Delish!
.....the bathrooms weren't all that well taken care of... had a strange smell to it.. but other then that...
This place is horrible. It doesn't even satisfy my crawfish craving, I think because it's one of the few places you can get crawfish in the north bay, people think it's good. You really need to try southern California or even the places in San Jose.
We got a crab and it was over 40 bucks for a 3 pound crab that was just steamed!! I expected it to be cooked Cajun style, but instead it was just steamed! What a crock of crap.
The crawfish was crap as well. Not enough flavoring, sauce that didn't even stick to the crawfish. Sausages were ok, but 60 cents for a piece? You have to be out of your mind.
And who the hell charges soda by the can in this day and age? Know your competition; this place does not deserve the stars it got from other reviewers in my opinion. Again, probably because they have not experienced other crawfish boils. I travel quite a bit across the country and ate at various crawfish restaurants, well below average.
And to top it all off, I got food poisoning the next day that left me running to the restroom every 30 minutes!
I am never returning.
**EDIT**
After this review was posted, I get a message on yelp from another member, Manda Amada Bear, saying I am bashing their place!! Wow talk about insecure. If you firmly you are giving the best food out there, then you should have no concern. Now looking at the pictures on yelp, they're all from her. Creating bias here on yelp are we?
From Amanda:
"...I would appreciate that you had an honest reivew than bashing our place. You could have asked, and we would totally explain & take care of you, but you chose not to..."
This not only infuriates me, but now I feel the one star is even too much.
Bashing? this is now a bashing, before was a review, a critique. Now this is a bashing.
I fell in love with crawfish in the Louisiana when I first visited; this place is well below what I would expect. They're almost as bad as that place on Winchester Ave in San Jose that closed down because they were so bad.
And a quick review of the recommendations for business owners shows this:
"DON'T lash out at the people who have written negative reviews about you. Tempting as that may be, we see that backfiring in some cases as the Yelp community may up the ante and even engage in "vigilante justice" by spreading more negativity. Try to remember, "the customer is always right".
And who doesn't take credit cards these days? Not many people carry that much cash around, I bet you they have a lot of unreported income because they only take cash.
Not only can they not make crawfish, they don't even understand the basics of business etiquette.
It's quite difficult not to compare Coco's to Boiling Crab if you've had both. Especially if you've had Boiling Crab first. But I will attempt to write an unbiased review.
Food~
-Shrimp: $11.99/lb. (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) It was the tastier seafood of our meal. The shrimps were plump and had decent flavor.
-Crawfish: $12.99/lb. Sooo tiny. (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) Look at them! Compared to the corn cobs, (which were probably 1/3 of one corn) they were miniscule!!
-Clams: $9.99/lb. (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) First of all, they used some heavy-shelled clams. So with our order of 2 lbs, we got around 16 clams total. Secondly, they didn't taste very good. My friend said they probably weren't fresh.
-Fish&chip: $7.99/order. We wanted some carbs. The fries were not seasoned much and were not crispy. The fish had a thick layer of batter that appeared to be uncooked. Gross.
Complaints~
-Super limited menu. We probably order half of their menu, and we only got 4 things.
-Cajun sauce: Why was it clear?? There was only a hint of orange color. I don't think its real cajun sauce. Look at the picture of the shrimps.
-I asked for water and they gave me a bottle for a $1.50. What a ripoff.
-They ran out of Sapporo beer when we were one of the first ones to eat there.
-Tiny tables. Definitely not big enough for food and shells, let alone elbow room.
-The girls bathroom didn't have a ghetto sink as Jimmy N has described for the guys. But it did have a janky heavy door. I didn't want to get seafood juice all over the handle, so I had to kick the door, then use my knee and elbow to get inside.
I can't recommend a restaurant in which the restroom is this dirty. I just would never go back as a result. I'm sorry, but I can't. (Food was ok, not great)
Irving is the street for first dates. Eating family style with your hands is the true test of a potential partner (in crime or otherwise).
