"Hamburg Fine Dining Society" - no 3 - Corco Vado

Restaurant 3, 15/01-09, Corco Vado

BACKGROUND: I was sitting around in my hotel room reading some tourist guides, mostly looking at the "dining out" sections, looking for interesting restaurants. Some of the restaurants in the tourist guide sounded pretty cool, like "Restaurant Raven", "Alster Pavilion" and "Corco Vado". However, I wasn't able to decide where I wanted to go so I threw away the tourist guides and went down-town to buy some football training wear. Afterwards I was getting hungry and I was a bit annoyed with myself that I hadn't noted down where some of those restaurants were located. I decided to walk in the direction of "Vapiano", a good Italian place I had been to before, and just keep my eye open for other potentially interesting places. And I was about halfway to "Vapiano" when I discovered a restaurant with a familiar sounding name, "Corco Vado"! I immediately remembered reading about the place in one of the tourist guides and decided to check it out!

FIRST IMPRESSION: I stepped inside the restaurant and was greeted by a bartender. He guided me to the coat stand where I put away my hat and coat. The restaurant was almost empty, only one other table was taken. So I was free to pick whatever table I wanted. In the middle of the restaurant there was a small area that was elevated a bit from the rest of the restaurant, so I took one of the tables there. I realized that the restaurant also had some closed-off rooms you could rent for private parties and such. I later also learned that the restaurant actually has a private two lane bowling alley you can rent! I didn't get to try that out though... I sat down at my table with my back against the wall so I had a perfect overview of the whole restaurant. I noticed a couple of Brazilian flags hanging from the ceiling. The menu also had some Brazilian sounding dishes, so the restaurant definitely had a Brazilian theme going. The sitting areas were devided into booths along the wall, just like an American style diner. A little detail was that each booth had a painted window above the table, so you almost got the feeling you were sitting by a window even though it was only a brick wall. All the chairs and couches were padded with a stunning, intricate flower pattern. The tables were solid wood, and were not decorated with a table cloth. I liked the style of the restaurant. It was quite simple, and not too fancy. 8/10

WAITING TIME: On my previous two restaurant review I have had no complaints about the waiting time, but this time I actually did. Well, it wasn't a bit deal really, I got my food and everything right on time, but after I had finished eating and the waitress had taken away my empty plate I had to wait 20 minutes for the check! Of course, I could probably have asked the bartender to get it for me, but I wanted to see how long it would take for the waitress to walk by me. I have to take away a few points here because of the long wait for the check, but I got the food and everything on time, so I can't give a too negative score. 6/10

STAFF: Staff was friendly, but nothing more. I have to admit that when I'm writing this review now it's been three days since I was at the restaurant. And honestly I can hardly remember the staff. So they didn't exactly leave a big impression on me. I noticed, however, that the waitress messed up the orders from some of the other customers. She forgot some of the stuff they ordered. But I got everything I ordered, so I won't complain. I'll just give 7/10 points for this one. Nothing special, but I don't have any major complaints either.

APPETIZER: I decided to go for the Chorizo appetizer which sounded good. It was two thick South American style sausages with mustard and a small salad on the side. The sausages were really tasty, and they had a lot of meat in them, so it was almost a bit too much as an appetizer. Especially if you, like me, have a big steak or something as the main course. But I was hungry, so I didn't mind having
a big heavy appetizer! 8/10

MAIN COURSE: I decided to try out the "Steak Rio de Janeiro" from the menu. When the waitress took my order I was unsure whether to go for "Steak Rio de Janeiro" and "Steak Cognac - Pepper Sause". So I asked for the waitress recommendation, and she said I should definitely try out "Steak Rio de Janeiro" if I hadn't tried it before. It was more unique than the other one. So I took her advice. The steak was served with home made potato wedges, a salad and a crisp breat on the side. In addition, the steak was served in a pepper sause with mussels in it which was something completely new to me!
I never thought of steak and mussels as a good combination, but it proved to work quite well actually! I was a little bit unlucky with the piece of meat I got, because on one side they hadn't cut away all the excess fat from it. So I had to cut it away myself. But other than that it was a lovely meal! Great potato wedges, crisp buttery bread, and with the excess fat out of the way, the steak was lovely.
8/10

TOTAL VERDICT: Cosco Vado was definitely a place worth checking out, and also a place I'd like to go back to. But probably not alone. I would like to go with a small group of people, and also try out that private bowling area they're supposed to have. The restaurant specializes in both "Fleisch" (meat) and "Fisch" (fish), so it's likely anyone will find something they like here! 7.5/10