Copal Progressive Mexican Cuisine

This is the first Unilocal review I have ever written (for certain bias corporate policies of the company I generally stray away from Unilocal Reviews). Besides that, I visited this restaurant the other evening after reading about them in the paper, and was simply appalled by some of the reviews on here. First of all, I got the shrimp al ajillo, absolutely delicious, yes the portion looked small, but I was very full after eating about 50% of my meal. Secondly, this is a locally owned business that is trying to provide the best quality of food at the most affordable price. I’m sorry your portions were small, but $ 8 for enchiladas made from scratch are the same price you pay at McDonald’s for a Super-​Size processed, saturated fat condensed meal. Seriously, what is wrong is America? I had a fantastic time at Copal. My Princess Donahue (Mezcal cocktail) was excellent/​also gave me a buzz, and the service was great. Thank you Copal, for being locally owned, and providing a great and affordable dining experience for the Lincoln area. I’m sorry if some of these Lincolnites don’t value your quality and class as much as they should. I do hope you stay, despite some of these classless folks.

Let me preface this by saying I have never written a Unilocal review, but felt this couldn’t go unnoticed.
My boyfriend and I decided to try out this New Mexican place we had read about in the paper and were expecting something great.
As far as I can remember the food was pretty good, but it was far overshadowed by the poor management and utter lack of control of the restaurant.
We were one of 3 parties in the almost empty restaurant. As we ate a group started to form in the small waiting area. Before we knew it the group was up to 20+ members of a «running group.» Our booth was placed next to the entrance so this rude group of people started to surround our booth and got so loud we could no longer hear each other. There were people leaning against the back of our booth, I’m really surprised I wasn’t elbowed in the head. Was it the large group of adults that was destroying our dining experience? Yes, yes it was. BUT, I expressed my hopefully understandable discontent with our server only to receive an apology. An apology??? How is that going to improve our dining experience? Then we were offered a free desert. Why in the world would I want to stick around to let this group of people hovering over my booth watch me eat a dessert? At no point did anyone ask these people to move or attempt to find a table for them to sit at.

Tried this place a few weeks after it opened. The service was good and the food was delicious but the reason I give it 3 stars is because the amount of food you get is very small for the price. Their enchiladas are more like tiny little enchiladas. 3 enchiladas will not fill you up. Im not going to eat at a place that I need to order two meals to make one meal. There are a lot of Mexican places to pick from in this town so until they get their portion sizes figured out we most likely wont be back.

Excellent authentic cuisine. Less one star for wait times, due to size, when busy. A must try!

Nice ambience and great idea but disappointed overall with my meal at Copal. Maybe I was simply unlucky.
The good: service is attentive. I had no trouble with locating the waitress when needed. They are there to refill your water glass when needed, and are friendly. The ambiance is very pleasant, pretty and well-​lit, more than most Mexican restaurants. The corn soup is delicious.
The bad: mushroom soup arrived cold and tasted bitter. Pasta was bland. The salsa had a smoky taste that my group was too unimaginative (I guess) to like that much. The chicken was a little rubbery, too. Overall just didn’t feel the food delivered on what the ambiance seemed to promise.

I was genuinely excited to try this place out, has a pretty interesting concept, and I’m generally a fan of «mexican» food. To start off, this place is pretty pricey for what you pay. I was pretty blown back by how much some of the dishes cost, so I opted for a pretty generic dish that was more affordable. So I Ended up getting the mole chicken enchiladas, which were good. It’s really hard to outshine mole‘, it pretty much tastes the same wherever you go. The serving size was pretty small, could have had more, and the chicken was a little dry. I’m complaining a little bit but the dish wasn’t bad, I was pretty happy to find a place that had mole‘ in general. They also gave out free chips with a green and red option for salsa, which were both pretty tasty. The major gripe (and what killed it for me) was the service. They didn’t have enough people running the bar and floor that night so they were extremely slow on their drinks. We got them wayyyy after we got our dinner. We wanted to enjoy our tequila drinks with our food so we waited to eat till we got our drinks. Our food ended up getting a little cold because we were waiting awhile. They have a pretty hefty menu of drinks and types of tequila, which was nice. The mixed drinks were thought out and definitely accompanied the flavors of our dinner, but when we actually got them. All in all, the place was descent and has potential to be a better restaurant. I’ll give them the benefit of a doubt and say they’re new and are working out their kinks. I have no desire to go back unless it’s payday and I have the money to shell out over 20 dollars for Carne Asada. Which, by the way, is the most expensive Carne Asada dish I’ve ever seen. I might go back in a few months when they get their footing on service and bring down prices a little. I know making Mexican dishes doesn’t cost a great amount so why over charge so much? By all means, don’t let this review discourage you from going there and trying out something different. Just expect to pay more than what you’re getting in terms of service and price. Oh and to call it «Progressive Mexican Food» makes the restaurant sound pretentious and off putting. My friend and I were making fun of it the whole night, specially when the restaurant wasn’t holding up to it’s slogan.

