The Toasted Coconut — Restaurant in Houston

A truly unique and fun dining experience. This will be the place I bring out of town guests to show them how awesome the food scene is in Houston.

First, on atmospherics and vibe. You walk in and the music is bumping. It’s not so loud that you can’t talk, but it’s loud. And good. Most of my time there was with a Rod Stewart album playing. I spent most of dinner with my family kind of dancing in my seat. It really adds to the experience and contributes to the feeling that I was having one of the best dinners with my family ever.

Next, drinks. I started with a Toasted Coconut. Lots of debate with the friend who recommended the place whether the drink is named after the restaurant or vice versa. I think the drink had to drive this. Owners, when/if you read this, would love a comment. It’s a frozen drink with coconut, lime, and lots of different dark rums. It’s strong. And really good. Reminded me instantly of a beach vacation. I just had one and then switched to prosecco, which was also good. The switch was only because I felt pretty sure that two would hit me like a hammer.

Now food. I have been to Nobies so I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t know it would be this good.

We started with shishito peppers and hummus with focaccia. A+. There is more hummus than focaccia but they were super cool about bringing more bread.

Then a big order to mostly share amongst the six of us. Whole fried red snapper. Two noodz. Fried chicken. The boys got cheeseburgers. Fries. It was all so good.

The fish was fantastic. Fresh. Served whole but deboned. Lots of Thai or Vietnamese like spices and vegetables on it. So good. Noodz were Thai-like noodles. Good not great. Fried chicken was my favorite. Kind of a spicy sweet coating on the fried chicken. Maybe hot honey. I could have eaten this all night. I had a bite of hamburger with the bacon jam added. Smashburger style, really really good. I am getting one to myself next time. Note, the waitress was really cool about adding on to the family style dinner as needed.

Then we had a key lime pie and a strawberry cheesecake. Best pie ever. Felt like different level stuff. Save room for the pie.

I had a smile on my face the entire dinner and it seemed like everyone in the restaurant was feeling the same way. This is such a great experience. One note - they do not have much parking. I ubered but one of my kids did not and had a difficult time finding a spot behind the restaurant. Just saying you should Uber if that’s an option.

I’m coming back for brunch, the menu looks awesome. Also they have a great outdoor area. Way too hot right now but will be great in the fall and spring.

Edit: had brunch on a Sunday. Very fun. I was torn between the traditional breakfast (eggs bacon) and the brioche with ricotta and pecans and oranges. Our nice waitress suggested both. See photo. It was...

This place, sadly, just didn't live up to the hype. I'd give it 2.49 stars if I could, but since I have to pick an even number, I'm rounding it down to 2 stars. The vibe is different, which is okay and maybe kind of funky-cool, I guess, but this was Sunday at 2pm and the music was INSANELY loud for such a small dining area. Maybe I'm getting old, but I'd sure like to be able to, you know, actually speak with others at my table.

The good: The food was unique and pretty darn good overall. The pork dumplings were good, but didn't taste fresh. The burger was very good. The Cubano sandwich was excellent. The fries were good, but insanely overpriced for what they are. The marinated cucumbers were good, but definitely a love-it-or-hate-it flavor.

The bad: The service was woeful. All of the servers are dressed in street clothes with no name tags or anything to indicate they work there. That was weird, but it wasn't really the problem. We ordered everything at the same time -- three entrees, two side dishes (small plates), and two drinks. The pork dumplings came out almost immediately (which means they were probably just microwaved). A few minutes later, the cucumber appetizer came out. About five more minutes, and the burger comes out. Then, a few more minutes, and the fries arrived. About 7 or 8 minutes later, the Cubano sandwich arrived. Everything got delivered, one by one, over the course of about 30 minutes. If any of us had started to eat our meals, each of us would've been finished with our food before anyone else's food arrived.

The drinks: Our drinks didn't come at all, until the waitress eventually came and checked on us and we told her we never got our drinks. Honestly, I wish they never would've come, because when the drinks finally came out -- a Bloody Mary, and an Ocean Water -- they were hands-down the WORST cocktails either of us have ever tasted. The Ocean Water tasted like what I'd imagine diesel fuel mixed with dirty mop bucket water would taste like. And the Bloody Mary tasted like the worst, bottom-shelf vodka you could possibly buy, mixed with old, expired, bottom-shelf, no-name Bloody Mary mix. I mean, heck, I was in a fraternity and then in the military, so I've had some pretty awful drinks in my days, and we are not picky folks, but, geez, it's hard to describe how incredibly BAD those drinks were!

The verdict: In the end, would we go back? Eh, it's possible, but somehow I really doubt that...

Horrible customer service. We visited on 5-12-24 Mother’s Day. We arrived at 5:00 pm the restaurant seemed very calm and empty. When we arrived we had a party of 10 and right away the hostess (brunette with a nose ring piercing) insisted we sit outside for parties larger than 8. We refused and suggested to sit inside since the restaurant was pretty empty. Right away the hostess gets flustered and under our recommendation ends up letting us sit at the 3 bar height tables directly in front the entrance. After we were seated we were given rules, mind you were were all adults. we were not allowed to mingle from table to table , we were not allowed to move chairs, and we were told no separate checks would be given even though they told us not to mingle from table to table as if we didn’t know each other but yet they still wanted the 20% gratituity. Well the problem came when we had 1 extra family member show and we inquired about getting an extra chair. Right away we were told “no” we couldn’t have extra chairs. The entire bar of 15+ seats were totally empty but they were not trying to accommodate us at all. We called the manager Ashley and right away she had a go to hell demeanor and didn’t even introduce herself right with her RBF she said what can I help you with. We proceeded to ask for a chair and right away she says “no”. We brought up the fact that the entire bar was empty yet they couldn’t let us have an extra chair. When we proceeded to get her name and let her know we would be doing a review Ashley then decided she would give us a chair for 1 hr. I have never felt so discriminated against like the way we were treated by Ashley. Andy our waiter was awesome but I can’t say the same for Ashley or the hostess. I drove 1 hr and we spent $400 on our tab to be treated like little kids on our special day being we were mothers celebrating. I would never go back to this establishment again. I suggest the owner of this establishment think twice about who they chooses to handle...