LA COCINA — Restaurant in Great Falls

For these prices a customer should get great service, authentic food, and an overall great experience. Spoiler alert.. that's not what you'll get at La Cocina which we now jokingly call "La Cochina" instead.

As we walked in for the first time, the manager or owner (not completely sure) just kinda stared at us in awkward silence rather than offering his new customers a warm welcome as you'd expect in ANY business. He finally seated us, again awkwardly without much to say.

Our server showed up and brought us some chips, salsa, and menus. The salsa was mild and pretty bland. Kinda what you'd expect a mom from the Midwest to make for you and not something you'd get at an authentic Mexican restaurant. Almost like some ketchup with a few chunks of tomato and cumin thrown in. They charge for drink refills and it's stated in big bold red letters on the menu which seemed amusing, cheap, and greedy at the same time. It was like going back in time to an 80s truck stop.

Our group ordered enchiladas, carne asada, and Chile relleno. The kids had some dry looking cheeseburgers with unmelted cheese which actually made one of them sick to his stomach. For the price, the portions were pretty small. The food arrived cold and the waitress was complaining to us the customers about the cook letting our food get cold.

All of the food was bland which at this point in our dinner experience wasn't a surprise at all. The Chile relleno was soggy with grease which is unfortunate because it was the only thing that had any flavor and I didn't bother finishing the enchiladas being cold and tasteless as they were. The meat in the tacos was very dry and lacked much flavor. The portions of rice and beans were greedily small but the rice was very dry and flavorless anyway.

Overall, we won't be going back to this place. My favorite Mexican restaurant out of state gives generous portions of very authentic flavorful food that keeps you coming back and they're always so friendly. We've never spent more than $50 there and at La Cocina our bill was over $75 for an experience that isn't worth...

If I could give zero stars I would. The food is abysmal, the ground beef has an industrial taste to it with a vinegary after taste, my taco was soggy from the grease in the meat, it soaked completely through one side of the taco shell. The enchiladas had no sauce, no flavor, my husband ordered a chicken burrito he ended up with pork. Our friends had the same meal I ordered. No sauce, hard tamales, the rice was old and crunchy. The food was not even lukewarm. One plate had a huge chip in it where it had been broken, all of the plates had assorted nicks and chips in them a great place for bacteria to breed. I pointed out the chip in the plate our waitress, who didn’t seem to be concerned. Service was horrid, our waitress never checked on us, she never, come with check. The owner was just standing around, I had to signal her to get our check, which we had waited a good thirty minutes to get. Then we had to wait another thirty minutes to get the credit card back. The restaurant was not busy just our table of four and another table of four. This is not Mexican Food, I’m from South Texas where Mexican Food is real, our friends are from California , where Mexican Food is real. Needless to say none of us will be darkening their door way again. don’t waste your time or money. I might add this was our second choice, the other Mexican Food restaurant is in the process of moving other wise we would have...

My daughter and I went to eat there today as we were always so thrilled with Fiesta El Jalisco and the wait staff there as well as the food was amazing. We were happy that the owners opened a new place so we had to try it. We got there and were greeted by one of the waitresses from the other place, who is always so nice. Told us she will be right with us, clean a table for us and sat us down. Our 'server', I say that very loosely, came to our table, dropped off chips and salsa and said she is busy and it will be a long time for her to get to us. Didn't bring us water or ask us if we wanted a drink while we wait. She sat at the till for a good 10 minutes, looking at the screen. Then went into the kitchen and proceeded to bring out 2 plates at at time to her table of six. Then sat in the kitchen for another 10 minutes doing nothing. Brought a table behind us their food and walked away from us. Didn't say anything, just walked away. We left!! Completely disgusted with this girl as I know her. She used to be my lash artist at a salon here in Great Falls. Stopped returning my calls there. She see's us come in and treats us like we were invisible! Not impressed and will not eat there just because of her poor attitude and blatantly rude and dismissive attitude! You are in the service industry! You plan on making money you may want to check your rather immature and snotty attitude at the door! Huge...