Coco's Cafe and Wine Bar — Restaurant in Lawrenceville

My wife and I had lunch here recently for the first time visiting this restaurant. My wife had the steak salad, and I had the salmon. The service was good as the waiter was attentive and checked on us regularly and without being annoying. I'm not sure what's going on with the decor, but it seems like it's all over the place. I think my wife called it "rustic industrial," but then there were these odd looking sculptures all over, too. Overall, the dining room is small and feels a little cramped as there's not a whole lot of room to work with here. It seems they tried to maximize the number of tables for what little space they have, but I digress. On to the food itself.

The menu was a little confusing. I'm not sure if they have a separate lunch and dinner menu, but the menu we were offered was stated on it as the dinner menu despite it being clearly lunch time and we told the host we were there for lunch. The menus were already set on the table when we were seated as well.

I kind of have mixed feelings about the food. My salmon came with either the choice of sweet chili sauce or a maple butter. Not wanting anything spicy, I went with the maple butter. Part of me wishes I'd tried the sweet chili sauce because the maple butter hardly had a maple taste to it. I'm not sure if they use actual maple syrup just really thin or fake maple syrup, but regardless, I could barely taste it. Personally, I'm leaning more towards them using fake maple syrup here because what I could taste of it didn't taste like real maple syrup.

I was offered two sides with the salmon. I chose the mashed potatoes and the vegetables of the day, which were green beans. The mashed potatoes were fine. The chunky nature of it suggested it was made in-house, but it could have done with some seasoning as it was rather bland. I honestly dont care for green beans, but the other options available wouldn't have gone well as I already had a starch with the potatoes, and most of the other options were some other form of potato. These were very bland as well. They were edible even for me, but some seasoning here would have helped immensely.

On to the salmon. The salmon was cooked well. It was flaky and moist, but there were noticed a couple of technical issues in its preparation and presentation. The skin had not been scored, so unless they had something holding it flat, keeping it from curling up would have been more difficult. Perhaps because the skin wasn't crisp is part of the reason why. This leads me to the next point. The skin wasn't crisp. Also, it was served skin side down, so any juices or the "maple butter" it was sitting in on the plate would have further softened it up. I was surprised and a little disappointed with this.

Now my wife's steak salad. The salad ingredients looked fresh, and the dish was presented well in and of itself. The steak strips, however, were a different story. To begin, she wasn't asked how she wanted the steak cooked. You'd think that without being asked that they'd at least make it medium if they aren't going to ask just as a midpoint in cooking temperature, though medium rare would have been better. Nope... very well done. Plus, you could tell that the steak was sliced before cooking and not as one piece, cooked, rested, and sliced. So the steak ended up very chewy, and without any seasoning, it was bland (I had a piece, btw). She was given two sauces for the salad. Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce were in little serving cups. Both of which are obviously bulk sauces and not made in-house. The ranch tasted like cheap Kraft ranch dressing, and the BBQ sauce tasted like a standard bulk sauce also. I will admit that the menu didn't specify fresh homemade sauces, but it would have been a nice touch if they were for a restaurant trying to be a little more upscale for this area.

All in all, would I try this place again? Yes. I wish I would have taken pics. I would like to see if they can cook a proper steak, but as it's only offered on Friday and Saturday evenings according to the menu, I didn't get that...

Came here for the first time with friends to celebrate my birthday, we went to the bar and was impressed with the hostess and bar staff.. we were so exited to go eat.. and it was probably the worse experience I’ve ever had. First our waitress wouldn’t even look at us.. was short… and never went out of her way to make us feel welcomed. We waited probably an hour and a half for our food. Everyone around us had nice waitresses and they even checked on us besides our own….. when we figured out food just wasn’t coming we were going to leave and our food conveniently came out where multiple tables around us who came in 10-20 minutes later had there’s. We asked for to go boxes she rolled her eyes and said ok. She didn’t show any emotion, she didn’t care, and it honestly ruined my birthday. I had high hopes for this place because of other people, I still have high hopes because of every experience I had besides the waitress. I do not write reviews but I felt I needed to. Waitress “Erica. M.”...

🌟 A Wonderful Evening at Coco’s Café! 🌟

Athena and I had such a lovely evening at Coco’s Café! We took full advantage of their $5 cocktails and appetizers special, and let me tell you, it was worth every bite and sip.

We shared: 🧀 Buckeyes & Beer Cheese - a delightful blend 🥒 Fried Zucchini with Coco Sauce – perfectly crisp with a flavorful dip 🧀 Goat Cheese Naan – soft, warm, and absolutely delicious

For drinks, I enjoyed the refreshing Cherry Blossom 🌸, while Athena sipped on the light and dreamy Coconut Lavender Lemonade 🥥💜.

The atmosphere was cozy and inviting, made even better by the wonderful company. A special thank you to the sweet young woman who paid for our cocktails – your kindness added a beautiful touch to an already perfect evening!

Coco’s Café is truly a gem for anyone looking for great food, fantastic drinks, and a welcoming vibe. Highly recommend checking it out!

#CocosCafe #GreatEats #CocktailNight #SupportLocal...