Nothing harshes one’s vibe faster than crappy service, but that’s precisely what awaited early visitors to Coastal Taco. The flashy Flats East Bank eatery prides itself on being the perfect host — “Our vibe is chill. We’re always ready to throw a party,” the brand literature promises — but initial experiences demonstrated otherwise.
Our first visit could not have gone much worse, with exasperating delays, bewildering ordering and delivery processes, and weeded staffers who appeared shell-shocked throughout the entire evening. When the food finally did arrive, it was cold, wrong and unimpressive.
Of course, I wasn’t telling Rick Doody anything he didn’t already know. For 25 years, Doody, along with his brother Chris, have been opening restaurants at an unprecedented pace. They launched the Bravo Brio Restaurant Group with one spot, eventually growing it to more than 115 stores employing 11,000 staffers serving 17 million guests per year.
“We take full responsibility,” Doody, now a Northeast Ohio resident, says during a followup call. “It was our fault for not being prepared, not being ready.”
Doody says a perfect storm of factors coalesced to produce imperfect results, not the least of which was rushing to get the doors open in advance of Memorial Day. Doody also credits — or blames — an unanticipated crush of customers all eager to soak up the sun at Cleveland’s newest hotspot.
“We underestimated the success of the Flats turnaround and what that would do to us,” Doody says. “That translated into doing double the business we had anticipated, which caused problems. We didn’t have the staff, we didn’t have the training, we didn’t have the team.”
Our second visit weeks later was markedly improved, if still not perfect. Our server was knowledgeable about the menu, patient with our questions, and genuinely eager to serve, as novel as that might sound. The experience confirmed that the ship was being righted, was on the right course, and eventually would arrive at its proper destination.
“This is a business of 10,000 details,” Doody adds. “Every day and every way, we try to get better.”
It’s not difficult to see why Coastal Taco has been slammed since opening in late May. Despite the influx of new Flats-based restaurants, only two — Alley Cat and Coastal Taco — enjoy blissful waterside perches. Though likely contrived by committee, the laid-back “lake hair, don’t care” atmosphere is genuinely appealing, attractive and easy to get used to. The views — of kayaks and freighters, bridges and trestles, sailors and sunsets — are matchless, with a sprawling river-side patio from which to enjoy them.
Depending on the day and time of your visit, you can expect to wait for a table. But after giving our name and cell number to the hostess, we received a prompt to download an app that kept us informed in real time right down to the number of parties ahead of us. While waiting, guests can walk up to the outdoor bar, grab a crisp vinho verde from Portugal ($6), Kona Golden Ale ($4) from Hawaii, or a pricy but good margarita ($9) made with fresh lime juice and agave nectar.
Start with a salsa flight ($6), a trio that includes verde, roasted tomato and pineapple blends served on a sheet pan with fried whole corn tortillas and root veggies. The queso fundido ($6), served with the same chips, is mild and could use more chorizo to kick it up. Despite being in peak corn season, the street corn on a stick ($4) was gummy, but the cheese, herb and spice topping is tasty.
The bulk of the menu is built around tacos and tamales. All tacos are $3 and come on one (not the customary pair) of warm soft corn tortillas. The crispy cod is a winner, as is the crispy fried shrimp, and the halibut, a special. Tacos are not build-your-own, but instead come topped with an appropriate slaw, sauce and garnish. Dense and corny tamales ($5) are topped (not stuffed) with pork carnitas, chicken or veggies.
Coastal’s order and delivery process can be confusing in the hands of an indifferent server but fine in the care of a capable one. Guests can check off items on a paper chit or simply state them aloud. All tacos in the group are served en masse on a tray, making distribution tricky without assistance from your waiter. The practice was fine on one trip, not so fine on another.
The Flats-based space is built to be multi-seasonal, with a beachy, weathered and whitewashed interior with open kitchen and stone fireplace that will be cozy long after the garage doors come down and the outdoor bars shutter for the season.
Coastal Taco’s unabridged moniker is Coastal Taco Bar + Chill, which might also serve as a nugget of advice to impatient diners.
This article appears in Aug 17-23, 2016.
I had a fantastic experience there the weekend before the RNC. Great food, great service and you can’t beat the atmosphere. Sounds like they are headed in the right direction.
