Coco Frio

Just a PSA, that this Venezuelan restaurant has now CLOSED. I loved the food of Chef Manny at Mr Pollo. This upscale dinner concept was not as popular.
Leaving SF in about a month, chef Manny and wife plan to travel the world for a year, as an overdue honeymoon and culinary journey (staging at different restaurants). Best wishes to both.

To think that I almost left because the décor was scarce and the ambiance felt dismal… The food is outstanding. We enjoyed the 3 course Chef’s tasting menu as recommended and ordered some appetizers and drinks. The plates were small but the ingredients were fresh and complimented each other in a way that made my tongue dance. The arepas were amongst one of my favorite appetizers and the chupacabra is a must order drink if you love cilantro!
I didn’t give this place 5 stars because the service was a little slow and because Coco Frio needs a little ambiance. I understand that Chef Manny’s focus is one the food, but a new paint color and lighting could go a long way!
I wish this place a great deal of success as it truly deserves the recognition for it’s true Venezuelan cuisine!

I am quite biased as I write, but please allow me to explain. It all started at age 18… I will be 31 in less than two weeks, so nearly half of my lifetime was involved — in first visiting the former location, that is – Savanna Jazz.
Alas, this review must be about the current occupant, their food products and services. As such, here were our items ordered, according to our receipt:
–2 Cerviche of the Day
–2 3-​Course Pre-​Fix
–1 El Coco Frio
–1 Chupacabra
–2 Caprice de Clementine Glass
I will say two things off the top about service: our waiter was a bit pushy, insistent we order more than intending because dishes «may be small.» A lot of good his slow «speed» did, too, as one of us had health restrictions prohibiting beef, and yet the alternative was not prepared as ordered despite at least 30 minutes passing.
Room was arranged close to how it was before with the exact same booths, just pushed all against the walls with no need for a stage. Dim lighting, restrooms redone.
Now, I did appreciate certain flavors in what I tasted of the ceviche servings, which I now do recognize were small. It’s simply about not wanting to pay above X amount…
All that, with no live jazz to boot.

Coco Frio is a breath of fresh air in the outer Mission! Elegant but casual, fun but with seriously delicious food and amazing cocktails! Wonderful, welcoming wait staff and professional management. It is an eclectic neighborhood stretching the already hip Mission District further south.
We will return frequently for island inspired tasty treats!

I love Chef Manny’s other restaurants, Mr Pollo and The Palace, so I was excited to try out Coco Frio. Sad to say, but I was super disappointed.
The restaurant is very plain and reminds me of an old café with very bad lighting. We had some miscommunication with our server, so we got our arepas before our tasting menu. The beef arepas were good and I liked the sauce. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight of the meal.
I was very underwhelmed by the three-​course tasting menu. Our first course was a mussel soup, with only three mussels in it — one of which was not even open. So ¹⁄₃ of my dish was not even edible! Two of my friends dishes also had closed mussels.
The 2^nd course was salmon and cornbread dish. The salmon was inconsistent — my boyfriend’s salmon was almost undercooked, while mine was pretty dry.
The 3^rd course was the wagyu, which was just disappointing and dry.
The coco frio cocktail was strong, but tasted a little sour to me. I also don’t understand why they have a limited supply a day, for being a namesake drink.
Overall, very underwhelming and disappointing. I hope they’re able to mix up and improve the menu and service, but I probably won’t be back for a while.

Chef Manny represents. Again!
Everything I had, from the yucca salad to the yummy dulce de leche bread pudding, was amazing. Like the Palace, they serve an arepa here. The only difference is that it’s fried. I prefer the grilled arepa at the Palace, but this one is great as well.
Chef Manny brought us one of the courses, and he was so nice and humble.

