El Cocotero
“My favourite arepa is the reina pepiada, shredded chicken with avocado and cilantro.”
“A dark, tight little storefront on a side street in Chelsea certainly exudes top-notch Venezuelan food and hospitality.”
“Out of the three desserts we've tried (tres leches, coconut cake and quesillo), the coconut cake was the best.”
El Cocotero
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Location: Resided at 18th Street westside, El Cocotero is very close to Westile, which locates also at 18th street as well as City Bakery. Don't be surprised why 18th street becomes the home of some great dating spots. I mean, it's chelsea, the new interesting area.
The place is very southern American like. Few spots for outdoor seating and the inner decoration made me feel like I was back to Ecuador again. In fact, nah, back to Venezuela again.
Inside, it's a very tiny place to host a lot of people but they do have a big heart to host tons of people. I guess that's why they are squeezing every inch of the space to allow so many tiny tables.
I am lucky enough to arrive early without waiting outside.
Food: I got the arepa Miss Venezuelan, and empanadas (carne)
Both are delicious, very filling and flavorful.
They made it fresh for sure because I did take some time to wait for those food. But the waiter is very nice and when I stopped playing my phone, she's like, the food is coming. I think they are very caring.
Price: cheap dinner place for sure! I 'd like to try something else, their appetizer menu seems awesome!
Overall: gotta take someone with me next time. Very great south american experience.
I came here on a Friday night around 7pm and there was no wait at all. This restaurant is small and cozy. The atmosphere makes it good for a night out with a friend or a date. However, I would not recommend coming here if your party consists of more than 4.
Fried yucca- Delicious and perfectly fried. The sauce provided paired perfectly with it.
La Chiquinquira Arepa- Crispy, fresh and absolutely amazing. I would definitely recommend getting this if you have not tried an arepa before.
La Bandeja Dona Barbara- I was extremely disappointed with this dish. This was honestly $23 down the drain. The pork rinds were extremely hard and not crispy. The meat was tough.
Overall, the appetizers were great, but I was very disappointed with the entree. I may return in the future, but will definitely skip ordering the platters.
I dunno. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing. The two of us ordered the appetizer for two. The waiter told us that this was going to be small and we should order something bigger but it was actually a large appetizer. The taste was definitely there.
We also ordered a small bowl of soup to share. Again the waiter recommended we should order two bowls of soup. The one bowl was fine and was actually quite tasty.
Finally we ordered two entrees. I guess we should've had the arepas like everyone else, but we had the plates. They were below average- very similar to the appetizer we had earlier, but maybe not quite as good.
The real kicker is we ended up spending like $90 after tax and tip. This was definitely not a $90 meal. Combine that with the annoying "upselling" of the waiter and I feel confident that we'll probably not come back here.
Everything from the arepas to the sweet corn empanadas are absolutely delicious. These items are certainly worth the trip. I also enjoyed the pernil patacon and could probably eat two or more them 😀
El Cocotero is small but provides a cozy environment for a group of friends. A couple negatives, there is no drink menu and it seems like you drink whatever they have that day. Also the furniture needs some replacing although you don't come here for the ambiance. Reasonable prices, great service and tasty food makes El Cocotero a great choice when in the Chelsea area. Also love the classic salsa songs playing in the background.
Solid 4 stars – this place has awesome Venezuelan food!
Decor has a nice homey feel to it – perfect for a low-key night with friends or a date.
I shared a sampling with my boyfriend ($10), which came with 3 bite sized arepas and two mini tequenos (basically fried cheese sticks) – all of which were very yummy, but overpriced in my opinion.
We each ordered a patacon (plantain sandwich – about $12-13) – it was my first time trying this, and it was great! The outside was very crispy and the one I chose in particular was the Pabellon, which had shredded beef, black beans, cheese, and plantains – so yummy!
We also got a side order of fries ($5) – not impressive and pretty forgettable.
All in all, this is a solid spot in the city if you're looking for some really authentic Venezuelan food – I can't speak for all the menu items, but the patacons are a must-try!
I don't know what was up with the air conditioning that evening that I dined here — but it was SWELTERING. And it only became progressively warmer as more patrons filled the dining area. However, I must say that the food (and drinks) managed to distract us from our meal…
We tried two different types of empanada's, the Pabellon (which was killer), Carne and sweet plantains. As for our entrees, we got arepas (to share), the La Chiquinquira was my favorite. The La Morillo was good too. There was also a sweet meat version that the server recommended that I didn't love.
Do NOT skip the rum cocktail drink. It's made of rum, passion fruit and mango juice (I think) and I have to say, it's worth just coming here for this drink (alone).
I'll be back!
Saturday afternoon brunch can be tough in the city, especially when wanting to try new places that have limited seating. Thankfully this spot had no one inside when we got in (also a bit of a bad sign).
After getting a seat at the corner, decided to get the Guacamole+chips appetizer first ($7ish), along with a mango milkshake ($6) and a hot toddy ($5). Toddy was advertised as a hot milkshake, which seemed interesting, what I got served was a regular hot chocolate. The mango milkshake wasn't as thick as I hoped but better than the toddy. Guac came out next and the chips were lightly fried and hardy, but the amount of guacamole served was barely enough for the amount of chips. Though concerned about what we've already ordered, pressed on and got the Tuna Arepa ($8) and the La Chiquinquira Arepa ($9). Both arepas really looked promising, as each were overflowing with ingredients. Unfortunately the entire meal is very bland, a lack of seasoning and everything is put together but not blended in any way.
I really liked the ambiance here and the service is quick and helpful (hence the 2 stars). The food just isn't very good, so won't be back.
I'm Venezuelan myself so I really wanted to like this place but was somewhat under whelmed.
Pros: cute/intimate atmosphere and really kind staff. The empanadas are delicious, they have that sweet flavor to them. They have polar beer! The tres leches dessert was great.
Cons: some of the food lacked flavor and kick. For instance, the black beans were pretty disappointing with the arepa de pabellón.