Start off at the De Young to show how cultured you are and so you will be sure to have something to talk about, and if you still want to hang, go up to Irving for dinner.
If you don't want to risk riding public transportation, take her to New Eritrea, where you scrape spicy delights off communal platters with spongy bread.
If you are feeling very brave, take her on the N-Judah to CoCo's where you are served fantastic NOLA-style seafood, corn and sausage in the plastic bag in which they were boiled. There is beer and wine on the menu, but on a good night, the owner will stop by with free vodka shots.
OMG, why does this place get crowded? I haven't written a review in a long time but felt an obligation to let people know NOT TO COME HERE. If you want crawfish, find somewhere else. Typically I'm the type that loves sucking out the juices and meats of the heads and the meat in the head is absolutely horrendous. It was the first time I had to spit it out. I should've gotten the shrimp, it probably would've been better. The meat in the crawfish is way too little. The taste, wasn't bad though itself which is why this place got two stars.
Also, I ordered the oysters. DO NOT EVER GET OYSTERS HERE. These people do not know what fresh or good oysters are. I asked the waitress how fresh the oysters were and she simply said, "they're still alive." Right then I knew she hasn't the slightest idea, but I got them anyway since I was craving oysters. They came out and I immediately did not want to eat it. They were slimey looking, tasting and it felt like they've been sitting out for a while. They were the worst oysters I have EVER had. My girlfriend too, and she spit hers out (which I've never seen her do). I asked the waitress to take them back because they were horrible. Thankfully she took the oysters off the bill, which was nice of them to do so (and expected). The people behind me got oysters as well and actually had no complaints. Obviously they did not know anything about what a good tasting oyster should taste like.
Overall, the taste of the crawfish was ok, the corn was obviously the frozen type you would get at Safeway and oysters deserved to be on the floor and pooped on. Two stars only because the taste was ok and they weren't that rude. The skinnier waitress (I'm assuming the owner) is quite shady though. As she was giving us our bill, she dropped like 6 wet naps, and after picking them all up right in front of us, plopped two of them in front of a group of 6. Thanks.
The best thing about this place...her hardworking daughter who definitely works very hard. Good job little girl, you deserve to be treated next door at the Vietnamese restaurant (which happens to be my favorite :))
edit: i dropped it back to one star because I just remembered all the bird poop that sits right in front of the place. They really need to do something about all the pigeons that sit up there and poop directly in front of the door.
We came here on a Saturday night at around 8pm and we were only one of three parties in the restaurant. Interesting, considering the rave reviews.
Bottom line, the waiters/waitresses were hanging out on the table behind us and we (as well as every other party) had to ask for every little thing: forks, more napkins, water, etc. I will say that when we did ask them for something, they were happy to help us.
You can have your items either steamed or seasoned. We ordered two seasoned crabs and two corns. It was tasty, but not $80 worth. I wish they had cleaned the crab a little better as well-there was a lot of 'crab gunk' on them.
My opinion: Go to Crustaceans, pay a little more and get impeccable service, high quality food, real utensils (not plastic) and more variety.
PS: There was a considerable amount of mold on the bathroom sink. Ack.
This was the site of my first UYE.
Everyone was hammered; it was great. I couldn't get enough of the ginormous clear bags that were stuffed with crawfish, corn on the cob, spicy sausage, and one of the most delicious sauce/broths ever desired. In fact, due to the many generous shots of vodka, I was contemplating disrobing and going skinny dipping in said bag. However, my swan-diving desire relinquished because after living in Downtown San Jose for 5 years, I'm done with swimming in a sea of sausage.
Anywho, it was a pleasure meeting all you whom I met. Everyone was very warm, entertaining, and inebriated - my kind of crowd.
This place is GOOD.
Well it's GOOD when crawfish are in season. If not, then it's merely OK. I know they charge by weight, meaning you get more tiny crawfish when they're not in season versus getting less jumbo sized crawfish, but who wants to crack open 20 teeny tiny sea critters?
I love getting it with the spicy cajun seasoning - gives a kick to everything and has it taste better, in my opinion.