Walk past here every day and saw Savannah Jazz close, and it seemed like within days, it became Coco Frio — but only if you look closely. It still has the Savannah Jazz sign — so if you’re looking for it, it’s where the Savannah Jazz sign is.
I’ve never had Caribbean food I didn’t like — and how does one resist rum drinks with umbrellas in it? One does not. So one suggests to go there when bf asks «Where should we eat with my parents?» One says «Coco Frio.»
I had scoped the place out on Unilocal,so I knew it was a Chef Manny creation. I hadn’t been to Mr. Pollo, but wanted to try it. I didn’t have much interest in trying the Palace, but now I am intrigued.
We were the only table in the entire restaurant. I knew the place just opened, so it didn’t bother us. Everything we had was delicious. I didn’t know that your only choice is the 3 course tasting… but no one minded, so that was good. There was 4 of us, but we decided to get 2 of the 3 course tasting and 2 of all of the small plates. That way we tried everything on the menu.
We started off with the lobster ceviche, followed by the seafood cocktail. Both were delicious. How could lobster ceviche not be good? It was very fresh and came in a delicious plaintain friend shell.
It was then, that Chef Manny decided to generously give us all of our own tasting course, I guess since there were not many people coming in the door, and he knew how to please his customers. Happy customers means word of mouth or… Unilocal reviews. Looks like he was right.
We each had our bowl of seafood stew. I LOOOOVE soups and stews, so this was perfect. Each piece of seafood was perfectly cooked, including a grilled shrimp that had those a wonderful charcoal smokey flavor, but not dry. This was followed by fried yucca — done perfectly. I’ve had a lot of bad yucca, and this was 1 of the 2 times I’ve enjoyed yucca. The fried plantains had a little bit of cheese that made it decadently rich — amazing!
And of course the star, seared American kobe and a plantain patty with probably the best pico de gallo I’ve ever had.
The meal was spectacular, but there were a few things that bothered me, more as a business woman standpoint. Being in consumer research, I couldn’t help but think about his potential restaurant goers and how he might be locking out potential diners by having this model of basically one choice — tasting menu — take it or leave it. I know that Mr. Pollo has the same model, and I haven’t been to Mr. Pollo, but I believe it’s a much smaller restaurant than Coco Frio. Coco Frio looks to have about a 50 person capacity maybe? I know SF has a lot of adventurous eaters, but it also has a lot of picky eaters. I just wonder if a restaurant fill up with just adventurous eaters.
Also, adventurous eaters have friends who are not adventurous eaters. So even adventurous eaters have to be somewhat accommodating to their not so adventurous eater’s friend. So that takes some of those people out of the equation.
If I’ve learned anything as a consumer researcher, I know that people are creatures of habit. They want to go somewhere, experience a good dish, and if they like that dish, they want to go back to it and know they can get that dish. Besides the few small plates they have, people can’t go back and re-​experience the dish that they loved. It’s a gamble every time. Some people are okay with that — but 50 people okay with that? I don’t know.
I don’t want to tell anyone how to run their business, but they would really do better I feel, if they had a tasting menu for those who want it, and then more mainstays. I just worry for the restaurant’s survival… I want it to survive — I really do! It’s delicious.
Now I’ll get off my soapbox and tell you about dessert. YUMS! It was a crème brûlée bread pudding thing with an amazing ice-​cream on the side (I don’t recall the flavor) — but it was pretty amazing.
Anyhow if you’re an adventurous eater — go try this place!

As a Venezuelan, I was really excited to try this place since Venezuelan cuisine is hard to find in the Bay Area.
My wife and I ate their about two weeks ago. First of all– the menu is very limited– I get the concept, but if you’re only going to have a 3 course fixed menu then it needs to be delicious. The soup was way too salty, the portions where small and the main course was a well seasoned bone in chicken breast– but it was nothing special. The only good thing was the beef arepa appetizer. It’s the only other thing on the menu besides the fixed menu. but let’s be clear, the arepa was a deconstructed arepa– not a big deal but letting my fellow Venezuelans know so they know not to expect a real arepa.
The service was a train wreck– the restaurant had only been open for a couple of days and it was clear no one knew what to do. Hopefully they are getting their groove, but reading more recent reviews people continue to be unimpressed with the food.
Hope they can turn this around. Venezuelan food is great and this place has potential if they can address these issues.

