Coco’s Family Restaurant

Had Valentine’s breakfast, staff was friendly and very attentive, Manager Nancy came by and checked to be sure we were satisfied with our food and service. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our meal and even took a delicious fresh pie home.

Went in for Thanksgiving dinner, food was cold, broccoli was black, missing items on my plate, wrong soup and Childs chicken strips were hard. A memorable meal, never again. It wasn’t the servers fault, she attempted to accommodate is, just the kitchens fault. I am being gracious with one star.

Bad experience — maybe Sunday night not sure but manager Mary was not willing to make it better. Before we ordered we asked how the steak is and were told it is great. Then they brought out a dry steak, which was ordered medium well. The server did not offer to fix it and then lied in front of the manager. I just hope the lie we took to go will be better. Don’t go Sunday evenings…

Great pie to go.

Crazy! We got the 5 to 8pm. We received water then waited 15 min. Before we got up and left. They never came over to take our order. It was as we weren’t even there. Go to Vista way café for pies.

Great service and surprisingly good breakfast. Huge selection! Definitely better then Dennys and less to no wait. Country fried steak and eggs were tender and delicious. Eggs were cooked perfect. German pancakes were even more surprising how good they were, especially for a chain restaurant.

I had to search to find my dear friend and server Odeysse, but am so happy to see her at this restaurant. The food is always great, and we hate that the one near us, where she worked closed down.

GREAT Service, great food, variety and flavor. One of us is vegan, one senior and one traditional comfort food: they have choices for all of us! Odeysse is the BEST! ! She knows their menu, has ideas but is not pushy. Friendly, cheerful, stays positive even under pressure (large groups, families, erc.) The seasonal menu is excellent. The fresh strawberries were especially tasty! !

My sentiments toward/​for Coco’s have remained the same for many years: there’s no reason to go there except for the pie.
On my recent trip here, however, I found myself totally enjoying both my meal and my dessert (pie, of course). And it wasn’t busy at all despite it being a Saturday night; not sure if that’s because of it’s sort of awkward location off the 78/​Melrose exit (?)
My turkey, artichoke, Jack croissant sandwich was REALLY good to my surprise and my side of sweet potato fries was actually super tasty, much to my surprise!
My banana crème pie was awesome enough I made sure to eat it slowly to make it last! (I’m considering returning to buy a whole pie since they’re running a pie-​month special on it)
The service was fine. Our waiter was friendly, it took him a strange amount of time to write down our orders (maybe he was trying to write exceptionally neat?), but that’s no biggie :)

Well, no wonder why the place in Oceanside has closed down. The food was decent, except the bowl of «fruits» (4 nasty looking cantaloupe pieces). There was one waitress for 7 tables, cups with lipstick… The whole place looks old and dirty.

Didn’t know where to eat tonight so we tried cocos… Had a great hamburger (prime rib burger), salad and pie to go… Our waitress was great the food was hot and the prices were just right. Will go back again

They are slow. Always forget to give you a straw with water. Took them 15 minutes just to take my order, and the restaurant was half empty! God knows what happens when they get busy. I sometimes eat at Coco’s because I like my food in a plate, but I just regret it every time I go ….

This place consistently has impeccable service and delicious hot food. Feeding two teenagers, I can really appreciate the portion sizes too :)

Food was luke warm… when we finally got it… we sent it back… major attitude… no apology at all… she blamed it on the cook… seeings there was only one cook… funny the plates were real HOT but the food was luke warm… I would think the cook did his job… but the waitress didn’t do her job… by leaving the food under the heat lamp… could hear several waitress complainning in the kitchen area about other people who complained before we did… Shame on us we just wanted to go somewhere different… Try the I HOP on College /​Oceanside Blvd.
wonderful service & food

Sucked won’t be back… meat lover Omelet was scrambled not an omlete and meat inside was raw and service was to be desired. O and husband says steak had grizzly all thru it!

