An all-around excellent experience. From the hostess to the server to the cocktails to the food it was all excellent. I can't wait to return. read more

** WARNING: There is a mandatory 20% service fee added to all bills. Restaurant says it's "not a tip or gratuity." ** Came here for a birthday dinner, and since there were plenty of reservation spots online, we decided to just walk in. We were told they were full, but it's only be a "few minutes" for bar seating. We were initially told bar seating was "first come, first serve." We waited for over an hour for bar seating and being told over and over "it'd be just a few minutes." After seeing multiple couples come in after us and being seated at the bar, we asked what was going on. The hostess "forgot" the entire bar was reservation only now that the holidays were approaching. It would have been nice to know that when we were initially greeted. We waited about 20 minutes for our food which was a little bland and a lot overpriced. On top of that, we had to repeatedly ask for water. Then repeatedly ask to refill the water. At the bar. When the check came, there was a mandatory 20% service fee added before tax (which means tax was artificially inflated). The bartender gave us the Toast handheld and said "just a few questions here for you on the screen." So on top of the mandatory 20% service fee ("it's not a tip"), we were also asked to tip ... on the food + service fee + tax. Wild. Will not return. Plenty of other great places in Venice / Santa Monica who don't pull this 20% stunt. read more

Coucou - A mandatory 20% service fee is added to every bill... but it's "not a tip." - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Venice, California

Love this small spot on main street. The burger exceptional, the shrimp exceptional, and the service is exceptional. The happy hour is really nice, the mocktails that Natasha makes are excellent. Make sure you get her to fix your drink up. 10/10 will be back read more

Melanie, you are extremely accommodating and lovely. Vibes are high at this place!! Can't wait to come back.

Great dinner. Alan is fantastic! Mussels and truffle fries were great. Outdoor vibes were great!

It was our first time here and we loved it! Our server Andi was so helpful and gave us great recommendations. She recommended I get the Bonnie & Clyde drink and I thought it was delicious. Good romantic date spot! read more

Coucou - Ceviche - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Venice, California

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Food and vibes were amazing. Great cocktails, steak frites, and fantastic service! Especially Melanie. Great date night spot

Great food and service! Thank you Alan!! Made it a great dinner. Delicious drinks and the short rib was so yum

Happy hour is a great deal! We love Melanie - she's the best. Also, saw Noah Beck!!!!!!!

Had a very pleasant experience at my first time at Coucou. It is a cute small restaurant with a very bar-like atmosphere. Just don't expect it to be very quiet as it does get a bit loud inside on busy nights. Each dish was unique and flavorful in its own way. The Oysters were fresh, clean, and beautifully prepared. The ceviche had a creamy coconut sauce that paired well with the fish. Mussels were so flavorful and tender. Steak tartare had an almost curry-like spice flavor which was uniquely delicious. Service was attentive and the food came out fast. Would love to come back here again for another nice dinner! read more

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Food, service and ambiance are great. Reminds me of bistros in NYC. I always have a good experience here. read more

The food and service was amazing! The vibe was very cool and chic! Can't wait to return to this little tucked away gem!

Overall not worth the price. I had been excited to try this place for a long time so was thrilled when my girlfriend told me she had made a reservation for us! She booked a table for 7 PM for "heated outside", but what we didn't realize was the table was on the sidewalk... not the greatest ambience for a date, with pedestrians, dogs, skateboarders, homeless, etc. walking right next to the table the entire meal. I get that it's like a French bistro and we're going for the Parisian dining experience, but West Los Angeles is not really known for its "beautiful sidewalks." I've been to Paris, and perhaps this approach would be better suited to a nicer part of town. As for the service if you're gonna auto grat 20%, you need to do a better job. If I order a drink when I sit down, I would expect that to be the first thing to arrive. Better yet if my food arrives at the table first (before my drink even), I should already have silverware at the table to dig in. My date and I really shouldn't have to wait for silverware to eat the food that's already been served to me. I've worked in restaurants a long time - that's service 101! Normally I wouldn't make a big deal out of this, but if you're gonna charge 20% off the bat as a service fee, it should be top tier service. As for the food, we had the onion soup, brussels sprouts, burger, and the steak frites. Everything was very tasty and meat cooked to order, but the portions were very small... surprisingly small... disappointingly small. If you're gonna charge $27 for a burger, I would hope it's one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life and we didn't even include the addition of cheese for four (4) dollars! And no it doesn't come with a side. Add fries for $11? No thanks. I don't mean to be cheap but those are probably the most expensive fries in the city. If there were any highlights the drinks were pretty good. We had three cocktails at ~$20 apiece, which to anyone not familiar with West LA probably sounds absurd, but it's pretty par for the course for cocktails in Santa Monica now. The highlight was the Sea, Sun and Sex cocktail. Perhaps I would return for happy hour when the drinks are (hopefully?) cheaper and I wouldn't be sitting down for a full meal otherwise, I don't think it's worth returning here and wouldn't recommend it. read more

