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Real People. Real Reviews.®
Category: Latin American [Edit]
52 Powell St
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* Consistent *
Went back for another dinner here to check out the consistency.
Had some of the same dishes as last time, and some new ones as well.
The highlight of the new dishes I tried was the scallop dish. These were very large scallops which were perfectly seared and still very rare inside. Just the way I like them. They were topped with some small fried onions for texture and plated with sauteed heart of palm (which was the perfect consistency), on top of a coconut "bisque." The coconut "bisque" was more of a coconut cream sauce. The name was off, but the taste was delicious as it pulled together the flavours of the scallops and the heart of palm beautifully.
I figured I would try the sablefish dish again, and once again the fry bread was not as hot as it should be. WTF? I guess that is how they mean to serve it? Not sure why. Otherwise it is a lovely dish where the perfectly cooked sablefish is served on top of a salsa verde with a crispy piece of serrano ham, on top of a chili dusted frybread. But they should seriously put the fry bread down fresh when they plate it!
One of our desserts was again the dulce de leche, and again it was a good housemade version served in a martini glass parfait style. But once again the churro tasted like an afterthought as it was room temperature instead of hot. Perhaps they have a fryer that only works for the first half hour each night?!?!?!?! Hm......
Overall a pleasant second meal and they are definitely consistent (on both the good and the minor less than good!).
Listed in: Vancouver Latin and Caribbean…, Rewards Network Joy
* Nouveau Latin with excellent service *
Have you ever had an incredibly good server that was truly…
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Great theme and setting, but food not to exciting and pricey
Atmosphere: Fantastic setting with many seating options, 3 floors. They do need air conditioning because we sat at bar and it was almost unbearable with almost no air coming in. Kitchen was exposed, so that didn't mitigate the matter.
Food: I have never been to Latin country or have any Latino friends, so my review on food may not be as accurate or have much credibility. However, my friend ordered halibut on fried bread served with some Mexican-like sauce. It was nothing much to talk about. Wasn't as fresh and ingredients were a bit off for me.
If you are into a health kick, stay away because there is not much on the menu that isn't pure lard, fried, or pan-fried, or really rich.
I ordered boar belly and didn't realize it was just 5-6 pieces of pure lard. I am Vietnamese and this is found in many of our dishes, but we never just eat it like that, at least not that much in one sitting. For lard, one piece is almost too much. It was rather salty and too sugary on my taste, with no sides to offset or contrast with the strong ingredients. 6 tiny lard pieces for $15.
Service: Excellent, but I don't think anyone in there have been to Latin America either, so asking them would be like the blind leading the blind. I just ordered what was known to be popular.
Drinks: Catered to tourists in the area, ranging $8.50 and up for cocktails. Had their white Sangria, which I thought wasn't up to par with the Narrow and costs twice as much.
Overall, this place obviously caters to the tourists and pricey. The saying, 'what you pay is what you get' definitely does not apply to this restaurant. I would suggest hiring a new chef from Latin, but who have lived in N.America to really know how to put the ingredients and aroma together to make the 'Nouveau' a perfection. This has long ways to go.
Two words: Boar Belly.
"Maple chipotle tamarind glazed wild boar belly," to be more exact.
Though I ordered this particular dish during Dine Out Vancouver, it appears to be on their regular dinner menu as well, which means I don't have to feel bad about telling you what you missed.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for sucklings, but this, the main feature of my three-course tasting menu that night, was quite simply one of the best things I've ever eaten - and why I could never be a full-time vegetarian.
While the pulled-duck-and-"cracklin" tacos that I had to start didn't make a particularly compelling argument for carnivorism, and the dessert mercifully spared sentient beings from what I could tell, those four little pieces of pork made me want to hunt my next meal myself. Or, baring that, come back to Cobre to discover more inventive "Nuevo Latino" fare.
Provided you're into eating animal, it's worth venturing down towards the sketchier end of Gastown to find this place: its pre- (OK, mid-) gentrification surroundings belie its warm and welcoming interior. You just have to get past the bathrooms at the entrance (literally).
Cobre is one of those places that I've always wanted to try, but just never got around to it.
For my friend's belated birthday dinner, I decided to go here. I made a reservation for 7pm. We arrive on time, and were seated immediately; we even got our choice of table!
I like the 2 level layout of this place. We sat right by the railing, so we got to look down at the entrance. Windows overlook Gastown, and brick walls line the restaurant.
