Cocoa’s Restaurant & Lounge

I really wanted this to be a good experience but it fell short on almost every mark.
I came in for breakfast at about 7AM, there was about five people in the dining area, no waitress in sight. I waited about seven minutes awkwardly at the front, then just decided to seat myself. The waitress came by and saw me then dropped off a menu and walked away without asking me if I wanted a coffee or anything.
When she came back she hardly let me finish telling her what I wanted before she was back stepping away from my table going, «Uh huh okay yup alright.»
The food came very quickly, so that was nice. But she dropped the plate in front of me and then walked away! It was like a drive by, she just plopped it down and took off.
The food… Ugh, the food. So bad :(The two eggs were NOT fried, they tasted and felt rubbery like they were made in a microwave. The hash browns tasted like hard, bland raw potatoes. She left before I could ask for salt and pepper. The water she gave me was lukewarm. The sausages were mushy and gave me a headache almost. I paid 17 $ for this meal too, when I could’ve went to my favourite place down the street and got a lovely home cooked meal for 7 $ that tasted amazing but I wanted to give this place a chance.
As I write this, I’ve been sitting here in front of an empty plate for about 15 minutes and she hasn’t come back once to quality check or refill my water or ask me if I need the bill.
Horrible horrible waitress, bad food, overall just a bad place to go. Maybe dinner is different, but this particular experience was bad.

Let me start with my favorite word: Bacon.
Ok, I’ll come back to that.
So as you may have seen from my previous review, my fiancée and I had a night stay at the Delta hotel and Sunday brunch here. It was a warm and cozy atmosphere to walk into. The server was friendly and got us coffee and juice right away and invited us to brunch buffet right away.
What we found was the grand treasure of food! A pirate would have seen the treasure and screamed out «yaaaar, mateys! We found the gold!»
Fruit, various salads, eggs Benny, sausages scrambled eggs, French toast, and bacon was the breakfast side. Then were hot food items of BBQ chicken, salmon, dessert table, a carving station with a roast, and of course the omelette station! Wow!
I swear I may have heard angels sing…
As promised, let me tell you about this bacon. It was SMOKED bacon! When I looked at it, it didn’t have the usual straight and greasy delicious look to it. It was a bit dryer and all curled up. It smelled heavenly and reminded me of cooking bacon over a camp fire. Amazing. Crunchy to the mouth and flavourful to taste as the juices and savior had been locked within.
If anything I would go back for just the bacon. I left a happy camper.

My family and I ate at Cocoa’s last night after getting home from a Christmas vacation (lampoon’s style). The server was very friendly, atmosphere was pretty relaxed, and the wine she suggested was good (but after a million sweet slushy resort drinks, what wine wouldn’t taste good?). Those are the good points.
This was the second time we have eaten here, as my family generally stays at the Centre Suite hotel if they get a hotel in the city. Both times we have been here we have ordered things that were on the menu… but were unavailable.
It took over an hour and a half for us to get our food– we had actually finished our wine completely by the time the food came out. (damn shame, that) I had ordered a chicken breast, and was assured by the waitress that it would be breast meat– but I received the tiniest piece of white meat I have ever seen. I didn’t even know chickens could be grown that tiny! It sure didn’t look to be like any chicken breast I’ve ever eaten, at any rate. It came with 2 pieces of carrot, 2 pieces of broccoli and a tiny bit of rice. All for the impressive price of $ 20.00. Really? Not even a salad thrown in to make me feel friendly?
The food was medium, most of the dishes came out pretty cold. My brother went to the bathroom and was confronted with 2 fellows doing a line in there (not from the restaurant I am guessing… haha??)
At any rate, I think the chef knows what he is doing with the cooking– the steak was cooked perfectly, chicken was tasty, etc– but the timing needs to be improved! Also, the security. haha.
It’s ok if you are in a bind, but with so many other restaurants in the downtown area, not to mention the same building, I am not sure why you would choose Cocoa’s– We sure won’t.

The highlight of eating at Cocoa’s is their breakfast buffet. It is absolutely to die for and I would have to nominate them for best breakfast sausage in the city if such an award were to actually exist.
Their dinner menu is nice but slightly limited to larger meals. If your looking to just share a quick appetizer with a friend before a movie you might be out of luck as there definitely isn’t much to choose from. My dinner recommendations would be the peppercorn steak and the buffalo chicken wrap.
The place could definitely use a renovation to lighten the atmosphere a bit. It’s a mostly dark wood interior and not well lit which can make it feel a bit depressing… especially if you are there when it’s not busy. Food prep wait times are not bad but I have sometimes been frustrated with the time it takes to get something more simple like a drink refill. They don’t do a good job with staff scheduling in this place. I have been there at times when one waitress in responsible for the entire restaurant.
I really don’t recommend anything to go as I think they put a rush on to go orders. My boyfriend brought me a Caesar salad and pulled pork sandwich from here and I was slightly disappointed. Their Caesar is in my opinion one of the best in the city but the one brought home to me had a bizarrely buttery after taste to it and the BBQ sauce used for my pulled pork sandwich was far too sweet and eliminated any flavor of meat in the sandwich whatsoever.
I go back when I want a nice sit down meal before a movie as this is conveniently located close to the empire downtown and its alot easier to get a quick meal at then the much more busy Ricky’s location downstairs but I will definitely never make a special trip just to eat here.

So this was a pleasant surprise. My girlfriend and I were going to catch a showing of Our Idiot Brother, but decided to stop for dinner first, so we stopped here.
It’s nothing too fancy (it’s only just a hotel owned lounge and restaurant), so don’t expect much in terms of design. It does have an overall nice atmosphere though, it’s very dimly lit and low key for the most part, our server was very friendly and funny.
I had the surf and turf, which was $ 28 for lobster tail and steak– and excellent price considering. The food was excellent, lobster tail not being over done and the stark cooked to near perfection. The service was prompt, just like we expected.
However, points deducted because you have to ask for a card key to use the bathroom. I understand with this being a hotel, but come on, seeing as this is a restaurant which they allow people to freely walk in and eat at, you’d think they’d be a bit more inviting.
In short, that little gripe doesn’t stop this place from being recommended greatly. Do check it out, if you’re going to catch a showing at the Empire city centre.

I recently attended a work Christmas luncheon at Cocoa’s, and it was pretty good! Even a little better than my previous brunch there with my girlfriends once.
They had a private eating area for corporate parties, sectioned off from the main dining lounge, with enough space for about four large tables. The buffet was located in the hall right inside the entrance. I was very impressed with the service, as the staff greeted us as we arrived and showed us to our tables. They were on top of things throughout the lunch, filling empty water glasses, clearing away empty plates, and asking people if they wanted more coffee. Excellent service!
The buffet consisted of a table of warm comfort foods, another of salads and fruits, and another of all desserts. The red snapper in sun-​dried tomato sauce was my favorite! Simply delicious — soft and moist, and popping with tart flavor from the sauce. I wanted more, but was saving myself for dessert!
They had several kinds of cheesecake and mousse cakes for dessert. I decided to go for the yummy-​looking raspberry mousse cake, and did not regret it at all. Sweet and creamy, the cake has an outer layer of raspberry gel while the inside is all mousse. Mmm …
Needless to say, I was stuffed by the end of the lunch. Cocoa’s is not only great for a weekend brunch with your friends, but a corporate outing too!