Even though the weather is warming up, tonight was the night my best girlfriends and I decided we would beat the winter blues and treat ourselves to a "tropical" evening out. We heard about Coco Banana , a small Caribbean restaurant on the Danforth and were intrigued. We loved the cute little name... and as such, judged the book by it's cover.

The actual experience was a bit of a mixed dish.

We hauled ass all the way out to Coxwell (from Dufferin) and first thing we get when we arrive at Coco is amazing atmosphere. You've got the furniture and dinnerware which is very colonial while the walls are covered with beautiful Caribbean art and historical interest pieces of all sorts. There are some cheesy but cute felt palm trees for that added touch. Great stuff.

The challenge when it comes to service is that owner(s) of the restaurant double up as waitstaff, bartenders, chef, etc. Very family run but very slowwwww.

After taking our order the friendly matriarch running the show that evening informed us that the fried plaintains would be 10 minutes while the chicken/goat/oxtail dishes would only be another 5. She returns to tell us about the various things that are out of stock, we re-order, and again 10 minutes. We are impressed with a promise of such speed!

One hour later, the first dish arrives. We devour it in our famine. Then one by one the other dishes arrive. The waitress merrily informs us, when she appears, that she is bringing them out one at a time so that nothing gets cold while she prepares. It smells home-made and wonderful. Can't wait to dig in...

Now, as our voices grow a little more quiet (as our mouths fill with food) we hear a BEEPING sound coming from the kitchen.

Beep. Beep-Beep.

Click. Crr-Clunk.

That's right, even though it tastes great, she is nuking each and every dish. oh MAN.

We get over it 'cause, after all, it's too late.

By the end (3 hours later), we had a couple wrong orders, a small and large version of a dish which look exactly the same size, and a bit of a mix-up with the bill. Our bellies are happy, but our pocketbooks are confused. Time to pay. The struggle continues.

First off, they have no proper change. And no, the starving student group is not dealing in 50's, just 5's, 10's, and 20's. We offer credit card for a portion of it to help with the situation but that isn't accepted. Debit is, so we attempt do to that, and finally, we manage to pay for our meal. Unfortunately though, the debit machine didn't account for tip and we had, at this point, NO CHANGE!

Oh dear.

End scene.

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Overall, everyone loved it when we got there and enjoyed their meals (plus a delightful free taste of cake + grapes for dessert) but left with mixed emotions. I don't think we'll be making another visit.

Still, it's worth a shot. Maybe on a Friday night (not a Tuesday) they'd be a little better prepared.

GOOD LUCK.