Cocula is one of my fave Mexican spots by the house. The birria, tacos etc are so good. Service is good and fast! Love to dine in when I can. The vibe is always easy. read more

Great food great price and great service. Great prices on drinks. Perfect ambience for a Mexican restaurant with music playing. read more

Cocula Restaurant - Piña colada and mango margarita - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Good service. I had the ceviche and a margarita. The ceviche was very good and a large portion. The margarita was not so good. Whatever mixer they use to make them is not tasty. Overall, would recommend and would return. read more

Been here several times. Go to is a parrillada which is a good size portion comes with beans, rice, & veggies. Advertised for 2 people but 3 people can comfortably eat. Freshly squeezed orange juice is yummy! Enchiladas suizas were a bit too salty and our waiter was nice and allowed us to pick something else. read more

Cocula Restaurant - 2 people parrillada - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Hi everyone that will read this review. Well now we ordered the parrillada and well it looked good at first but as we started to eat well the chicken was the only thing that was decent out of it all the meat was super hard to bite the ribs super dry the mariscos dry and didn't have much taste. The bean had a little bit to much oil but tasted ok rice was good the salad was good and fresh. Service was good, we also ordered camarones empanizados and they looked artificial and tasted way to much like oil not good. So we wouldn't order that again and the price was a bit high for the parrillada also my opinion. Todo estaba muy seco y difícil de morder. Y un poco carro para lo que fue la verdad. read more

Always come here for my caldos when I'm feeling under the weather and of course it never fails me . Everything was very good only thing they did lack on was my margarita de limon , coculas on Pulaski are way bigger then these ones but I guess, & it was not even filled up all the way either The side of beans have to be the best part of it as to they always have that good homemade taste to it . Our server was very polite and attentive . Wait did I mention the salsa and chips where delicious for the first time ?! Yes guys !!! Finally !! Anyways good experience over all read more

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Great place, delicious food , staff we very friendly. Food was good but not above average. Beer was served in frosted mugs.

Love this place! We always come here for Mothers Day and on special occasions. You can get the parillada which is a mini grill with all types of meats and you depending for how many people you get it for, 2 or 4, you get plates with rice, beans, and salad. The food is always filled with amazing flavors. They are decently priced as well. The waitresses are atte5even when busy. You really have to come a try it for yourself read more

Cocula Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I was starving when I came for lunch. Our party of 15 was seated immediately and the salsa, chips, and pickled carrots were brought out super quickly. I loved the chips and salsa. I can eat much spicier dishes than the salsa but for some reason I thought the salsa had just the right amount of spice I wanted for that day. The pickled carrots were good but it could have been pickled a little longer for the flavor to really seep through. I ordered the cocula entree and I'd have to say that everything on the dish was delicious except for the tamale. I got a beef taco, chicken tostada, and pork with green salsa for the tamale. The beef in the taco was excellent and had a lot of flavor and juice. The tostada was huge and was topped with lots of chicken, four generous slices of avocado, sour cream, and cheese. I'm not sure what went wrong with the tamale but it tasted worse than the frozen kind from trader joe's....There was barely any pork filling, I couldn't taste the green salsa, and the outside was stiff and lacked flavor. Besides from these three items, the entree was also served with beans and rice, both of which were quite nice. For lunch, the portions were pretty big judging by everyone's dishes. My friend's burrito was about the size of her head! It will definitely fill you up for the next 6-8 hours. read more

Cocula Restaurant - Cocula entree - 1 hard taco, 1 tostada, 1 tamale, beans and rice - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Good stuff! UPDATE: I woke up in the middle of the night puking up this food and other people in my group got sick also. I would avoid this place, as delicious as the food is. read more

In an area with such rich cultural options I'm not sure why you'd opt to go here. It's Mexican food cosplay and looks better than it tastes. Big portions of bad dishes. The salsa is from a jar. The meat is fatty and flavorless. So overpriced for what it is. I came in expecting good things as I always see people eating there but am leaving sad and disappointed. Avoid if you can. read more

Omgawd this restaurant is clean, well staffed, pretty nice waitresses, the tables are clean, and most importantly the food is simply scrumptious this is my favorite restaurant read more

Great fish taco dinner! I've been going there for years and would highly recommend. They also have yummy margaritas.

