CoCo Ichibanya Greenhills — Restaurant in San Juan

I saw good reviews here in Google maps, so I visited this resto. I just recently moved to greenhills for work. I really love Coco in Japan!! Ok so this branch had horrible staff, and horrible atmosphere. The aircons were broken and only an iwata fan was ventilating the whole closed restaurant. Next, we were a group of 4 but the only available table for now is for 2, so we sat first (on the couches at the table for 2) and we were ready to take the adjacent table which a couple already billed out. I noticed also the inefficiency of table management by the branch manager. There were single diners sitting in table for 4 or even 6. I wish they could just move the tables around for the appropriate diner number! Ok so we were very hungry as we came from work, and we told Mr. Manager that we wanted to order already please, as cooking time is long right. And they said NO you can't order yet without a table. And I said please punch it in already, so that the kitchen can start making it, and if the adjacent table is not available, we have this (currently only for 2) table right? Still the manager said no, I think this was so unreasonable because the table is almost ready anyway! Ok so fine, we really crave curry now so we forgave his first offense. So after a few minutes, the table cleared up and we 4 were already seated. The same manager came to take our orders. For my other colleague, she specified an order of a set that has drink and ice cream, and my other friend got a set with additional toppings, but the manager said we cannot order additional toppings, but it was clearly pictured in the menu!!! Omg!! 2nd strike!! We were so hungry and tired already so decided to let this go... Our food arrived and the set meal was wrong, salad arrived instead of the ice cream and drink. And we asked a waitress to confirm with the kitchen, and she said the salad has already been served and ice cream is therefore not arriving. 🤧😩😡😤 What a bad experience, from the ambience, to the bad service, to the wrong food that came out. Horrible restaurant!!! Strike 3- The katsu was very hard, the burger was too mushy😭, the drinks were watery, shame on the franchise from Japan 😭 we will never...

Visited: May/June 2018

I can’t count the number of times I’ve spotted Coco Ichibanya and told myself “Yes, I’ll visit there soon”, or dad telling me he’ll take me out to eat here but us never actually getting around to do it. So finally, after years of putting it off, a dinner with friends ended up with the three of us at my friend’s favorite go-to restaurant.

Since I was a tonkatsu fan but not familiar with curry meals, my friend decided to recommend dishes I could try out. He recommended I try my favorite pork tonkatsu, and then ask for additional cheese with the curry. It was the best decision ever!

I chose the regular/standard curry version as I’m not fond of spicy food, but the spices from the curry still gave the meal a kick. 😂 Regular water refills is a necessity in such a situation. The cheese, as I mentioned earlier, was the best addition to the curry. The cheese added extra flavors and gave the curry sauce an extra soft gooey flavor when mixing it with the crisp tonkatsu.

The prices at Coco Ichibanya are affordable and reasonable considering the ingredients used in the dishes. Servings are large so expect to satisfy your appetite when eating here.

Service here was also okay. We arrived an hour before closing time so there weren’t a lot of people left inside the establishment. The food was promptly served. My only extra thought for the visit was that CoCo Ichibanya should consider leaving pitchers or jugs of water at each table, or upon request by guests. I had to call servers’ attention each time I downed my glass to stave off the curry’s spices. Getting the staff’s attention is not always easy.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to Coco Ichibanya and would really like to go back for another (food)trip.

Reposting from my...

Good place for quality value for money food. It's a good establishment in the heart of Greenhills market which makes it more hip. I would rate the place in below 3 categories which I always weigh any restaurant in.

Food - 6/10 The meal size was sumptuous. Presentation was very tempting and taste was great. The pictures already posted do near justice with it but I was so famished that I did not click any picture before digging in. The quality of curry could be improved though as it seems they use same curry for all dishes. They have a chilli chart(which was a nouveau idea for all I have seen) for select food items from which you can choose the level you want.

Ambience - 7/10 Considering the place it is located at, it has decent interior.

Staff's Professionalism & overall hygiene - 7/10 The place is clean and hygienic like all good restaurants and thus reflects the due diligence that's put in it. I liked the staff and how they were eager to fulfil all asks swiftly. Though one...