Coco Louco Brasil

My experience at Coco Louco Brasil was by far the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant. I went to dinner with a gift certificate and paid the remainder of my balance with my debit card. The rest of my bill was $14. I checked my bank statement two days after and saw that I was charged $87. I immediately called Coco Louco and asked to speak to a manager or the owner. I was told I was speaking to the manager. He assured me the money would be put back in my account and he would call to confirm the next day. Which was a lie. I kept calling and was given 5 different times to pick up the money that was stolen from me. Instead of calling to cancel our appointments to refund my money I was texted. The “manager” I was speaking to was not actually a manager. He was in fact the waiter that overcharged me and had been lying about refunding my money. This waiter had taken down my cell number and was keeping in contact with me instead of informing his boss that I was overcharged. When I came to collect what was wrongly taken I was ignored by the staff and forced to stand around for 20 minutes. After a six day struggle I was finally given the $73 back. No one ever apologized. No one offered anything for my inconvenience. I will never eat at Coco Louco again. If you are insane enough to visit, take my advice… bring cash.

We went for the brunch buffet as a splurge today, after having lunch at this place last friday. The price of $17/person was a lot for us, but this was worth it. There was so much food - and it was so good! There was a great selection of fresh fruit - grapes, watermelon, strawberries, pineapple, bananas - common items but presented just right - unadorned and separate - I don't like cantaloupe, so I skipped it and got what I wanted. There were many entrees - pork that was unbelievably moist and tender, fish, chicken - the sauces are a big part of what made them different, in a good way. The sweets on offer were numerous and tasty - Carrot cake (the best), a lemony pound cake, some chocolate cake, croissants, some pastry, something yellow/orange and creamy (no clue what it was, but it was quite good), some other baked goods that I never got to. The inclusion of bacon and quiche were quite welcome, and nicely done. The various entrees were really the stars, but I don't know how to describe them; I'm embarrassed that I don't speak brazilian food. Service was fine today, but it was a buffet. Service was slow on Friday at lunch, but very congenial, for what it's worth. The back of the house really rocks in this place; the front of the house, maybe not so much. Just expect some slow service, maybe, and focus on the food, which is VERY GOOD! And the lunches are well priced, IMO - $8-$11 for lots of well prepared food. I really recommend this place.

We went here for lunch today, not planning on anything special. We stumbled upon their amazing weekend lunch buffet. I had roast pork with yucca, black beans, rice, salad and cod in coconut sauce. There was also an incredible assortment of desserts, of which I liked the tres leches cake the best.
We had good service and I particularly enjoyed the live music (a piano player).

I came to Coco Louco with my husband on a Saturday night to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. We expected a lovely evening and got everything but.
First of all, when we walked in, the hostess told us there would be a 5-10 minute wait. We ended up waiting at the bar for at least half an hour, and we could see several empty tables in the dining room. When we asked the hostess how much longer it would be, she seemed like she didn't remember us and told us to wait at the bar until we were called. She also said they had run out of silverware, but that's no reason not to be seated.
When we were finally seated, none of the staff took notice. Finally, a busboy (looking too young to work, I might add) clumsily plopped two glasses of water on our table and abruptly walked away. Nobody came to ask if we'd like anything besides water to drink. Nobody introduced themselves as our server. We had no silverware or napkins. With all that stuff not getting done, you would think the staff was incredibly busy, but that was simply not the case. I rarely even caught a glimpse of the staff, waiters or otherwise, and when I did, they were slow-moving, seemingly wandering around like they had nothing to do. While more people waited at the bar to be seated, two tables sat idly waiting to be bussed for the ENTIRE time we were there. The staff passed it over and over without so much as a look. They were always empty handed, like they had nothing to do. The hostess (who was no better, I might add) twice asked us acidly if we had been helped by a server yet. The second time she asked and we said no, she cursed audibly and walked away. She did not seem to be doing anything about it. I literally felt like I was in an episode of The Outer Limits and the entire staff was composed of aliens. Everyone was so somber and aloof and not a thing was getting done. We noticed another table that had been seated before us asking one of the staff if someone was ever going to come and help them. Another table near us appeared to have walked out before they ordered their meal.
After at least half an hour at the table with only water and bread (no knife for the butter even) we still had not been approached once by a server. We had wasted over an hour at this restaurant and had hardly even been noticed.
So, we cut our losses and simply walked out. I will never go back there again. I am also a server at a restaurant, so I tend to be quite understanding and lenient when it comes to service. However, a place that ignores customers to such an appalling extent does not deserve my business, and will probably not last long.