You would expect it to be a bit laggy on mothers day but, they got their plan of attack properly set! As we waited to get seated, the long wait was less than 2 minutes! Efficiency!
My wife and i got the «mega trio» but my wife went for the healthier fruit instead of hash browns and multigrain pancakes. I took it original! Lol!
The wait for our food was not bad. About 10 – 15 minutes for it. If you want food any faster, go to McDonalds! Besides, sit down restaurants are for interacting with the people you bring, amd i happen to like talking to my wife! We’re in our second year so that may change… lol!
Our food came and was delicious! I mixed my eggs with the hash browns so they needed no seasoning. Just a fork! the pancakes… oh, the pancakes! Im a pro at pancake making and consuming so my standards are high. They more than met them! And i still got bacon AND sausage?! You sure its not «breakfast meat lover day»?!
Our server went on break but her replacement went yo our table to introduce herself and assist us… but we were more than good.
Special note: their coffee cups are bigger so you dont need to bug the waitress as much for a shot of coffee as other places serve… something to think about, broken yolk!

I am amending my stars due to the amazing feed back I received from Coco’s. After writing my review, someone contacted me within an hour asking for my contact number, which I happily gave.
Today I just got off the phone with the new manager Patrick. He explained that he’s only been there only a short time and is in the process of handling all these issues. He was very honest and I really felt like he heard what I had to say. I am thrilled that our local Coco’s will be receiving some TLC and can’t wait to bring my family back after they’ve have a chance to make some changes.
I look forward to updating my review.
Thank you Patrick.

This restaurant would have received at least three stars except for the fact that they had ten tables with dirty plates on them — and they never got bussed during the entire meal. The food was good, but I got more and more grossed out as the meal went on.
The obvious question is «why eat here if it was so messy?» — we had just got done with moving out of our house, and I was hoping that they had just finished a rush and were going to clean up soon. Live and learn.

After more than 5 years of not coming to Cocos, I finally came back for a dessert. I tried their pie of the month (apple pie) a la mode. It was not good. :(
They use cheap quality yellow ice cream. Costco’s vanilla ice cream is WAY better. A better ice cream could even cover up the not-​so-​good flavor of the apple pie!
I might give them a try with real food next time, but its the last time I get their apple pie.

Rather than hammer out a review on this place, I’ll just cut & paste what I sent to Coco’s corporate (or assume I sent, their form submission on their corporate website errored out — I’ll follow up with a phone call).
And I quote:
I am extraordinarily disappointed with the Vista, California Cocos. My manager and I routinely eat at the Cocos in [another city], and it’s great! So I thought my partner and I would go to a nice Sunday morning breakfast at the Coco’s in town, in the City where we live.
BIG mistake.
What a nightmare this restaurant is. While waiting for the hostess to arrive at the podium to take our names for the waiting list, we watched one couple just get up and walk out, tired of waiting for a table.
After getting seated, the table was not clean and was very sticky. The entire restaurant just looked very dingy and poorly maintained — not at all like the [another city’s] Cocos.
The waitress («[name]») was very nervous the entire time she was dealing with us. She kept cracking strange jokes about things like me being upset my toast was taking so long (I never made a comment about it), and things about «dine and dash», leaving without paying the check, etc. It was very awkward.
It took forever for her to take our drink order, even longer to get the food order put in. When the food arrived, it was mediocre at best. It wasn’t typical Coco’s quality, but it wasn’t awful either.
I checked into the restaurant on
while there, and while waiting on the food, read that the sort of experience we were having at this Cocos is quite typical of others who had dined there and reviewed the restaurant on Unilocal.
Cocos — I’m telling you — whether this place is company owned or a franchise — you need to take some action here. I remember this place from years ago being a wonderful restaurant. But it’s gone SEVERELY down hill. I absolutely refuse to eat at this location again. Unfortunately it’s the only one local to me at home. [The other city’s Cocos] is local to me at work, and I will continue going there, but Vista needs your attention in the worst way.
If you folks can’t afford to keep that location up to par, please just CLOSE it. It’s seriously damaging your company name.
Attached is a photograph of the receipt from our visit.
For whatever it’s worth, I’m not one to routinely complain, nor nit-​pick things. But when I see a very serious problem, especially one that has been experienced routinely by others, it’s time to do what I can to help get it corrected.
I sincerely hope you take action in this matter.
End quote.
Let me make a suggestion to you people — EAT SOMEWHERE ELSE. This isn’t the Coco’s it was in the mid-2000’s. Take it down the street to Denny’s, or better yet, one of Vista’s many independent, locally owned restaurants.