Copa By Sea

This has been far the most disappointing meal of my 3 week trip in Toronto, rivalling even instant ramen. Having been a long time fan and advocate of copacabana, I was hoping for a measly equivalent as that would be expected.
However Copa by Sea has continued to disappoint dish after dish. Each dish was extremely salty and of poor quality. Service and food are extremely slow and menu items are magically disappearing and not revealed until you sit down.
The best dishes are strangely the grilled pineapple and the ribeye.
I’m afraid that Copa by Sea will soon be «drowning» in a sea of negative reviews. Hopefully, management will take these reviews seriously, and change for the better.
I won’t be coming back to pay $ 45 for such a lacklustre meal.

Had dinner earlier tonight with a group of 10 friends. In general food was good but it seem like we ate more sides than mains. Food took long to prepare and a few items never made it to our table. We were never given fresh shrimp cocktails or king crab legs! It’s not seafood if all we get is fish and no crab– very misleading. Black cod was great. Very limited dessert. just a meh

The food is just OK. Nothing special comparing to the Brazilian copa upstairs. The service is horrible. We waited and waited and waited. The servers just don’t seem to come to our table. It took us 2.5 hours to finish the meal with a lot of staring at phones and waiting for food. The second round of our order didn’t come until half an hour later. In the end we mentioned to our server that we think the wait is too long and she acted surprised. I mean, come on. We checked in on Unilocal and used the 10% off, even that it is not worth the price at all.

We came here on Christmas Eve. I had a good experience upstairs so I thought the seafood would be good too. But I was wrong. We were seated at the far side of the restaurant and it was super hard to get a second round of anything. The fish was OK. In the end we just ordered the grilled pineapples and they were not as good as those we had upstairs.
The waitress explained that we had to ask for more food but that was not the experience I had upstairs in the steakhouse. I doubt it’s true. They need a better strategy to serve food otherwise some customers are just not going to get anything.

Copa by Sea is definitely a great experience, the food was good and the service was excellent.
When we first arrived, they got us started on a piece of almost every item on the menu. We enjoyed almost everything except for one of the fishes (I think it was the cod) because it was waaaay too salty. The sushi and lobster mac and cheese were nothing really special, and they were super filling so I would avoid eating too much of that if you want to eat more seafood.
I think my favourites were the garlic shrimp, teriyaki salmon, the branzino, and the bananas. My friends really enjoyed the ribeye steak and scallops, too.
They seemed to have many accidents with the grill while we were there. They messed up the scallops, shrimp, the pineapples, oh man. However, every time it happened they told us that we would have to wait a tiny bit longer while they get a new batch on the grill, which was totally fine. They also ran out of sweet potato fries and brought us fish dumplings instead. Protip: do not eat the fish dumplings.
Again, it was a great experience and I definitely want to try Copacabana too, eventually. But for $ 45 plus tax and tip per person, I don’t think I will be visiting again any time soon, no matter how good those pineapples and bananas are.

This place is not by any means worth hyping or getting goosebumps over. It was an almost painful experience at this restaurant.
I came here during their ladies night deal which was half-​off the seafood menu from what i recall (my male friends paid full price, lol sucks for them). My friend had originally booked tables for 7pm, and we didn’t get seats until 8:30pm! The wait was almost unbearable.
The servers were mostly responsive and friendly enough, so that wasn’t the problem. I found that they lacked a lot of variety in their menu.
The servers went around with their skewers and cutlery and offered grilled salmon, steak, some kind of pork, and some grilled shrimp. They tasted alright. They had a lobster and salad bar which my friend liked because he would keep going back for seconds, and thirds, and fourths lol. I particularly don’t enjoy eating plain lobster, so i didn’t care. I absolutely loved their Mac and lobster cheese pasta though, it was absolutely divine. It was part of the all-​you-​can-​eat menu, and you can bet that I had three bowls of that! It was heavy, filling, and deliciously savoury. Clearly I’m a Mac and cheese kinda girl haha.
Dessert menu at Copa by the Sea was poorly planned out! The restaurant offered nothing special or even worthy of mentioning. It was basically just caramelized bananas and pineapples with chocolate drizzle… I was so disappointed they didn’t even offer any kind of cake or ice cream *sniffs*.
Overall, this place was a hit and miss. I tried to enjoy what I could (the Mac and lobster cheese was awesome), but it was sub– par. Almost everything on the AYCE seafood menu was average for the most part. If it wasn’t for the deal I had, I wouldn’t even imagine coming here for a full-​price meal!

