Coco Palm Restaurant — Restaurant in Pomona

On 2/24/24 we attended a private dinner at this establishment. The dinner was to celebrate a birthday, we had roughly 21-24 guests. The reservation was made by the person celebrating their birthday, she was asked to choose from a few items on their menu for a prix fixe menu (which is standard for a large party and a perfectly acceptable request). The reservation was initially for 7:00pm, but due to a few scheduling conflicts it was changed to 4:30pm.

So, let's get into it shall we?

The party before us, ended their lunch late, so we were not seated until 5:44pm.

Between the time that we were at the bar to finding our seats at the table, one of our guests asked if we were allowed to split the check, because of the size of our party. To which she was told that they could only split it using 4 cards, which was fine, we decided to use two cards and Zelle/Venmo the card owners to make it easy on the staff, and on ourselves (PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND AS THIS DETAIL IS 100% IMPORTANT TO THIS REVIEW) Water was on the table, however, we were not asked what we would like to drink, everyone kept getting up to purchase drinks from the bar, which was located directly in front of the room where we were seated. At approximately 6:22pm, the server came out to introduce himself and announce that he would return to start our salad orders, which we had a choice between House Salad and Cesar Salad.

Mind you, our reservation was scheduled for 4:30-6:30pm, so we are now nearing our end time. The waiter returned and brought out our salads. The house salad was awful, it looked like bagged salad thrown on a plate, drenched in dressing, it was described as having bacon, egg crumbles, etc. it was the worst presentation of a salad. Many of the guest ordered Cesar salad, however, they also did not eat their salad.

The same server came back and took everyone's food order, the food came out at about 7:02pm, the server and an assistant helped place the food on the table, my plate got slammed down in front me, a few of us ordered the filet mignon, they did not bring out steak knives, we had to cut our meat with butter knives, the béarnaise sauce was good but broken, so that tells me that it was sitting out for quite a while, everyone got their food with the exception of two of our guests, when the server came back, he asked if we needed anything else and we all said 'yes, these two people haven't gotten their food' and he asked what they ordered and told them it should be coming out.

As we're sitting there waiting for them to come around to ask about our dessert order, these two gentleman still hadn't received their food, it's is now 7:32pm and the person celebrating their birthday looked really upset, so I leaned in and asked her what was wrong and she proceeds to tell me and my husband that one of the other guests had overheard one of the floor managers and a server talking about us, apparently they said we were "Ghetto" because we asked about splitting the check.

Now, we are talking about a restaurant that has dated décor, subpar food and clearly the worst service and hospitality so we found this unacceptable, especially since it was now 7:40pm and the food for the last two people still wasn't brought out.

One of our guests got up and confronted the manager who was talking about our group, initially he denied saying anything until the young man who overheard him confirmed it. He was beside himself, and while this is going on, the two gentleman are still waiting for food.

At 7:53pm their food comes out, they tried to box the food, dessert was not offered or served because quite frankly, at this point we all just wanted to leave. Our guest who was angry and confronted the staff, was able to have them remove the two dinner plates, and we received 25% off the bill, and they removed the gratuity for the large party.

In this instance, bad service is one thing, but to add to that subpar food and making rude remarks out loud about patrons is in fact the equivalent of being "ghetto".

My advise, stay far away...

I have been a patron of this restaurant for years and have always enjoyed their food and quality. I have always thought that their Cuban style dishes although not like home cooking, were always very good and delicious.

Yesterday, my husband and I stopped around 3:30 pm to eat after a family event. I have never been more disappointed about what used to be my favorite Cuban restaurant.

We don’t mind paying for food that’s fresh and well made so the cost has never been a problem for us. But if you’re going to charge me $156.00 for food, it better be fresh and not old reheated food. By the way that price did not include any alcoholic beverages as we only had ice tea and a Cuban style soda.

I will say that because we didn’t have reservations we were seated at a table by the bar and we had the best service from the server. He was attentive and super nice.

We order the Explorador which comes with calamari, plantain chips, 2 croquettes, 2 mini empanadas. The croquettes were reheated and not fresh, the plantain chips were so thick and reheated that were hard to even cut into small pieces with the hands, same with the mini empanadas as far as fresh.

I ordered the oxtails which is always my go to dish there because in the past it’s always cooked to perfection. This dish comes with a large tostón and white rice and a side of black beans.

The oxtails were super acidic in the sauce, the rice was definitely not fresh as it was 100% old and harden rice and the beans lacked taste in what a dish of Cuban black beans would taste like.

I did noticed that when in comparison with many other previous visits when we ordered our appetizers the main dish would come 20-25 minutes later but yesterday the main dishes were out in 5 minutes after the appetizer which led me to believe this food isn’t prepared fresh.

But the proof that everything I say was on point I spent the night with the most serious stomach pains and issues, horrible acid of the food specifically the oxtails sauce burning my esophagus something I don’t medically suffer from.

I will say can not blame any other food as this was the only meal we had yesterday all day.

My husband definitely notices the rice was old and although his chicken was not as flavorful as before, he said it was okay and he did not get sick.

It saddens me that this was my experience because I loved this restaurant and has always been our go to place for special occasions or once in a while when my husband and I wanted to treat ourselves with...

OVERALL EXPERIENCE: Hesitant to return on holidays, as it seemed really disorganized. The food however, was great!

Came here on Mother's Day for their brunch buffet, and not sure if they overbooked??? Valet was a nightmare, as there was an overflow of cars. Entrance (from valet into the lobby) was swarming with people with very little walkway. IT WAS INSANE. Walking in to the lobby, there was another huge crowd just waiting to be seated. This was poorly executed...

AMBIANCE: Noise level was pretty loud inside. Fortunately, we were seated on the terrace, where there were only three tables. It was super nice to be away from the noise and large crowds. It made for a better dining experience. Main Dining Hall appeared big, with window seating available Bar area had a few tables, but no view Banquet Hall was big (also where the other buffet table was located) Terrance is small and private, with outdoor seating

DRESS CODE: Smart Casual.

BUFFET: I like that they had two separate areas for the buffet. Majority of items were similar, but there were a few items only in the other room. The experience was overwhelming, so I didn't take any pictures... but the variety of dishes were good. On my first round, everything tasted delicious. On my second round, the oxtail was a bit salty that I couldn't finish. favorites: oxtail, black beans + rice, plantains, seafood, ceviche a bit disappointed that the waffles weren't made on the spot, as it resulted in soggy waffles in the basket. there wasn't a good variety of desserts. buffet comes with ONE complimentary glass of juice, apple cider, champagne

They do not offer free refills on juice, price is per glass. Originally, when we bought a bottle of champagne, the waitress said no refills on OJ, but then said ok. Suggestion is to provide a carafe of juice with the champagne if there are no refills on the glass.

SERVICE: Service was good. Our waitress was friendly.

PRICE: Buffet: $47 (ages 11+), $22 (ages 5-10), free for kids 4 and under. Special holidays, the buffet is $57, $25 (respectively)

PARKING: Valet only, $6

Food: 4/5 stars Service: 3/5...