I'm a "get down and dirty" kind of foodie - let me WORK for my meal, you know what I mean? And this place has me elbow deep in used napkins, crab and crawfish carcasses and eaten corn on the cobbs.
Minus a star because they stopped serving bread. What's the deal with that? The bread dipped in the delicious juices the seafood was prepared in was 33.3% of the reason I came here!
Minus a half star because it's cash only. Yeah there's a Wamu next door, but sometimes I want to break out with the plastic, you know what I mean?
Minus a the other half star because of service. We rarely saw our server after the initial order was taken and the food was dropped off at the table.
Bring back the bread! I'M NOT ON ATKINS, YO!
It was explained to me once that going out to eat should be an experience. And that the food was a very important part of the whole experience, but there are other things that matter as well. For example, who cares how good something tastes if the restaurant makes you feel uncomfortable or the staff is unfriendly and unwelcoming?
I went to CoCo's for my birthday with my parents and my girlfriend a few months ago. Let's take a look:
Walking in we were a little nervous. It was my birthday and we were maybe a little dressed up for the occasion. But, the owner quickly handled the situation and made it such a great night for us. She was so friendly and helpful and down-to-earth, it made us feel so welcome and at ease and laid the ground for us to have such a great night.
I think that we forget this sometimes when we're eating out. We think that we're the ones as customers who should be lucky to be eating at such and such a restaurant and forget that it's a reciprocal, authentic relationship between the customer and the restaurant that is the key for having a great dining experience.
We had the crawfish and shrimp and sausage and all of it was excellent! Again, the lady who owned the place helped us pick out the perfect portions. We got ours spicy and that's how it was and that's the way we like it. We drank southern beers and had a great time.
Thank you CoCo's for making my birthday night so right!
The crawfish is good, the broth is great, the service was nice and they only take cash. Given the not-so-cheap prices for a pound of crawfish, it sucks that I can't order 3 pounds, some add-ins and a few drinks without having to carry over a hundred bucks in my pocket.
The broth and levels of spiciness are tasty and accurate. I ordered the oysters once and they weren't worth the price. However, the service was pretty good and the lady server/owner? was nice. But with the cash only thing and the prices for a pound, I've found another place in the city that satisfies my craving.
Jan was craving seafood & originally wanted to take me to Boiling Crab in San Jose, but was lazy to drive all the way there. So instead he found this place & we decided to check it out. Jan & i ordered a pound of shrimp for each of us w/him getting his spicy while i just settled on medium cajun style. We thought it was ok good, but he kept telling me that Boiling Crab is WAY better & that we would go one day so i can see exactly how much better it is. I really would like to try it since everyone but me hasn't so i can see what the big fuss is about. Overall, it was ok good but not a place we'd care to go back to in the future.
I am not a fan, it's like any other crawfish place, but they charge more. And don't order it spicy because it burns ur mouth to the point where the food is just not enjoyable. I can eat really spicy food, but the spicy at coco's.......it's unbearable. The seasoning is whaevers, the price is more expensive than other places. I would rather go to Red's.
I don't ever plan to visit again. BTW they charge the same amount for crab as crustascean.....uh....
I went with a couple Yelpers to Coco's to celebrate their 1 yr anniversary. The place is getting pretty packed but luckily, some of the people got there earlier so we already have a table.
Our table was covered with paper and on the side was a pile of napkins and a laminated menu. They already ordered so we just quickly glanced at the menu when a plate arrived with a bag filled with crawfish, shrimp, corn and sausages. It came with little containers of salt and pepper mix and some limes. You can squeeze the lime juice into the salt/pepper mix and dip your shellfish there.
I guess you order the shellfish by the pound and the corn and sausage is ordered by the pieces. You have a choice of mild, medium or hot for the broth. Your order arrives in a bag and you get paper plates. After you're all done, just dump all the shells back in the bag and order another one.
We ordered medium first, then mild, then someone from another table gave us hot, then we got another medium I think. I dont remember how much pounds we ended up consuming that night.
