South Bay: Coconuts Caribbean Restaurant & Bar

My friend and I went on a little shopping excursion on Friday. I was hoping to score some shoes, but I always seem to want shoes after they go out of style. Ugh.

Anyway, we stopped by Coconuts for a late lunch:

The atmosphere inside was very lively and warm:

There were several large parties dining when we arrived. Because of the close proximity of the tables, my friend and I had to squeeze a little to get to our seat.

The server was very knowledgeable about the menu and very helpful in giving us advice about how much food to order for two people.

We started off with the chef sampler platter because we couldn't decide on an appetizer:



The sampler platter came with ackee rolls, mini patties, blue crab dip, and jerk wings. It also came with a coconut and a tamarind sauce. As warned, the jerk wings were pretty spicy...okay, very spicy. The crab dip was good, but nothing too spectacular.

My favorite was the ackee roll:

An ackee roll is basically spinach and tofu wrapped in a crispy shell. No meat, I know. But I enjoyed it all the same. The filling was so flavorful it didn't need dipping sauce.

There were two types of patties. One was made of chicken:

The curry chicken filling was a little dry for me, so I smothered it in the delicious coconut sauce.

The beef patty was much better:

For our entrée, we shared the curried goat:

All the entrées at Coconuts come family style, but you can also choose to get the individual lunch portion (each under 10 bucks). The individual order is probably about half of the regular portion size, but it also comes with salad and rice and beans. The rice and beans is prepared with coconut and the added flavor really makes a difference. Subtle, but oh so yummy!

We were originally planning on going elsewhere for cupcakes as dessert, but we were intrigued by the warm sweet potato pudding:

I took one bite and was blasted by the punch of the rum. Oh boy. The bitterness of the rum almost wiped out the subtle taste of the sweet potato. The ice cream helped a little, but the rum was just too much for me.

Overall, a fantastic dining experience. My friend and I sat there for hours enjoying the food and chatting up a storm. I may not have gotten the shoes I wanted, but the food more than made up for it.

Coconuts Caribbean Restaurant & Bar

642 Ramona St

Palo Alto, CA 94301

http://www.coconutspaloalto.com/