We start off with a pitcher of Caprihina.Birthday celebrations calls for pitchers! This arrived...but it was super super sour...so we asked politely for some sugar syrup, and the waiter offered to bring it back to the bar and get it reshaken. Second round was a lot better, sweeter, and I like my drinks sweet.
Onto the food. There was only the dine out menu available. My friend and I decided that we would order different dishes so we can try out more things.
1)Battered Baja rockfish, jicama slaw y chipotle ajo aioli
2)Pulled duck and cracklin' y charred scallion, roasted garlic
The first 2 were on tacos, and it actually came out to be 4 mini ones! The duck one was good; the roasted garlic went well with it. Rockfish was fresh, but this one was lacking a bit of flavour and a bit dry.
3)White corn free range chicken taquitos, with fresh house guacamole, cholula
These taquitos weren't too much better than the late night taquitos I get from 7-11. Really. Ok, the fresh guacamole was probably what made it good. There was nothing great about these, and they were hard to cut through too. Not the best as an entree.
4)Wild Mexican sea prawns,with Pipian verde, and butter browned corn arepas
Three large prawns and corn cakes. A little bit spicy, but this dish was flavourful, and good. I liked this one.
5) Dessert- Dulce de Leche with a tamrind butterscotch, whipped cream and a cinnamon esspresso churro
This was basically a heap of dulce de leche, with a mini sized churro, and by mini, I mean MINI. (Refer the pictures.) I would have preferred more churro and less dulce. Although I must admit, the dulce de leche was really good, and so was the churro.
Service was ok throughout the night. Since they booked everyone at the same time, they were basically bringing out food for our whole section. It almost felt like it was one of those banquet dinners where they bring all the food out altogether. I guess there wasn't a problem with that, but it just wasn't personalized service.
One more complaint-the food was never hot...sometimes even almost cold. I like my food to be fresh and hot. I will give this place another chance by coming here on a regular dinner night and trying out their regular menu and drinks (they have a rose sangria!)
Modern Latin cuisine served in a upscale casual setting.
The pulled duck tacos and the wild boar belly were definite standouts from the dine out menu we were partaking in. Servers coped well with a packed restaurant that was abuzz with the chatter of excited diners.
Listed in: Gastown
When the server comes over and ask 'Is this your first time here? Let me tell you how it works!' I want to flee. In the case of Cobre, we probably should have.
Mediocre oily reheated-tasting small plates, pathetic selection of beer, etc.
The nearby table with two strippers got far better service than our 4-top, but I'd have done the same....
I'm going to preface this by saying Cobre is my favorite latin restaurant in Vancouver and that without a doubt every other time I've been there it's a 4 or 5 star experience.
Showed up here by accident during dine-out and have to say that the reduced menu was lacking. Highly recommend this place in general, but please do not take your dine-out experience as definitive of the real menu range, taste, and portion size.
This place had excellent service and was a great surprise. Found it in a little magazine as 'recommended'. Everything we had was delicious. The service was excellent as well, friendly.
We really enjoyed the Sable fish (the best thing we had) on the fry-bread. The duck with the risotto was outstanding as well. The Dulce De Leche desert was delicious, will definitely come back here some day.
So a group of us went to Cobre to try it out as we were in the mood for some latin food. After making reservations we headed there and got seated upstairs. The restaurant itself looked nice and happening. We ordered a round of drinks that were quite delicious. Then it all went downhill from there, our server is probably thee rudest server we have ever and let me re-iterate "EVER" come across. So our appetizer's came out and we asked for hot sauce, she came by dropped off the hot sauce. Not thinking this hot sauce is any different than what is expected at any other restaurant, it turned out to be xxx hot sauce...our entire tables mouths were burning. It was by far the hottest thing I've ever tasted. I love my spices but this was just ridiculous. When she later came by to ask how our meal was and we said we should have paid more attention to the hot sauce bottle but when your having conversation and a drink, you really wouldn't care to read the label as your expecting a normal hot sauce like tobasco or franks. But in the future it may be polite to let your customer know that the hot sauce is extremely hot. Our lips were on fire. Instead of being apologetic and maybe saying sorry yes I should have told you this was much hotter than your average hot sauce or even thanks for tip. She became super defensive and took it personal...she's like well what were you expecting? I don't eat hot sauce so I wouldn't know. We said we just wanted the normal hot sauce that came with our appetizers. She responded with, "well you can't afford that!?" We were shocked! Can't afford hot sauce!? Did I just hear this correctly!? She's like yes, if you want extra of that particular hot sauce, you have to purchase the bottle. We only sell that particular brand of hot sauce by the bottle!! It is too expensive and we were losing money as people kept asking for it. Umm did she fail to realize these people are customers!!! We asked how much the bottle was and she's like I'm not sure I would have to ask chef or manager. I couldn't believe it, when did one require bottle service for hot sauce! Ridiculous! This so called EXPENSIVE HOT SAUCE, was none other than Chalula! Yes folks, you read this correctly...Chalula, which is basically a regular condiment that sits alongside salt and pepper at any Latin restaurant in North America!
