Lilly Likes reviews one of the best known bars and eateries in central Amsterdam.
We are no stranger to pubs and clubs here at Lilly Likes HQ. Most of the time, you can find us indulging in all the delights of Amsterdam – well, not the unsavoury delights, of course. This last year or so has been hard on everyone with travel restrictions, but when we do get a chance to go back to the city that never stops smoking, we will happily take a trip to Coco’s Outback.
Cocos Outback has many things going for it, but it’s a bar with great food and cocktails, so it can’t cater to your every whim. Check out our museum guides or our coffeeshops of Amsterdam blog series if you want to investigate other things to see and do around town.
Now let’s get back to the good stuff!
Coco’s Outback is easily recognisable by their Australian theme and the kangaroo on their sign. It might be a wallaby, we’re not sure how to tell the difference. It is situated in the heart of central, in Thorbeckeplein, right on the corner of Rembrandt Square, meaning you should be within stumbling distance of your accommodation by the end of the night.
Let’s get to know the innards of this cool place to party so that we know what to ask for when we finally do get to the Dam.
Services at Coco’s Outback
Services sounds so business-like! Really, we just mean that they offer so many different moves that it makes for an incredibly versatile business plan. They are a bar by day, a cocktail bar after nine, a restaurant until last orders, and a nightclub the rest of the time. You can go hear for a drink, a dance, a fancy cocktail, or an evening meal. Cocos Outback does not discriminate.
That’s quite a big list of attributes so let’s break it down into bitesize pieces, suitable for a dinner date in Amsterdam.
The Sports Bar
One we neglected to mention is that Coco’s Outback’s warm Aussie welcome extends over their 30+ TV screens. This lets every sports fan in the city have a place to watch the matches that they can’t afford to buy at home. They estimate themselves to be the biggest sports bar in the Netherlands, but of course, we know that’s not all they are.
The Restaurant
OK, so it’s posher pub grub than fancy restaurant, but who doesn’t wan a beer and a burger with the game? While you are enjoying those thirty+ screens you could be romancing a date that has no idea you just came for the footy. Kill multiple birds with one stone and have the lads show up after, so you can enjoy a full day and night of entertainment.
We’ll cover the menu in a little while. We’re not finished describing what Coco’s actually is yet.
The Cocktail Bar
Food finishes at 10pm and the night shifts up a notch. The bar switches from football fanatics haven to the home of a classy cocktail. Between 10 and 11 every night the cocktails are reduced in price. This happy hour is famed throughout the city and draws in the locals and tourists alike. If you like a sex on the beach but realise Amsterdam is a port town, this is where you come to do it.
The Club
After cocktail hour kicks it off, Coco’s Outback switches from any kind of bar into a full-on club. Complete with tabletop dancers (you’re allowed to join in) and enough booze for everyone, the Outback is home to some of the best DJs in town. Dance the night away, on or off the table, and enjoy their famous hospitality.
On a Friday night, Cocktails, and pints of Amsterdam’s finest (that’s Heineken to you and me) are only €5 each. You don’t get much better prices than those within the city centre.
The After Party
Picture this scenario: you have spent the early afternoon catching a match with your mates, then you stay on for dinner. After dinner you hit a cocktail and before you know it, it’s 3 am and your mate john has his head down the toilet in their pristine club bathrooms.
What do you do? You can’t get him home because he can’t walk… the Sex on the Beach killed him. What happens next? At Coco’s you don’t have to panic. Not content with being a sports bar, a restaurant, a cocktail bar, and a nightclub, they also have a hotel upstairs. No jokes here, just admiration.
The Hotel
Although it’s not as extensively furnished or as well attended as some of the five star hotels in Amsterdam, the rooms at Coco’s Outback are clean and well kept. They have three separate rooms upstairs from the bar, each able to fit up to four people in a group or a single family unit. The rooms are short stay only.
It’s almost as if they got used to people crashing out and decided to make some money from it. They really did see us coming. The rooms are ensuite and exclusive. That’s the price you pay for getting too drunk to walk home, John. On the other hand, you might as well pass out in semi-luxury.
The Roof Terrace
The three rooms are topped by an incredible roof terrace that has stunning views out over the city. You can’t see for miles and miles, but there is something romantic about gazing out over the city lights at 3 am that we can all get behind. We know a bunch of attractions that would charge you for such a privilege.
Events at Coco’s Outback
Cocos do a regular weekly quiz night so that patrons have a chance to win back some of the money they lost through the day drinking. If that’s not up your street, they have an events calendar that you can check up on online.
Events are usually DJs that are coming to town, and they invite to play. However, if you have the cash, you can rent out a space for an event of your own. They can even provide you with both food and rooms for your effort. That’s a pretty good deal for things like stag and hen nights or team building days… as long as you like your team building in liquid form.
Workshops
So, we have sports, cocktails, nightclubbing, hotels, events, and a roof terrace. How could we add to all of this? We could expand the service above to incorporate teambuilding or large group ‘workshops’.
These workshops feature things like DJing for a day, making your own cocktails, throwing a private karaoke sesh, or even just renting the bar for the night for you and a bunch of your mates. All of this sounds like it would end in epic adventure, and we can’t recommend them enough.
We swear this place is part pub, part entertainment complex.
What’s on the Menu at Coco’s Outback?
The menu is more extensive than you might expect. The owners at Coco’s Outback have foregone the normal pub grub offerings for want of something with a bit more decadence to it. For example, your sandwich options aren’t limited to BLT or cheese, they include Wild Vegan sandwiches, Tuna Melts and Mexican Chicken.
They have burgers by the bucketload. You can build your own burger starting with the choice of chicken, beef, or falafel burgers, then adding any of a deluxe set of toppings. As well as the build-your-own-burger-bar, they have Aussie pies like Kangaroo pie and beef and Guinness. They have ribs, chicken, and even shareable snacks like squid, onion rings, and the more traditional Amsterdam fare of Bitterballen.
Overall, this is a great menu for somewhere that has a lot on its plate, pardon the pun.
What’s on the Cocktail Menu at Coco’s Outback?
The drinks menu at Coco’s Outback is equally as excessive as the food menu is. Cocktails aside, you can choose from spirits, shots, ciders, beers of the world, whiskey’s, martinis, draft beers, liquors, bubbly stuff, homemade lemonades, and a bunch of sot drinks. Their ability to cater to the clients every need obviously extends into cocktail hour, too.
As to their cocktails, you can get a Hard Selzer of a Fizzy Peachtree if you want to keep it low alcohol. Otherwise, expect to get mashed. They have classic, Frozen Mango and Frozen Strawberry margaritas. They have Gummy Bear, Espresso and Pornstar Martinis. Let’s not neglect the golden oldie of the Cosmopolitan or the mojito.
As well as these, you can have a Strawberry Daquiri, a Bloody Mary, or a Long Island Iced Tea. Specialties of the house include a Cocos Boosted and Outback Punch, both of which contain so many different types of alcohol it won’t matter, because you won’t be able to remember what you drank after you drink it.
The Roundup of Coco’s Outback
All in all, we estimate this to be a fun place to pass a day, or two, or a full fortnight. Really it just depends how long you are in town.
Coco’s Outback gets the Lilly Likes seal of approval, hop along and see it for yourself.
