Cafe Coco's Italian Market & Kitchen

Now I really like Cafe Coco so I was super looking forward to using my Groupon for Coco's Italian Market, or the full name, Cafe Coco's Italian Market and Kitchen. Whew, that's a long one. My father came to town for the day so I decided to take him and my significant other out to 51st to try this place out.

The place is super cute. I love the way they have the market laid out and it has a good variety of things to purchase, like chocolate, books, coffee, food, and gelato. Beer is available. Prices are also super affordable. Like Cafe Coco, you order your food at the counter and then have a seat. Having been to Cafe Coco before I knew the drill, but others with me and other people in the store at the same time seemed to be a bit confused about what to do. Coco's Italian Market offers both indoor and outdoor seating. While I didn't much care for the view from the patio, the patio itself is great and I really enjoyed sitting out there. The day was so nice, having an outdoor option was a definite plus.

All three of us wound up ordering sandwiches and all three were good and very affordable. My Dad got the Torpedo ($7) and definitely enjoyed it. My boyfriend got the meatball sub ($8) which was really good! It is not very saucy which is how I like my meatball subs. I got the Chicken Pepper Melt ($8). My melt was good but the peppers were a little oily and I wound up blotting some of the oil off. All three of us got the pasta salad which I liked, but the menfolk wished had a little more flavor. The menfolk still ate it all so don't take their pasta opinions to heart too much. I enjoyed it mainly because it reminded me more of actual Italian dishes which tend to not have the overwhelming flavors some of their American counterparts do. Their menu is available online at www.italianmarket.biz. Next time I will have to try the pasta or pizza.

After we ate, my Dad wanted to buy some chocolate for my stepmother which lead to a lot of annoyance on his part. He waited, and waited and waited and watched cooks moving back and forth basically ignoring him until he finally gave up and left without the candy. This is really not cool. I understand if it's not your job to handle the candy section but at least acknowledge the customer and let them know someone will help him shortly. I have a lot of patience for these sort of things, but this definitely irked my father.

I think I will probably come back here, especially for lunch and gelato, but my Dad probably would not because he was pissed off about the lack of service. The sandwiches were good, the clientele didn't irk me, the place was cute, and it was super affordable. I would recommend this to other people with a disclaimer to not get your hopes up for personalized attention.