Cobra Cabana — Restaurant in Richmond

Really wanted to love this place, but the service was very disappointing. Our party of 4 arrived at 8:30 to grab some dinner. We heard the burgers were GREAT so we were super excited as 2 were friends from out of town. We were all ID'd at the front- no problem, we're not all drinking, as only 3 of us were 21+. The bouncer up front lets us know it's 21+ after 10pm- again, no problem, we are not planning on staying that long. We go to the patio since the inside is packed, where we are again ID'd. The bouncer in front of the patio tells us we are not allowed to enter since it is 21+, and when we mention the bouncer at the front said it's only 21+ after 10pm, he's confused, but let's us in. We order food, which was amazing, and a drink for each person over 21. There was a drink special that night that was only available inside, so I went inside to order 2. Once I'm in, the bartender says I can order one, which, again, absolutely no problem. However, after I take the drink to the patio, the bartender chases after me. After I sit down, he aggressively asks for all of our ID's and begins yelling that we cannot share drinks. We are super confused because at this point, we were all ID'd 4 times (twice by bouncers, and twice by bartenders), and we went with the main goal of having dinner and NOT just drinking. I totally understand they have a responsibility to prevent underage drinking, but the way this was handled, especially by the indoor bartender, felt extremely unprofessional.

EDIT 8/19/25- As you can read by the owner's response, it seems that the unprofessionalism comes from...

My first time here was good, but my second time, today, was not a great experience. I went for lunch with my two friends, and it was not crazy busy. But for some reason we were waiting for about an hour for the food (I did not count the minutes, but I remember checking my phone and seeing a notification I received at the table from 51 minutes ago). We noticed two men to our left that came in 10-15 minutes after us get served drinks and food. And to our right, a couple joined even later and was served food. Outside, a larger party was seated and given food as well. This whole time we were noticing the plates coming out and realized that our orders were completely forgotten about. It was not a large order, just wings, a sandwich, and a burger for 3 people. We finally got our food over an hour after ordering. When my friend politely asked our waiter, named Allie, if there was a way to get our food discounted after waiting so long, she blankly said no. She did not apologize for the wait or acknowledge that people who came in later were served. She did not offer anything to make up for the bad experience, and her tone was just really off. She shut my friend down pretty rudely. Nobody pushed further or asked to speak to a manager, but we all felt really uncomfortable and unwelcome. Despite how much I appreciate the vegan options and overall vibe of Cobra Cabana, I don’t see myself...

I gave this place 3 chances. The food is just ok. I happy they are having vegan options and veggie options here because I’m vegetarian and it’s very hard to find places in Richmond that have this food. But, I can make my own vegan and veggie food at home that is of better quality and also not have to receive rude, cold treatment. The lady bartenders there are so unfriendly and judgey and I can tell they are the type of women who think they are owed special treatment. I am a woman too and have worked at places where women have to dress a certain way to make tips but we were also friendly to customers even if they had boyfriends with them or husbands. I got the vibe we were either ignored and treated coldly because we were a couple and the women assumed my boyfriend wouldn’t tip well because of me OR it was because we did not fit the image of the typical clients here. Too bad for them because they judged someone who is a former service industry worker. I will never come back here again. So many places in Richmond you can go where the bar tenders are friendly and not judgmental. The clientele here is rude too. If you want to come to a place to have good conversations with other clients at the bar this place is not for that either unless you got the stereotypical try hard hipster fake...