Kokomo's Restaurant — Restaurant in Old Lyme

Five of us arrived for our all day, relaxing time at the beach together under a Cabana that we rented in advance with Kokomo’s Restaurant and Beach Bar in Old Lyme CT. The five of us all were looking forward to a wonderful time together only to arrive and be told that our Cabana (we reserved and paid for in advance) was not available. We spoke with the manager, Brian and here’s where everything went down-hill.

It was a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE experience speaking with this manager, Brian who told us that our Cabana had been rented to another party. We asked how that could be and why our Cabana was not available…AND…why we were never notified in advance that it had been rented out to another party?!! In addition, at the time of the rental to this other party why no refund was provided??? (Note: our Cabana was reserved in January 2025 for our day that was scheduled in June 2025). We drove over an hour away to hear Brian tell us with an attitude…Quote: “What can I do?” Our reply was that we would like our reservations honored. Brian then said...Quote: “You mean you want me to move the party from their Cabana? We immediately corrected him and let him know that it was not their Cabana to be rented to. The Cabana was already reserved by us making it our Cabana that we had rented well in advance before it was rented to this other party!!

Well, Brian continue to project a TERRIBLE attitude towards us because we were asking him to provide us with our Cabana that we had reserved first and reminded him we drove over an hour away to be there.

Instead, Brian wanted to give us some umbrellas and chairs and some dollars off on food and expected us to be happy with that. His attitude was so bad; we didn’t even want to stay there anymore. We would never return to this Kokomo Restaurant and Beach Bar location… NEVER!!

When we asked for our refund, he snapped at us saying, it’s Saturday, the banks weren’t open and that he will take care of the refund on Monday. We did not feel comfortable with Brian; why would we believe that without a confirmation he would do what he is saying when… • #1 they rented our (reserved and paid for) Cabana to someone else • #2 they never notified us in advance between January 2025 and June 2025 (we could have made other plans) and • #3 they never returned our payment at the time they rented Our Cabana to someone else!!! The question in our mind made since...why should we believe that he would refund without providing some confirmation? Brian tried to tell us that he couldn’t give us a confirmation to refund us because it is all done online and he had to wait until Monday. When we insisted that he provide us with some documentation now because of all that had happened up to that point, Brian really got pissed off and proceeded to snatch a piece of paper off the counter and said…Quote: “I’ll write it down that I will refund your money on Monday and I will sign it”.

In closing, we did not receive our refund until an entire WEEK later and only because we went through a different source other than through this...

Went here after catering a wedding in Old Lyme, around 8:45 on a Saturday. Knew nothing of the area, but decided to go because the name was a treat. Entrance staff was absent, but there was a lovely woman who, in spite of her shift being over, was more than accommodating and apologetic about the missing hostess. One of her peers sat me and my party of less than 4, just before 9. Our server arrived promptly, and we ordered the three pour margarita shakers, plata. After about 15 minutes (totally didn’t mind, we were chatting and unwinding and catching up), the server came to tell us they were out of the tequila for our shakers, but we could order the up-sale reposado instead of the the plata. We did, simple working stiffs that we are. Ordered our foods at just after 9:30 when our server brought the drinks (I felt super bad, we’d been ready to order since drink order was taken) and she told us the drinks took so long because they had to go hunting for the tequila, had our menus taken, continued chatting. 9:45, our waitress (who was nice but clearly over it all - I get it, bless her, I do) said “we’re out of tacos entirely. Like no tortillas.” Long pause. Then she obliged with “so I can bring you a menu then?”. I picked something super quick, not wanting to burden the kitchen at what was now like 15 minutes til close. A salad with no protein, arugula on a plate - that way no one BoH is bogged down with last minute cooking. I don’t visit restaurants unless I have at least an hour to have a cocktail and order no frills food stuffs, and I felt like a total jerk for ordering things that were unavailable, over a period of an hour since arrival. There were a lot of staff, a pretty vacant selection of tables, so I assume most of the staff had been cut. Listen, the reposado margs were AMAZING. The bartender was a treat. Totally understand that kitchens run out of things and the bar can run out of bottles. Overall, the food was fine. Darn near delicious after 3 hearty swigs of reposado margaritas (really, get them. As a Texan, I hate ordering margaritas because they typically taste like Big Lots jolly ranchers, but THESE were made tequila heavy and delicious). I’d give 4.5 stars, or even 5, were it not for presented irritation of our server, who seemed really irritated that we kept haphazardly ordering things the restaurant was out of. Everyone has an off night, but a slight adjustment in organization would have had her tipped out at 9:30, tops. It wasn’t a bad experience, but the hiccups could have been easily avoided with a little more training or communication. I’m not sure, but it was nothing treacherous, and I left feeling like I should mention it, even though I think people who mention these things are dinguses. I don’t often travel to coastal CT, but will definitely stop here again if I do, assuming that every restaurant has a ‘start of heavy business’ grace period. Really want to try...

With all the mixed reviews I read after booking their Beach Party package ( parking, 2 beach lounge chairs, 2 towels and a beach umbrella for $100 on a Saturday) I had concerns. I said to my friend..well this is either going to be really good or really bad but either way it will be a memorable experience 😆 we arrived and weren't sure where to go ,GPS took us to the Pavilion- the bar next door, but we just had to drive a bit further. Still not sure where to park I asked a gentleman on a golf cart outside the restaurant where we needed to go- he was very friendly and checked our name on the list and we followed him to lot close by ( which was very walkable) and he shuttled us back up to the beach. We met with the hostess- also very warm and friendly- and she checked us in, had us scan a QR code for menu access and walked us to our lounge chairs which were just steps away from the water- very awesome! There were a lot of complaints about the QR code system- I didn't mind having to use it - HOWEVER- for some reason it did not work right on my phone- I made my account and put in my card info which was accepted- but whenever I ordered I had a "Something went wrong try again message" I have 5 pending $0.01 charges pending on my bank account which is kind of hilarious- anyway- my friends phone worked and whenever we ordered we just did it off her app and I venmoed her at the end of the day- a bit annoying yes- did it ruin my time or day- absolutely not! It was awesome to have drinks and food ordered and within a short period of time brought to you right on the beach. The food was great if you are expecting normal beach food/ pub type food ( we had the calamari and fried chicken sandwiches)- if you are looking for gourmet you will be disappointed- but that's not what the place is so why expect it? Yes beverages are served in plastic cups ( another complaint from a reviewer)- but HELLO!! you are on the beach!! It isn't wise to do glass because if God forbid something breaks how are you cleaning it out of the sand? A couple of things that could use improvement were the bathrooms were dirty and it would have been nice to have a changing area to change out of my wet swimsuit before I drove home ( bathrooms were too grungy to feel good about doing it there) . And the towels thatvyou can keep were kind of flimsy and cheap- definitely bring your own towel. Would I go back?? 100%!!!! It was a beautiful, amazing relaxing day! It took all of the bad things out of going to the beach- lugging all your beach stuff through the parking lot and sand, trying to find a spot, digging a hole for your umbrella, trudging through sand to get to a beach food shack and stand in line for lack luster food, no alcohol on the beach, crowded water- kokomos really made our beach experience great and we spent the entire day there. So glad we found this spot! Just a few minor improvements and it...