Then when she went to take away the plate, we told her no we would like to keep it as we are unable to get any more of this "expensive" hot sauce.
Finally at the end she told us we were not allowed to come back and she is the manager. Funny, 30 minutes ago she had to ask the manager or chef whether we could purchase a bottle of hot sauce and now she was the manager!
Never going back and this is definitely the worst dining out experience we all had that we will share with others! Quite shameful as the rest of the staff seemed polite and there was a nice vibe. And the food without any of that xxx hot sauce was not bad.
It's been a long time since I've reviewed a place but I'm glad to be back and I've gotta start with Cobre. It's awesome. The lamb bondiga is a succulent lamb meat ball that really well seasoned and tender on a corn tortilla with garlic flavored popcorn for some serious texture.
Don't look for fajitas and burritos here, although they do sell out a little and do a chicken taquito with guac. Pork belly is good but its been great and then a little less than great. The dessert are crazy. A chocolate brownie with a little heat and crunchy walnut stuff and roasted or sauteed banana's is only made better by a couple spoonfuls of Jen's goatmilk panna cotta with blackberries. Drinks are alright, the mojito is average.
I read all the previous reviews before going and went in expecting bad service but good food. I also went in expecting to be charged for hot sauce. What we got was solid service and really good food. I would definitely go back. I think they've been reading their reviews on yelp and other sites because there was none of the attitude that other people complained about. Writing reviews works...
I am torn between a three and a four star. I thought the food was good, really tasty, but not amazing. It was chic and the services was good. The waiter was really fun. However, the portions were so small. The drinks had lots of booze so I didn't really end up minding. If you are looking for try somewhere new I'd recommend it but I'm not sure I'll go again.
A favorite restaurant; duck tacos!! Vancouver is lacking when it comes to Latin American themed restaurants, so Cobre is a much needed spot.
Awesome. Great date spot. Unbelievable food. I have gone back over three times with different friends.
One of the rare hidden finds in Vancouver.
Just came back from dinner at Cobre - I went about a year ago and have wanted to go back since. The food is a bit expensive considering the fact that it's a tapas bar but you can tell why considering the ingredients used and the quality and imagination that goes into the dishes. Highly recommend the pulled duck tacos, chicken taquitos and the pork belly. We tried 8 dishes and loved every one. It was very busy for a Thursday late-ish night and the only negative thing I would say is that the food didn't come as fast as we'd have liked it to.
I've been here twice now for parties downstairs and it's always been a success. Last night was a stagette and there were about 16 of us. Our server David was great! He did separate bills for us (the last party I went to did this too - so much easier) so needed all of our names. Even though we mixed and mingled he did a damn good job of keeping track of each of us and had a good sense of humour to boot. When we first got there we sat on the couch and comfy seats and cocktailed. When it was time to eat there was a long table in the room but benches and chairs at either end. I started with a Lemon Drop martini, then I had a Marguerita. Both were very tasty. A friend and I split a bottle of Torrontes that paired well with our dishes. We shared the prawn ceviche, the Peruvian tacu tacu, the sardo papusa and one of the specials that I think was sablefish with chick peas. We both loved the ceviche, I was more fond of the tacu tacu and she loved the appy. We had mixed feelings on the papusa but they grew on me and I actually quite liked them. The tacu tacu and ceviche both came in threes so good to know if there are a few of you sharing. There was 17% added to our bill as we were a group. David totally deserved it so no worries there. The girl who organised the event was able to go early and decorate the room and she took in her ipod so we could listen to the mix she made for the evening - great feature at any party. I would highly recommend this place for an intimate party spot. Don't forget though - food comes out staggered and some people will get their food before others. Just something to keep in mind.
Came here for NYE dinner. For $100 a person, there was 5 memorable dishes that I'm still drooling about.. AND, get this, 5 glasses of course-paired wines! That's a major steal! It was the perfect choice for the last meal of the year, this is quickly rising to my list of favorite restaurants in Vancouver. My favorite part? They sent us off to ring in the new year with a complimentary shot of Tequila. Love!