The crawfish were kinda small--big head but small body. Maybe its not crawfish season but they all look like babies.
The shrimp were big though and they were good. We realized after the second bag that we should just get shrimps instead of mix of shrimp and crawfish so we can get more meat.
The sausages were yummy! A little bit spicy but very tasty.
The corn was juicy and not tough and I love how it absorbs the broth. Yum!
As for the levels of spiciness, I'm just building up my spice tolerance but I thought medium was the right fit for me. Its got a good amount of heat that kinda builds up as you keep eating but doesnt burn your mouth (this according to my spiciness tolerance). The hot was not too bad though but since the spiciness builds up ask you keep eating there came a time when lips started feeling like its gonna be on fire. Good thing it was just a sample from another table.
They were serving rice and bread that night but I dont know if its gonna be a permanent addition to their menu or something just for that occasion. We got some rice but it was a little undercooked in my opinion. I like my rice a little soft and fluffy.
Other than that, the service was great. Our server was very nice and patient especially when we kept throwing out things we wanted ordered. Still had a smile even though we kept asking for hot tea refills, napkins, bibs, etc.
Oh yeah, they have bibs coz things will get messy. Dont wear anything nice since you'll probably get some shrimp, crawfish and crab juices on your clothes even with the bib on. Its cash only so make sure you bring lots.
I would give Coco's 2 stars but it says "Meh I've experienced better" but I can't because this is the first time I've had crawfish and shrimp prepared this way. 3 stars it is...
Half the party I went with kept talking about Boiling Crab...
"This is just like Boiling Crab."
"Boiling Crab serves it in a bucket."
"Boiling Crab has better sauce."
"Boiling Crab gives more food."
"Boiling Crab is way better."
"Boiling Crab...(Heidi C. tunes out)..."
I wouldn't blame them since they either went down to school in so-cal or live there now. But they kept saying how this place pales in comparison with Boiling Crab. I wouldn't know since I've never been there...
After spending $25/person on 1.5 lbs of crawfish, 4.5 lbs of shrimp, corn, and sausages, we still were NOT full. I felt like I just had an appetizer and needed to fill my belly with more food. The crawfish they gave us ranged in sizes. We had about 5 big ones and about 2903840239 little baby ones with about a sliver of meat. The shrimp is definitely more worth it.
You can pick between three sauces: Mild, Medium, and Spicyyy. The mild was way too sweet. Didn't even have a kick of hot sauce in it. The medium was done just right -- the right amount of sweetness and spicyness. Dip your crawfish or shrimp into a mixture of their salt/pepper/lime juice and it's pretty tasty.
Is it wrong that i think the sausages (hot links) were tastier than the shrimp/crawfish? What was puzzling about the sausages was when we first ordered, we were served with pieces roughly 3 inches in size, then when we ordered them again, they were cut about 1 inch. I felt as if I was royally jipped here. What's with the change within 10 minutes? Sigh.
I don't think I'll be returning to Coco's Crawfish anytime soon. The place was dead empty on a Friday night but I wouldn't blame them. Their location somewhat sucks! Plus, they need to put up an awning above their Coco's sign because it sits right above the doorway, and pigeons seem to chill out there on the Coco's sign. I wouldn't want to be pooped on before stepping into Coco's and/or after stepping out of Coco's. AND their bathroom smells like China. They have about 2 air fresheners in there but they need about 20 more. It stankkksss...
I really wanted to like this place, especially after reading all the raving reviews about the delicious food...However, my experience was just not up to par...
Only taking the food into account I would easily give Coco's 5 stars. I shared one pound of crawfish, 1 pound of shrimp, one crab, sausage and corn. The shrimp were definitely the highlight of my dinner, they were large, meaty and flavorful. And the sauce...so good! We had the medium and it had the perfect amount of spicy kick. The corn and sausage were also delicious but on the sausage pieces were smaller side.
