SEAReview
photo credit: Suzi Pratt
Copal
This spot is Permanently Closed.
Included In
Copal is a new Mexican restaurant in Pioneer Square that probably spent a few months too many on its interior design. The space is somewhere in between a five-year-old’s piñata party (but with more alcohol) and the living room of someone who watches a lot of “desert chic DIY” how-to’s. If you removed the furniture and replaced it with racks of boutique clothing and whimsical measuring spoons and displays of artisan rocks, nobody would notice.
But like Halo Top and all-natural deodorant, Copal is a very pretty face with not a lot of substance to back it up.
The menu is pretty basic, and not one we’d recommend if you’re wanting authentic Mexican food. Some dishes are plain but fine takes on classics, like the guacamole that they call a “smashed avocado plate” (which doesn’t come with tortilla chips, because those don’t exist here), and the street corn that needs a Clueless-type intervention where the popular elotes teaches this one how to look and behave. On the other end of the spectrum, the roasted chicken has so much cumin that it’s unclear whether that’s intentional or an accident.
That said, not everything at Copal is disappointing. A couple of saving graces come in the form of killer barbacoa tacos and a Campari-tequila slushie that we always want to be sitting poolside with. If you do end up here, these things will make you happy enough - but we’re talking about tacos and slushies, so of course they will.
We wouldn’t go out of our way to eat here unless we had a situational reason to, but Copal does have some advantages in that department. An early-in-the-game date would go well over a couple of snacks and margaritas, it’s a convenient place for happy hour with coworkers, and the setting would be great for that engagement shower you unwisely took charge of planning. If you go in knowing what to expect, Copal is a perfectly acceptable spot for any of those occasions. At the very least, it won’t make you angry enough to throw something at a wall. Unlike a pint of Halo Top ice cream.