Review Best Posts in Thread: coco amigos, worst service on planet earth

We go there fairly regularly, Friday or Saturday nights when there is usually a good live band. The service is not very good, so sometimes you have to get up and wave at them, but we find the food is pretty reasonable. I agree that the manager (if there is one) needs to be fired and someone who takes an interest appointed. The rest of the staff take their cue from the manager (apart from one guy who is actually pretty good at looking after regular customers), so you really need to start from the top and work down.

 

Its too bad this happens to you. On the flip-side, I have patronized Coco Amigos about 2 dozen times in the past 2 months and only once had poor service. That was during the Fiesta when they were swamped. Some of the menu items are amazingly good value. The banana split for 85 pesos is one of the best in Dumaguete. The roast beef dinner is kept frozen and reheated when someone orders it but where else in Dumaguete can you get a roast beef dinner for under 200 pesos? Anyway, I concede they are not perfect to tell people they are not worth visiting is misleading at best.

 

I am surprised to hear Coco Amigos have not improved their service over the years. We went there six years ago and never went back for the same ongoing issues. You would think that with a fairly decent hotel they would want their restaurant's reputation to be positive. Plenty of alternatives to choose from.

 

I never had good service there, thus, stopped going there after 3 visits. I would always have to go up to the desk and get my own menu, and then go back up and beg for someone to take our orders........you can just guess how the rest went........

 

I have been here long enough to see what you are talking about but not really comment on it locally yet. However, "the customer is king" in the US means anticipating your needs. In Hong Kong I find it difficult to adjust to their grade-school adaptation of that rule. "The customer is king - as long as he Raises His Hand First". Maybe that is fallout from the days of ringing a bell for service, who knows.

 

I am just wondering how many other business establishments in this town also lack staff meetings, training, or discipline? (I am not defending Coco Amigos, as I have seen the staff do some stuff there that would get them fired in the US in a nano-second.) It really seems like very few are trained or care about their jobs, but many are always asking if I know where there is a job. I personally find it annoying when I have to interrupt a personal conversation, text message or some other personal activity like putting on make-up just to get recognized and a little service. I am not aware of other countries levels of customer service, but in the US, "the customer is king" is usually applied.... hmmmmm here it seems like cellphone is king or any other distraction that can get an employee's eye who is being paid to do a job. Just watch the level of focus the next waitress, waiter, or "bagger" at a retail store has on what they are doing, and how much eye contact and laughs their are having with the fellow employees.... not a complaint as much as trying to get myself to accept this level of service.

 

After 8 years here I have come to the conclusion that the lack of education and training have left most food service "professionals" incapable to correlate between good service and gratuities. They can't grasp that attentiveness, a smile, and a genuine effort to be the best you can be at your job will pay dividends at the end of the shift. I hold 4ner owned places to a higher standard, service, cleanliness and quality of food are paramount to getting my entertainment peso's. When I do not get that time and time again in a 4ner establishment I don't go back..
I would love to have a chance to run that place, put my money where my mouth is (and I would) and show the blvd how a place can/should be run for the betterment of the consumers and the staff. So if the owner is a member here give me a pm and lets have a coffee.

 

I agree the service can be lacking sometimes there. There are points in time I REALLY need something going into my stomach fast. So my strategy with Coco Amigos is to walk up the pastry counter, order a piece of cake, take it with me, sand then site down, and devour it then order my meal and wait.. sometimes long, sometimes short.
In the four years I have been here I have only order two different menu item, although I go there often when down town. When I find something I like then I just keep with it... which is also explains why I change ladies so often. I have ordered the Pork Crepe with Mexican rice every time except once when they were "out of stock". I am not sure if it real mexian food because I have never seen "pork crepe with Mexican rice" in an Mexican environment before. I then ordered the Schnitzel which was good but not as good as La Fiesta. The German potato salad which came with the Schnitzel was great.
I would definitely not go there when they have their anniversary night... funny story... the "imported" help from their hotel was on that night, and it was chaos. When my date got up from the table to use the CR and left her chair empty, one of the bus boys came over and took the chair to another table that needed a chair... WITHOUT EVEN ASKING. I was dumb founded by his rude actions, until I recalled I was in the Philippines. I complained and their excuse is that there were having problems because of the number of people. I told them not to have a celebratory event if they are going to offend their customers. I did not go that night because of the anniversary celebration, as I did not even know it was happening. Obviously the poor bus boys had no training or manners, or respect for customers, but was well versed in doing what he was asked to do, "get a chair" without thinking. The other guys with me, wife got up and the same thing almost happened until we stopped the chair stealing busboy. The food was good, so I gave the restaurant about 6 months probation and did not return until after that time. I still frequent Coco Amigos because of the Pork Crepes, prices are very fair, but will never forget the rude way my date was treated that night, and will avoid it when there is an anniversary night there.