La Cocina de Doña Maggie — Restaurant in Porterville

The dining area and general atmosphere is extremely dated. There are obvious water stains on one wall from a leaky roof. The decor of shabby dusty multi-colored paper flags simply needs to be discarded. I do like the large older picture prints in genuine wood frames. The booths and tables looked clean. The dining room is usually quiet even with several families present. The saving grace here is the food is tasty and plentiful. The service is not fast but neither does it take overly long for the food to arrive at your table. I would say it's very reasonable considering that the food seems to be freshly cooked without a lot of pre-made pre-prepped ingredients. One burrito is $10 with no sides except the corn tortilla chips and plain salsa that is brought with your drinks. The flavors are authentic and fresh. I do not recommend the coyota; it is prepared as a doubled over fried corn tortilla rather than the round cornbread-style stuffed hand pie that i was expecting. The toppings are rather a sad scraggly mess that doesn't do anything for its appearance or flavor. It's more like a taco with the ingredients scattered over the top instead of a true cayota. You'll be charged over $1 for every iced tea refill, $5 to add guacamole to your burrito, and another buck & change for every credit card charge to pay for your meal even if it is the same ticket with friends splitting the cost. Also, if your serving staff takes a break (or a personal phone call apparently) there is no one else who will cover your needs during that time. Hopefully you won't have to eat half your meal with an empty drink cup as we did. The restrooms are each one room, single throne single sink arrangement; two bathrooms located down an odd hallway behind the kitchen services area. Maybe restrooms are shared with the motel lobby which is on the side of the building? They did not smell bad and looked fairly clean if shabby and dated. The bathrooms have paper product rolls laying on top of toilet/sink rather than being loaded into any type of holders. I would guess the facilities on the entire property have probably not been updated or anything replaced since the early 80s or before. There is no "view" to speak of any direction out any windows. The building is located on a corner and very close to the highway. That area is rather run down and has ugly parking lots with dead grass and no live plants or flowers inside or out. However, if you're only looking for authentic flavors and freshly cooked food, do not cross La Cocina...

La Cocina de Doña Maggie: More Like La Cocina de Doña "Maybe Later" I was really hoping for authentic, soulful Mexican food, but my recent experience at La Cocina de Doña Maggie was a huge disappointment. This is, hands down, the most underwhelming meal I've had all year. The "Food" I ordered the Carne Asada Plate, and I'm honestly still confused about what I was served. The meat was tough, gristly, and had absolutely no seasoning—it was flavorless and dry, like old shoe leather. I couldn't even finish half of it. The sides weren't much better. The Spanish rice was bland and pasty, tasting like it came from a box, and the refried beans were so watery they practically ran off the plate. The one bright spot was supposed to be the salsa, which was just too chunky and overwhelmingly salty. This isn't "home cooking"; it's a desperate cry for seasoning and a decent cut of meat. The Service and Atmosphere The service was incredibly slow, even though the restaurant wasn't busy. Our server seemed completely uninterested in our table. We had to ask for water refills three times, and when the food finally arrived, it was practically lukewarm. The atmosphere was just strange. The lighting was too dim, and the decor felt tacky and dated, not charmingly rustic. It all just contributed to a feeling that they simply don't care about the customer experience. Bottom line: If you're looking for genuine, well-cooked Mexican food, keep driving. La Cocina de Doña Maggie is a major letdown that charges way too much for subpar food and nonexistent service. Zero stars if I...

I hate writing poor reviews but feel compelled to write something since my husband and I got food poisoning here. We stopped on the way up to Sequoia with our 3 kids. No one else got sick, thankfully. My husband ordered the gorditas and I ended up eating part of one. He got really sick and it ended up being a problem in part because we were up in the mountains and the closest hospital was 2 hours away. It was an awful way to start our vacation, too. The server was really sweet though. The gorditas tasted really good, so I guess that's good? There was a big laminated tarot card (?) of a devil on our table which was weird. Everyone's food came out at pretty different times and my youngest kid's food was brought out last. Also there was no toilet paper/seat covers in the bathroom - just a roll of paper towels next to the toilet and the toilet was stopped up. The menus were totally falling apart with the prices covered up. It didn't feel very clean, so it didn't feel surprising...