La Cocina de Luz — Restaurant in Telluride

Unfortunately, this is not the 5 star review we would have given 4 years ago when we came to this restaurant on our first visit to Telluride. We have entered a time when customer service is a lost art, and La Cocina is the perfect example of this new era of the customer is always wrong. We should appreciate people like, Lupita, the manager of this restaurant for showing up to work, and making you feel unwelcome.

Our story, we brought our entire family to Telluride to enjoy the place we have grown to love over the years, especially the downtown vibe. We returned to La Cocina, sat with no direction to our table. We had to retrieve a high chair on our own. As we were preparing our sweet, 15 months old girl to be placed in her high chair, Lupita, the manager, walks by our table and very sarcastically says, “people eat off that table”. Our daughter was sitting on the edge of the table. Feet were not on the table. We questioned Lupita, and she continued to use sarcasm in an attempt to make a point. We left the restaurant promptly.

I attempted to contact Lucas Price, the owner, to discuss the situation, and get a better understanding of the situation. However, I never had a response from him.

To Mr. Price, I hope you are able to take this review as a learning opportunity, not as an insult. Hopefully, you get back to great food, and even better service!

We still have much love for this great town...

We were searching for a spot for brunch that was dog friendly and landed here as they did not appear to have a huge crowd and had a nice little table for two out front. You walk in and order, and they bring you the food once it is prepared. They have a chips/salsa bar that you can help yourself to while you wait.

We ordered the Chilaquiles and the Machaca plates. First off = Hearty portions. So while the prices (I am a tourist from southern AZ) are steep in Telluride - they do not skimp here. Being from Tucson and getting some of the best Sonoran influenced food around and prior to that San Diego where you get amazing Baja influenced food -- I will say I was pretty impressed how flavorful the food here was -- particularly given they have to tailor it to a tourist and certain type of crowd. My husband is Hispanic and enjoyed his machaca plate and was complimentary towards the salsas (which is saying something) in terms of flavor... although he said they could be spicier... but hey, he says that about everything. The beans were a bit, runny but overall we loved everything. Being someone who is still in search of the world's best Chilaquiles and a self proclaimed Chilaquiles connoisseur they were incredibly...

Incredibly disappointing and expensive.... We decided to try this restaurant for lunch this past weekend. They were very busy which is quite understandable on a weekend in Telluride. They were also likely short staffed as it seems almost everywhere is lately. Given those circumstances, I rated this experience at two stars instead of one. We ordered our food to-go and planned to eat it at a park somewhere along our drive home. That ended up being in Ridgway where we found out that what we received was nothing like what we had ordered. Bits and pieces matched up but the main entrees were way off. Maybe someone else’s order.? We couldn’t eat any of it. What we got instead of what we ordered did not meet our dietary requirements. Again, stuff happens but what really led me to write this review was the combination of these things plus the incredibly rude service we received throughout the transaction. It was embarrassingly rude. I cannot stress that enough. On top of that we couldn’t eat what we got and paid $83 for it. My sister treated us so she was obviously very upset by the entire experience. Certainly not a good experience and one of the few restaurants that I won’t try again. I hope you have a better experience...