Original, refined, delicious.
We like eating street tacos late at night covered in green salsa from places where the menu doesn’t come in English; where a large sign out in front advertises cheap tripe soup. We think of this as authentic Mexican food. Copal is not that.
Copal is the authentic, refined Mexican food you would eat at your compadre’s casa in Mexico City – if your compadre can cook like a four star chef. The restaurant is clean, welcoming, (easy parking), and a welcome respite from the typical tex-​mex places across Lincoln.
The presentation and taste of the sweet corn soup was impressive and delicious. The flavors and textures were well combined. The duck tamales were just as appetizing; crispy outside combined with the soft corn tamale inside with a delectable duck filling made for a lovely main course. The chiles en nogada hit all the right notes – the filling was the right blend of flavors, the walnut sauce had the right hints of sweetness and the whole entrée was filling without being too much food; understated and authentic. We look forward to returning and trying more on the menu.
One constructive criticism: our waitress did not seem to understand how to appropriately describe the specials. She called the braised short ribs «ribs» and the seared tuna tostada «tuna fish taco.» Granted, new restaurant, new food to Lincoln, new wait staff, but this is just a little constructive feedback for the owner to enhance this fabulous restaurant.

We had dinner here last Friday evening. The décor is understated and tasteful. The staff was friendly and helpful. I had one of the specials, grilled tuna tostada. It was delicious! One of our party had Carne Asada, one Emmoladas (mole), and a couple had Enchiladas Rojas. Everything was fresh and tasted great. They have a good selection of good tequilas. I highly recommend this restaurant.

This is one of Lincoln’s best and most unique restaurants.
Copal fills an underserved niche in the Lincoln restaurant scene, that of progressive cuisine, Mexican or otherwise. Offhand, I can’t think of any other restaurants that I would put in this category, maybe there are some, but none come to mind.
I have been there a few times and each time I explore a different entrée, all of which have been superb, but my favorites heretofore are the Tilapia Tacos and the Shrimp Aljillo.
If you are vegetarian, the menu selection is a bit limited, but I get the feeling that they would be willing to accommodate substitution requests.
The wait staff have all been very welcoming and attentive in their service. I always like to tap into the staff expertise when exploring a new menu and I suggest taking advantage of the staff expertise at Copal.
The prices are inline with expectations, a meal for two will run $ 40-​$ 50 and will be worth every penny.
This restaurant has not been open long and I expect to see the menu evolve over time. I still have many items yet to explore on the current menu, but I can’t wait to see what they will do in the future.
The professionalism on display at Copal is immediately evident. The owners definitely have an eye for detail and customer delight. You are in good hands here and I expect continuous improvement in the future.
The atmosphere is nice, simple and open. The acoustics are not perfect, but certainly not a show stopper. During busy hours, I can see this being more of an issue, but I’ve definitely seen worse. I have faith in the ownership to address this moderate issue. All they need is some acoustic buffering in the form of panels or similar strategically placed décor.
This is the place I try to steer my business lunches, too bad they aren’t open on Mondays.
Overall, the few negatives are negligible and the upside quite strong. I heartily recommend Copal to anyone seeking new and stimulating dining experiences in the city of Lincoln.

I’ve been to Copal twice (once for lunch and once for dinner) and can confidently say it’s one of my new favorites! The restaurant is clean, bright and the staff is very welcoming. The best part is the incredible flavors — I ordered the Enmoladas and the Duck Tamales — both were flavorful and delicious. I would highly recommend Copal to anyone who enjoy a unique dining experience.

