TROUBLEMAKERS' COCINA — Restaurant in Milwaukee

A lot of promise (flavors), but poor execution made it hard to enjoy.

Went for a late lunch on a Friday (around 1pm). Ordered the special, BBQ pork loaded fries, and the Fish Fry (it was Friday!). The wait for the food was a bit longer than expected, but it's a late lunch so you never know service speed.

Flavors were solid. Good seasoning. Good sauces. The problem comes down to the base for each meal: fries and fish. In other words, the foods that were fried. And they were fried poorly. Both over cooked. Fries were hard, so hard that they never became soggy after sitting under a load of BBQ and sauce. It was not a crispy fry, it was an overcooked fry.

The fish was varying levels of good/bad. 1 piece good (by comparison; still a bit overcooked). 1 piece acceptable (read edible). 1 piece was inedible. All Milwaukeeans take a pledge to never waste anything battered with beer, but this piece went into the trash uneaten. It was over-fried to becoming tough like leather. I could tell from looking at it that it was over-fried: way too dark. Even the cod inside had browned; no flaky, moist fish. (also, menu said the fish fry comes with toast points. no toast for me.)

Another negative: napkins are skimpy useless things. Finger food (tacos, nachos, etc.) deserve better napkins.

The building had plenty of room in it, and gender neutral restrooms. Parking could definitely be a bear if other things are going on, but ended up with a spot right in front.

I could be tempted to give it another go since the flavors were so good. But I might just avoided fried and breaded things since the frying situation was...

One of the best meals we've had in a long time! They are located inside Central Water's Brewing, you go inside an old church building and it's located up the stairs. You can order food in the back corner, they'll give you a buzzer and then get drinks from the bar.

The menu was impressive and innovative. We wanted to try everything! We got to have the Street Corn Fries, Carne Asada Fries, Birria Gyro, Chips and Vegan Queso, and the Roasted Poblano Chicken Caesar Wrap. Everything was fantastic and executed very well. Get the Birria Gyro and any of the fries! Those are crave-worthy.

We did not expect such a foodie experience during our night out with friends. They seasoned everything well which we appreciated, the presentation was on point, and we loved the taijin accents on the lime and throughout the dish. We didn't leave feeling heavy which is a testament to the quality of the dishes and ingredients. My only note is that the wrap was placed on top of a bed of sauce so picking it up and eating it was really messy since the sauce was all on the outside of the wrap. Still, it was so good that it wasn't a dealbreaker.

We will...

I ordered a two taco meal (one carne asada and one fish) tonight at the Franklin school event. For $17 I was thinking this was going to be super delicious. I was wrong. The carne asada on the taco were large chunks of meat and they were sooooo chewy and DRY. Almost every piece that I ate, I had to spit out. The fish was overcooked and there were some gray and feathery parts inside that were definitely questionable. The rice and beans were probably the worst of any rice and beans I've ever had. Even if I paid $1 for this meal, I would have been terribly disappointed. I ended up throwing away 75% of the food I had left. The only good thing about our experience was that the woman who took my order was nice. If you are going to charge an arm and a leg for your food, it should at least be delicious. $24 for a three taco plate for mediocrity is just insane lol....