La Roca — Restaurant in Philadelphia

this was by far the worst experience that I’ve ever had at any restaurant in Manayunk. Initially had no plans on going here, but my fiancé’s friend came over and we were looking for something close by and fun as a substitute for going all the way to Center City. My fiancé was really craving Bierria tacos so we decided to try LaRoca. The Bierria tacos were absolutely awful. They were covered in cinnamon from the base to the consume to the meat to the Tortilla. The consume not a soupy or broth like consistency at all. it was thick muddy and lacked flavor. The cheese was un melted, and to be honest the food was barely hot. I understand that every restaurant has a different recipe, but the three of us got the same exact thing and none of us liked it, which I don’t think was a coincidence. when we asked our waitress could we substitute it for another dish? She told us that that was not possible And the best that she could do was bring us an array of different sauces for us to try to salvage our meal and make it to our taste (which of course did not work) My friend enjoyed her corn and I figured I would order something that I would at least somewhat like to make this dining experience a little more worth it. I wind up waiting 30 minutes for my Elote And by that point I was absolutely fed up. The waitress herself was sweet and kind, but the overall service in the establishment simply did not make up for the poor experience. Eventually, we said we wanted to speak to a manager and we’re told that she was too busy behind the bar to even come and acknowledge just face-to-face so we had to go downstairs to address her ourselves. Now that I’m reading the reviews, I see that that is a cotton constant stunt they pull. When we approached her, she was unapologetic and seemed rather annoyed and basically told us that there was no way that would let us substitute our tacos And the best that she could do was take the year of corn off of our bill. mine knew we were not trying to get out of paying our bill by any means we just simply wanted to substitute for an option that we could’ve enjoyed. I’ve never been to a restaurant where they simply do not care about your experience or your dissatisfaction but La Roca is the first. They make it evident that they could truly not care less and they just want your money. The larger party across from us was also Issue and they came over to us and showed us the chicken wings that they ordered that were pure gristle and freezer burnt meat. They winded up having a blowup moment And I don’t blame them, considering they had to pay for that poor excuse of a meal. It was overall a very unpleasant and honestly unbelievable experience. They also charged an automatic 20% gratuity to the bill regardless of how many people are in your party and they claim that every single restaurant on the Manayunk strip does the same which is SUCH a blatant lie. Honestly, it was absolutely terrible. This was a one time visit. I will never be back and I will never recommend anyone going. The only thing worth it here are the drinks, but I would honestly skip out on that seeing as though they have spiking...

Read this for an honest, non-politically correct evaluation of this restaurant. Look, the service and ambiance are excellent. You'll find no shortage of young white women hustling to ensure you're well taken care of and provided for. I liken it to an experience at Chick-fil-A. Unfortunately, we don't go to restaurants for the service. We go because our bellies are growling. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word mediocre? A mediocre movie? A mediocre performance? How about a mediocre employee or your mediocre son you pretend is interesting for the sake of conversation? All of these are relatively acceptable in America. We experience mediocrity all the time and walk away from it without letting it keep us up at night. But when you decide to leave your house and spend your hard-earned money, there's something more distasteful about eating mediocre food.

La Roca somehow manages to get everything right except for the food, giving birth to the Shakespearean question we never discussed in English class. To pay or not to pay? That was the question I had tonight. If there were no consequences, I might've just walked out. A $25 pitcher of Margarita advertised as a great deal on Happy Hour Friday? Your average American citizen like me won't turn that down, except that what they claim to be a Margarita isn't actually a Margarita but a pitcher of sugar syrup and low-quality Tequila. The nachos were cold, the cheese wasn't good, the meat was overcooked, and the place looked understaffed. I understand that good help is hard to find, but they can start by having actual Mexicans cook the food. When I walk into a Chinese restaurant, I don't want a bunch of Indians cooking my food. Tonight, I saw everything but Hispanics, which would explain the subpar food's lack of cultural authenticity. And this isn't the first time I've walked away from La Roca feeling underwhelmed. Every time I come, the food gives me that same feeling. It's not great, nor is it terrible. It's just okay, and that's what we're afraid to tell our kids when we don't want to damage them permanently. Perhaps it's time to hang up my La Roca T'shirt for good and pass the torch on to people who won't read this Google review before spending their money but will wish they had. However, if you need a place to stop by for the young energy and artistic decoration, give your Hinge date an experience she'll probably forget and...

To put it generally this restaurant is beyond over priced for what it offers. The food tasted like almost nothing, the margaritas tasted like sugar water, the service was non existent when you needed them, and every one of our orders was messed up. Everyone in my party thought they had COVID again bc no one could taste anything except a hint of taco seasoning, granted we ordered tacos and taco fries but there was hardly even taste of the seasoning. To make it even better, the food was cold. The first pitcher of margaritas was fine, no one got drunk bc of how light they were made which is fine but we didn’t get much for our money, especially after ordering another pitcher that tasted like pure sugar. Every single order was messed up besides the margaritas which I’m convinced were messed up as well in the sense of forgetting to put in tequila. To top off all of this, when trying to get things that almost all restaurants provide automatically, like napkins, straws and cups to share the pitcher of margaritas (and the rest of the ingredients they left out to finish our order like the cheese) we had to ask for all of them which wasn't until 40 minutes after receiving everything. Even after we asked for those things twice, we didn’t get the cheese, napkins, or utensils leaving the people in my party to have to eat cold meals that were made incorrectly with their hands and having no napkins to clean up.

After just one meal at La Roca, it’s obvious this place needs major help in different areas. It appears to me that the company does not order the correct size lids for their cups, or enough of the essentials such as napkins, utensils, and cheese. All of this might’ve been possible to look over had the food tasted...