La Cocina De La Abuela — Restaurant in Four Corners States

I went here with the idea that as the name implies "La Cocina de la Abuela" or "Grandmas Kitchen" that I would eat a meal that resembled a home cooked meal or was made from scratch. In my opinion (and I'm entitled to that) that was not the case. If it was made from scratch then they may have lost some of the original recipes intent or missed some ingredients that were handed down by Grandma. Cooking with love is also an important ingredient as food can taste different when it's absent. Two plates. Carne asada tacos and chialquiles in red sauce. Usually you can begin to develop an impression of a Mexican restaurant by sampling these two dishes. There are many other dishes but this two are a great starting point. For the carne asada tacos the meat was bland in flavor. I'm not saying it was but it gave me the impression it was yesterday’s meat. Dry, too chewy and the meat was not even hot. The rice just fit the bill but no more. The texture was good, was cooked right but in the end it lacked flavor. I’ve had plain white rice taste better. The flour tortilla did not have a made by hand quality to me. The texture and bite felt from something massed produced. The corn tortillas from other pictures do seem to have a handmade quality to them but I did not try them so I can’t comment there. What sealed my impression of this place was the refried beans. I've had refried beans before so I know homemade. I hate to say from the first bite I sampled I was instantly reminded of a flavor that in my opinion only comes from a can. If you have had homemade and from a can refried beans there is a difference. I'm not saying refried beans from a can are not good. They are good. I've had them before and enjoyed it. I also recognize that when pressed for time it's an easy cook. But the name of the restaurant implies a home cooked or form scratch meal. This didn’t seem to be the case. The other plate was a chiaquiles. Same story with the beans. As for the red sauce same deal. There was from a can quality to it. It was good but didn’t feel homemade. The chips held decently to the sauce. A different chip might have held up better and maintained a better crunch. I’ve heard other people say they prefer the chip to get a bit soggy. If that is how they like it then more power to them. I prefer my chips to hold up well without getting soft or soggy. The red sauce was ok. I can’t say more than that. About the only good things were the eggs. If the beans are not from a can then the flavor may be coming from the pan they use to make the beans….. All other items I did not try. Not interested in trying them either. If something as simple as tacos and chilaqiles won’t impress then the more elaborate items on the menu may also fail to impress. I also believe that if service improved, there was more organization in the front as well as the kitchen then the quality of the food might improve some. From what I saw they are still struggling with a few basic things. Food quality suffers if timing is off during preparation and when combining all the ingredients to prepare the dish. Some items may have cooked too soon in relation to others and maybe sat a bit too long and in the process lost moisture or didn’t marinate overnight before cooking. This review is based on the name of the restaurant. With a name like that your first thought is home cooked from scratch. That automatically raises the bar for what you would expect. Based on that expectation it did not deliver. If it had only been called “La Cocina” or “The kitchen” then this might have been a 3 or 4...

True definition of authentic and home made cooking! The flavor is the best in town. Accessible location in Rio Rico, super clean, staff is very friendly and attentive.

Don’t miss out on their hand-made tortillas! Everything is made from scratch and quality isn’t compromised.

Order online or call ahead,...

I just bought an order of Barbacoba it came with chopped onions and Clinton and bean and salsa with home made tortillas de maíz. To be honest the best Barbacoba I have ever had and those fresh home made tortillas are the bomb. I recommend this place...