Cozy Coza — Restaurant in Bratislava

A good start with the need to develop some maturity to really become good.

Cozy Coza is a newly opened restaurant that tries to mix local traditional food and Asian flavours.

The place: the restaurant, freshly renovated on the ashes of an old and established traditional Slovak place, is a new concept developed by the same owner attempting to present a fusion/mix of Asian food and local taste. The restaurant has been renovated with an attention to interior design that brings a partially successful result. Overall the place is cosy and warm, with brilliant elements and a nice lightning. More attention should be given to the lights of the first entrance room, too bright and cold. A pity because the rest of the place is nice, mixing a new style with elements recalling the previous establishment (smart). Far from being full (it only opened a couple of weeks ago), even with a few customers, the place was showing potential in conveying a sense of warm and pleasant feeling, making you believe that you can spend a nice evening with friends.

The service: the service was a bit chaotic with only one waiter serving the entire restaurant. But everything was done with a smile so I’m sure it will improve along time.

The food: the restaurant offers predominantly Asian flavours but mixed with local cuisine and ingredients. We got Laksa soup with corn fed chicken that was really good. Red curry Thai Udon with chicken that was missing a kick to be noticeable. In addition the presentation was a bit messy and not that appealing. A grilled Norwegian Salmon Tatiki that was really good but suffered of the same plating issues. The only negative note was the dessert. The coconut creme brûlée was good in terms of taste (a bit too sweet), but the dish was a failure in terms of consistency and texture. It was completely liquid at the bottom and falling apart.

Conclusions: the restaurant has obvious potential. The location is nice, cosy, warm and with a bit of attention could be really nice. The chef obviously knows what he is doing (note: the chef came out to exchange a few words with the customers, a gesture that was highly appreciated), but needs to put more attention on presentation and develop along time a stronger character to the menu. It’s a restaurant to try and to keep an eye on waiting for it to be great...

We came here to celebrate my boyfriend's 30th Birthday. We were recommended this place and the special menu for 2 people. Because of the preparation, the special menu needs to be booked at least one day in advance, so I made my booking 3 days ahead to ensure the special day and our celebration goes smoothly. I spoke to the owner who ensured me of the booking, which was also confirmed in writing. However, when we got to the restaurant no one was aware of our reservation. Obviously, this lack of communication from management can happen, however, what was unacceptable was the way we were treated by the waiter. He was not apologetic at all, instead he was laughing to my face saying it was me who made the mistake. The only person with professional customer service was the chef, who was actually the only reason why we decided to give the place a chance and ordered what he recommended to us. Looking at the bill of 53€ without any discount I asked for compensation and I have been told that “it is too late, because the bill is already printed”. Never in my life I was treated in this way. I paid and their chef, trying to save the situation, came out of the kitchen and as a compensation offered us free dessert. When we said no, he offered us 20% discount for their upcoming event. At this moment I started to laugh, it was really ridiculous. Even Though the food is nice, unfortunately, the whole experience, especially the poor customer service from the waiting staff, makes the place not worth your visit and I definitely do not recommend...

The Valentine’s dinner was a big disappointment. Maybe the expectations were too high, maybe it was the Valentine. There were few too many tables squeezed in to the dark small space. Because of the loud live music with too many people it was difficult to hear each other. The ambient was anything but romantic. I know it’s hard to get a good staff during pandemic but the waiters were inexperienced part-time workers just running around without any personal touch or experience with serving food or wine. Which brings me to the food. The chef may be good in asian/Sri Lanka dishes but the "fusion" tasting menu yesterday did not worked well at all. The dishes were bland, no imagination or interesting flavors and the plating was terrible. Maybe they just had a bad day or maybe some people didn’t turn up to work. We don't know. But we didn’t have a good time and judging by how many customers left right after the desert neither have they. There are much better restaurants in Bratislava in this price range so I cannot recommend this place and hence we will not come back...