Columbia Mexican restaurant with unusual name opening second location
A popular Mexican restaurant in Columbia is opening its second location in the Midlands.
Cocos and Beer, which has found success since opening on Fort Jackson Boulevard across from LaBrasca’s Pizza in 2019, is moving into the vacant unit at 841-1 Sparkleberry Lane. The site used to house Solstice Kitchen, which closed down last year after having to suspend operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Real estate broker Bobby Balboni, who handles retail for NAI Columbia, helped the Mexican restaurant secure the new spot in northeast Columbia.
“We had a number of restaurants looking at the space,” Balboni said. “Cocos came in at the last minute, and they’ve been doing really well by Fort Jackson, so it made sense for them to expand.”
He expects the location will work for co-owner brothers Alvara and Marcos Guadarrama, since customers have gotten use to staying close to home during the pandemic.
“It’s great to go downtown to eat, but people are more accustomed now to being close to home, so it’s an enticing location for them,” Balboni said.
The restaurant’s unusual name comes from the popular combination of beer and coconuts in Mexico. It’s known for its wide selection of authentic Mexican dishes and a menagerie of margaritas, plus the large bull sculpture in the parking lot.
The Guadarrama brothers also own bakeries in Greenville and Hendersonville, N.C., and a meat market/taqueria in Fletcher, N.C., called Los Toros.
Balboni expects the new location to be ready to open sometime early in the new year.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 12:30 PM.
.jpg)