Listed in: Dream Team 2009
Went here for a friend's birthday and pretty much tried everything on the menu. First, let's start… Read more »
Highlights of the evening were the pulled duck tacos, the glazed boar belly dish and the awesome 70s porn 'staches the waiters were sporting for Movember.
Trendy restaurant and tongue-lickingly good nouveau Latin cuisine.
White sangria and tapas dinner was perfect for me and my girlfriend.
The food is modern-without-pretentious presentation and small tapas menu makes it easy to pick good dishes.
Loves me some Beef Shortribs (signature dish), Albacore Tuna Ceviche, and lots of White Sangria.
With a basement room to accommodate large parties, Cobre caters to the crowd. Excellent wait staff.
Listed in: For Two Please
Yum! This was the highlight of my weekend in Vancouver. Well, besides the Olympics I guess.
My friend and I were looking for a late dinner in Gastown, and our local friend suggested Cobre. They get bonus points right off the bat for being able to seat us immediately (on Saturday night! during the Olympics!) without a reservation. The ambiance is chill and lounge-y without any pretentiousness. Some people were dressed up, some were a little more relaxed.
And the food and drinks - of course, this was the best part. We split a pitcher of caipirinhas, which was mixed just right. We ordered a few tapas, and sometimes the wait between was a little long, but nothing crazy.
1. Jerk scallops with sweet potato chips - the flavor of the black bean slaw was nice and tropical, and had a little heat (chili oil, I think). The scallops were cooked just slightly unevenly.
2. Tamarind glazed wild boar belly - the best! Each bite I took, I kept thinking, "wow, what's this unusual flavor I can't place?" And then I'd remember it was the tamarind. The chicharones were nice and crispy and provided a textural contrast to the boar.
3. Flatiron steak with baby caesar and chipotle mashed potatoes - We were still a little peckish, and went with one more plate. The steak was cooked just right, and the cool crunchy romaine was a fine complement. I forgot the potatoes also had chorizo until I dug in - that was a nice surprise.
The food at Cobre was pretty good--not great. Standouts were the scallops and al pastor tacos (with yummy grilled pineapple). The ceviche was trying too hard. The fish came folded into a flower while the other ingredients languished to the side of the plate in a tight bundle, ignored until the end and preventing the flavors from melding. In my experience, Peruvian cuisine is just a bit more messily delicious than that. Pisco Sours, however, were pretty fantastic. But what will prevent me from returning to Cobre was the overpowering smell of bathroom deodorant that wafted cloyingly up the stairs to our table. It was impossible to ignore and very unappetizing.
The food at Cobre was O K... the service from the waitstaff and the food service from the kitchen was awful...we ordered four tiny little tapas - the scallops, prawn ceviche, bison ribeye, and sablefish (came out way cold like it'd been sitting under the heat lamp forever). The plates come out in a succession staggered-type method; it took an hour for the first plate to come out - now we're talking 3 little prawns each on its own tostado...absolutely unacceptable in my opinion. The restaurant and kitchen were not busy at this point. In total, the food took at least an hour and a half. To me, the time for food service from the kitchen was way too staggered. The waitstaff, particularly our main server, was way too non-chalant in a restaurant of this calibre. She was totally unapologetic and making too many excuses for the shitty food service. All in all, we did manage to get 10% off of our bill. I doubt I will go back there, however.
I like Latin food and I love Cobre. It has flank steak done the way flank steak should be handled. The various runs at Latin dishes are successful and they have more than Tex-Mex redos called Latin, yes Mexico is part of Latin America, but there is allot more of Latin America out there. I wish a couple of Peruvian inspired dishes would show up, Peruvian chefs are producing an amazing new cuisine.
It's almost a more posh way of presenting Latin American food and they really want you to know it (for their website even says "you won't find oversized sombreros, neon cacti, or Pepi Gonzalez. This is a kitsch-free zone."
When we went there, our server was really friendly (and cute!) and the food for the Dine Out Vancouver menu was pretty delicious. We were 6 of us. The ambience was nice. I loved the setting.. I could see myself falling in love with someone (the right someone) there. I didn't find the setting so posh that it was intimidating. It was trendy.
I had a mojito for drinks and it was really well balanced, not too sweet, and putting a sugar cane stick in there was a nice touch.
