La Cocina de Ricardo

Solid little hole in the wall Italian restaurant.
A good marker for a Mexican restaurant is their chips and salsa, and this place did not disappoint! Their margaritas are huge, but so sweet that I could only take a few sips. I recommend that they add a bit more fresh lime juice and ease off the sugary margarita mix.
I was feeling healthy so I ordered a chicken taco salad. The shredded chicken breast was very lean. This dish probably is not the best one in order to judge the quality of their food.
I plan on returning to try their carnitas, fajitas, or enchiladas.

Came here thinking it would be for a quick dinner but oh boy I was wrong. Waited 10 minutes to be seated and 15 minutes to take our orders. I kept flagging down the servers (3 ladies) who kept ignoring us. Like other reviews, I guess we are not Mexican so we are not their priority to serve. We waited about 45 minutes to get our food. Yes the food was good but the service sucks. The older guy was very nice but these ladies need to be the trained. Yes I know it’s a busy Friday night but it’s not an excuse to keep ignoring customers. I had to flag them down to get our water refill. These ladies who kept passing by our table never bother asking if we need more chips but putting 2 baskets of chips to the other table that speak Spanish. We were full that we finished 2 baskets of chips and salsa We almost got out without our orders.

I am surprised that this place has such high reviews considering what we experienced here.
I was in a party of 4; we walked in and were seated quickly. A couple seated at the same time as us ordered their food and ended up receiving their drinks before we even got our waters. After 2 baskets of chips and still no order placed (and no one coming around to help us), we contemplated leaving but decided to talk to the manager instead. He didn’t even care! Hate to say it, but we felt it was because we are not of the Hispanic race.
Never coming here again and will definitely be letting all of our peers, family and friends know.

I know other place in this area where you can get authentic Mexican food, short of Ricardo’s in San Juan Capistrano.
I have clients that take their clients (Mexican Nationals) to there and they love it.

Finding authentic Mexican Food in Orange County is difficult. This place is really authentic! The pazole is fantastic and the chicken tacos! Clean place with great service, will be coming back again!

Nice and fresh food, everything is home made, they have a nice soup menu including menudo that is served every day. The steak was prepared very nice served with fresh vegetables, flour tortillas freshly made the guacamole was very good as well.
Salsa is also fresh and very tasty not too spicy. The chips are light and crispy served warm. Overall a good experience at this place. They also do catering so I will definitely use their service for a company event.

This place is fantastic!!! We eat Mexican food everyday on our quest to find the best. Ricardo kitchen, is way up there. Ranks in the top of the top for quality, taste, service, value and authentic clean ambience. I ordered the carnitas burrito. They meat portions were generous. the avacado cilantro and onions Fresh as can be. Fast service. Pleasant stewardess. Their chips are fresh and the salsa has a perfect balance of taste and spice. We wull be returning here again and again. .you go to here too!

Walked in last night at around 6pm. Place was pretty much empty except for one couple and a few guys at the bar. Was greeted but no one came over to take a drink order. We sat down (group of 4) and waited. We waited almost 10 minutes and no one bothered to come over. We got up and left and no one cared. Don’t waste your time the service is mediocre.

Went there on lunch with a co-​worker, the food was FRESH and HOT just the way I like it. The service we received was unmatched! An older hispanic gentlemen who was such a kind hearted man! god bless him. i ordered the lunch special with mini burrito (beef) WOW and the chicken mole (which was good, not great) we also got a steak and cheese quesadilla — WOW!
honestly really really food, even got 2 wet beef burritos to go and the people in the office LOVED THEM!

Came here Christmas week for lunch with a co-​worker. I ordered the Green Pozole and a Taco Tuesday taco. She ordered an enchilada plate. all food was amazing and authentic. Very kind and attentive staff.

Lovely place with excellent food to the last detail. The dishes look very esthetic and the taste is gorgeous. The salsa was super fresh and delicious.
atmosphere was authentic but not overwhelming. The service was fast and efficient.
We stopped by for a quick lunch bite and enjoyed it very much. Need to come back at evening time for more.

Oh my goodness why haven’t I ever eaten here before today?! Hands down best Mexican restaurant in the area. The food is top notch the family running the joint is so friendly and the value is crazy!
Tamales
Crunchy tacos
Enchiladas
Chimichangas
Salsa
Campechana (Seafood cocktail)
Rice and beans
All made with some sincere quality and love!!!

Good Mexican food and good friendly service in Foothill Ranch is very very hard to find. This restaurant is one of my favorite Mexican food in the Lake Forest area and I’ve tried them all. Friendly staff and food is always really good.

Great food, friendly service. The 2 item combos are a good choice, their chimichangas are amazing.

