CoqoDaq is one of my favorite restaurants, and every trip back confirms exactly why. Korean fried chicken, caviar, and champagne, which tells you everything you need to know about the vibe before you even sit down. If you missed my first visit, I covered the brunch side of things in my Coqodaq Brunch NYC review, and this trip only reinforced everything I loved about it the first time. Sister restaurant to Cote and Bar Chimera, and it carries that same DNA of a genuinely fun, genuinely dialed in night out.
The Room and the Staff
The facility is always great, and the staff operates like a well oiled machine while somehow still feeling completely personal. Mechanical in the best sense, they know their craft inside and out, everything comes out perfectly timed, everything is delicious, and the price point makes it feel like you are getting away with something.
Onion Rings and Caesar Salad
The onion rings are thinly sliced, light on the batter, heavy on spice, enough kick to make you keep reaching for another one. They stay crispy the whole time too, no sogging out halfway through the basket, which is rarer than it should be.
The Caesar salad earns its spot for the same reason every Caesar earns its spot on this blog, fiber, and this one delivers on more than just that. Large leaves, refreshing between bites of fried chicken, and enough cheese on top that it genuinely looks like it snowed on the plate. Both starters get a full recommend.
The Bucket
The main event is the bucket, and do not let the name fool you into thinking it is a modest amount of food. It is a lot, and we always overeat anyway, reminding ourselves halfway through that we did not need to go full board and doing it anyway regardless.
The move is ordering it OG style, plain, so you can mix in whatever sauce you want at the table. Order it fully sauced from the kitchen and you lose the actual chicken underneath. Keep it plain and add sauce as you go, and you get to taste the chicken the way it is supposed to be tasted, then dress it up exactly to your liking. Small trick, big difference.
The Wine Program
The wine and champagne program here is genuinely superb, and John, the sommelier, is the reason why. He reads the table’s energy and matches it every single time. Woody jokes included at no extra charge, and my favorite quote of the entire month came out of this visit. Picking a bottle with friends, someone at the table said they wanted a wine that costs more than a car payment but less than a mortgage payment. First time I have ever heard anyone frame it that way, and somehow it landed perfectly. We ended up with a bottle from 1989. Interesting experience, genuinely delicious, worth every penny.
Final Verdict
Highly recommend, as always. My only real note after this many visits is that I would rather come for brunch, since I am a sucker for the bigger, more luxurious brunch that meal brings, which if you want a preview of, go check out that first Coqodaq post. Otherwise this remains one of my go to nights out, and I somehow love it more every single time I go back.
As always, what do I know? I am just a fat guy from Brooklyn trying to survive the week, one martini at a time.
Looking for more NYC restaurant reviews? Check out my Best Steakhouses in NYC, Best Burgers in NYC, and Best Restaurants in NYC lists.
I need to try the chicken immediately!! Everything looks delicious, wow.