The Coco Park Futian Cocktail Test: Who Makes the Better Negroni?
| Best for | cocktails, large groups |
|---|---|
| Price | Scillia: moderate · Solo: moderate |
| Location | 5 min walk from Shopping Park Station (购物公园站) |
| Hotels nearby | Crowne Plaza Shenzhen Futian (深圳福田皇冠假日酒店), Hyatt Park (深圳柏悦酒店), Sheraton Shenzhen Futian (深圳福田喜来登酒店) |
Finding the place
The two bars are Solo and Scillia, both on the same half of Coco Park along the bar street. The red theme that runs throughout the area holds true in both sections. I approached Solo from the opposite direction and not by the more popular entrance next to Shark and Pepper.
On entering the bar street you are immediately struck by the similarities between the two bars Solo and Scillia. Although there are subtle differences.
Vibe
The red gives the whole scene an underground dungeon club vibe. Which is perfect for bumping into strangers. Both have a sort of outside lounge space and a inner bar area with dance floors and Dj areas. Both also attract a similar crowd.
Solo is the larger of the two, with a few other different sections. However don’t be fooled by that, the drinks and ingredients are the same. Solo’s the first section has a spacious lounge with long long bar, with a sort of enclosed night club area, complete with a DJ, dance floor and more tables.
Despite Solo being the more dominant of the two, it was virtually empty when I arrived a about 9;30 pm. Scillia’s lounge/outdoor area on the other hand was almost full with would be party-goers. For me the open layout of their lounge along with a better atmosphere gives Scillia the win.
In terms of pure space, a longer bar (2 actually), a larger Dj party area I would say Solo takes the win.
What’s to drink?
At Solo, I asked for a Negroni. The bartender used a gin I had never seen or heard of before, something like A-I-U-R-O. I am a bit of a gin guy, so this is important to me, but perhaps not for you. I mean we are all different. Once ordered the drink came fast. The colour a standard Negroni red. The taste was anything but that. It was sickly sweet, with no hint of bitterness, with a very strong alcohol taste. It was the flavour of a cheap spirit.
Don’t get me wrong it was drinkable, I mean I finished mine. That said I would not buy a gin based cocktail from there again.
At Scillia, I had the same cocktail. The bartender used Gordon’s gin, which is relatively in expensive. After the first sip I thanked all the bar gods that he had used Gordon’s gin. I have never been so happy to taste a simple in my life. It completely took away the bad the taste left in my mouth from Solo’s Negroni. I almost stayed for a few more but I had to go and check another bar out. This was an easy win for Scillia.
What’s the service like?
At Solo, the first reaction was positive, a very eager server rushed to greet me, with a plan to part me from my money. He was pretty good at his job too, he had really good vibe about him. I wish could say as much for the female bartender, who looked completely grumpy. I don’t think it was me, I mean we’d never met! Perhaps she’d been asked to work on her day off or something. In her defence though she was quick, and did tolerate my bad Chinese skills.
At Scillia, a server greeted me with a similar upbeat and positive attitude as the first guy. Once at the bar itself, a male and female bartender were both busy knocking out cocktails with an air professionalism. They had a bit of a bag log, so I had to wait a bit. The wait however was worth it, like I mentioned above. I asked a few questions about cocktails and he seemed happy to answer. I like that it in a cocktail bartender.
Both in skills and service, I would say Scillia is the clear winner here.
What are the prices like?
For both, 68 RMB for a Negroni is a pretty good price in Coco Park — I know street bars that charge almost that — though beers and other drinks in this area are generally quite high. So this way they’re both equal they both offer a good value (for cocktails). So in this way, there’s no clear they are equal.
Worth dropping by?
So here we are at the crux of it. Two bars look the same, in the same spot. The uniforms are different and so are the cocktails.
For a greater amount of people and chaos I think Solo is the place, for a similar experience with better service it might be Scillia. For nice tasting cocktails there is only one, Scillia.
