La Cocina

In a nutshell the food is not bad but the service is absolutely terrible.
My wife and I came here for taco Tuesday and were treated what I consider very rude, mainly involving pricing. We ordered our tacos at the same time, she ordered 2 and I ordered 3 all 5 the same. When he was taking our order I asked about the taco Tuesday special and he (young guy) acknowledged and tallied up our bill. When we sat down at our table my wife asked how the bill could be so high if all our tacos were $.99 each. When I asked for our receipt he fetched it out of the trash with 5 other receipts (for us to go through) all of them crumpled up. When I showed him the mistake (he charged my wife normal price) he said it was because my wife did not mention the taco Tuesday deal! No adjustments were made but for sure a customer was lost!

When my son went there her ordered cabesa tacos. The clerk said they had the meat. When he got to the car he had carnitas tacos. He took the food back and they said they were out of cabesa. He asked for a refund and they refused. Poor customer service to say the least. Wont be going back.

If your looking for something delicious food do not eat here, my burrito was cold and stuffed with rice and beans only never eating here again, the kid who took was orders was nice but he disappeared so I asked cook a question he looked at me and walked away figured he didn’t hear me. Asked again and he mumbled something in Spanish, I was so mad I almost reached over the counter and smacked his rude self, fortunately I was running late. I’ll eat Taco Bell before I eat here again…

I’ve eaten here a few times and the food is not that great. I think the worst part is their customer service.

If you’re looking for a quick bite of decent Mexican food this is a good place not amazing but definitely good. Their cheese enchiladas are quite tasty. The service was quick. Overall I had a good experience.

being new to the area, my boyfriend and I were excited to try out this smaller Mexican restaurant. BIG MISTAKE! After ordering our food, we watched as she pull beans, meat, egg, etc out of metal bins. I go to restaurants for fresh food and that is far from it. she then put the meat in a microwave to re-​warm it, along side the French fries with cheese in the microwave in a styrofoam box. My boyfriend ordered carne aside fries, and tasted as if they were a day old. the meat tasted like nothing. needless to say he threw it away. I ordered a breakfast burrito. the burrito tasted fine, but knowing how my food was made, I could not finish it. I do not recommend this place. Very disappointed!!!

I don’t recommend this place. Ordered a pozole and it looked like they just opened a can. It wasn’t made from scratch for sure. I only live a couple blocks away but I rather drive somewhere else for better quality food.

Had high hopes. Glad they are open early.
Rice and beans didn’t taste fresh. Selections of salsa mediocre at best. Chili rellano was homemade and was ok.
The one thing that was excellent was the al pastor taco. The meat was very flavorful. There were 4 people in the same time I was there and everyone had tacos.
Prob won’t be coming back. There are much better places around
Service very unfriendly. I felt like everyone was annoyed. It was early in the morning so it was prob a looonnngg day for those people.

This place is bomb! Came here on a Sunday afternoon and got myself a chili relleno plate. Now I’m going to die happy

$ 0.30 to use a credit card, $ 2.50 to make a wet burrito, and the chips were stale. Definitely the last time I go to this place. The food wasn’t even that good either. Taco Surf has it all over this place.

I will say this in the most polite way possible. I don’t like this place and I’m going to go ahead and say that my family didn’t like this place either. We all got food poisoning. The food was dry and has a distinct flavoring to it. The employees are not friendly and I don’t know if it’s a language barrier or if they are literally JUST rude. Either way I won’t be back and you should not go either if you don’t want to throw up…

Never disappointed when I come here for breakfast. The breakfast burritos are excellent. And I had the chilaquiles today for the first time — they were so good that I immediately wanted to write this review. Freshly made, spicy perfection.

La Cocina is hands down my favorite restaurant in Long Beach. Favorites: tacos (fish, carne asada, chicken), chilaquiles, burritos. Service is great, and the prices are hella good (you’d easily spend way more for fast food than the home made quality you get at La Cocina). My favorite place in Long Beach for sure. No frills, just friendly service and great food for great prices.

Service is excellent and breakfast burritos are the best around! I’m glad this place is here.