It kind of pains me to say this, but I’m not sure if anything went right at our meal here yesterday. I have several friends who are big fans of Chef Manny’s other restaurants Mr. Pollo and The Palace, and although neither of those restaurants wowed me, I still decided to give Coco Frio a shot.
The three course tasting = TERRIBLE.
1^st course: some kind of mussel soup. Only one of my mussels out of the three in my soup tasted fresh. The soup bowl was so shallow that it was more like a plate, I could barely scoop any into my mouth. Some of my friends got mussels that were’t open, a sign that these mussels were probably dead before they were cooked and unsafe to eat.
Second course: salmon with some kind of corn bread on the side. Salmon was decent but didn’t go with anything else on the plate.
Third course: wagyu beef. Grainy, dry, and lukewarm. The yucca fries that came with it tasted stale. Yuck!
Side dishes: the plantains were decent, but nothing special. The beef arepas were probably the best dish here, but the beef was on the tough and chewy side.
Namesake cocktail — the coco frio — great if you love fresh coconuts.
Atmosphere:
In line with his other restaurants, it can be best described as threadbare. Somewhat forgivable because the goal is to deliver fine dining at affordable prices, but there are plenty of restaurants that serve affordable food with at least some effort put into the décor. Anyhow, the point is that the food here wasn’t good enough for me tune out my sad surroundings. Everything about this place just gave me a weird vibe. I felt like we couldn’t have a conversation without one of the waiters stationed near us overhearing what we’re saying because the place was so empty. I think they were meant to be there to seem attentive and provide us with anything we needed but it just seemed overly attentive and weird given the shabby interior.
Service:
Chef Manny was there himself to greet us, which would normally be great… but the food was so bad that I felt guilty whenever he got close to our table. I was almost afraid that someone who worked there would ask us how our food was because I wouldn’t be able to lie. It was that bad. The waiter was a poor inexperienced soul. We could tell he was trying really hard to be attentive but he seemed almost a little bit afraid of us and overly timid. He would ask our permission to take away anything on the table and misunderstood us when we told him that we didn’t want the wine tasting, he thought we meant that we didn’t want the 3 course tasting so we only got our side orders and our drinks served for the longest time. Again, I could tell our waiter was trying super hard to please us, so I just felt bad and awkward. Food also came out insanely slow even though the restaurant was quite empty.

Sorely disappointed.
The place was empty on a Saturday night. 4 of us had a reservation, though we probably didn’t need one. Service was sterile — polite, but very sterile. Just like the décor (or lack thereof).
Most of the food was actually not bad, but we got no more than two bites of every dish since they were teeeeeny tiny.
Really unfortunate that the broth was the good, but would’ve been 10x better had it been served hot. When our waiter brought out the bowls of soup, he said, «watch out, these are really hot.» Wrong — more like barely lukewarm, and he definitely did not mean spicy either, because the soup was neither temperature hot nor spicy hot.
Arepa was good, but underseasoned. Ceviche was like a little one-​bite tartlet. Two thin, small slices of steak. One small piece of salmon the size of my pinky finger (though I loved the seared crispy skin). Grilled shrimp was laughably small and really limp (oh dear, this could sound like I’m NOT talking about shrimp…).
The flavors are there, the portion sizes are not, even for $ 30/​person (and that wasn’t including the 2 orders of ceviche, arepas, and grilled shrimp).
The only redeeming factor for them is their drink menu; not only do they have fantastic cocktails, they have an amazing variety of non-​alcoholic beverages as well (coconut iced tea, sparkling citrus-​ades, guava lemonade, etc.).
This felt more like a pop-​up than anything, given the lack of décor and thought put into the space. Perhaps in a year, once they’re more established, I’ll give them a second try, but all 4 of us walked out less than impressed and still hungry.