Mango Margarita me, please! As you might already know but you have a choice in which restaurant you choose in LV. Cocula was a good choice indeed. My friend and I decided to grab a bite here. What an amazing choice! They have a parking lot for thier patrons but street parking is plentiful but metered. Located in the Little Villiage neighborhood, so you know this place has culture and style. Beautifully decorated and seating was not an issue. She ordered the flank steak and shrimp combo and I had the steak guisado. We were both in silence as we were devouring these amazing dishes. The portion sizes are huge so of course I was happy to take home some leftovers. We washed down our meals with these fresh mango margaritas. I like mine on the stronger side and these were definately well propotioned. The servers were fast and our food was on point. They have TV playing sports or telenovelas at all times. Hats off to the chef back there that set our night off right! read more

Cocula never lets me down. I hadn't been in years because I didn't have one close by, and now that I'm not too far from one it's the new old favorite. The chicken tacos are always amazing, they're super generous with the guacamole unlike the some other places I've tried lately, and the new quesa birria is so fricking good. The service is super fast. I ordered carry out but the environment made me wish I was dining in - it feels super homey. And if you dine in, don't forget the margarita! It's the best. read more

Stopped in for some margaritas and food. The Guadalajara was awesome. My favorite was the cheese enchilada and the beans. Wow tasted amazing. Didn't really care for the beef taco but it was still damn good. The tostada was excellent. The margarita was just boozy enough with strawberry goodness I definitely would recommend! Food excellent Waitstaff alright Margarita good. read more

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Stopped by to pick up breakfast after a night shift. Got the green verde chilaquiles--mind blown! They were so delicious and kept well in their carry out packaging. Everything was thoughtfully served and the hostess was careful to help me find a vegetarian option on the menu. read more

Nice Mexican restaurant! A nice variety of drinks too.Their margaritas are made with real fruit too. Came here for lunch one day and dinner the next day. If you like a variety of meat - try the Parrillada. Comes with angostinos, shrimp, chicken, mexican sausage, short ribs and the sides. Also had the steak and chicken fajitas. Perfectly seasoned, evenly cooked, great flavor. My friend had the seafood soup which had a lot of seafood, fish, crab octopus and was very filling! Some of the staff does not speak English so knowing a little bit of Spanish doesn't hurt. read more

Food is never a disappointment. We order from here at least once a month. Customer service is great

Pretty clean and everyone is wearing masks. Food was average and service was really good. Large portions but some parts of the meal weren't seasoned. Beans and rice are my favorite part every time. read more

La comida está súper cara para la calidad que ponen en la parrillada de 2 personas es más cebollas q carne la tampiqueña q ponen esta cueruda las costillas están súper secas, ordenamos camarones empanizado se parecían q los habían hecho desde hace un mes la verdad todo estuvo súper mal no recomiendo su comida devén de tener mejor calidad . read more

Terrible service. Arrived at 1pm and was not acknowledged by staff or given a menu until about 45 mins later. There was a large party nearby and each time a waitress approached our table, she was distracted by servicing their request. This happened about three different times with three different waitresses. I was in a party of 3 and while the carne asada dish was delivered within 15 minutes (2pm) of total food order, the remaining orders of tostadas and soup were brought at 2:30pm (Well after 1st dish was served). Very disappointing service. Shouldn't the full order arrive within minutes of each other, so same table can eat together? I was the only one to refuse the dish, as I had filled up on the chip and salsa and soda and was too upset to enjoy meal. The soup order was missing amenities (tortillas, onions, cilantro and limes). As well, no one from management came to the table to ask if there was an issue. No one seemed to care. Luckily the waitress removed my food order from the bill. Another companion with me also experienced neglect from the cashier when attempting to pay the bill. So after several minutes of being ignored, she left her money at the counter and walked out. To add insult to injury, I learned the next day that my companion, who received meal "on time," had called in sick to work because the food had upset her stomach. read more