Have been to Couch several times so far and been impressed each time with ambience, service and quality. The steak frites is a standout and has got to be one of the best in the cityMy only gripe/wish is that they would mix it up a bit and add some weekly/daily specials to keep things new/fresh. read more

Coucou - Bibb lettuce salad - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Venice, California

Had the Steak Frites and it was exactly what I wanted out of a French bistro. Lean cut of steak with grilled perfectly with sweet carmaized onions and crispy fries. The sauce it is served with is a sweet balsamic glaze that should be used to taste. Cocktails had flavor and fun. Natasha was a great bartender and made sure even though we were the first patrons there we felt like that we were the last they never wanted to leave. read more

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The service was very good and the food was impeccable. We sat inside and it was packed. The ambience was great, a beautiful restaurant. As patrons finished up and left, it was much easier to carry on a conversation... acoustics. Can't wait to go back, it was that good. Thank you Coucou! read more

Review update, they refunded our extra gratuity. Great customer service. Recommend going!

We were exploring local restaurants for a company holiday dinner. We certainly enjoyed the food and service at Coucou; however, the 20% mandatory surcharge on the bill turned us off. Subsequent to the dinner, I read some of the other Yelp diners' concerns about the surcharge and also management's responses that "tips are NEVER required" and "To clarify, we do NOT ask guests to tip on top of the surcharge. We are a tipping NOT required restaurant"; however, on our bill "this is not a tip" was called out in light blue with a highlighter and we were verbally informed the 20% surcharge "was not a tip". Like other diners have reported, we felt compelled, albeit reluctantly, to provide an additional tip. We were seriously considering having our holiday dinner at Coucou, but we could not justify ~40% surcharge/tip. read more

Updated Review () I left a 1-star review at first because I felt misled. But to the restaurant's credit, the owner reached out personally after reading my feedback. She was incredibly gracious, acknowledged the issue, and fixed my concerns. That kind of response is rare -- and truly appreciated. Mistakes happen, but the way Coucou handled it was thoughtful, transparent, and professional. I'm happy to update this to a 5-star review because they genuinely cared about making things right. We'd definitely give Coucou another try -- not just because of the food and ambiance, but because of the integrity behind how they treat their guests. We will also try the West Hollywood location. read more

I'm not gunna lie, this place doesn't suck. The 5-6pm daily happy hour just made my whole weekend. 3 for $33. Cocktails. Beverages. The service. The vibes. I wish I was a regular (and I'm gunna try to be). Natasha and Griffin were handling the bar like a breeze and I had some of the best service and food I've had in LA. 10/10 will be back. read more

From the beginning to the end, Coucou was amazing. The food and cocktails were on point. We sat at the bar and Natasha made the night even better! read more

Alan was great! he checked in often and the food was great! they also had some amazing soft serve

Our bartender, Jared, was amazing. Totally professional but a gentle friendly aura. He offered my friend advice on her wine choice, and created the most wonderful Dirty Martini, something I never order, but his was subtle and very cold. Calmed my fears about a too heavy burger - it was the best burger I have ever had - cooked to perfection with the amazing cognac secret sauce and caramelized onions. Thank you Jared! read more

Sat at the bar, restaurant is small but nice and inviting. The service was very good by the bartender, I think his name was Kevin! We had d mussels, steak frites, beignets & grilled shrimp. All were very good. I would definitely return! read more

Coucou - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Venice, California

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My boyfriend and I came here for our anniversary dinner to celebrate as I had heard great things about the restaurant and was excited to try it out. However, our experience was really disappointing. As someone who has worked in the service industry for many years, and always tries to give the benefit of the doubt to people because we all have rough days, our server experience was truly terrible. To note the positives first, our food runner was our favorite employee. They were so incredibly nice and ran the food the second it came out. The other great employee we encountered was the hostess. She was extremely accommodating and did everything she could do to help. Lastly, the best thing we had on the menu was by far the burger, it was an amazing dish and I am very glad that we tried it. When it came to servers however, we were extremely disappointed. This experience was mainly driven by our first server Melanie, whose attitude genuinely suggested she would rather be anywhere but at the restaurant, especially especially serving us. After ordering appetizers before even receiving our drinks she came up to our table and yanked the menus from us saying that since we had ordered (only appetizers) we did not need them, when we had not even decided on entrees. Every encounter with her at the table felt hostile and we were thankful to be eventually moved to a different section of the restaurant where a different server tended to us. While the service we received from the next server was by no means great and a bit disorganized, it was at least a relief to have someone different. Overall, unfortunately I do not wish to return and wish we had gone somewhere that provided a more pleasant experience, especially for a celebration. read more