I was so excited to try this place but was so disappointed. Maybe it’s because we came here during Burning Man week, but the food was subpar and the portions were TINY. They only had 3 cocktails that night because their regular bartender was at Black Rock.
I’ve been to Mr. Pollo before and understood that the portions of the «tasting menu» is pretty minuscule, but this place takes it to another level. At least with Mr. Pollo, the food was somewhat interesting and well presented. The food here was just bad, not ever average. Just bad.
The first course was a seafood soup with three mussels, a small piece of fried yuca, 3 soggy green beans and inedibly salty broth. It was disgusting. The mussels were dry and over cooked. The beans didn’t go with the soup and were just these long strands and soggy, tasted really old. And that broth, it was just salt. I saw some people that actually drank all their soup, I don’t know if there’s wasn’t so salt or they just lacked taste buds. It was DISGUSTING.
The second course was 2 shrimps with a green plantain fritter. It tasted pretty good, but it was so little food. You can get this at any Puerto Rican restaurant in the city and the food would be the same quality, if not higher. And there would be more than 2 bites! It’s ridiculous.
The final course was the steak. This was the biggest portion of the courses and had steak that’s nicely textured, but it wasn’t fresh. No juice ooze out of it. Maybe it’s «well rested» but it’s definitely not freshly cooked food. And it just came with a bit of mashed potatoes. I make way better food at home.
The best part of the meal was the appetizer that we ordered on top of our «tasting menus». We got the squid and it was nicely tender, although the size is still around half the size of normal restaurants.
I strongly advice against coming to this place. The food was bad. The portions were tiny. The prices were too high. We spend around $ 120 and still came out feeling unsatisfied and cheated. There are so many mediocre $$ to $$$ restaurants in the city and I haven’t had food this bad in a long time.

What a weird, weird restaurant. It needs to go on one of these reality shows.
The seating process was strange. They were mostly empty, but wanted to know if we had a reservation. They asked if we wanted to sit at the bar, as if they were full.
The set up of the place is odd. Very amateurish.
The portions are TINY. I mean, I couldn’t believe it. This is likely the worst value in the town.
The pickled jalepeno was so spicy it gave me hiccups.
Couldn’t believe how bad it was.
The food was decently tasty, which is why 2 and not 1 star. I would not recommend!

I don’t think that anything can be done to save this place. The issues are much more than kinks to be worked out.
Four of us dined here on their third night open. From the moment we walked in, we were nervous. There is no décor to critique, just a vast room painted an ugly shade of pink, with nothing on the walls, save for two pieces of art obviously placed to hide something (maybe a fuse box). There’s a big bar, which would be nice if there was anything else to set it off.
But we didn’t come for the interior design, we came for the food and drinks. We ordered three cocktails and a glass of wine. After ordering, our waiter came back to tell us they were out of the sherbet in one of the drinks. Keep in mind we were the first table seated — they hadn’t run out, they just didn’t stock all the ingredients. Okay, fine, my friend orders a spicy gimlet, which is delicious. The cocktails are the highlight, and If the atmosphere was better, I might be tempted to return just for cocktails. But it’s not a place that makes you feel welcome. It feels a bit like someone tried to dress up a high school cafeteria for the senior dinner dance.
Since we’re nervous about what’s to come, we opt to skip the tasting menu, and ask whether there are other options. Our server assures us there are «tons of appetizers.» We only see three listed, so we ask him about this, and he admits that he meant there are plenty of orders worth of those three. Mmkay.
We order one of each. The first to arrive is the octopus. I couldn’t tell you how it was prepared because I don’t eat octopus, but my three companions gamely popped them in their mouths and started to chew. And chew. And chew. And chew. They started to look worried. And although they all managed to get it down, afterwards two said they weren’t sure they were going to be able to swallow it and considered spitting it into a napkin. One friend said it was «like chewing on a SuperBall.» Ouch.
Next up are the beef arepas. These were very good! We all enjoyed these.
Finally, a dish called ceviche on the menu is delivered. It is basically four whole mussels in a small ramekin. One of my companions doesn’t like mussels, and another is still reeling from the octopus, so only two of us who really like mussels dive in. Again, it’s chewy, tough, and utterly unsatisfying. I wouldn’t call this ceviche, as I believe the mussels were steamed.
Finally, my bf takes the dish up to the manager and explains our experience. The manager is gracious, and immediately offers to remove the two seafood items from our check. He doesn’t seem surprised by the feedback.
I really can’t believe the other reviews praising the preparation of the seafood here. I would never order a seafood dish from here again.
In the end, we paid our bill and went to Tacolicious to enjoy a proper meal. We all agreed that the story of our first venue was entertaining enough to be worth it, but we certain wouldn’t return.