They keep too many food flies in their establishment. The chips they give you are horrible and stale. The sauce is not good only a margarita there read more

Cocula Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Horrible. Gone so many times and I'm never satisfied. So now I'm done with them. And prices there are outrages. Expensive. So may other places to get Mexican with better prices. Never again read more

The food is good, but it isn't anything I'd go crazy about, especially considering the other options in the area. I'm a vegetarian so due to lack of options, I got the chilaquiles. They were good but I knew I could've gotten something more satisfying elsewhere. There are varying opinions of this place though so it's worth a try. Some of my friends hate it, some really love it. I'm just "eh". read more

Cocula Restaurant - Chilaquiles con salsa verde! - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Here is my quick review of Cocula's as I have been here many times and gotten a lot of different things. Service = ALWAYS friendly and warm. Prices are great. Ambiance = compared to the rest of the neighborhood (i.e. Raymond's) it is spectacular. Very clean and neat appearance. Food = Ok this is why I give 3 stars, sorry, its just not that good to me. There are SO many mexican joints in this hood, I have to be selective, that is why they pay me this outrageous salary to be a Yelp elite, you think they hand the keys to the Yelpwagon to just any Crazy Larry or Dirty Mary who has time to post a few hundred words per review? I am part of an elite special unit that was raised on blogs and incredibly rich food, and have the unique ability to say, "This steak fajita platter is cheaper and has fresher vegetables." I recommend - Soup - This is free, so drink it up Pancho! Torta - Any of them, they are a great deal. Carne Asada - Filling, and you can easily stretch this into two meals. The portions are enormous. Nice little place, great cop watching as there are usually 2-14 blue boys in here talking loudly about whatever shenanigans are going down at the court house. Cop 1 : "Who'd have thunk that R Kelly would resort to fisticuffs!" Cop 2 : "I say Mortimer, are you going to finish those quesadillas? Cop 3: "Time to shove off old bean, and mind the tomfoolery doesn't cause a row with the constable!" Cop 4: "Top drawer soup, chaps! And the price is right!" read more

Holy $&@@ this is the worst ordered food to go... Never again! Ordered Nachos it was 6 chips melted to the container!!! I'm pissed! read more

Cocula Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This place is pretty awesome. Very reasonably priced. The food is for the most part fantastic. The salsa is good and there are several hot sauces on the table so you can get it just right spicy. The brought us a free appetizer, some sort of pork based soup. It was okay, but not as good as what you get at Nueva Leon. The actual meal was also good. I ordered the mole and it wasn't spicy enough for me but it was quality mole. My friends both got burritos and I wished I had too after I saw their plates. One got a traditional burrito, no meal and the other got the suizo which came with beans and rice (yum!). The portions are big but not outrageously so. The service was super fast at first, everything came within 10 minutes of being ordered, but once we had our food we weren't checked up on once. We also ordered a pitcher of margaritas, it was huge and they were strong and delicious. They were reasonably priced but not a deal to write home about, although they will probably become a part of my Friday nights on a regular basis. read more

Make sure to bring your wheel barrow. and a friend to push it. You'll need it when you finish a huge delicious meal here. Great menu actually written in Spanish with a huge selection, super friendly staff, quick and efficient service, and a parking lot out back if you feel the need to drive. The margaritas here are awesome and probably a little too easy to drink. 4.5 wheelbarrowtastic stars. I will be back. Ps - say the name of this place 5 times fast. Then do it again. read more

My family has been eating at Cocula for years now. I decided to have dinner here before a meeting this evening. I love the food here. Large servings, great staff, inexpensive and a great atmosphere. I ordered the chiles rellenos. It was a dinner plate that comes with beans, rice and a small salad. They automatically bring you a cup of soup as an appetizer. It was a tomato soup with veggies. Our food arrived in about 8 minutes which definately put a smile on my face. Best chiles rellenos I've had. Not greasy like at other places that have oil dripping from the chiles. LOL. They were covered in an amazing tomato sauce with onions. My beans were great and the rice had an amazing taste to it. Cooked just right. My plate was huge. The servings were giant. Our waitress was sweet but she only checked on us once after she brought our food and I wanted some more water. They have dessert but I was simply too full to eat anything else. Great place to try out next time you're in the neighborhood. read more