I have now been here 3 times.
The first 2 times the food was pretty decent. the service was not the greatest but I was getting it to go so I overlooked that.
The last time I walked in and there was no one inside. About thirty seconds later the guy who usually works the counter came out. He looked like he wasn’t happy to see a customer. After he took my order he prepared the food. Usually it’s a unfriendly lady cooking. The customer service here is not good. They do not seem happy for some reason.
All of the items were made pretty small. Tasted OK but small portions.
My wife said she is over this place. What a shame for them as we live walking distance. I don’t think we will go back. There are way better places, even if we have to drive further.

Breakfast burritos are ok. Got chicken burrito and was watered down or something. Could’ve drank the damn burrito. And like everyone else said. Employee or owner whatever seems grumpy and annoyed the three times I’ve been there. Kept trying to give it a chance but I’m done. Not recommended.

Place was weird.
Food as OK for price. If I was starving and this was the only place left on earth to eat at I would eat there again.
The guy (owner?) who took my order was ANGRY! He Did not greet us at all and seemed to be taking out his frustrations on the poor register. He punched in my order, made no eye contact and slammed the register drawer after he put my cash in. I was scared to ask him for a water cup! After we finished we walked right by the owner and smiled, he said nothing… No «goodbye»…No «thanks for coming in» Nothing, Nada.
I love supporting small family run businesses but these people are seriously in the wrong industry. They would be a great fit working for the DMV, but the food industry is not their cup of tea. I don’t think this place will be around much longer unless they step up the service and food!

Pros:
–food is good
–reasonable prices
–can see the food being prepared
Cons:
–no restrooms
–30 cent card fee
–cramped seating
–not the most personable staff
The food was good. Simple, far from elegant, but it tasted like authentic Mexican good should without being fatty or salty. I had chilaquiles with eggs and I was quite pleased. The only thing I’d pick on is that rice people are always talking about. Not that great by itself. My parents enjoyed their tacos, chile relleno, and enchilada.
The prices are decent. My chilaquiles and eggs came with rice and beans for $ 5.99. They do take card BUT using card does come with a 30 cent service fee.
Seating is a bit cramped. Mostly tables for 2 with one that can fit up to 6 in the back. NO restrooms, so do your business before you get here. Other than that, the staff could be a little more personable.

Not the best Mexican food I’ve ever had but it was good. Al Pastor taco was actually pretty good. Typical hole in the wall Mexican. I’ll be back.

After reading some really great reviews, the hubby and I decided to give it a go. We like to discover ma’ and pa’ type business and rather enjoy the small business feel, but unfortunately not all small business are created equal.
La Cocina is one of those business that don’t strike me as a family who decided that they wanted to be their own bosses and share grandmas cooking, with absolutely no concept of business or customer service in hand… not to mention that it looks like grandma (grumpy old grandma) is still the one cooking.
We went in and decided to order a chicken burrito, tamales and enchiladas. Alright as we were ordering my husband clearly and audibly told the girl at the cash register that he wanted a REGULAR (size wise) chicken burrito with everything EXCEPT rice which cost about 5 – 6 dollars (sorry forgot exact price). The girl then suggested that he get the SUPER burrito for and extra 2 dollars which would give him «extra chicken» (her words not mine). What man does not want extra meat??? So of course he went with it.
After paying we saw as an older woman began preparing the burrito, at which point she told the girl at the register that the burrito he ordered would be too small if she did not add rice and extra lettuce… but wait you say-weren’t we told we’d get extra chicken??? Yes, but apparently the lady in the back didn’t get the memo and for whatever reason, like speaking to a brick wall, she could not grasp the concept of extra chicken. She only got mad and gave us dirty looks, when someone has only cooked for their family dirty looks are OK but when you have a business ugly countenances need to be kept in the back way from public view!
Needless to say that afar going back and forth numerous times we just canceled the burrito over and decided to stick with the tamales and enchiladas… I know we should have just taken our loss and left all together.
We ended up with a pair or dehydrated tamales (just add lard and water). They were way too dry and the masa crumbled it was like watching the Cookie Monster eat a cookie… crumbs everywhere!
And the meat enchiladas, well for starters a true authentic Mexican restaurant does not serve Cheddar or American cheese with anything. Fresh or cotija cheese is the essential… guess what La Cocina uses… yup shredded cheese. The sauce also had that fresh metal out of the can taste… yummy!
Final thoughts, the La Cocina needs to go back to the cooking and customer service drawing board… or just stick to their personal Cocinas and leave the public Cocinas to the experts.