Coco Cubano

Getting a hot chocolate is proving difficult… I actually left.
I waited 20 mins for one hot chocolate — there was literally 3 other customers in the store all of which either had their drinks or were mid dining… There were 3 – 4 staff cleaning tables, putting high chairs away… Cleaning things in the sink and it appeared no one actually making any drinks.
Sorry difficult to review food and or drinks when you don’t receive them but seriously WTF? Bad service.
I did in fact go next door to Max Brenner… There were triple the customers, I ordered another hot chocolate and it came out it what must have been 3 – 4 mins.
Yay! Finally! And it tasted amazing! :)

Entrance is Situated next door to Joondalup bus depot!
Security is non existent!
Transit Security will not intervene!
Zero center management security guards.
5 STARS RATING FOR THE FOOD, BUT walking through foul mouthed teenage drug users is not worth a nice meal out until they station security guards there!

This is a perfect place to stop off for a delicious coffee or tea, or for a sit down meal. We’ve never found a dish we did not love!
In the winter a coffee on the comfy couches by the fire place is a must.

Different. Latin American inspired eateries are a rare find in Perth, and this is great. The coffees are great and the interior design is very homely and inviting. A nice place to have brunch, with a few friends, when shopping at Joondalup; I only wish there was one in the city!

I just had the Burrito Con Platano — slow cooked pulled beef, black beans, sour cream, shredded cheese, coriander, crunchy plantains, red mojo sauce (mild).
Would eat it everyday!
Melt in your mouth!
Service was very nice!

Popped in at 3.30pm for milkshakes. Told there was a 20 min wait for food — just as well we only wanted drinks.
Sheesh, took about 20 mins for someone to take our order (after we asked if we needed to order at the counter).
Waiter said ‘I’ll be right with you …’ Then went away, cleared other tables, put chairs away … Not urgent tasks!
Another 15 mins for drinks to arrive.
Grrr

We were so excited to have the opportunity to try this new colourful Cuban style café for a Saturday lunch. Unfortunately today wasn’t the day. After finally getting a menu followed by another little to make our order the waiter again returned to say we’d have to wait another 30mins for our food. With the café only half full and after such a long wait we gave up and went elsewhere. Maybe after a little time for the venue work on these teething issues we’ll give it another go as the décor and feel of the place is worth a second chance.

So so sooooo disappointed!
The décor of this place is FAB. Loved the look of the menu, the décor, it really had so much potential however…
We got to Joondalup shopping center to do a bit of shopping but before we attempted to go up against the xmas shopping rush we decided to get some brunch/​lunch.
Had heard of this place And it sounded really good so we stopped in.
We were greeted by someone who said someone would be over to seat us shortly.
We got seated and handed the menus and were left to decide.
Waiting, waiting… about 15 mins later a waiter happened to be coming by so we had to call him over to ask him for the lunch menu as we were only given the breakfast and drinks menu. He came back with the lunch menu and again left us to decide.
Waiting, waiting… Another 10 mins before another waiter was walking past and again we called him over to make our order.
About another 10 mins later, the waiter comes back to tell us there was about a half an hour wait on our meals.
We looked around the place unamused as the place was pretty much empty apart from a few diners who didn’t seem to be eating.
Nope, not impressed at all, so we decided to give it a miss.
Very disappointed. Place was really cool and the menu looked decent, but the staff just don’t have their shit together.
This was about 11am, mind you. Half an hour wait for food in an empty restaurant is just ridiculous.
And the lack of attention from the wait staff was really poor.
Better step up their game because in a busy shopping Centre like that, they will definitely need to be on the ball.

Coco Cubano is an Australian chain of Cuban restaurants that has recently added a Western Australian store to its existing ones in New South Wales and Queensland. The local store is located on the outside of Lakeside Joondalup shopping centre, right next door to Max Brenner. It’s open from 7am until late seven days a week, so you can get a «Cuban» fix at any time of day.
Cuban food takes its influences from a mixture of Spanish, French, African, Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese cultures, so there’s a variety of items from tapas dishes to tortillas & burritos to burgers filled with pulled pork & beef. There’s also a kids menu and gluten free options.
We decided to visit for lunch as the breakfast selection doesn’t particularly excite me — the Cuban eggs Benedict with spinach, bacon & pulled pork ($ 15.90) is about the only thing that grabs my attention. Other items include a variety of wraps ($ 10-​$ 14), Belgian waffles with berry compote and ice cream ($ 10.90) and their spin on eggs /​full /​vegetarian breakfast, all with fresh salsa & spinach ($ 9.90 /​$ 17.90 /​$ 17.90).
Coco Cubano features a range of hot chocolate drinks made with pure coverture chocolate, with the single origin Venezuelan 72% and Cuban 70% being the most intriguing items. I asked the waitress for a recommendation, and her suggestion was the coconut hot chocolate — which doesn’t seem to be on the menu — but coconut isn’t my thing so I went for the Cuban (small for $ 6.70). I was expecting something stronger and denser, it was surprisingly light in both flavour and texture but an interesting drink nonetheless.
I was tempted by the Cubano Club sandwich on the next table (pulled pork, bacon, pickles & parmesan crusted sourdough toast — $ 12.90) but eventually decided on the pulled beef cheeseburger with baby cos, bacon, Spanish onion, melted cheese, pickles, tomato relish & mustard ($ 11.90). All of the burgers I saw around the restaurant looked generous in size, and this was no exception.
As a whole it was an enjoyable burger, although I found the pulled beef to be a little lacking in flavour on its own, and there wasn’t actually much of it. I heard a few people in the restaurant saying how good the pulled pork was, so maybe that’s the better choice. Still a bargain at under $ 12, however.
Renay chose the chicken mushroom salad ($ 13.90) with lime & pepper chicken, rocket, grilled mushrooms, Cuban slaw, Danish feta and balsamic dressing. This combo sounded a little odd to me but Renay really enjoyed it, finding the chicken in particular tender and moist.
I was curious about the plantain chips so we ordered a serving, which comes with sour cream and guacamole ($ 9.90). These were quite nice — like a dense sweet potato — although i thought it was a small serve for $ 10. Normal /​sweet potato wedges or fries are only $ 5, and looked more substantial.
The restaurant is comfortable to eat in, and there’s a variety of table sizes and also some comfy chairs. It was rather busy there for Saturday lunch, although the service was friendly & efficient and our food came out quickly.
We weren’t blown away by lunch at Coco Cubano, although we certainly had no complaints. Everything we ordered was cooked well and reasonably priced — except perhaps for the plantain chips — and it was certainly nice to have something different. Recommended.

Absolutely, definitely worth stopping in at.
A mate and I went there on a whim, as we weren’t in the mood for anything else around Joondalup.
Needless to say, we were absolutely impressed. Sure, any new restaurant has the front of house teething problems — and that’s to be expected. The staff were none the less attentive, good communicators, and seemingly organised.
And the food — mouth watering is the best way to describe it. Fresh, fast and flavoursome. Make sure you try the Cubano Club sandwich — lovely pulled pork.
Absolutely will go again soon.