I don't usually complain about service, but seriously, our experience was ridiculous. We had a party of five and from the get-go our waitress was neither friendly nor polite. However, the thing that was the most upsetting was that we all felt that the service was a bit shady, for two reasons.
First, both my friend and I ordered "one pound" of crab as the prices are listed by pound on the menu...the waitress however, neglected to tell us that you cannot order only one pound of crab and that you instead are purchasing an entire crab, which of course weighs more than one pound. Had I known this I would not have ordered crab. To me, it just seems like a common courtesy that the waitress should explain this fact as the menu is very unclear.
Second, because Coco's does not serve any starches (i.e. rice or bread) we brought some french bread with us, as was recommended by other reviewers. However once we arrived, we saw all the signs warning about outside food so we asked the waitress if it would be alright to eat the bread. She explained how the signs were meant to protect the restaurant and waive their liability if any patrons were to fall ill from outside food, etc. My friend asked about the charge for bringing the outside food, however the waitress neglected to tell us what it would be and led us to believe that it would be alright to eat the bread with our meal...so we did.
So, after our satisfying meal we get our bill...$185! For five people! The crab ended up being about $28 each and she tacked on an extra 10% for bringing in bread. I feel like we were kind of cheated and had our waitress been more clear about the prices and extra charges we would have made different decisions that probably would have led to a better experience and a more favorable review.
That being said, I probably won't be coming back, but for those of you who are thinking about going - just make sure that you're clear on what you are getting...
I used to frequent this place when I was in the Bay Area and UGH, I MISS IT SO MUCH. There's absolutely no place like this in Manhattan and it kills me!
Let's start with the actual restaurant. It's a huge space. The upper level overlooks the main level and the whole place can easily fit a large party. Parking is ample, as well. That's a huge plus in SF!
I've never ordered anything but the crawfish. There are 2 types of broth--ask the server which one is best because I always forget. It's RIDICULOUSLY GOOD though. OH man. So buttery and garlicky.. MMMM. There are different spice levels as well so be careful!
The crawfish comes boiled in a bag with the broth. You can add sides (sausage, corn, etc.) as well and they'll place it in the bag. Make sure you order a side of bread; you'll need it to sop up all the wonderful sauce. The crawfish is fresh and flown in from Louisiana. Price per pound is a tad bit more expensive than other places (like in Milpitas), but the broth.. seriously.. it's worth it. Oh, and request a bib as peeling crawfish is a messy task.
The last time I was here (sometime in April of 2008), it was cash only.. that's the only downside. But come on, guys--awesome food, friendly owner & servers, ample parking.. it's absolutely worth your money.
I am begging the owners to PLEASE SERVE STEAMED RICE!!!
I will pay up to $10.00 a bowl for rice! The corn, sausages, and lime don't cut for me! Rice is a commodity when you're having delicious spicy crawfish and Dungeness crab at Coco's!
I'm so ready to go Kamayan Style up in this bitch!
http://www.netguard.dk...
This is so painful.... Imagine Filipinos eating Chicken Adobo with no rice!
Better grab an umbrella if the owners start serving rice!!!
Highlights:
Cash Only. WAMU is directly next door.
Bring change of clothes in case your going to Durty Nelly's across the street afterwards.
Parking is great at night. However, I'm not sure what the lunch time rush is like.
I first came here a few months back and didn't think Coco's was all that shabby, but after visiting a few other crawfish joints in the Bay, I realized that I was horribly mistaken. I do want to say though that the service is GREAT, the restaurant is spacious and good for groups, but there are so many other cons that I must point out.
- The restaurant is overall very dingy looking with what looks like insulation falling out of the ceiling towards the front of the restaurant. It also doesn't help that they don't turn on the lights until after 7:30 pm or so bc the restaurant is dark and looks lifeless.
- The bathrooms aren't well-kept, and with everyone getting their grub on with crawdads it's not a pretty sight.
- The menu doesn't quite offer as much variety compared to similar restaurants.
- 1lb of crawfish = $16.99 which I find to be pretty steep even with the buy 5lbs get 1 free deal they offer.
