Las Rocas Mexican Cocina — Restaurant in Texas

Upon my recent visit to Las Rocas Mexican Cocina, nestled comfortably off of 380 in Princeton, Texas, a stone's throw from McKinney, I was enveloped in an ambiance that promised a delightful culinary experience. The restaurant's cleanliness and an extensive menu, sprawling across 6 to 8 pages with a surprising inclusion of pasta dishes in a Mexican cuisine setting, piqued my interest. However, this interest quickly waned due to the ensuing service and culinary disappointments.

Our engagement with the service staff began on a somewhat strained note. Upon being seated, it was not immediately apparent that a separate breakfast menu existed, necessitating a specific request for it. The waitress who attended to us, whom I believe was named Matye, exhibited a degree of impatience that was both unexpected and unwelcome. Her demeanor suggested that our indecision was a significant inconvenience, prompting her to ask for our order repeatedly and with increasing exasperation.

The situation further deteriorated when I inquired about the ingredients of the ranch dressing, due to a personal allergy to cilantro. Matye's response was curt, lacking the necessary diligence to confirm the absence of allergens, which could be a grave concern for patrons with serious food sensitivities.

As the meal commenced, my anticipation for the chicken fried steak was met with disillusionment. Despite its visually appealing presentation, the dish was marred by an excessively chewy texture, indicating a dire need for tenderization. The seasoning, although adequate, could not redeem the dish from its rubbery downfall. The accompaniments, green beans with bacon and mashed potatoes with gravy, served alongside a breakfast dish, were perplexing and underwhelming. The green beans were mundane at best, the bacon lacked flavor, and the mashed potatoes and gravy were notably bland, necessitating additional seasoning for palatability.

The biscuits, although resembling dinner rolls in their softness, were devoid of taste, a flaw only partially mitigated by the addition of salt and pepper. My companions, who opted for the "2x eggs" special, reported an overpoweringly spicy sausage that induced chest discomfort—a notable critique from individuals accustomed to spicy cuisine.

Service lapses persisted throughout the meal. Efforts to solicit Matye's attention for water refills were met with neglect until the conclusion of our meal, at which point an attempt to serve us resulted in water being inadvertently spilled on me and the floor, adding a literal dampener to the experience.

The culmination of our visit was marked by a protracted wait for the bill, during which Matye's colleagues appeared to signal her regarding my ready-to-be-processed debit card, a gesture that seemed to escape her notice for an extended period.

While the establishment's interior warranted a commendable rating of 7 out of 10 for its cleanliness and ambiance, the overall dining experience was starkly overshadowed by the subpar food quality and deficient service. Despite the potential for a revisit to explore other menu items such as fajitas and burritos, the likelihood of returning for breakfast remains minimal.

Reflecting on the entirety of my visit to Las Rocas Mexican Cocina, the food merits a disappointing 2 out of 10, and the service, particularly from our waitress Matye, stands at a 1 out of 10. This culminates in an overall experience rating of 2 stars, a reflection of the stark disparity between the promise held by the restaurant's ambiance and the reality of its culinary and...

Normally, this place is great. We have been 4 or 5 times now since discovering it & refer all our friends there. We choose to eat here over the several options in our town because the service & food is usually top notch.