They ran out of all the seafood except the shrimp and salmon. Would not recommend this place as there may be no seafood available when you arrive. Servers were very disrespectful and did not know how to compensate for this. We were given access to the meat selection but that was not what we were looking for. When asking server questions, we would get an «I dunno» as an answer.
The food was extremely salty as well. We checked in using Unilocal,however everyone has to show individually that they checked in to receive the discount. We were not aware of this and this was not in the terms of the coupon.
Overall horrible experience, I am warning everyone to never visit this place.

Came here on my birthday because we wanted to have seafood.
Came into the restaurant and right when we order they told us they have NOTHING left other than salmon and bacon wrapped cod.
WOW. Seriously? They call themselves a seafood restaurant eh. Words can’t even describe how disappointed we are.
DO NOT COME. Avoid if possible.

As a BBQ intermediate, Rodizio had always something I wanted to give a try but never found the time to visit. I had my first opportunity to this past weekend at Copa By Sea. I was apprehensive, mainly due to the fact that I am allergic to shellfish and some seafood.
We were a large group, as I was attending a birthday dinner for ma’ cuzzinn! We all arrived on time for the set reservation, however we were told that the restaurant was running behind and that we might have to wait longer, however since our 2-​hour limit was elapsing, the restaurant would waive the limit. Excellently handled!
The ambience of Copa By Sea is very relaxed and nicely lit, which gives an overall comfort and yet feel as if you and your company are isolated and intimate.
The food was incredible. Although I am allergic to seafood, its mainly caused by chemical traces found in the freezing process. I gave it the test by trying the Sea Bass and I can say surely that the seafood served at Copa is high quality. There were also other surprises served not in the menu, which made up of items the kitchen ran out of for the evening. My table seemed to really love the Lobster Mac and Cheese appetizer, Scallops, Ribeye Steak, and Shrimp.
Service was impeccable as well, with the servers being quick, polite, and engaging. Especially Marcella! She handled our tables like a champ, and we’re told it was her first day!
Used the Unilocal!Promo featured in the App for an additional 10% off my cheque.
Next Stop? Copacabana over on Eglinton!

I was so excited to come here but left a bit disappointed.
No access to the cold seafood, you need to ask the waiter/​waitress to get it for you but it takes forever or it never comes. For the price you’re paying would have been nice to get access to the salad bar upstairs.
Cooked fish was excellent, black cod was amazing, only get 4 pieces though, small pieces.
Snow crab was so terrible, it had absolutely no flavor whatsoever, that I couldn’t even finish it.
Servers were nice but never brought me my stuff!!! Now they’ve increased the price, definitely won’t be going back. Actually even if they didn’t I wouldn’t go back.

