Cocobean — Restaurant in Kigali City

Kigali, well known for the calm and clean environment puts it as an ideal destination for many people travelling or choosing a place to stay. The Kigali experience is unique to many African cities making it one of my favourite destinations. However, for me, the Kigali experience is only complete when I visit Cocobean, a local pub, grill, bar and restaurant in the heart of Kigali. Cocobean resonates the Rwandan culture through the music, service, food, and audience. It usually attracts a vibrant crowd of multinationals and locals looking for a beautiful place to have a meal, drink, casual meeting or parties, and age groups ranging from teenagers to the energetic forever young in their 50's.

Cocobean stands out with its beautiful scenery of an African themed place, with tables and chairs that make you appreciate African art, the diverse crowd displays oneness of all cultures and backgrounds, it is a place where people want nothing but to have fun and enjoy the Kigali experience. Besides the diverse crowd, it serves a diverse group of food and beverages, making sure every customer feels right at home with the fantastic service and hospitality by the staff.

For people looking for a place to skinny deep, Cocobean offers a swimming pool to all guests, enjoying delightful swimming under the Kigali sun. It is a place to be for thrill-seeking individuals and gives you the full Kigali experience you may have been...

It was a long queue due to the covid-19 restrictions as they wants to control the number of occupancy in the bar and some hiw we managed to enter and they have charged 3000 RWF (3 USD) for entrance from each person. The premises is well equipped and comfortable and we couldn't find any seats or tables on the lower floor and we went to the 1st floor and waiting for a drink for 20 minutes. They said they can't offer drinks because the police is here but somehow we managed to get some drinks. After few minutes later one of a group was asking the entrance fees because they paid the entrance to in and the bar is closed and they couldn't get a drink. I would recommend the management if the bar is closed they should not enter the people. The service was so bad, the staff is not cooperative seems they tired or lack of staff. The first floor bar is not clean the glasses are not available, finally one fat lady came to tell everyone to leave the bar as the time is over. (9.30 PM) then we left our drinks in half way. I recommend the management again to give proper information to the guest the last kitchen order, bar closing time, the premises closing time etc to avoid misunderstanding and conflict...

The place looked really good and funky, helped by thr music and the fact it has a pool in the middle, but that's where it ends.

The service is woeful and very slow. The staff don't know the menu or what is and isn't available. The drinks tool 30 minutes and when arrived were wrong, we weren't even informed that things werenot available.

The food....aside from the fact that it took over an hour and half the main issue was no one was bothered, no feedback despite constantly asking and when the food did come things weren't cooked and were wrong. The one saving grace was the whole grilled fish which was good.

Overall, would never go back and would not recommend this...