Cocody Restaurant Review - Porlamar, Margarita Island, Venezuela

What’s Good:
Fantastic Food, Reasonable Price, Beach Front View, Owners

What’s Bad:
Closed Wednesdays, Neighborhood is not the best

The Front of Cocody Restaurant

Cocody Restaurant is a beautiful French restaurant located on Avenida Raul Leoni. This restaurant was a favorite of ours and, as it was right beside our apartment, we visited it on several occasions. Although from the front, facing onto Raul Leoni, the restaurant looks rather unimpressive, once you catch a glimpse of the spacious indoors and fabulous outdoor patio looking over the Bahia de Guaraguao, you will understand why we fell in love with this gem of a restaurant.

If the location and ambiance aren’t enough wait until you meet the wonderful owners. Cocody is owned and operated by a French couple and their son who have lived on Margarita Island for 6 years but are originally from France. Helene and her son Nicholas both speak English fairly well and the entire family is fluent in Spanish and French. The service is fabulous and professional and the food makes you wonder why you’d ever have to go to France at all!

Dan claims that the steak with orange sauce was the best steak of his life. The sole in lemon sauce, the mixed kababs, and the French onion soup are also to die for. While certainly expensive when related to local restaurants, compared to North American standards the prices were very reasonable. Entrees run between 18,000 and 35,000 Bolivares (about $8-15 US). The chef's special, which includes a choice of appetizer, entree, dessert and glass of wine was under 40,000 Bolivares ($17 US not including 10% service). There is also occasionally live music which, although it did not always suit our tastes (The Beatle’s Yesterday hammered out on an electric keyboard was definitely a favorite!), certainly added to the experience. This restaurant quickly became a favorite spot to sit in the evening, look out over the water, and enjoy a wonderful meal. It is highly recommended. In fact, if you can only get to one restaurant in Porlamar this should be the one.

Comments

Stephen Hernandez - February 19, 2007 6:23 pm

http://www.margaritawithlove.com

I really liked your article about Margarita Island, Venezuela. I am setting up a website about the island and with your permission would like to put a link to your site,
best regards,
Steve

Gordon McDonald - February 21, 2007 3:02 pm

Hi - I saw your review and thought an update was in order. We went to Cocody for Valentines night as it had previously been a real favourite which we had visited many times before and boy, were we in for a let down. The restaurant was 3/4 full, as one would expect for Valentines, but the service was nothing short of dreadful! we had a 30m wait for menus, another 15m for a drink and the staff just could not cope and were stroppy and rude. They might have been in Vzla for a good few years now but they seem to have ramped up their French sniffiness.

Do yourself a favour, give this place a miss and head for Casa Casanta in Pampatar, real charm, excellent food and cheaper than Cocky-Cocody

Dan James - February 21, 2007 8:32 pm

http://travel.ceoblues.com/

Gordon,
Thank you for the update. It's nice to know that the service wasn't able to keep up with a busy night. That is valuable information for our readers. When we were there (the slow season May & June) we were often one of only a few tables, needless to say the service was impeccable. Thanks again!

Stephen Hernandez - October 7, 2007 8:16 pm

Muy señores nuestros,
Permítame presentarme. Soy un hombre de negocios inglés con base en Ramsgate, Inglaterra y Roma, Italia . Estoy interesado en promocionar y comercializar la Isla de Margarita y sus productos que incluyen sus instalaciones y servicios turísticos a los países miembros de la UE.
Mucho de esto se realiza mediante internet y tengo dos sitios web, uno en inglés y otro en español y esperamos incluir todos los idiomas de la UE en una etapa próxima. Los sitios son: www.margaritawithlove.com y www.margaritaconamor.com
Estaré en Margarita entre los meses de enero y febrero (del 14 de enero al 14 de febrero inclusive).
Si Ud. estuviera interesado en promover su negocios en la Unión Euroea y más específicamente en el R.U., le agradeceré me lo comunique a través de mi dirección de correo electrónico, diciéndome cuándo sería conveniente visitarle y hablar sobre su propuesta.
Les damos las gracias de antemano por su atención y les saludamos atentamente.
Stephen John Hernández
e-mail: sjhernandez@btinternet.com