La Cochinita Japanese Food Factory

Horrendous customer service as soon as i walked in (WE DON’T HAVE CHICKEN) no hello, welcome, nothing. That’s okay do you have shrimp. She looks at her watch and says it’s going to be 30min. Both cashier and cook with horrible customer service skills and just ready to close and go home in 40min. Okay no problem i get it. I turned around and walked out.
Very next day i went back. I don’t know why, this time different cashier she was super nice. I ordered food to go for the whole family. Got home. Well lets just say why, why did i go back. Never again. I opened this acct just to leave a review. I heard really good thing about this place. And maybe its just my luck. Give them a chance if you want you might have a different experience.

I have been coming to this place occasionally since they opened here in Chula Vista. The food is very good (it’s Japanese-​style Mexican food, not Japanese food) and they do no skimp on the portions. It can’t be beat for the prices.
My only gripes with this place and the reason I don’t visit more often are
1) the customer service is generally terrible. The cashiers are not friendly at all — they do not greet you. On the contrary, they give you an attitude like you are imposing on them or somehow forcing them to act against their will. If you ask for anything other than the plate name (i.e., extra sauce, no jalapenos, etc), they practically scold you as they roll their eyes or perform some other unpleasant gesture. I’m not a shy person, but I feel almost apprehensive to say anything else other than «an order of blah blah» because they make you so uncomfortable.
2) Half of the time, it takes forever for your order to be ready. Thus I don’t go when I’m very hungry and
3) There’s no parking lot and only a couple spots on the busy street (Broadway) that are hardly ever available. I’ve gone a number of times and just keep driving when there’s no open spot.
Today for a change, I went and there was a very nice lady behind the counter. She greeted me politely with a big smile, and even offered extras without me having to ask. What a welcome change! If they got rid of the regular Grinch and this continues, I’ll upgrade it to 4 stars. At that point, I think I’ll be more tolerable of the cooking time and parking situation, although that’s what will keep it from 5 stars for me.

Been coming to this place for almost a year now, and it’s real good and clean.
Always good and healthy…

Came in here for the first time today and I really like the food! Got the namuraky chicken with the namura salad and a miso soup. The size of the soup is much bigger than most other places and for only $ 1.75. The salad was really good as well.
The only thing that would have been better is if the chicken was spicier! Next time I’ll ask haha

My order consisted of 1-​cup Miso Soup. Generous serving. A little salty. Price. $ 1.75.. Teriyaki Beef, Nomura Salad and Rice. They serve a very generous portion. 5points.
Salad is worth 5pts. The beef is tender. 5pts. The rice 5pts. The Cons. 1 soup and Beef was just too salty. 2. Teriyaki sauce is not the teriyaki sauce I was expecting. But it was still good. Overall I ate the whole thing.

Great food we came here because my wife said she had eaten at these restaurants in Ensenada. Over all the food is great and the service was great there isn’t a restaurant like this around here it’s like Japanese food with tortas as well and tacos great place and it’s clean we will be coming back in the future.

These guys are still awesome, right what I expected and remembered from when I ate this in Tijuana, very generous portions, nice friendly welcome and a clean restaurant will keep me coming here.

Great food, just like I remember. Service has never been great at any Cochinita, but the food is well worth that. it is a fusion of Baja and Japanese. I love the the Chicken Nomuraki.

Overall great place to eat. Amount of food is just right, Customer service could be better in terms of timing. Other thank that a great place to eat infused Japanese food.
Try it ! well worth the try.

Doesn’t even deserve one star. Horrible service! ordered my food by phone and when i went to pick it up at the time they said it’ll be ready, it wasn’t! when i asked the cashier replied with an attitude saying she doesn’t cook! well, when the cook finally showed up, he didn’t even know what i had ordered. The food was not good. it was really dry and cold. would NOT recommend this place and i will not be going back!

Terrible service, walked in fir the first time, having dined at the one in ensenada,
Walked in she flat out told us we had to wait, while waiting she told me to move so other customer could get their food, poor lay out next to register .
So I asked when we can order, the two cashiers were rude, one said they did not have chicken.
Will never return, very disappointed, the customer should be treated good.

Great food especially the nomuraki beef and chicken only thing that sucks there not taking credit or debit no more very inconvenient when you decide to stop there last minute and have no cash on you -:(
Please get your credit/​debit machine back critical for any business especially a restaurant frequently by a lot
Thanks
Ps, we decided to eat at Mrs Rice

This place is good not your ordinary fast food place. they have a lot of choices on food but it just takes a little while to get your food, but well worth it.

This place is for teriyaki fans. Being one myself, I tried the Nomuraki, and asked the guy on the phone to brown the chicken. I was surprised with the good portion, this dish easily serves two. The taste was great. It is the same taste you can find at a Cochinita in Mexico, which is excellent. Make sure to pour some of the jalpeño sauce on top of the chicken, yum!

Worst Japanese food I have tasted. I had yakatori it was not good. Would not recommend this restaurant. If you have had real Japanese food DO NOT EAT HERE. It’s not worth your money. I’m making myself eat it just because I paid for it.

I don’t know what’s up with the reviews below me, but my order took no less than five minutes. Me being originally from Baja, it has been at least 6 years since I last had a cochinita. It is the same authentic flavor as any cochinita and I really appreciate that. It was a Friday evening at 4:45pm, when I dropped in and ordered a chicken nomuraki, my order was super fast and hot and ready to go, and I had to take the obligatory chiles jalapeños, you know your Nomuraki is incomplete without them. This place is much better than your typical Japanese fast food restaurant because the portions are actually big and very cheap, and the flavor… mmmm… you just have to try it!!! I will surely come back. Just a side comment: I don’t understand the concept of a tip jar on the counter next to the cash registry, especially if you walk in and the employees see you and YOU (the customer) are the one saying «Hi» (twice) to them, and they don’t respond back (on both times), to me that is just plain rude, like I said, why a tip jar then??? Other than that, food is great, prices are affordable and portions are huge. 5 stars!!-Warning: parking is on the street.

Like some others have critiqued, this is a Mexican take on Asian food. Get some meat, put it on rice, and then brush some teriyaki sauce on it. Pretty tasteless. What made it worse was waiting for 20+ min for our two orders while a party of three and a party of two after us received their orders pretty quickly before us.
Nothing uniquely Japanese or Asian here. Skip it.

I had the Nomuraki Mix Plate (Chicken and Beef). The rice, Nomunisu sauce, chicken, beef, scallions and diced jalapeño’s were an excellent mix and had a really good flavor profile. Large portions and very filling. This is not Japanese food, it is a Mexican take on basically teryaki. Personnally, it was like a upgraded Yoshinoya but better quality ingredients. Maybe it is because we arrived when they opened on friday, but the service was a bit slow. Everything is made to order but the cook on duty was only able to cook one meal at a time and there were only three of us. The last guy in our group waited about 25 — 30 minutes for his order. Overall pretty good food for a reasonable price. I’ll be back when the mood strikes

Well, this is a hard one.
Foods are alright. In fact they’re good for the prices.
They’re not traditional kinds, but that’s fine. They are good anyway.
Yet I personally thought this place is insulting Japanese culture.
1: the names of dishes are all «Japanese sound like» even though they are some random nouns or complete girlish.
2: their to-​go menu says «they are cooked, never raw.»
I know that they are very personal opinions and should not be considered in the rating. After all, I gave three stars instead one to be fair.
So long story in short, you may not want to visit if you are familiar with Japanese culture.

Good prices and large portions.