This was my second time at Copa By Sea, and returned for a birthday celebration. I called ahead and made reservations and mentioned it was a birthday celebration.
The service was pretty good at first, and then it tapers off (maybe purposely ?). They’ve changed the crab legs and shrimp from self serve to served by the waiter. The sushi was pretty good, definitely better than what I imagined. The fish, is simply amazing. My favourites were the teriyaki salmon, black cod, spicy Chilean sea bass and scallops. The other items are good too, but those are the ones that stood out for me. Unfortunately I filled up on sushi, so I just had one of a few of the rodizio items and barely any sides (lobster Mac and cheese and sweet potato fries with a yummy spicy sauce). Based on this, I would give copa a minimum of 4 stars. However after mentioning I wanted some sort of birthday celebration (ie a candle or just something to make it extra special) when making my reservations 3 days before, upon entering to the woman who was seating us AND not so subtly at the table after dessert was served, there was no ‘festivity’ and i was super irritated. When I mentioned not so subtly to the waiter after our dessert was eaten she said sorry it must have been miscommunication on the phone and they may not have heard me (they did, and said for birthdays the meal is complimentary and a special dessert), so she apologized and said to my brother ‘how about a free meal’ which while great as a restaurant to offer, she made it seem like she was offering it just for us. Not happy with the brush off of any sort of festivity for a birthday celebration and then presented with a free meal which I was well aware of. It ruined the celebration for me (not my brother), because it seems standard when a patron at a restaurant mentions it’s a birthday that you stick a candle in dessert. So they definitely have miscommunication problems (or no birthday specials, how cold!) and that needs to be resolved. The food is good. The service from servers seems to decline as you get further through your meal. But the food was worth it. If celebrating something at this restaurant, bring your own festivities!

Why did you turn left when you entered? Isn’t it kinda cold down there? Yeah the seafood is probably worth one try at least, but there’s steak upstairs. And BBQ’d pineapple.
I was most struck by the oysters, they were good but they didn’t blow me out of the water. I liked the sauces they had provided, which were standard fare for this category of dish. You’ll definitely want a few of them before you’re through.
We came for a birthday and the atmosphere was great to have a chat around a few drinks. It’s a reliable place to be laidback with a group of friends.

3.5÷5 stars
I made reservations for the three of us for Sunday evening the weekend before. We arrived at the restaurant about 30 mins early but were seated right away. When we arrived it was quite empty and there was only one table occupied. Service was very attentive and perfect. Since there weren’t many people there we felt like royalty. Food came out hot and fast. We all enjoyed 90% of the items that came out. Some were a bit salty so we didn’t order it for the second round. The sushi was made to the perfect size because they weren’t too big like many sushi restaurants.
During the middle of dinner was when me and my boyfriend started to get a stomachache. Something we ate during dinner didn’t sit well which made us use the washroom on several occasions. I told the manager about the situation because some of the items weren’t fully cooked (ie. scallops, salmon). I wasn’t expecting a free meal or discount but some sympathy or kitchen check would’ve been helpful. She even cringed when I told her I had to use the washroom. She wasn’t sympathetic at all or ask how we felt afterwards. Around 7 pm was when more tables got filled up. This was when we all noticed the service dropping and the wait for food took longer. My sister ordered the dynamite roll but it never got to our table. The server looking after us became less pleasant. The manager ruined the whole dining experience when she came to hand us our bills. She didn’t make small talk at all or looked like she wanted to be friendly. She didn’t ask how our meals were or if we felt better. She handed us our receipts and muttered «have a nice day» just because she has to. Copacabana needs a manager that can do more than just manage their team. They should know how to provide great customer service. However, she didn’t even come close to even good.
Copa By Sea is an expensive restaurant which is good for special occasions. But the service from the manager just turned me off big time.
Tip: Check in and use the 10% off voucher

I made reservations through the mobile website which was a bit confusing at first but I managed to reserve my spot.
Got there early and was promptly seated. My friend and I couldn’t hold back from the menu. We are big seafood lovers and we were starving!
We had the oysters which were fantastic! We had the shrimp and crab legs — mmmm mmmm mmmmmmm!!! There wasn’t anything bad on the menu. Everything from the grill was amazing especially the cod, scallops, and steak. I’m drooling now.
We didn’t much care for the lobster mac and cheese or deep fried calamari. Nor did we find the sushi above par.
The wait staff was very attentive but they didn’t communicate well with each other. Different wait staff would come and ask us the same thing. It got pretty annoying afterwards.
Overall, I’d do it again

