What Has Happened to Cocos Lokos?

Went to Cocos Lokos this evening with my parents after realizing that Vietnam Kitchen is closed on Wednesdays (correct?). As someone who has dined at Cocos Lokos a few times since they opened but not super recently, I was shocked to see how far this place has fallen.

I'm not in the mood to write a full-on review, but here's a recap.

1. It was empty, dark, and, I would say sort of dingy. Trying to save on the electrical bill?
2. No hostess and no one playing host. Not good.
3. Overeager service that bordered on hovering.
4. Notification that pork chops were 86 a good 15-20 minutes after ordering. There's obviously a communication problem involved there.
5. Slow food production in general.
6. Lack of flavor profile. My shrimp in tomato sauce was literally that. No layers of flavor at all. Thi dish used to be excellent.
7. Overabundance of salt. Felt like I was at a bad Top Chef judges' table.
8. Way overcooked sweet potato fries and overcooked pork on the Cubano.

The menu is different too since the last time I dined there.

We didn't really "talk to the management" as they pro-actively removed one entree from the bill. I never like talking to management at restaurants, but I'll do it at some place that might be having an off night. My dad, who is in the food distribution business, commented that the situation had "cutting corners" written all over it. And, as he rightfully said, "The next step after cutting corners is going out of business."

My take is that they must have had an "adviser" during the first year or so that made sure the ship was running smoothly. That adviser must have jumped ship.

Not a good experience, and I probably won't be back. Hope my dad isn't right, but I sense he is.

[Robin Garr]

My take is that they must have had an "adviser" during the first year or so that made sure the ship was running smoothly. That adviser must have jumped ship.

This may be only a coincidence, but I'm pretty sure that Rick Moir was there for a while and then he wasn't.

My take is that they must have had an "adviser" during the first year or so that made sure the ship was running smoothly. That adviser must have jumped ship.

This may be only a coincidence, but I'm pretty sure that Rick Moir was there for a while and then he wasn't.

I think you hit the nail on the head Robin.
I'll give Rick a heads up on this thread- maybe he'll want to add his 2 cents.

My husband and I went there for the first time last week. We enjoyed our food, but you're right about the service. I was trying to be nice about saying the server talked a lot. But I mean he talked A LOT. At one point it went on for 15 min. My husband was a bit perturbed because it was our date night and we didn't get a lot of "alone" time. We were also the only patrons in there. I felt like we were trying to be upsold all the time. We didn't get an appetizer and we were asked if we were sure because "it was going to take awhile for the food to come out". It arrived about 8 min. later.

I have found that sometimes after a brief "opening period", owners start to make changes to make their establishment seem more profitable. I say the word "seem", because there are changes that can work, but often times they don't. Sometimes you can't recover at all. I am not saying that went on here, but I do know it was excellent early on, and now some say it is not so. If the food really has changed, maybe the food "really has CHANGED"......that is all.

I had a similar experience. Haven't been back.

All I can say is that from my experience at A.J's Gyro Cafe there is a catch 22 situation that occurs when a restaurant starts to lose business. The situation with the pork chops could have been that because there were less customers coming in then normal; then the pork chops went off and the server wasn't told until they were about to be cooked. Unfortunately, as I found out, when the customers lessen, then the owner has to make cuts, ie staff. This has a snowball effect of service not being as good , or having to cut something from the menu that is not widely ordered; so the remaining customers don't come back.

It is very seldom that a restaurant goes from being highly successful one day to closing its door the next. There is a tapering off period until the owner has to make the decision to cut their losses and bail. At least this is what happened with me.

We started with a bang and people genuinely seemed to like our food. However, when the takings got to what I take in Georgetown with overheads 5 times less it made no economic sense to keep going.

Hopefully, we will be open next weekend, either Friday or Saturday. I wish Cocos Lokos all the best.

Hi, My name is Miguel Garcia general manager and owner of cocos lokos. First of all, I would like to apologize for the bad experience that you and your parents had that night. As you know perfection is hard to achieve and even though we try very hard every day is almost impossible to do it.

What really happened that night was a combination of an inventory error and a miscommunication problem between the server and the kitchen. I am gonna be honest with you and accept that we have had some rough times in the previous months due to poor management mostly. But we are trying everything that is in our power to make Cocos Lokos the best caribbean restaurant in town. Once again im really sorry for the unpleasant experience that you had.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for the comments on the subject. They are very helpful.