Caveat: this was day 4 of operation. That said, I didn’t have a great experience when I went, and even as our server took away our dishes, that were clearly unfinished for every single course, no one really took the time to ask us if something was wrong. Based on how glowing the soft opening reviews are, it seems like it’s worth sharing another perspective.
3 course tasting menu is 30 bucks. Some starters offered for additional charge.
Starter: $ 5 ceviche. The fish lacked acid and the dish itself seemed like it had been standing around. It lacked the fresh brightness that makes ceviche great. Fishy and not delicious. The muscles were hard. Score:1*
Course 1: 3 mussels in broth. The broth was inedible. So full of salt. I love salt and this was too much for me. That’s a first. There were also some green and yellow beans in the broth which were unevenly cooked. Some were mush. Some had a little crunch. We told our server how salty the dish was and he asked if we wanted a less salty batch. While we appreciated him trying to remedy the situation it was honestly so bad that I didn’t think it could be redeemed. Score: 1*
Course 2: shrimp served with some pickled veg and fried plantain patty. My boyfriend’s shrimp was raw. Still blue. Inedible and frankly a little dangerous. Both of our plantain patties were burned on the bottom and saturated with oil. Our server came to pick up the dishes and at this point we didn’t feel like there was much we could do to turn things around so we placed the offending items in the middle of the plate in the hopes that he would look at it and glean from the fact that a small course was being returned barely eaten, that something was wrong. Score: 1*
Course 3: American Kobe. We were sure this would be the redeeming moment. Unfortunately it was the worst of the bunch. The meat had clearly been par cooked previously and was extremely dry. Mine has been recooked and the bottoms were black they served the slices with the semi red center up, but as soon as I turned them over I saw how well done they were. One piece was so black I thought it was another piece of fried potato. For a cut of meat that should have been fatty and delicious we had dry, overcooked sinuous meat. Again, as our server came to collect our dishes which were full he didn’t ask us if something was wrong. To be fair we could have been more aggressive and said how disappointing this dish was but (perhaps wrongly) we were hoping there would be some more interest from the side of the staff to ask for feedback when they say dishes going back whole. Score: 1*
Drinks: I had the Golden Gate which is vodka, watermelon agua fresca and passion fruit purée. Boyfriend had the mezcal gimlet. Drinks were actually good. And at 10 bucks each very reasonably priced for cocktails in SF. Score: 4*
Overall: we were really surprised that no one took the time to get our honest feedback, particularly because there weren’t many people in the restaurant, our dishes were clearly being sent back uneaten, and we had given some constructive criticism early on. Again, all this could be early day kinks. It’s only day 4. If you go, I’d recommend waiting till they have more time to figure things out or learn from our mistake and offer your feedback more vocally and more often. The bill was $ 100 and I feel pretty disappointed to have spent this and not feel satisfied at all. Wish we would have left sooner in the meal.

The streak continues indeed for Chef Manny. Still possibly the best value for your dollar in terms of creative, unique, fusion dishes served without a hint of pretension.
Everything we had was pretty amazing, I can’t find fault with anything. I doubt you will either. They serve an arepa here as well as the Palace, though they do a fried version. I preferred the Palace version but it was worth trying.
Service was friendly and charming as usual, and this time we got to chat with the humble Chef Manny. When you meet such warm people like him and his wife, you are genuinely happy to see them doing so well and bringing their passion to so many people. We wish you continued good luck.

Just when you think it can’t get any better, it does! Coco Frio, Chef Manny Torres’s many latest culinary endeavor, has everything a person could ever want! The best, FRESHEST seafood, in a 3-​course meal… all for under $ 30! Plus, Happy Hour Daily from 4 ’til closing!
If you want «fun in the sun»…here in San Francisco, Coco Frio is the place for you!

