The new Coco Cabana restaurant was eagerly anticipated in Dublin. I will admit, I had some preconceived notions about how this Latin fusion restaurant would look. I imagined vibrant colors and lots of cool eclectic decorations. I was a little surprised to find an elegant but fairly subdued place.
Coco Cabana has a great selection of tapas, which is a fancy Spanish word for snacks or finger foods. Everything from Coco plantains to Mazatlan corn to yucca fritas. My companion and I had the chorizo bruschetta, which was a generous portion of sliced chorizo topped with some cilantro pesto and Manchego cheese on rustic toast.
It wasn't the most dainty dish for two gals to share, but it was very tasty. We had to have our tapas with a lemon drop martini, which (gasp!) didn't come with sugar around the rim. It may be kind of sad but having no sugar around your lemon drop rim can really put a damper on your day. The tapas range from $5-$15 and our martini was $9. This restaurant has Happy Hour every day from 2 to 6 p.m. I plan to return and try more of the tapas.
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My companion had the pasta de la casa, large rigatoni mixed with tomatoes, peas and roasted garlic in a tomato cream sauce. While there was a generous amount of chicken, we were a little surprised at how little sauce there was. Creamy is not a word we would use to describe the dish. We both agreed that given the right amount of sauce, this dish would have been delicious. The pasta de la casa was $14 for a fairly generous portion.
I chose the tierra and mar, which was recommended by our server. it was grilled Kobe flat-iron steak covered in an herb chimichurri over asparagus along with grilled tiger prawns on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes. Good flavor and a nice amount of food made for a fairly satisfying dish. The tierra and mar was $22.
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Coco Cabana has a variety of entrees, including many seafood choices that range from $14-$35. It also has pizzas from $14-$16, and bocadillos (sandwiches) and wraps from $12-$14. Because the restaurant is also a lounge, you can count on a large selection of cocktails. There's also a variety of desserts and we found the servers to be very nice.
I would recommend that people give this restaurant at least one try. It has only been open a couple of weeks so I imagine some of the kinks are still being worked out. Time and experience probably will make Coco Cabana all that it should be with its great variety of tapas and entrees.
Coco Cabana Restaurant is at 4500-C Tassajara Road., Dublin. 925-556-9055. Monday - Thursday 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m. - midnight; Sunday 11:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.
