Coco's & Beer Authentic Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Columbia

Agh, I don't like to write critical reviews, but... yeah. It was pretty bad.

I was determined to get my 6yo to eat outside of his usual picky eater meals, so we went over to the San Jose's on Forest Drive. It was closed on Mondays. Cool, we'll just drive over to the Moctezuma's on Fort Jackson. Not only was that closed, but the entire business complex had bee completely bulldozed sometime in the past couple of days. COOL cool coooool. Alright, I think to myself, that Coco's place is next door and I remember it being pretty good last time.

We approach the door, it has a sticker from DHEC with a "C" rating. I hesitate, but at this point my child is grating my nerves and I figure that if DHEC didn't shut the restaurant down then the food probably isn't lethal.

When we went inside, I noticed that the entire restaurant had been stripped of its former decor (what I remembered as warm and welcoming) and been redesigned as what was meant to be modern, but felt very bare, cheap, cold and uninviting.

The waitress was friendly, but made my 6yo and me kind of uncomfortable. He knows some Spanish from school and the bilingual books we read at home, but our server was pretty insistent on him responding to her questions in Spanish. It was neat at first, but it continued throughout the meal, and he was a tired kid who didn't understand what was happening.

The salsa was pretty good, and they also put a thing of a spicy kind of ranch on the table, which I loved (reminded me a little of the ranch at Chuy's). Definitely was the highlight of the experience.

Okay let's get down to the main points: The kid's meal was about $7, and had the smallest portion possible of rice and chicken (see pictured). The chicken was a watery mostly flavorless situation. I asked for an additional side of rice since the first portion was so small, which was another $3. I ordered the Vampiro margarita, which I knew would be spicy and not traditionally sweet. It was AWFUL. Very sour, with grainy bits of Tajin seasoning, no perceivable amount of alcohol, and otherwise tasted like old water. Our server noticed that I hadn't had much of it, and asked what was wrong-- I let her know, and she took it to have another made. She was observant and gracious, despite all the other weirdness. The second version of the drink was okay, still not very good. I ordered a cheese quesadilla for myself, which I thought would be genuinely impossible to mess up. I underestimated this restaurant's dedication to terrible food (see pictured). This was a barely-warmed tortilla with a light dusting of melted cheese. My first grader could-- and has-- made better quesadillas as microwave science experiments.

Altogether the bill was $26, plus the 20% tip (our server was clearly doing her best, also not tipping is a total d*ck move), so about $30 for one of the most disappointing meals in recently recorded history. Will be speaking with my therapist about if I need to work on setting better boundaries by sending my food back or asking for a discount.

TLDR: Health rating of "C", yummy ranch served with the chips & salsa, awkward but friendly server, paid $30 for comically tiny portions, watery chicken, very bad margarita, and even...

I’ve been to Coco’s & Beer’s on many occasions and most of the time I get the same great service but on 7/6/24.. I didn’t get the memo, to not come to the restaurant to enjoy a meal, cause It was a party of three but we were ignored, to the point where, two parties came after us, they were served before us, they ate and left. This waiter had to be new, cause I don’t recall ever don’t recall ever seeing him before but he took forever to come take our order for drinks , then when we needed refills and more chips and salsa, we had to hunt him down. He messed up my order.. by giving me refried beans, actually nobody at the table wanted refried beans but two of us had them on our plates. I ordered the chicken Coco’s & Beer’s Chimichanga, so I proceeded to cut into my Chimichanga and lie and behold, it was steak, I wasn’t jumping up and down inside, cause of the long wait already but the fact that they got my order wrong was aggravating, so I got a random waiter and told her my issue. When someone finally came back, it was the terrible waiter and what could have been management but she proceeded to tell me that the gentleman said that told him that I wanted a steak chimichanga . The problem is that I always get the same thing when I go there but for some reason, they were arguing their point, as if me patronizing they’re business, was a non factor and that I somehow wasn’t a customer , that deserves the typical curiosity that one typically receives , when they go to any food service establishment. You don’t tell me that you didn’t make a mistake, I did and I’m bringing money to your establishment, cause I bring the money and you provide the food service but they must’ve didn’t get the memo. I told them at that point, I didn’t want anything to eat, they proceeded to bring out another order, like ten minutes later, when so told them that I didn’t want anything to eat… forget about it. When the check finally came, they still had the charge for the chimichanga meal, so I had to walk to the front register by the door and tell them , that I’m not paying for that cause I sent the wrong order back and drawn the conclusion that I didn’t want anything, after I was told like a child that I ordered something, when I know I didn’t. I don’t know if that’s how they do it in their country but over here ,it’s kinda different as far as what we expect from food service businesses. The worst experience today but it’s the first and the last cause I won’t be going back for that disrespectful and...

Easily the worst Mexican food we have had in a long time. We drove in from Texas for an ARMY graduation at Fort Jackson and had this place recommended by some acquaintances. Absolutely horrific experience. After a lengthy drive, we sat down and wanted to enjoy some happy hour margaritas, but met immediate resistance from the hostess and waitress advising that my wife and I would both be required to ordered plates or platters, nothing from the appetizer menu or A La Carte menu in order to qualify for the happy hour drink special of $1.99 house margaritas. Fine, not a problem as we both plan on eating, but a previous surgery prevents me from eating and drinking within 45 minutes of each other so I informed them that we planned on having a few drinks before ordering food. It was finally approved, but absolutely pathetic how they handled this situation. I’m sure some folks try to take advantage of happy hour, but the employees should not treat everyone like cheapskates. The margaritas were horrible. Even the discounted price was too much for that urine. Worst margaritas we have had on this road trip and then our food came out. Crunchy tacos that were already soggy and cold, falling apart as we tried to pick them up which was ridiculous. The rice was also cold but the beans were lukewarm. How in the heck do you service this mess from the kitchen? I don’t believe even half of the reviews now because we were excited to try this place and was served junk. Taco Bell serves hotter, better quality food for a much better price. The salsa bar was the star of the show and the chips were pretty good, but I would not recommend this place to even my worst enemy. ...