Copa Cafe - Coquitlam Centre

Ok back to this foodblogging thing, didn't mean to take such a long hiatus but im going to try to make this a bit more regular. Well today is BC day and we decided to head across the border to get some supplies. We came back around 9 and since we had to drop my brother off in Coquitlam, we decided to give Copa Cafe a try.

I have been to their Vancouver location once and thought it was decent, but during my time living in Coquitlam I stayed away since I read reviews that were a bit negative. As someone who is Filipino but has ate at my fair share of HK cafe type restaurants,  I think I know what a normal HK style cafe is all about and know what to expect.

My brother ordered his typical Chicken Steak with black pepper sauce and rice. Standard HK cafe dish, he said it was good but the sauce was overwhelm with pepper flavour. He also ordered a hot Honey Lemon drink which was supposedly included according to the menu, which we will discuss a bit later.

PIC wanted to order the Baked Bacon and Ham w/ Cheese & Creamy Sauce on Linguini. Now, we have ordered similar dishes in the past at other places which offered it in a cream sauce but have successfully changed it to the a tomato sauce without issue. Our request tonight was met with a face of disbelief like this was the oddest request she had ever heard.

She then pointed to the House Special Baked Pork Chop on Rice as the alternative if she wanted tomato sauce to our confusion was nowhere close to what PIC wanted. In turn she gave in and ordered Braised Ham & Chicken W/ Linguini in Tomato Sauce. We still don't quite get why they couldn't just substitute the sauce since they already had it on their menu. She asked if she could get the drink in a to go cup, and the server didn't quite understand at first and said extra charge for cold which is standard. But we asked if there was an additional charge for a to go cup which she muttered ok ok.

When it came, it had a good amount of sauce and it had a decent amount of Ham and Mushrooms, but we found it difficult to find pieces of chicken in there.

I ordered Roast Chicken & Vegetable W/ Fried Rice Noodle. It came with a good amount of chicken that was flavorful and good amount of sauce. Nothing to complain about. I ordered a Cold Ovaltine in a to go cup as well.

Now my major gripes about our visit. We came in just before 10 and the restaurant was about half full. There were 3 servers working the floor. One of them was in charge behind the counter making the drinks and manning the till. Another one seemed to only set tables and take away plates. She did bring us bowls and chopsticks but when we asked to order she had to get the third server. The third server was something. As already mentioned she seemed like any questions or requests that were beyond the menu were the dumbest questions one has heard in the history of human existence. PIC can understand Chinese but is quite shy about using it. There was a table of 3 guys who had come in just before we had finished eating and were asking what was included in one of the combos. PIC said that the order taker was quite rude about explaining what could have been a simple answer, pointing to the menu like they couldn't read.

Which brings me to my next gripe, on the menu, it clearly states at the bottom of each page of the late night menu that there is a complimentary Hot Drink. My brother who ordered a Hot Honey Lemon was charged 50cents. When asked about this charge, they said that they always charge 50cents for the Honey Lemon. They did charge us correctly for the cold drinks and felt they charged us correctly for the Honey Lemon.

My last gripe is that we asked for them in to go cups, from other restaurants when we order our drinks in to go cups they usually bring the drink with the straw on the side. This is the first time I've been somewhere where they have already placed the straw in my to go cup.

In conclusion, the only thing that saves this place is the food and that there is a limited amount of choice of restaurants open late at night on holiday nights in the Coquitlam Centre area. HK Cafes are not known for stellar service but even just a tiny bit would improve the customer experience.

Score: 5/10