My absolute favorite restaurant on the Westside! A perfect, quaint French spot in the middle of main street. It is cozy, charming, and every single thing on the menu is delicious! Cutest vibe for date night or girls night. read more

Came here on a whim after picking up my friends wedding dress from down the block! Sat at the bar. Had fantastic cocktails and amazing service by Gloria! 10/10 would recommend! read more

Service was the star with the exception of the hostess (a little less attitude, please). Food was decent but noting special. Ambience is probably much nicer inside but if you book a heated outdoor table expect exhaust and noise from buses and traffic with no ambience at all! Hardly as nice as one might believe from the heated outdoor description on Resy. Our server is the only thing that saved this review from being a one star less one star! read more

Coucou - This is the heated outdoor option. Wouldn't suggest unless you like inhaling car exhaust with your $20 martini. - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Venice, California

My boyfriend and me LOVE Coucou, everything is always delicious and the hostess and waiters are always so lovely and attentive, it's always a treat! read more

Griffin our server was great!!! The 3 for 33 happy hour is SUCH a good deal and was Plenty of food. The prawns were the hit item. One of those rare LA restaurants that deserves to be pretentious but isn't at all! read more

Got the fish and soft serve, was amazing. Sat at the bar and Gloria the bartender was super friendly and gave great service!

Wanted to love this place since I loved the restaurant it was before but the service and food was awful. I was a party of two with a reservation outside that we wanted to swap for inside since it was empty. We asked to sit at the table for an allotted time until it was reserved. The hostess wouldn't let us swap so we sat at the bar instead. The tables that were "reserved" for later were empty for over an hour and until reserved party came. Aside from the horrible FOH the food wasn't good for the price/ quality. We ordered the burger $27, fries $7, hot dog $25, sundae $not worth it and two cocktails $18/each. Most disappointed in the burger and hot dog- for almost $30 each you'd think it was worth it and it's absolutely not. Tasted like something you could make yourself at Trader Joe's for less than $10. read more

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Cute little French place in downtown Venice! Cool and hip atmosphere. Great cocktails, too. We were impressed with their bartenders and drink recipes. Ordered fries and their famous soft serve sundae. Both were excellent. It is pricey, but that's just LA. Two cocktails, side of fries, and the soft serve sundae cost $74 with taxes and automatic 20% gratuity. read more

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Service was great, we got there early and the hostess was able to accommodate the table change request. The Venice location has a small, cozy interior with a fun bar and also has seating on a sidewalk patio (has heaters but no umbrellas). Waitstaff was attentive and gave honest opinions when we asked about their favorites (we wound up going with the cauliflower for a veggie), also gave us a heads up about the automatic 20% that had been added to the bill (very appreciated for that transparency). My friends liked the French 75 that they ordered it twice. Ceviche was unique because it had coconut which I haven't had before and wasn't expecting. It was quite refreshing and went well with the potato crisps it was served with. The beef tartare as others mentioned has a bit more smoky curry flavor as opposed to traditional types of taretare and came with thin baguette toast pieces. The steak frites seemed to be a small portion but cooked to perfection. Frites were nice and crisp on the outside and still warm on the interior. Softserve sundae was fun with the magic shell and berry compote. This makes for a nice girls night out spot or date night. read more

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Cou Cou was amazing!!! 10/10. Griffin was so great! Best waitor!! we are the best girls night! We'll definitely be back

Coucou is one of my favorite spots in the west side. It's hard to find a space that feels cozy and chic in LA but they pull it off and the food at this little jewel box is fantastic. I've eaten most of the menu at this point and everything has been perfect. Drinks are impeccable as well. One of my favorite neighborhood spots! read more

Intimate warm and inviting little spot. Very few tables and a little crammed together. No private convos to be had here. Cool bar seating as well though if you want to go for date night. Cocktail list was interesting in a good way. Very unique. For food we had the fried olives, ceviche was fantastic, steak fries, oysters, and main course fish. Side of harissa cauliflower was ok it sounded better than it was. But rest all in all was delicious. Decent portions especially the mains. Not 5 star impressive but recommend to try for a relaxed date night spot. And of course the main st area has late night options after dinner. Nothing really for dessert here so you can cross over to sweet rose for ice cream after like we did. read more

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food and service was amazing! cocktails and wine were delicious too. shout out to our amazing server melanie for taking such good care of our large group! read more

The food was ok, the server was friendly but when customer service was not great. We didn't like one dish, left it almost untouched. The server asked if we liked it and then did absolutely nothing to correct the issue. I would not return here again. read more

Amazing burger/martini and lovely service and vibes. Gloria was a doll! Would definitely recommend