Caitlin M.
Yelp
How is this place still in business? It has all the charm of an American chain restaurant, but at twice the price. I know you will say "what about the mannequin in the tub, tho'? Pretty avant garde of them!" Yes, total art school move; almost distracted me from the fact that I am in a jumped-up Applebees. I went in Friday night to fill an awkward half hour before meeting my friend at a real place, and was glared at by the three ultra-metrosexual bartenders who mostly preen about and text each other about how dead it is, probably mindful of the old adage, "nothing attracts a crowd like supercilious thespian manques wanking about disdainfully" Anyway, yeah, typically horrible *- contemptuous even - service, which I probably deserved for being a single customer in lieu of two dozen and taking my time to get through the baroque cocktail list. I give it two stars because the elderflower thing was delicious, but if it was liquid ecstasy I wouldn't be able to justify putting myself through the abuse for a return visit.
*years ago a friend and I went to Tarifa, of the same ownership, ordered a bottle of wine as we chatted in front of the barman about what we wanted to order, then were told they were "out of food" but were welcome to order, and go pick up, takeaway from Coco. We explained that we had chosen Tarifa because we wanted middle eastern, not calzones, so maybe the least they could do was let us get some (much better) middle eastern takeaway from one of the many other cheaper and vastly superior options on Cowley Road, but they were unable to comprehend that their failure to order enough food put the onus on THEM, not us, to at the very least accommodate this very reasonable request. Basically, go to Coco or Tarifa if you are so Engish you believe that as a customer you deserve to be treated with as much disdain as possible.