COCOA Valencia — Restaurant in Alboraia / Alboraya

My recent visit to Cocoa Patacona in Valencia was, unfortunately, a disappointing experience. While the restaurant enjoys a prime location near the beach, both the food and service left much to be desired.

Ambiance and Service: The restaurant has a relaxed, coastal ambiance that initially set the stage for what we hoped would be a pleasant dining experience. However, the service quickly became a source of frustration. When we placed our order, we explicitly requested that the dishes be served slowly so we could enjoy each course at a leisurely pace. Despite this request, the first two dishes arrived simultaneously. We reminded the waitress of our request, but before we knew it, all of our dishes were on the table at once. When a waiter later asked how our meal was, we pointed out the issue with the timing of the dishes. Rather than acknowledging the mistake, he began arguing that we should have been more explicit in our request, as though it was our fault. At that point, we decided to give up on addressing any further issues, as it was clear the waiter was more interested in being right than in ensuring a positive dining experience for us.

Food and Drinks: The food itself was also underwhelming. We started with a Tinto Verano and a bottle of Agua con gas, which were fine, but things went downhill from there. The Croquetas de Quisquilla were disappointing, with a paste-like filling that lacked any actual chunks of quisquilla. While the outside was crunchy, the overall texture and flavor were not what we expected. The Tempura de Verduras was crispy but overly heavy, with some pieces so thickly battered that we wondered if there were any vegetables inside. The Sepia a la plancha was particularly disappointing—tough, chewy, and easily the worst we’ve had in the area in a long time. The Ensalada A Mi Maner, which we hoped would be a fresh and light dish, turned out to be a big blubber of shredded tuna with far too much dressing, making it heavy and unappetizing. The one redeeming element of the meal was the Ochoa Lágrima wine, which was enjoyable, but it wasn’t enough to save the experience.

Overall Experience: Cocoa Patacona’s beautiful location and initially promising ambiance were overshadowed by poor service and disappointing food. At 92.80€ for two, we expected much better. The mishandling of our request for a slow-paced meal, followed by the argumentative response from the waiter, left a bad taste in our mouths, and we didn’t even bother addressing the other issues we had.

I would hesitate to return and recommend exploring the many other dining options in Valencia that offer better food and more...

Very nice location and vibes, but the garden was closed and their advertised menu was not having items so we had to go back and forth and no compromise from their side. So we had to take a 4th option (not ideal but ok).

The issue is, it’s quite expensive and I would expect more for this price.

Update Follow up from owners questions:

We appreciate your response and have reconsidered to increase the rating by one star.

More details: We had ordered antricote, it was not available. Then we tried to get squid and something else (I forget what exactly). That was not an option as rice had to be for 2 persons so that was blocking us. I asked if we can still have it and pay extra for the rice, response was an instant and definitive no. Not sure why someone would turn down business.

We settled on the burgers which were ok but for the price not appropriate despite the location. The beef patty was small, the fries small and basically not much else on the bun. The initial order of entrecote (+4EUR) might have been better and adequate - but that was not available and not marked on the menu (outside) as not available).

Indeed the entrées were really good and desert was also good.

Another thing, checking the billing is important as the items are not listed individually and the mathematics on the bill is not shown and may include other items in the final price. So if it doesn't add up, ask the waiter for clarifications. We had this situation, but a prompt refund from the manager solved it....

Terrible, terrible service and very bad food. We had ordered lots of drinks before we tried to order our food otherwise we would have left. We were a party of 7 and some wanted a sea food paella and some wanted a Valencian paella. The waiter lied to us saying that it was the law that we could only order 1 type of paella for parties under the size of 10 so we had to choose one or the other!! Therefore 6 people had sea food paella which was very very salty and lacking in fish. The other ordered the sole which again was extremely salty and very over cooked. Our second bottle of wine took 40 minutes to arrive and this only came after speaking to the manager who also confirmed that the waiter had mislead us regarding the paella choices. We are a very friendly group of ladies but this waiter seemed to take against us for some reason even though we were very polite. The view is also not great as it’s hard to see the sea and beach the restaurants slightly further up would have been a better choice and hopefully a better experience overall. We went to Cocoa as the review score was good but our experience was totally the opposite and I would definitely avoid this place. It was one of the ladies birthdays so it was such a shame to spoil what had been a lovely...