Unfortunately, they were ONLY serving the Dine Out menu and nothing on their regular menu. That was slightly disappointing because one member in our group was a vegetarian and she didn't really have any option for the mains in the dine out menu. I would have figured that since we're in Vancouver and there are so many people who are following a vegetarian diet these days that they would have some sort of a special substitute for that. Instead, they said they could modify the prawn dish to be vegetarian for her. The prawn dish was really nice. It was some sort of a potato patty on the bottom with a crunchy green slaw thing with jicama root or apple in it. And a prawn on top. There were three in one dish. It was well balanced. For the appetizer, we had 3 mini tacos. Mine was the pulled duck taco and it too was well balanced. I wouldn't have minded a bit more spicy heat in it, but the flavour was really nice. For dessert, we all had the goats milk cheesecake and it was nice and different, since i've never had a goats milk cheesecake before. I wasn't disappointed. One of us had the dulce de leche with caramelized pineapple and she said it was amazing!
So overall the food was great. Drinks were nice (though I can only speak for the mojito). The service was nice, but a little slow since they told us ahead of time that they had everything prepped for the dine out menu. I expected to be out of there in 1.5 hours since that's what they told us was our alotted time for dine out. But we were there for 2 hours or more. But in retrospect, I wouldn't say it was annoyingly slow. Oh and they have amazing blue corn bread with chipotle butter!
Listed in: Places in GVRD that Guri needs…, Sip & Grub in Downtown…, Boozy in Vancouver, Date Night in Vancouver, Hola! Bienvenidos a Vancouver!
I recently had dinner at Cobre and it was a great experience. The food was amazingly fresh and flavourful - my favorites were the pulled duck taquerias and the free range chicken taquitos. Perfect for sharing with 3 other people. Otherwise it's rock-paper-scissors for the last remaining piece if you're in an odd numbered party. The service was efficient and friendly, the patrons smartly dressed and the atmosphere was cool.
Ooohkay - this was the next-to-last spot on a night of NYE barhopping, but I liked it! I think... The server was poppy and nice, the space was cool and modern, and the drinks were fun, Latin infused yumminess. I think I need to go back with an empty stomach and a less saturated liver to truly enjoy it - the other reviews of the food menu are enticing - ceviche and I get along very well; but my first impression of this Gastown restaurant was a good one!
I went here a few months ago, and it was great. We had fantastic ceviche and some tacos, all the food was excellent. The atmosphere is A+ as well, so I highly recommend it.
If you've never eaten nuevo latino cuisine, Cobre is your chance to try it out. It's like going out for Brazilian or Mexican food, but with a West Coast aesthetic and taste. The plates are generally small, tapas style combinations of familiar latino fare (enchilada, tacos) but with ingredients that you might not expect such as goat cheese or sun dried tomatoes. I had the blue corn bread with chipotle butter alongside my capairina, and both were excellent, especially the drink. Also nice was the attentive service and the lively atmosphere all wrapped up inside a cosy decor. So, if you're an adventurous eater, this is a very worthwhile spot to check out when you're next in Gastown.
My kids took me to Cobre last year on my birthday and it was over the top fantastic. There were 4 of us and the portions were perfect for our little party. The food was fantastic and the presentation was eye popping. For a whole year I've been bragging about our taste adventure at Cobre. In fact at the end of the evening the chef came out to say good night to us and thanked us for "Getting his cooking, It was a pleasure to cook your food, etc.," He even complemented us on our ordering. We are foodies and when we ordered we asked that it be brought to us in a certain order.
Well this year on Nov 22/08 my best friend took me there for my birthday and I was very excited to eat there again. We ordered, again I asked that our food be brought to us in a certain order. What we got was totally not in the order we requested. In fact we were served our Meat dish before our fish dish and our fish dish before our veggie dish. The presentation we fantastic however inpossible to split into two without totally distroying the stack. The taste was great but not over the top. I was more than disappointed.
The service was horrible. I don't think our server looked at us even once. In fact I told my friend that I think if she left first then I followed shortly after ...without paying the bill... I don't think our server would have noticed immediately and when she did I don't think she could of describe us.
I have to say that if you're OK with small (but tasty) portion for the money then I say go and enjoy.
It was a few years back when I first stumbled across this place and it was called something 62. Upon returning, it was renovated and redone into a nice restaurant/lounge in Gastown, definitely worth going back to (several times might I add), not only for the food, but I've never been disappointed with the service eversince it was turned into COBRE. People are quite dressed up as this is not what you would call a children themed restaurant, but casual enough to make it unpretentious. It's suppose to be Spanish inspired menu, tapas syle, great for sharing, practically everything on the menu is worth a try whether it is seafood, bison meat down to vegetarian. Even though the menu is mostly in Spanish, and we had to ask for clarification from the helpful server, one of the best places in Gastown I've eaten. Made recommendations to a few colleagues, and have gone back several times myself!
Listed in: My top 5 dining favourites!
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