This place can be delicious or just plain nasty in taste. I love sweets and stumbled into Bar Cocoa one cold night. I had couple of delicious French macarons (coconut, pistachio, and coffee) and one really pretty but really, really, really dry and oily red velvet cupcake...I know it sounds contradictory but it almost tasted like old cake that someone tried to revive by soaking it in melted butter and lard. The worst part was the service was awful. The guy behind the counter had the personality of the Grim Reaper. No smiles, treated customers like a 12 year old would treat chores (a lot of sighing and eye rolling).
Because the French macarons were so good I decided to stop by a month or two later while I was at a meeting uptown just to give Bar Cocoa a chance to redeem itself. Bad mistake! The macarons were so hard and dry I thought I was going to chip a tooth. Why some were dry, some were so soft they were almost mushy and tasted undercooked. The same guy was still there, with the same horrible service. No smile and not an ounce of personality. I mean c'mon now, you don't have to love your job but you have to make the best of it.
Coming from the Ritz, I would have expected them to be more picky when it came to choice of staff. The staff in the hotel itself is wonderful but the staff at Bar Cocoa needs improvement. I will not be back until things change.