$ 45 PER person gets you all you can eat of an ok selection of very high quality seafood and meat cooked perfectly Brazilian style I guess. Not sure if Brazilians eat this way but let’s go along with it.
Came here on a Saturday night with a reservation for 5:30pm. Walked downstairs into loud music with an inviting, casual, lively atmosphere. Were given great seats — a round bench looking onto the kitchen. We were greeted by a great number of attentive staff. Not once did we run out of anything since people were coming around constantly checking in with us but not in an annoying way. Probably harder for them to deliver this kind of attention and service when it gets busier.
We were offered every item on the menu more than once. The food tasted great however the only issue was a lack of anything green or vegetables — for the record, I don’t care but some you may want some lighter vegetable side dishes. Unlike the sister restaurant Copacabana that has a salad bar this restaurant does not have a salad bar. Every item on the menu needs to be ordered or is served table side.
Definitely a great restaurant and will be back again and again.

All-​you-​can-​eat seafood in downtown Toronto for $ 35?! That’s practically unheard of! Copa By Sea is the newest creation under the Copa brand. It’s actually located just downstairs from the famous Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse.
Here are some of my favourite menu items:
— Raw bar: tuna ceviche, branzino crudo, and salmon carpaccio are my favourites. They are only one-​bite size, but the flavour of each one is very intense and unique.
— Sides: soba noodle salad is cold and refreshing. Lobster & shrimp mac n’ cheese is good also. I would recommend to have one of each, as these are somewhat carb heavy items.
— Rodizio: black cod, umadashi scallops, buttermilk ribeye, and beef ribs are my favourite. The beef ribs is the most tender ones I’ve ever eaten.
For Rodizio items, there are waiters who will bring each kind of Rodizio item around to your table on a skewer frequently, so you don’t have to order them separately. They are very friendly and will usually serve the food to you, unless you explicitly tell them to stop (I tried to cover my plate with my hands so they got the hint. =D). For everything else, you have to order them separately with the waitress. Some of the items do have quantity limits per person, including oysters, black cod, and scallops. Other than those, you can eat as much as you want.
For the high quality of seafood and the great customer service, I would say that this place is definitely a must-​try if you are a seafood lover like me.

For the price we paid, you can’t go wrong for a place that’s part of the Copa company/​brand. The dining area is in the downstairs of the Copa Cabana, and it is very small. You will get the option to order food off the menu also wait for the servers to come by with different food selections. There is a mix of meat and seafood options which is good variety, also there is a seafood bar but it only had cheesy bread, salmon with capers, and cold shrimp. I have to note that I really liked the shrimps, even though I never go for them at other buffets-​they were good here. You get 4 oysters per guest afterwards it is $ 1 each, I felt they were alright. I’ve had better ones with more flavour. The sushi was good, they weren’t overdosed with rice and were very crunchy which was good. Often the tempura gets soggy, but they don’t use the traditional panko breading for their tempura shrimps in their rolls. The menu food came in very small portions so make sure you order more if you really liked it. Our server seemed to forget some of our orders, due to not writing down the orders. I would prefer if they wrote things down because it’s hard to remember, I’m not sure why they don’t get them to beats me. For certain meat options, they seemed to be quite salty or dry so make sure you taste test. The bellini cocktail I got was very good and strong. The desserts were their signature grilled pineapple and banana. I wish they gave a scoop of ice cream to go along with the fruit, the banana was not quite ripe so it tasted okay.
More options at the seafood bar and more dessert options would really be great. Also give your servers something to take down peoples orders so they don’t forget. Our server seemed to disappear when we wanted to make an order or when we reminded her about our forgotten order, it remained forgotten even after we brought it to her attention. Overall, would come back but I probably stick to the regular Copa upstairs. This was a good place to try, not mind blowing.

The food was pretty decent. There were a couple of strange items on the menu, but being a buffet it didn’t make a difference in cost so we tried it all anyways!
It was a different experience as there were only a few items that you ordered off the menu. The rest was brought on skewers by servers, so you had to sit eagerly and hope they’d bring something good to your table.
We were a bit disappointed because even though the servers approached us a couple of times to inquire what we wanted more of or what we haven’t tried yet, there were a few items that never came to our table by the time we finished our meal.
If you have the Toronto key to the city, you can use it here! Free cocktail. That was nice to have (:
Overall the experience was good. I’m indifferent as to whether I’d go back again, though.

