Coco and The Cellar Bar

Coco and Cellar Bar have been on my foodie-radar since they opened up in Summer 2012.

I have been following them on FB forever and finally, I was able to experience the Mecca myself.

This review is only for Cellar Bar because we had dinner at another Easthampton establishment.

Cellar Bar is intimate and very well-decorated to create a relaxed, low-key setting. I would say think a smaller Vinted (WeHa) in a basement of a very good restaurant.

The drink menu was creative and they offered beer, wine and unique and creative  cocktails. I had the Bee Blossom which had Elderflower liqueur. Really very good.

The only thing I would say is that the drink glasses are very small, they fill them off with a lot of ice, and I don't really think you get much drink for $8. Three sips and I was done with my mixed drink

I would stick to wine or beer if you're trying to get the most bang for your buck. Of course, I didn't see the beer glasses or a wine pour where they may actually be cutting ounces off that, too. Shame on you, Coco/Cellar Bar, for not offering full size drinks. Your prices are high enough.

Overall, really cute place for late night drinks. They do offer a full menu down in the Cellar Bar but only the restaurant above (CoCo) will take reservations.

I did peek into Coco and it is really small place. Very intimate. Sparse and tasteful decor. I also hear that this place (Coco and Cellar bar) are very locavore. I did see a lot of local drinks on the drink menu so that has born out in my first experience here.

Easthampton is a cute town that is enjoying a revitalization. Imagine a baby NoHa before the pretension, the prices and the pay-for parking. Parking is free in EHa.

Coco and Cellar Bar are just the first of I'm sure many dining establishments that will be opening up here in the near future. I highly recommend fellow Yelpers to check it out.

Food is OK-- but the drinks are embarrassingly small.
That was our biggest gripe.
At $8 per glass, our wine came in a water tumbler, and equalled 1 and 1/2 inches of liquid. Yes, we were so dumbfounded, we measured!
Then the mixed drink came and it was even harder to believe-- a tasty Grapefruit Cosmopolitan that came in a very small rock glass, and filled the glass to -- again---no more than 1 and 1/2 inches. My friend who ordered the Cosmopolitan was shocked, and not happy.
We looked at other diners to see if there was some mistake, but all the drinks were similarly sized.
Felt ripped off indeed.

BF and I were excited to try this restaurant based on all the positive yelps and were mutually disappointed. As a lazy home chef, I can appreciate the obvious time the kitchen staff spent on preparation (very nicely minced cucumbers, chopped herbs and extra long julienned carrots cut to perfection, the extra-slow cooked pork) so I understand the higher prices. Which is why it hurts even more when dishes that obviously took a lot of time to make don't really taste that good. Very sad.

Their mini falafel appetizer was expensive ($8 for 3 mini balls) and the flavors didn't blend- like an overachiever, there was too much going on. The pork medallion was way too salty to taste anything other than salt. (And, surprisingly, was delivered to the table with an unappealing stringy nugget of fat on top.) The best part of that dish was the nicely cooked local radishes. The other side of polenta was,well... isn't there anything else to could serve with the pork besides cheap corn meal?! And the chicken ragu meal my BF picked was just way off - both in flavor and texture. I couldn't pinpoint the off flavor in the ragu because I couldn't bear to eat another fork (yes, that bad), but, honestly, I truly felt like I was eating canned cat food sprinkled with a gritty, sharp, poke-your-gums, stick-in-your teeth... bread crumbs? Yes, I know, the crispy fried crumbs are meant to be a special touch that demonstrates the extra time to prepare this way, but it doubly ruined the dish. They did offer to replace the ragu, but neither of us were in the mood for any of the other 3 meal options that night...mac n cheese, fried chicken, or swordfish. I'm very happy that other people really enjoy this restaurant, but it just wasn't for us.

Oh- and there was some weird thing going on with the seating. If you didn't have reservations, they sent you downstairs to the bar area- which was really weird because the restaurant was practically empty. Felt a bit pretentious. Fortunately, for those sent to the cellar, the room has a nice, comfortable feel, but it really was a bit musty down there- kicked up my allergies just walking through.