The biggest complaint I hear about is simply the process. Apparently you can’t split tabs and they make you open a tab as soon as you arrive, and then all the food arrives on one tray as stated. Sounds like they should make a few adjustments to have success. I am still going to wait… perhaps by end of the summer they will have things figured out.
We went there a few weeks after it opened. Our server knew nothing and had to be told more than once that our bill was wrong (she charged us full price for happy hour drinks and then questioned us when we pointed out they were supposed to be a different price, which means she was charging every other table in her station full price instead of happy hour price). Considering the fact that there seemed to be more employees milling around than customers when we were there, we were surprised at how long it took to initially be acknowledged by our server (we finally had to stop a different server to ask for glasses of water), have her return with our drink order (at least 15 minutes), receive our food (wrong food was brought to us twice) and finally receive a corrected bill. When the food arrived, we were disappointingly surprised at the size of the portions. Don’t go in there expecting to make a meal on 2-3 tacos. The tortillas are slightly larger than a slice of lemon. Happy Hour special when we were there was five for $5, and you need all five and then some if you’re not planning to eat dinner after you leave. And if you’re there for dinner when it’s not happy hour and you’re paying $3 or more per taco, expect a fairly steep bill for not much food. The guacamole was served in a very small ramekin and was, if I remember, $6 or $7. it really was a single serving, and it was just plain, old guacamole. The whole thing was an overpriced letdown. We left hungry and annoyed. We thought about calling or writing the owners, but we figured it wouldn’t be open long enough to get a response.
The main issue with coastal is consistency. You can go one day and have a great experience, great drinks, and great food, but go the next day and everything tastes different. Also, they are extremely pricey for small portions and at most times mediocre food. Why spend $3 per a taco for a small taco that tastes different every time I order it, when I can go to someplace like El carnicero with similar menu and larger portions for less money. I do frequent coastal, and the atmosphere is great but it’s very disappointing to take friends and not be able to promise a great experience.
They also need a longer happy hour.
Went once never again… 9 bucks for a shot glass sized margarita…
If a manager doesn’t address a legitimate complaints by diners regarding the taste of the food or the service, the restaurant doesn’t deserve your business. They do nothing when you complain and their management and cooks (notice I didn’t say chefs because they aren’t) don’t even know what good food tastes like. Hire some decent help to match your expensive décor or you will be closing like crop. The restaurants at FEB will need to validate parking in the winter or they will all close.
My wife is taking me out for a birthday dinner this weekend…told me it’s in the Flats East Bank area…she’s gonna “surprise me” by going somewhere I haven’t yet been…
Christ on a cracker, I hope to hell it’s not Coastal Taco, or I will probably get a surprise I neither like nor want.
Chuckles the Clown
Update to earlier post: Went there at lunchtime…before noon…not too crowded. Got a table in the shade and right on the water, despite the art fair mess. Charging people a fee of ten bucks each to enter the art fair may or may not be helping their business…hard to tell. But that’s their problem, not mine. There were plenty of asses in the seats. It’s a nice waterside place.
Service was fine…tacos are excellent but teensy…more like sliders, but they do tell you that in advance now. The bowls…or what they call “bols”…are big and very good-sized and for six bucks they are adequate in size. Only complaint was the size of the tea glasses…you will probably need more than one. I guess they want you to drink…that’s where the moolah is.
The place was filling up and getting crowded after our lunch, but maybe Doug picked the wrong weekend…was it the grand opening when the Cavs beat Toronto to make the Finals? Probably a mistake on his part.
True, I wouldn’t care to be there at dinnertime or late in the evening,, but lunch on the river (on a fine late summer day) made a nice birthday present.
My wife was right and Doug was only partially so.
And for once in my life, I had nothing to bitch about!
Chuckles the Clown
This is a dutiful advertising piece for a place trying to survive despite near universal condemnation. You’ll get better service at a crematorium.
Went there Thursday before the Browns game and had a great experience – I would in fact recommend CT to anyone in the area. It was a new concept that probably needed some hard lessons to work all the kinks out, I have to assume, because my service and food was excellent.
way too many other GREAT places to get tacos in cleveland like Bomba and Barrio to waste money on tiny, mediocre ones at Coastal. Space is great, but in my opinion food and drink don’t warrant a return visit.