However, yesterday, that all changed. I doubt we will ever go back. This all happened with 4-5 servers out on the floor & maybe 3 or 4 other tables in the restaurant. So, there's no excuse for any of this. **45+ min wait for margaritas, no offers of water or anything during the wait **Server lied to our face about the TABC rules about food on the table with alcohol, when the margarita machine was just not ready yet. Then, got caught in 2 more lies before we finally had to go talk to her at the bar & beg for her to just make them as on-the-rocks because we were thirsty **Over an hour wait for food, we watched her spend over 40 minutes just punching in our order. At 20 minutes after we ordered, is when she came to ask 2 questions about our order before going to finish entering it. **Server was rude, never offered water while waiting for our margs & barely asked us for refills. Most of the time we had to ask. **Out of 4 orders, only 1 was correct. She had repeated them all back correctly & even came back to clarify 2 of them back during the entering process. Nothing was too complicated.... but, 2 plates of enchiladas came with the wrong sauce & .... **1 of the orders we asked a specific question about the ingredients (chips vs tortillas in chiliquiles) & what she said ended up not being true **When she & her trainee (yeah, goodness gracious they're letting HER train someone), dropped off our food, the plates were hot so they rolled their sleeves over their hands to grab them. They got their clothing all in our food. And even better.... **One of them has a white fluffy cat or dog at home, and they deposited white fluffy hair on the edges of everyone's plates. One of my friends had so much hair she couldn't pick it all out of her enchiladas & it had to be sent back! **When we finally got margaritas, we watched her pour them with no care or measurement. One was yellow & the other neon green. One (thankfully mine) was nearly pure tequila & the other was pure margarita mix. We joked about it being a "mix-your-own-at-the-table" situation. **When asked for a manager, the manager came out, looked at us, spoke with her, and she went & got the only caucasian server (I'm assuming because the 2 of us facing the kitchen were caucasian as well), and sent him over to speak to us. We wanted to speak to a manager, whether it be in English or Spanish as we were all fluent in both, about this server & how horrible she was and maybe just get some sort of apology so we'd feel comfortable coming back again. We didn't want to unload that onto one of her coworkers & chose not to. **We spent 2 hours at the restaurant, not by our own choice, just because everything took so ridiculously long for no reason. **Nothing was ever discounted or comped. No apologies were given. Nothing. We're extremely disappointed & upset. We're ashamed that we had referred so many people there & pray that they haven't had the same experience. We had plans for more large gatherings there as we have in the past, and will absolutely be having those elsewhere. It'll be a long while before we have the desire to go through that again. Hands down the worst restaurant experience I have ever...

With the restaurant industry the way it is right now, i would kinda expect service to be good if not great because the wait staff has less tables to earn tips from. So it makes sense to work the hell outa those tables... But unfortunately this was definitely not the case when we went... our waitress seemed just "out of it" and very not concerned about our table. Our initial drink order she had 1/4 incorrect. (Yep...it set the tone 🤦🏼‍♀️) My oldest already knew what she wanted so didn't need her menu, and tried handing it back to her THREE TIMES... she completely ignored it... She did not write our order down, so we had ro repeat it a 3 times

We had yo ask for drink refills, paper napkins (we have kids it is way easier that way. ) she initially brought us a few but those quickly got used on salas drips 🤷🏼‍♀️) she brought our food (that was surprisingly correct) had to aske 2 more times for more paper napkins. i finally just went and grabbed some from the bar. About 5 minutes later she did a drive by us and dropped of 2 balled up napkins. 😬 eww it is a small town so... (so you would think, options would be limited... but not at all for mex/taco places...🤦🏼‍♀️ we have 12 options 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️yes i know overkill, but our city just keeps allowing it...smh...we need more options! )

But anyway back to our dinner ..

The actual food was mostly fine. The hot wings app was gross. Skin had a strange texture, the carrots appeared to have been frozen. The rest of our meals were just dinner, just alright,.nothing great or, omgosh this is good., or even, oh this is good... just meh...But it served its purpose and we left full, just not as happy or content as we had in the past. Our waitress never once came back and asked how this were after she dropped off our food. The next time she stopped at our table was to ask if we were ready for our check. And WOW.... SHE SURE DID JUMP ON IT AS SOON AS CARD WAS IN HAND....

On the receipt at the bottom has a % for the tip. It is not correct!! I brought it to the managers attention about 6 months ago, and it is still incorrect. The % vs the tip they say does not match the $ amount. the % to the amount they say/suggest is actually shorting the wait staff 1.5-2% with what their reccomend tip is for that % (I know that doesn't seem like a lot per table, but that can make a difference by the end...