I frequented the Palace a lot, so when Katerina sent me a text about their new project, I was really excited to get a sneak peak. Right when we walked in, we were greeted by chef Manny. Just like with the Palace, the place looks super unassuming from the outside, and there’s no sign on the door yet.
Unlike at the Palace, they have a full bar here. The cocktail menu featured tropical choices, but you could ask them to make something else. The «coco frio» is their namesake drink and is served in a coconut. In the end, we went with 2 bottles — a cava and a rioja, both which were reasonably priced ($ 30 – 50 a bottle).
The menu is $ 29.99 for 3 savory courses, and like at the Palace, there are add-​on options. It was a skeleton staff tonight with just chef Manny and one other guy, but it made for a personal feel, and we never felt neglected. Later on, we saw Katerina, who was friendly, as always. As always, chef Manny was very gracious about creating a full vegetarian option for the vegetarian with us.
Add ons:
1. Oysters: Kumamotos — 8 for (I think) $ 16. These were sweet and fresh, served with a mignonette with pickled onions and caviar. The caviar was a bit overpowered by the mignonette, but all together, it was a great combination
2. Arepas: I’ve always loved the apepas at the Palace. It was $ 7 each, and we ordered 2, so it was 4 halves, perfect for 4 people. He actually made a separate vegetarian one for my mom. Ours had wagyu that was crisped on the outside. It came with a spicy sauce and cool avocado. The actual arepa texture is what always gets me — there is nothing like a fresh, hand made arepa.
Food:
1. Seafood soup: super fragrant with a complex seafood flavor. It was a bit salty, but the rice in the center helped. I liked the mushrooms, potatoes, and mostly — the sweet potato. It came with 2 prawns on skewers, which were cooked nicely
2. Salmon: seared, barely cooked on one side, very tender. This was served with greens and mushrooms. I actually thought the mushrooms were the highlight in this dish
3. Filet: with American kobe. It was medium rare inside but had an amazing seared crust outside, and it had a ton of flavor. The steak was tender, and it went well with the plantain cake and pickled mini bell pepper. I’ve always loved how he cooks his steaks, and this one did not disappoint
Dessert:
We added on 2 desserts for 2 people. Like at the Palace, he does a mini soufflé. This one was dulce de leche, which can be sweet, but coupled with the house made passionfruit ice cream, it was awesome. I think the highlight was actually the churro with the ice cream. The figs were a nice healthier touch, but I could have used a ton more of the addictive ice cream.
Pacing was good, and each dish was well executed and timed since it was just Manny running the kitchen. The décor is still kind of in transition, but in the end, it’s always the personal touch that goes into the food that keeps me coming back to Manny’s restaurants. I’m happy to follow chef Manny wherever he is cooking (he still does all the prep at the Palace, and his sous chef bought and took over Mr. Pollo). Actually, if he were to open just an arepa stand, I would probably go there every day because he makes amazing arepas.

