La Cocina — Restaurant in California

No stars unless I'm forced. Driving back from Santa Ysabel tonight and decided to try La Cocina because from the outside it's nice looking old historic building on the corner of Main Street and it appeared from outside to be upscale. Upon entering you need to go to the counter and order and then take your seat. Maybe I should have realized this wasn't a quality place. Served a plate of chips and salsas, that are so so. Then our waitress brings us our order and a plastic fork & knife wrapped in a napkin. I politely asked for real silverware but was told they don't use it. My order was the number 5, two beef enchiladas, rice and beans. The refritos (re-fried) pintos, looked like they're from Albino Pintos. The color was grey/white. They were diluted with so much water and no seasoning that I'm thinking they must have come up with powdered dried instant Pinto Bean mix. The sauce, enchiladas, rice were all blah. I didn't notice any seasoning or culinary effort at all. The Carne Asada Burrito was serfed to us with the ingredients cold inside. Bhah! When I asked the waitress initially if we could have more salsa, she gave us the evil eye and said we don't have any other. No I explained I mean may we have more. I then had the audacity to ask her about the way the beans were made and she looked like her head was going to start spinning. She cast us the most hostile look and said with attitude "That's the way the beans are made." I asked to speak to the manager and if the other more mature Hispanic lady was the manager or owner. The waitress, who I'd judge to be in her 20's, so if she reads this she'll know who I'm referring to just came back with attitude and obstruction. I said to her, I'm just trying to find out if the other lady who was helping us is the manger, I don't need any attitude. She said, "I don't have any attitude," "You want attitude I can give you attitude." If it wasn't so ridiculous I would have laughed in her face. I think she was trying out for a part in a b movie and she thought her role was playing the tough local girl trying to give the new girl in town grief. I mean my God she's a waitress serving customers not a thug in a bar dealing with a homie and having a cat fight. I am not making this up, she was seriously rude. After the nice but sorely uniformed manger told us we've been here for 30 million years and nobody has ever complained about the beans, (apparently they don't read their reviews) and at least graciously offered us our money back I thought yes I can't eat this took the refund and left our meals. We went down the street and into Mananas and had a reasonably decent Chipolte chicken burrito on whole wheat tortilla and drove back to Poway. Except for the stop at La Cocina it was a beautiful day. Side note: In both restaurants I observed people who clearly were high on or coming down from speed or meth. Ramona clearly had a big problem with people who are wasted on speed, some with children so very very...

I live in Ramona for the past year and I have tried all the Mexican food here. This place is my favorite the food comes out fast and the employees are all so friendly and nice. Very clean inside and you never see a dirty table. The prices are fair but in my opinion the burritos and portions are a bit small, the same as everywhere else in Ramona. 5 stars for the cleanliness and staff. I was disappointed the other evening, I came in ordered a burrito I went outside smoked a cigarette and went back inside , after waiting for 10 more minutes the middle aged gentleman noticed I was still waiting so he asked me what I ordered he went back to the kitchen for a few then told me he is sorry but somehow my order was misplaced I said no problem it happens he was so nice offered me a drink while I wait I respectfully declined and waited I got my food I was still happy until I went home and took a bite the fries in the burrito were not cooked all the way maybe because they rushed my order I'm not sure but if you like California burritos you know the worse thing is undercooked fries makes it virtually inedible. I didn't call or complain I understand this happens sometimes but I would like management to read this and ensure fries are not undercooked not just for me but for everyone. And lastly the gentleman had glasses and...

The food here is fantastic- the service leaves a lot to be desired. I phoned in a to go order of 2 burritos and an order of chips and salsa. The lady on the phone clarified that the burritos each came with chips, and did I want an extra order of chips and salsa, and I said yes, because I know that each burrito comes with like 6 chips. So when I picked up the order I asked for salsa verde, and she said there were 3 in the bag- so I asked for 2 more. You would think I asked for the blood of her first born! I offered to pay for the extra salsa, but she preferred to just give me a hard time. So I get home and we sit down to dinner-- no side of chips- only the little 6 chip bags that came with each burrito. So just as the stingy salsa woman predicted, I didn't need as much as I asked for. I did pay for the extra chips- just didn't get them. Lesson learned: only go for dine in, and only during the day when the nice young...