If you know me I can eat anywhere, however, if I'm being charged an arm and a leg when I can get the same thing at a better price, with a much nicer ambiance, then why wouldn't I? I don't know of any other crawfish places in SF, so if you can't drive out to the Southbay then err...I don't know what to tell you.
My first crawfish place. Everyone in my family loves this place. It is by far my family's first choice of crawfish. But it is too far from where we live, so we don't come as often.
Service could be slightly improved
I've been here a couple of times and Lisa and Manda have never let me down. They're extremely fun and inviting, and their service is remarkable. Major thanks go out to both of them for making sure we had a good time. I'll also have to give some praise to their honorary waiter who's not on their payroll, the one and only Ron L. When the SBC visited, he did a good job waiting on us, and everybody else. Boy was he working hard!
Pound for pound the crawfish and shrimp had a stimulating and addicting effect on me. The crawfish, shrimp, and corn were drenched in some intense flavors. Both the sausage and crab were juicy and flavorful as well. At first, we opted to go with their medium Cajun style sauce, which was just right. Their spicy wasn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be though. Meaty oysters were perfect appetizers with my Sapporo. It would've been nice to have rice, but the corn was just fine for me.
Drinking beer and soju with a bib on is uncommon for me, but I find it necessary to protect myself from splattering shells and dripping spicy sauce. Making a mess is the only way to eat here. I definitely enjoyed the experience! Even though the South Bay has a handful of crawfish restaurants, I would still make the trip out to Coco's. I find them irresistible.
I LOOOOOVE COCO'S CRAWFISH!!! We ate a ton of crawfish, sausage, shrimp and corn and Coco kept trying to get our first-timer to sing Jasmine's part in " A whole new world"! lol
The food is to die for, especially the spicy... makes me feel like Im back n Nawleans and noone can mix it up like Coco. Get ready to get down and dirty but its soooo worth it! Can't wait to eat there again next weekend!
Went here for a dinner with a group of friends (7 of us total). Amanda B. had a table waiting for us. The place is minimalist, with tables set up with paper tablecloths and paper plates. It is definitely no-nonsense here...you come here to get your grub on, not to be awed by the architectural layout or sophisticated menus. They only serve a few things here, but they do them well.
We started out with a round of drinks and a couple of orders of oysters and 2 lbs. of the shrimp (medium). The shrimp were bigger than I thought they would be, and very tasty. The medium sauce was hot, but more of a "creeper". It got progressively hotter as we ate more. I didn't try the oysters, but my friends loved them.
We then ordered 4 lbs. of the crawfish, and the group dedided to up the ante and go with the hot sauce this time around. This was much spicier, and by the end of the meal I was sweating and my face was red. Hahha. I think heard they use habanero extract in the spicy stuff. I didn't even know such a thing existed. Suffice it to say, don't go anywhere near your eyes until you've washed your hands well. =)
Around this time of the year the crawfish come 17 to a pound. I was told in May, they get a lot bigger and are around 7 per pound!
We also ordered a ton of corn and sausage, which were both delicious. The corn in particular is the bomb, especially if you dunk it in the sauce.
I have read some reviews that were critical of the lack of ambience. One person didn't like that they served the food on paper plates. Are you kidding me? Have you guys ever been to an old fashioned crawfish boil? The crawfish are usually dumped in a big pile onto some newspaper in the middle of the table, then everyone digs in. If you want ambiance, go to a fancy shmancy place. This is meant to be messy, yet oh so good.
Amanda and Lisa were total dolls, and were constantly checking up on our table to see if we were doing alright. We usually didn't have anything to say, because we were too busy sucking on the crawfish heads or dunking the corn in the spicy sauce. We even had a shot with the lovely ladies later on that night at the Irish bar across the street. Thanks Amanda! ;)
My entire group rated this place either good or great, and we had some tough critics in the group, so that was definitely an accomplishment for Coco's.
Check this place out, then walk down the street to Baskin Robbins or Tuttimelon to get something to cool your on-fire lips!
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