Delicious food, carefully prepared. We were a big group on a night when there was another big group AND the room was full, so the kitchen seemed kind of overwhelmed. Still, even after a wait, everyone agreed — the food was TOTALLY worth it!

We sat down and had some chips and really good green chili sauce while we looked at the drink menu. There are a few drink choices, about three wine choices, and a bunch of beer choices. We settled on the house margaritas and a Mexican beer. The drinks were good and came in a small mason jar. The beer came with a chilled glass.
I ordered the guacamole for an appetizer. It was fresh and tasted great. The chips were very salty though.
Everyone ordered chicken enchiladas. I had the green sauce while the other two had the cocoa flavored sauce. I enjoyed the green sauce but the cocoa flavored sauce was a little strange.
Dessert was really good. Well worth ordering.
Overall we enjoyed our dinner and would recommend it.

This is what Lincoln needs. Edgy interpretations of old standards. My husband, our son and daughter in law went here on a game day Saturday night. My son ordered the Copal Margarita and the madehim a new one as he thought it had too much orange liqueur. The second one was excellent. We had guacamole which was a little too creamy, we like it with a coarser texture, and pico de gallo which tasted good but the cilantro seemed intense and not «fresh». The four of us each had something different: duck tamales, enmoladas, entmoladas, and chile nogadas. The duck tamales were good. The entmoladas with tomatillos sauce was classic enchiladas with a fresh green sauce. The mole in the enmoladas was classic as well, with chocolate and chiles a little sweet. The chile relleno was the surprise the filling of beef, pork, nuts with a VERY creamy sweet sauce. Do no expect savory. It’s sweet but good. Tried the flan, Churros and tamales for dessert. All were yummy but the tamales were unique and the flan and Churros were safely but very well executed. Service was attentive and our waitress requested feedback about the food. Personal peeve of letting water get low, they didn’t. Try it but don’t expect La Paz or Ticos. This is unique Mexican in Lincoln with flavors you won’t expect but will enjoy!

So I kind of knew what to expect after reading reviews… It was about half full at lunch and it was fairly loud in there but not as bad as I thought it would be. The menu is small compared to most Mexican restaurants. We did not care for the verde salsa but it was complementary so there really isn’t room to complain. Prices are decent but can range drastically from $ 8-​$ 19. No notation for it being a «lunch» menu so I think it’s the same all day. I ordered the tilapia tacos and could only finish half of them. There were 3 in the basket. They were a bit spicy but not unmanageable. My husband got the enchilada Rojas and they were very tasty and the chicken was tender. Lots of reviews said the servings were small but I found them to be just fine. Quality equaled quantity.
All in all we won’t rush back but I wasn’t disappointed by anything other than the free salsa. We were sad that there weren’t any tacos on the menu. We love fancy street tacos!
Service was VERY good and attentive.

We went here for my birthday and I have to say, it’s definitely worth a visit! We went on a Wednesday night and it was very full. Our party of 4 had about a 5-​minute wait, but I think we may have beat the rush a little bit because I saw a lot of people waiting midway through our meal.
The food is excellent and rotates seasonally, so I’m excited to go back in a couple months and see what’s new. The menu isn’t huge, but we were all happy with our dishes. The drink menu is unusual and excellent — there was a respectable piña colada at our table as well as an avocado margarita that I loved. Portion sizes are fairly small, and the price of entrees can be either pretty cheap or a little more than I’d normally pay — not much middle ground. Our server seemed like she was pretty new to waitressing, but she was definitely very passionate about the restaurant.
Verdict: a little pricey for the portion sizes, but the quality is amazing. There are some kinks to work out since it’s a new restaurant, but I plan to go back.
Bonus: they gave me a tequila shot for my birthday in a traditional cup that I could keep!