3.5 STARS
I roll my eyes at narcissistic individuals that are always seeking validation. You know, the ones that constantly take and post selfies and on social media, not before filtering it with unicorns and rainbows. There’s more to life than trying to get the most «likes». Yea, you may be pretty but so is the rest of the world (at least that’s the way I see it).
This is why Khloe is my favorite Kardashian sister. Say what you will about her (c’mon a sasquatch?!) but she’s keeps it real. «Shut up Kim, and go take a selfie”– Khloe. See, that’s why I love her. Besides, I lost all respect for Kim after she suggested playing spin the bottle… at their most recent family vacay. Eww.
Well, how does this translate to food?
I don’t care how beautiful a restaurant is, you can’t eat ambiance and décor.
Chef Manny of Nobu, SPQR, Coi, Quice gets that.
He’s famously known for choosing less than aesthetically pleasing venues (Mr. Pollo, Roxy’s Café, The Palace) and serving up fine dining quality eats at bargain basement prices. Coco Frio is his newest restaurant in The Mission serving up Caribbean and Venezuelan cuisine at the old Savanna Jazz Club. They’re currently in soft opening phase for friends and family but they welcome anyone who walks in. Grand opening is September 1, 2015. Reservations will be accepted via OpenTable.
Upon walking in, we were graced with pepto bismol colored walls and a sparse décor of pepto bismol colored walls. It was hella pink. All was forgotten when we were greeted with warm, smiling faces and sat in a large booth in the back.
Coco Frio serves a 3-​course prix-​fixe menu for $ 29.99 which changes frequently, according to the manager. They also have crudos ($ 4.99) and arepas ($ 7) available a la carte. Full bar.
Do order one of their cocktails. I had their signature Coco Frio ($ 12):
and the Pina Colada ($ 10):
. Both were very different but I liked them both equally. The Coco Frio was rum served in a young coconut. I recommend that they serve this with a small spoon so you can scoop out the coconut meat. I normally don’t order b*tch drinks but the Pina Coloda was tropical and delicious, and not overly sweet.
We started with the a la carte items. We ordered one Hamachi and one Sake Salmon Crudo which was served alongside Japanese rice and truffle caviar ($ 4.95 each):
. The sashimi was undoubtedly fresh and lush, made luxurious with the crowning of caviar. The rice was hard so we didn’t finish it.
We also ordered the Wagyu Arepa ($ 7) which was very filling so don’t make the mistake of ordering one per a person like we did. This is a half portion:
. The arepa was crunchy and fluffy and so much better than overpriced, hipster Pica Pica. I would have preferred the wagyu grilled as opposed to deep fried since it was tough and overcooked.
We were graced with an amuse bouche of Shigoku Oysters before we were served the 3 course menu:
. So fresh. So clean. The first course was a Flounder Crudo w/​a salad and vinaigrette:
. Really fresh, light, and refreshing.
The second course of Lemongrass Coconut Bisque w/​lobster claw & housemade noodles felt disjointed but it was good separately:
. The tomato bisque-​ish soup had that Caribbean flair from the lemongrass and coconut. The lobster claw was tenderly sweet and I really enjoyed the toothsome chewy egg noodles.
I highly recommend ordering the a la carte items AFTER you finish your 3 courses because I was full after the second course and was trying to muster enough energy to put a dent into the third course of Wagyu Steak w/​creamed corn, green beans, and ajo sauce served in a plantain cup:
. The steak was a beautiful medium rare but tepid and tough. Not sure if it was really «wagyu» as advertised. The ajo (garlic sauce) came to the rescue adding a savory creamy layer.
They also have desserts available but we were too full. Next time.
Since they are in soft opening mode, service was laid back and we had a leisurely meal that lasted close to 2 hours. Had we not been in such a time crunch, I would knocked back more of those delicious cocktails. In fact, I wouldn’t mind having one or two right now. Monday Blues, be gone!

We really enjoyed our recent pre-​opening meal at Coco Frio. Manny and his staff are trying out new things and offering these new creations to early customers. We purchased a 3 course meal and by the end had tasted 7 courses. We had oysters with heart of Palm, steak arepas, grilled ling cod skewers, lightly pan-​fried sea bass, wagyu steak with mashed potatoes followed up by both churros and chocolate soufflé for dessert. Wow, we were all deeply satisfied with the meal.
Chef Manny took the time to discuss his vision for the restaurant in detail. It will be a casual room serving meals inspired from the Venezuelan isla de margarita. Think fresh ceviche, crudo, tropical fruits and vegetables.
There is a full bar on offer along with a small wine list.
I’ve attached a few photos to this review, I can’t wait to come back and check out the place after it fully opens!

Wish we could keep this place a secret. As the first «test run» pre-​opening customers, we had the whole place to ourselves. Undivided attention and unbelievable service from the chef, bartender and staff.
Started with a first course of 3hr fresh lingcod on skewers. Perfectly cooked and the pickled vegetables were a nice compliment.
Second course (bonus!) was a nice surprise of Kobe beef arepas. Meat was so tender and the arepa so fluffy. Wish it had lasted longer!
Third course was a beautiful lobster soup with coconut milk. Much like a tomato bisque with a tropical twist.
Fourth course was a perfectly cooked aged rib eye with fried spinach and potato au gratin. Just one word — nom.
For a pre-​opening showing, blown away. Not to mention the unbelievable $ 29 per person price tag — one can barely get a few slices of fancy toast for that amount here in the city. Will definitely be returning.