Coco Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in Buffalo

A polarizing experience.

Our server was very attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. The restaurant charges for bread which is usually complimentary at this type of establishment. The atmosphere is casual fine dining - brown paper atop white tablecloth. If you want white tablecloth with all the atmosphere (including patron attire) attention to detail of service (new utensils per course), and trappings of fine dining, look elsewhere.

The dining room was excessively dim to the point where several older diners had to use their phone flashlights to read the menu, which detracted from the ambiance the restaurant was trying to cultivate.

Cocktails were creative. Wine list was comprehensive and our server knew it very well.

We started with soup and salads. The soup came out lukewarm and needed to be reheated, but had excellent flavor. The salad was great.

The seasoning and portions on the pasta mains was inconsistent. Two of three were excessively salty, the other one (the same dish) was under-seasoned. The portions were not balanced, we each finished our noodles and had half a bowl of sauce left.

Dessert was absolutely incredible, the best I've had in the Buffalo area and maybe anywhere. However, the portion sizes were inconsistent between three servings of the same dish.

Ultimately, at very reasonable prices for casual fine dining, if you order the right things I think you could probably have a five star experience. The chef clearly has a strong vision, sadly the execution was lacking for our visit. Multitudes of 5-star reviews suggest this is the exception rather than the norm.

As an aside, for a French restaurant, the menu seems very pasta-heavy - Compared to local Italian, Inizio does pasta better in the casual setting and Lombardo clears it for the true fine dining experience. If you're more interested in the French aspect of the menu, Webster's Bistro is the standard, but much...

Outstanding, true to its motif French bistro. Went on Valentine's day hoping to recapture elements of our time in France and this place most certain did not disappoint. From the ambiance, to the excellent service, to the cozy atmosphere it was spot on. It was a perfect balance of comfortable and down to earth yet still refined as a bistro should be. The mixologist has designed an excellent cocktail menu, the appetizers inspired, and the steak frites(the meal entrée that attracted me to this place) was reminiscent of it's counterpart le relais de l'entrecote in Paris. I was just surprised this gem had been hiding in Buffalo all along. The only quasi negative which has been mentioned several times in reviews and management should address is I had an 8pm reservation, which I called to confirm twice. I was not seated until 8:45. The hostess was gracious, and they sat us at the bar while we waited. I consider 15 minutes wait for reservation acceptable on a busy night, 20 passable, at 30 I'm accustomed to some type of complementary food/drink while I wait. If we had after dinner plans a 45 minute wait for a reservation just wouldn't show respect for our time. Offering a cocktail or drink for a half hour past reservation is standard for restaurant of this caliber and given how great the service was otherwise is something I almost expected. So either management should consider booking less on busy nights or budgeting basic passed food or drinks for long waits when reservations have been made. Especially since I would have been seated roughly the same time even without a reservation. Summary: the night was outstanding, the staff was gracious, the meal was excellent, and the atmosphere truly captures an authentic French bistro. At the price point they should either honor reservations within 20 minutes or offer comp drinks or passed foods to show respect...

Edit - the owner has replied to my review with a blatant lie. We never threatened anyone, we were never asked to leave, and the GM never spoke to us. We chose to leave after never being seated and staff being rude. Shame on you for not taking a genuine critique seriously and instead deflecting with a lie. Be better. *

Completely unprofessional and disrespectful staff. I made a reservation for 14 people after an important ceremony for school and was denied my table. I called on Wednesday to confirm reservation for Friday, and was also texted a confirmation on Thursday, but when I arrived at the restaurant I was met with aggression and a confrontational staff member who insisted that I failed to confirm my reservation. They claimed they called me the day of the reservation to confirm, despite my confirmations on Wednesday and Thursday. They stated someone else was seated at the table and we could not be seated until they left. After a half an hour I checked in on the table and was treated with incredible disrespect. The staff said our party was rude to her and refused to speak to me. I asked to speak to the manager and watched the manger walk past and refused to speak to me. We ended up leaving and going somewhere else to eat after waiting an hour and not being seated. Incredibly disappointed and angry with the treatment we received. This was an important day for me and it was ruined by...