This is a fun, casual Mexican restaurant that makes great food in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere. They always have a soccer game on television, so they must be huge soccer fans.
We decided to stop in on taco Tuesday and most of the tacos are $ 1.95. Pretty sweet deal I’d say. Started off with a more traditional margarita with lime juice, 1800 reposado and cointreau. Pretty tasty margarita, but I forgot how overpowering the lime juice can be. I had to order a modelo beer to wash it down.
I started off with a shredded beef taco and it came out piping hot. I had to let it sit for a bit before I dove back in. The taco was very tasty and flavorful with plenty of meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato.
We ordered a chicken taco and that was great as well.
I will definitely be back to indulge again.

Definitely home style mex cuisine here. Salsa and chips were delicious… tongue felt all spiceyed up after chomping the entire tray of chips away.
Ordered chicken chimichanga (filled with TONS of meat but Ive had way better), steak fajitas (good amount of meat and grilles veggies. was ok), and the shrimp avocado ceviche appetizer (the shrimp was frozen shrimp for sure and not fresh ones). Flan dessert was filling and large.
Margharita was served in gigantic cups and priced only at $ 7.5. Not the best but worth the price.
Overall way better than your taco bell but no where close to Javiers.

3 stars for overall experience. Love that it’s a local family run business and the food tastes homemade.
The complimentary salsa and chips = 5 for freshness and taste.
Guacamole (light spice) = 4 creamy and delicious but we should have gotten the «spicy» because it lacked spice/​flavor.
Chicken salad with cilantro dressing was ok = 3 The grilled chicken tender slices (about 4 – 5 pieces) was slightly over salted. The dressing was delicious/​light flavorful.
Pollo Picato (chicken fajitas) = 5 for freshness and flavor of the sauce and veggies with the chicken. (I’d get this again)
Combo Plate: Chicken Enchilada and Chicken flauta with rice and beans = 3 Was not a fan of this dish. Dark meat that was not very flavorful. The rice tastes light and homemade; not bad.
Service was sub par = 2 It took 35 minutes for us to get the food and the waitress didn’t seem too attentive during the process.

La Cocina is in the same strip mall as El Toro Meats a few doors down from the pre-​school I attended as a kid. It’s small inside and a bit dark. It’s self-​seating, and chips & salsa are delivered with menus as soon as you take a seat. Service is a bit slow, and this seems to be the common theme throughout dinner. However, the food is pretty good. Chips are crisp and salsa was spicy. I got the 2 item combo with pork enchilada and beef chimichanga. The carnitas inside the enchilada was tender and flavorful. The beef enchilada was also good with tender shredded beef inside. You get beans & rice with guacamole and sour cream served in lettuce cups to go with the chimichanga. Dinner for 2 with tax & tip ran me $ 28. I bit pricey for Mexican food, but this is good food. I’d come back if I were in Lake Forest with a hankering for Mexican food.

Came here on a Saturday afternoon with my dad. I was craving Mexican shrimp cocktail, and this place popped up. We came at 2 pm, so it wasn’t busy at all. I think we actually had the whole front room to ourselves.
We ordered:
— Chile Relleno with rice and beans (under $ 10)
— Shrimp Cocktail with cucumbers (around $ 14.00)
— mini chicken burrito by itself (under $ 5)
Prices were decent, food was good, service was attentive too. I liked the chunky salsa they served with chips.

I was out shopping, unsuccessfully, for some pork fat to make some sausages, and it was 102 degrees outside. La Cocina De Ricardo happened to be in the shopping center of the place I had just checked for fat, so my wife and I stopped in for a drink. It was hot after all… We ordered margaritas. They were huge. 20oz huge. No flavor of the tequila, but it was in there, evidenced by my wife’s post consumption tonality. I didn’t like the overabundance of mix, so asked for another one, this time with just a splash of the mix, and no triple sec. He complied, but put in several ounces of lime juice instead. Whoa. All I got was sour lime. Awful. It got better when I let the ice melt, but just not good. The original margaritas were tasty, don’t get me wrong, but they are for those that don’t care for the taste of the alcohol.
We were still full from breakfast hours earlier, but opted for a shrimp cocktail, as we saw one delivered to another table, and it looked pretty damned good. We had them add octopus, a really good decision I might add, and it was really refreshing and delicious. Shrimp, octopus, cucumber, cilantro, serrano chilis, lots of avocado, tomato, and a spicy, but not overly so, tomato broth /​sauce that was quite nice. I was thinking this would be the ultimate bloody mary cocktail… Should have gotten a shot of vodka? This was a winner.
The chips were warm, crispy, and tasty, with just a hint of salt. The salsa was chunky, and just okay. It had a bit of a «canned» flavor for the tomato juice base.
Overall I think the place is worth a visit, but the prices seem a bit steep considering the competition in the area. Base margaritas run $ 8.95. Premiums run around $ 15. The shrimp cocktail was $ 14.95. We each ended up having two drinks. That and the shrimp cocktail summed up to $ 56.88 before tip.
Hey, they have a full bar… What’s not to like?