Coconut Lagoon — Restaurant in Ottawa

First time here and left underwhelmed.

We had an early reservation on Saturday evening. There were only a few (4-6) other couples in the whole place and for some reason, we felt we had the worst service of all the tables.

To start, we were seated at a table where the sun was in my eyes the whole time and I couldn’t even read the menu, and the place had 0 curtains to block it.

Then I ordered a sparkling water, waitress comes and pours it and it is obviously flat by the lack of bubbles in the glass. I taste it to make sure, and she brings another bottle (that we didn’t see her actually open) and tries again. Tastes like tap water. I again say this isn’t sparkling water. She then brings a bottle of Perrier and continues to pour Perrier into my husband’s glass, which is still half full of “non” sparkling water. Not sure what that was all about but after this issue, I am worried about the service and quality of food to come and consider bailing. Who messes up sparkling water?

We ordered the scallops for an appetizer and although they were delicious, it was annoying to have 3 small-to-normal-sized scallops for 2 people…at $18. It should have an even number of scallops for 2 people.

I ordered the quilon chicken for dinner…which says it is free-range and grass-fed. Chickens aren’t technically grass-fed, they are omnivores, therefore the correct verbiage should just be “pasture-raised”. Chicken was really good, and the meat-to-sauce portion was great, but at $25 it felt pricey, especially since it didn’t come with rice. Rice, by the way, was $6 for a small portion. And it didn’t even have cilantro or ghee drizzled on top—highway robbery if you ask me. It was probably 30 cents worth of rice!

My husband ordered the lobster masala and it had a generous portion of lobster, but he said the temperature of it wasn’t very hot (and he is the type that generally prefers lukewarm food). Also we were annoyed that it was $39 and again didn’t even come with rice or any accoutrements.

The tables are small for the size of the plates and serving ware, so it felt like a constant juggle to get things on the table. The waitress didn’t remove our wine glasses, so we had to place them on the table next to us. She also took forever to take our meal order and was just lackluster in both service and personality.

Parking is super limited, so prepare to park on the residential street nearby.

Eating here just left us wanting our normal “go-to” Indian in town, which costs half as much and is twice...

EDIT: Coconut Lagoon V.02:

We were pretty excited to see Coconut Lagoon reopen and finally got to go last night - what a change from when we first came to this place only a month or so after it had opened back in the day. The food, as expected, was absolutely fantastic - those flavours! We definitely over-ordered, but it was hard not to. We started with a papadum basket which came with chutneys (honestly, not sure chutneys are the perfect match to papadums, felt they worked much better with the fluffy parathas) and I had the chef's soup which was cauliflower/ginger and just SO VERY GOOD. All the main dishes off the menu come in small bowls to share and additions are all extra (papadums, bread, rice), so it can definitely add up. The woodland mushroom curry was so great; different than what we expected with a nice hint of heat - would highly recommend. The vegetable kurma was one of the creamiest, coconutiest I've had - absolutely delectable. Pumpkin eriserry has always been one of my favourites with that subtle extra crunch. Would have tried the dal if we thought we could have fit in on the small table - space definitely became an issue due to the format of the meal. I'm a vegetarian but my husband is not and had the scallops and lamb curry and he thought they were also both excellent.

I think that next time, we will go for the tasting menu instead since I think that would overall be more fitting with the atmosphere of the place and what it looks to be striving for in the future - I would love to try out the more inventive dishes that won Thottungal so much praise. They can, by the way, make the tasting course vegetarian.

The place looks absolutely stellar after the renovations; just gorgeous. Where we felt it needed a bit more work? Really the overall organization and timing of things - it felt more like they had opened just a couple weeks ago instead of a couple of months. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how this place will evolve with time and looking forward to trying it again in a few months' time.

Note that parking can definitely be a bit of an issue, although there is a fair amount in the streets behind; just need to hunt a bit.

Coconut Lagoon V.01: If you haven't been yet, you really have to. Now a world-renowned chef! The lunch buffets are especially great (especially on Sundays with the dosas!). Definitely one of the best south Indian...

from just yesterday: Great experience overall, once again! We came here last year around this time (we live in Boston but come here to visit relatives) and during our visit we opted to come here again. Everything was again very good. The naan is superb, the KFC (kerala fried chicken) is kitschy but very tasty! Everything across the board was delicious except for the sauce that came with the scallops (which wasn't bad but it seemed odd, no one knew what to make of it and the person eating that dish avoided the sauce). Service was a little slower this time, but that's like most places these days that are suffering from not having enough staff. Ambiance is very pretty, understated, and nice - still a bit noisy so I'd still like to see more sound absorbers. The ones they have are great, you don't notice them, but they might be too high up to make a big difference. We'll definitely be back again, hope it's still here next year!

Review below was from early December, 2023: The service was exceptional and the visual ambiance was wonderful. The host came over several times to check in on us, which was very sweet. The restaurant is so nice that it feels intimate, but the place was full of people and conversation which did make it difficult to hear each other. I appreciated the sound absorbers on the walls as they did help to dampen the overall noise of conversations from other tables. I wonder if more sound absorbers around table barriers would help as well.

Food was very good. We ordered the kfc appetizer as well as the pappadum, and for dinners, we ordered the chef special (lamb shank), mushroom curry, beef & potato curry, and chicken biryani. Everything tasted very fresh, not heavy, and very unique! How could I forget -- we also ordered parotta (naan). The parotta was the BEST we have ever had anywhere. I would go back just for this.

The chicken and the beef were a bit overcooked in our opinion, but maybe that is the kerala style? We felt the meat could have been a little more tender if cooked a bit less. The lamp shank could actually have used a bit more cooking to help it fall off the bone more. The mushroom curry was spot on.

Overall, the place deserves 5 stars. Everyone in the party was very happy and we will all come back again...