Coco Bongo Mexican Express & Cantina — Restaurant in Raleigh

I’m in love wit de Coco!

So you wanna go to Cabo and Covid restrictions are making it impossible? CoCo's got you covered ! I have found my new favorite place to kick it after a long stressful week. Coco Bongo is one of the best local spots for happy hours and date nights. This place is so hip and happening right in the middle of NC State. So underrated! While all the other restaurants were turning us away at 9:00 p.m. due to the Covid19 protocols, Coco's waiters welcomed us with open arms and a large mug of horchata after 9:00 pm.

While enjoying a date night, we stumbled upon CoCo as we drove past NC State. This is a bustling area filled with college students. There's a nearby cannabis cafe, tattoo and piercing parlor and plenty of cool hipster vibes to sink into. This restaurant features a full bar ! A deliciously huge Menu with plenty of authentic mexican cuisine. There sooooo much to choose from. The customer service here is that of a 5 Star Resort. We were seated immediately and enjoyed some complimentary chips and salsa. I ordered a Horchata and they delivered the most beautiful oversized beer mug of horchata I've ever seen in my life ! It was adorned in coconut shavings and caramel ! For those of you who don't know, horchata is a delicious rice and cinnamon beverage. For entrees we ordered the Al Pastor Taco Meal, served with rice and refried beans. My date had the chicken and shrimp Texana. A large tortilla stuffed with gooey cheese, shrimp and chicken. All our food was perfecto. Their Al pastor was sweet, tangy and the cilantro and lime was an amazing combination.

I really can't wait to dine here again. It's such a fun atmosphere with delicious drinks...

I came here on cinco de mayo which I can totally assume will be busy and crazy, but the way they handled it was absolutely AWFUL. First of all, they had no precautions set up for social distancing, there were so many people in the restaurant at all times, and if you wanted to be seen by the person up front you had to go inside to be acknowledged. My friend and I waited outside for a good amount of time hoping people will leave or she would come out and address us, but nope we were forced to go inside the packed restaurant. We had called our food in and they told us 20 min and we probably got there after 30 minutes, waited AN HOUR, asked the lady 3 times where our food was after we payed, watched people order and leave with their food in the time of us waiting, and she could never give us an answer about our food. She would say “I’m gonna go check on it” and then go to the back for 10 min and come back and help everyone else without even addressing us. Eventually I asked for my money back and she made an announcement to everyone in the restaurant (the first time she really addressed the madness) and told everyone it’s my fault everything’s so slow basically because she needed to give me money back after waiting an hour and half for my food that she seemed not to be able to find. I can understand that it’s stressful and it was apparent that they were busy, but that’s no reason to take your stress out on me when I am literally just trying to leave with the food that I paid for. It’s also very off putting that they have absolutely NO GUIDELINES for social distancing, makes me think they aren’t doing any extra health precautions in their restaurant...

First off, the menu looks way too busy and isn't laid out in an intelligible manner. I know that seems like a minor complaint, but it's still a problem.

Now, I was greeted by the staff and seated. Everyone was pleasant, no problems there. The they brought out complimentary chips. The chips were fine. The salsa was also fine. Nothing special. However, the chips were served with a white sauce. I thought this was strange and so asked the waitress what it was. It was tartar sauce. They served tortilla chips with tartar sauce. What? She said some people like it, apparently.

Next, I ordered a tamal and a carnitas taco. The carnitas was packed with unrendered gristle and was inedible. I ordered my taco soft and when asked if I wanted any toppings, I asked for cilantro and onions. I was told they didn't have any cilantro. Mind you, they have a "street taco" item listed on their menu...

As for the tamal, it was covered in what appeared to be enchilada sauce with a tasteless white cheese. The masa was glue like in consistency. The chicken filling tasted fine. They had no other options available on the tamales.

The beans were very loose and over spiced. They weren't inedible but they were not to my taste.

The rice tasted exactly like a box of Goya sazon.

Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant and I would be very surprised if they lasted more than a few months without completely...