The food was ok but it is SO LOUD YOU CAN NOT HAVE A CONVERSATION! Yes, I’m screaming because that’s what dinner on Friday night was like. Best part of evening was going to the bathroom where it was pleasantly quiet. Great place to dine if you want to look at your cell phone all night or dine & dash. The place seriously needs acoustic work, ASAP! Hang some Mexican tapestry from the ceiling or something to take the decibels down significantly. Hang some window coverings to help noise! Figure it out!!!
The house Marguerita was ok but mostly ice, no booze. Mole enchiladas were good if you like boring. Spicy shrimp was excellent! It’s a knock off of Bonefish Grill bang-​bang shrimp but ¹⁄₃ the size for the same price. Churro dessert was hard as a rock, should have ordered the flan.
After $ 35/​person for a drink, entrée & dessert, it’s unlikely we’ll be back until we hear the noise level is fixed. Or it’s dinner with someone we could care less about chatting with on a non-​weekend night.

Unlike any Mexican restaurant in Lincoln, and that’s a good thing! Some reviewers mention small portions. Yes, they are smaller than your average gut-​bomb Mexican joint, but the ingredients are of a higher quality, everything is made fresh from scratch. That said, we did feel the portion for the Duck Tamales was too small to be considered an entrée. The Paloma is an excellent drink and we also enjoyed the Day of the Dead Hefeweizen. The Enmoladas were delicious, the homemade mole is very distinctive and rich. The service was prompt, attentive and friendly. I do wish our server would have had a better answer when I told him I was torn between the refried beans and black beans. He just told me his preference instead of describing how each is prepared. I chose the black beans and loved them, great flavor, not mushy or overcooked, just right. Looking forward to returning!

I was extremely pleased to see a new restaurant was opening in the College View Area, and gathered a group (including two kids) together to see if Copal was as progressive as it sounded.
Ambiance:
The entrance was not very visible or marked, but I enjoyed watching certain members of my group wander around the building looking for the right door. The dining area was attractive. The noise made it very difficult to hear members of my own group, and some music or sound-​absorbing panels would add greatly to the dining experience. The two tables the staff pushed together for our group were different heights, which was uncomfortable for the two people seated at the «crack.» I liked that there were cloth napkins and heavy silverware, but would have appreciated a smaller set for the kids as the forks wouldn’t fit in their mouths.
Service:
Copal has only been open a little more than two weeks, and it definitely shows. The staff were very friendly and attentive, but need some training in proper restaurant service. Our meal was brought out in shifts (due to a missing entrée), so some of our table had already finished their plates by the time the last person was served. The server was very attentive, which was good as our order came out wrong… for more than one member of our group. Our server did give our group some good suggestions from the menu. I overheard another table’s server telling her guests that they should «hurry up and order drinks because the bartender is slow.» Not necessarily a good plug for the restaurant. Overall, I felt like the service issues can be easily remedied with a simple training.
Food:
The green salsa and chips were a nice start to our meal. I ordered the red salsa as well, which tasted like chunky tequila. Not a good choice for the kids. I ordered the tilapia tacos, and thought they were very tasty. The flavors blended together well, and it tasted fresh and of good quality. As a previous reviewer noted, the portion sizes are smaller than one might expect here in Lincoln, but the food was plated nicely. The duck tamale I tasted was cooked very nicely. In looking around the table, all the food did appear fresh and cooked beautifully. What I found disappointing about the food is that there were so few vegetarian options listed on the menu. In a neighborhood swarming with vegetarians, it would seem like a good idea to list vegetarian options, or at least have several different menu items with no meat (beyond just soup). Half my table are vegetarian, and the server explained what substitutes could be made. However, if people don’t seen any veggie options listed on the menu, it will be hard to pull in the large Adventist crowd that is centered in that area.
I really REALLY wanted to love this restaurant… and I think that possibility is still on the table. Hah. Table. I’d give Copal some time to iron out some kinks, and they might possibly be the greatest foodie joint in the College View area.

Overall a good experience great atmosphere food was good a little higher price than most Mexican but homemade fresh recipes will definitely go back and try again

Polite, friendly staff greeted us in a nicely appointed restaurant. Manager brought out complementary green sauce and chips and welcomed us to the restaurant. We enjoyed two Mezcal cocktails. Pours seemed a little light.
Highlights were the duck tamales and chiles en nogada. The tilapia tacos were too spicy for our guest. Portions are small and rice and beans have to be ordered asides. Food arrived quickly and our water was always topped off.
The only challenge came with paying our tab. We waited over 10 minutes to get the attention of a server.
I will be back to try other items. The restaurant needs a little time to hit it’s stride. Glad to have them in Lincoln.