What can be better on a first date then a big messy pile of boiled crawfish eaten out of a plastic bag? Well, probably a lot of things, but CoCo's Crawfish did not disappoint when it came to delivering an extremely tasty (although pretty pricey) meal.
When it comes to taste, CoCo has figured out a great blend of savory, sweet and spice in their crawboil mix. When we received the bag filled to the brim with several pounds of crawfish, kielbasa sausage, gulf shrimp and corn, the aroma from the combination of delectibles was in fact that... delectable. The tables are covered with white paper and diners are encouraged to make a mess and leave the shells strewn all over the tables. They even give you a plastic bib with a picture of the featured crustacean you are about to consume 20 times over.
Overall, the dinner was great. The crawfish were very tasty, although each crawfish yielded minimal edible meat for as big as they were. The shrimp were also very tasty and in my opinion, the best value since their shell to meat ratio is very favorable. Both of these shellfish can be seasoned with squirts of lime married with salt and pepper. Little dipping bowls of melted butter and garlic can be purchased for an additional $0.60 and are well worth it.
Corn and sausages are sold for $0.60 each (we see a pattern emerging) and were the perfect accompaniment to the other shellfish. One thing that CoCo's does not deliver on is fillers. With the flavorful broth, we were disappointed to hear that they did not provide any crusty bread (or any starch for that matter) to sop up the sweet and spicy nectar on the bottom of the bag. Our theory is that they leave these fillers out, forcing diners to order more of the expensive stuff.
We also did order a dozen oysters while we waited for members of EFB to show up (which they never did), which were pretty disappointing. The oysters were not very well shucked with broken meat and a lot of shell mixed with the oyster. Also, a mixture of what we believe is hot sauce and horseradish was not that satisfying and for the price, this was not a great value compared to other alternatives.
We did not try the Dungeness crab, but looking at other diners who were fortunate enough to order that dish, it looked extremely fresh and tasty.
Ambiance was very lacking at this establishment. Besides the festive bibs, there was no music, poor lighting, and the restaurant was pretty empty and quiet, amplifying any silence in the conversation. Besides consuming large quantities of messy shellfish, CoCo's is probably not the ideal location to win over members of the opposite sex.
Overall, the experience was a memorable and delicious one. The tab after three rounds of beers and a bucket load of shellfish, corn and sausage came out to $55 a person, a bit higher than we were expecting. We all decided that we would easily go back, and armed with what we know now, we figure that our tab would net out much lower than our introductory experience.
Food: Three and a half beltloops
Service: Check/Check minus (knowledgeable staff, not the friendliest and could have checked in with us more often when our beers were running low)
Ambiance: Check minus
Price: The wise man can find value here, the simpleton will leave with nothing