Seafood lovers can rejoice thanks to the new rodizio-​style restaurant that has opened up in the heart of Toronto. Copa by Sea is situated below the popular Copacabana at Adelaide and Duncan Street and is featuring a $ 30 (limited time price) all-​you-​can-​eat seafood menu.
I had the chance to visit Copa by Sea a few weeks ago for a Zomato Meetup and ended up trying almost every item from the menu which left me in a satisfying yet lethargic state. #itwasworthit
The restaurant was very lively and the open-​concept kitchen/​grill allows you to view the bartenders shaking up various cocktails and the chefs preparing food over charcoal flames.
I started with a variety of items (crab legs, shrimp, smoked salmon) which were spread out along the counter near the kitchen for easy to grab appetizers before the table-​side items were served.
The first a la carte items that came to our table were an assortment of sushi such as dynamite rolls, spicy tuna, spicy salmon, fresh P.E.I. Oysters and tuna ceviche. I really enjoyed the sushi and oysters but the ceviche was a little too sour/​watery for my liking.
Next up were the grilled items that were brought to the table and served off of skewers. The items came to our table sporadically so that you weren’t overwhelmed with everything all at once. We were served with one or two pieces of the item to start with and was able to order more of the items that we really enjoyed throughout the night. The items were: Garlic Shrimp, Mahi Mahi Tandoori, Passion Fruit Salmon, Teriyaki Salmon, Black Cod, Bacon Wrapped Cod, Fillet of Branzino, Umadashi Scallops, Peanut Butter Chicken, Buttermilk Ribeye, Beef Ribs. The sides were: Fried Calamari, Lobster and Shrimp Mac n Cheese, Onion Rings, Fries.
The food taste and quality definitely exceeded my expectations. I figured that an all-​you-​can-​eat seafood place might have a variety of subpar food but DAMN I was wrong, everything was extremely tasty! All of the food was cooked to perfection which is super important when it comes to seafood. There is nothing worse than overcooked shrimp or salmon. The seafood was also seasoned perfectly and none of the flavours were overpowering. The highlights for me was the garlic shrimp, scallops, black cod and beef ribs. The least favourite items were the peanut butter chicken which didn’t really suit the menu in the first place and the passion fruit salmon. The chunks of salmon were actually cooked perfectly but I didn’t really care for the passion fruit sauce, however the teriyaki version was excellent.
For dessert we were served fried bananas drizzled in chocolate and dusted with cinnamon and gilled pineapple. The pineapples are usually a favourite of mine but I like them grilled a lot more so that the sugars start to caramelize, these one were a bit under-​grilled. The bananas were quite good but I will so full at this point that I only had a small bite. Both tasty though and I appreciate fruit for dessert.
Overall I was impressed by the food at Copa by Sea and I highly recommended you checking it out especially with the limited time pricing of 30 dollars per person. This is such a great deal for the amount of delicious seafood you’ll be eating. Thank you to Zomato and Copa by Sea for a wonderful dining experience!

Do you like salt with a side of seafood? If so, this is the place for you. I get that it’s all you can eat so they want to fill you up but the food was almost inedible.
The menu looked appetizing and the spread of food was impressive. They have a variety of seafood, sides and meats available. If you do eat here I only recommend the oysters (limit 4 per person), scallops, cod, lobster mac and cheese and grilled pineapples. That’s about all you will be able to eat before you need to chug down a pitcher of water.
The service wasn’t as bad as most of the reviews I read. Most of the staff was fast and friendly. The manager even came to the table to apologize for any delays due to the large party they had that night.
The décor is chic and the low-​lighting gave off a romantic vibe, which I found weird for a buffet. I’d be willing come back if they simmered down on the sodium content, but from my experience you’re better off going to the mandarin.