I'm in deep, deep love with Cocula. I'll propose to my future wife and child-bearer that we name the first birthed daughter Cocula, since she will embody all that I love in life... You sit down and before your butt makes a swift landing, a nice waitress is placing chips, salsa, jalapenos, carrots and limes on your table. You barely begin looking at the menu when these things start to entice you. Thirty minutes later you realize that after two baskets of chips and two bowls of salsa, you better be damn near ordering finally, and you begin to look down and up the varied menu. I usually go for tacos, sopes, tortas and burritos. I definitely recommend the torta. And then you order, and realize there are even more freebies on the way, this hot potato-chicken soup that gets things started nicely. I recommend splashing lime juice into the soup. All in all, great location with flat screen TV's, good service, deal and food. Oh can't wait to call my daughter over to the living room..."Cocula! Come, and bring over the tacos I asked you to make..." read more

Coculas coculas I have been here many times over the years and have been able to try many different items in the menu. Last Tuesday after watching the Batman movie (did I just capitalized batman??LOL) with some friends we were hungry and ended up here. Yes ended up here, we were in the north side and past many restaurants and bars and ended up here. The place is big and nice the chairs are rustic-ish. The place is super clean and the service could not be any nicer. But, there is always a but, the food is just ok. In my last visit there I had fundido as the app, langostinos and a torta de milaneza. The melted cheese was just that melted cheese accompanied by some tortillas. Langostinos were good but, to my taste, a little salty and the torta was inedible. There has been very few times that I returned something because is that bad and this was one of them. It was bad, bad, bad. I also had a lemonade to drink. It was a virgin lemon Margarita and at $4.50 I thought it was a little high. This place has everything to be a great restaurant if they only kicked it up a notch with the food. read more

So there I was, mounted high horse, prancing two blocks in a southwardly direction from my house to La Cocula. Being from Southern California and having spent time in several different regions of Mexico, I wasn't confident that I would find much to get excited about at a Mexican restaurant in the Midwest. I sit here now computer on lap humbled and corrected. La Cocula came to my attention highly recommended by my neighbors and since the roomates didn't want to make the trek to Feed, we tried it out. I ordered the Enchiladas Mexicanas. These are mole dipped and delightful. I had one with chicken and two with cheese. They use a mexican sweet cheese which while very tasty was a little much for me, next time I'll order all chicken. Those were perfect. The beans were good not too salty or greasy, the rice up to par. I also ordered a Posole for $5.95 which was HUGE. They make it constantly along Menudo on the weekends and it was great. The prices were right and I will definitely be back and would recommend traveling here if you don't live close for some good authentic Mexican food. read more

I just moved into the neighborhood and hey, one of the best parts about this process is you discovering ALL the new places you've never been to. This, of course, includes food. Great thing I'm a foodie. Cocula always seemed to be busy, but not in a ridiculous Nuevo Leon kind of way so I decided to stop in one cold weekday afternoon. The first thing I noticed were the clean floors and bright atmosphere. The waitress was friendly and welcoming. It was a great start. When I received the menu I was happy to see so many choices and very reasonable prices. Yay! Enchiladas, because of the mole sauce mentioned, were my choice. Before they arrived, though, there was some classic salsa en molcajete and chips to munch on, with a side of spicy pickled carrot slices. Yum. I'm sorry to say the enchiladas that day were not very good. The tortillas were stale and hard to cut through and the filling seemed like early morning leftovers. Maybe I just got there at the wrong time? Second chances are lovely. My room-mate invited me to go for breakfast about a week later. He was raving about the chilaquiles and how it was his new favorite breakfast place. I was hesitant but decided maybe I just needed to order something else, something simple. Mhmm! Three cafesitos later, with the best tostada and sope I've had in a long time and I was giddy with caffeine and the giddy feeling one gets after a wonderful meal. Success! I knew I'd be back because the chilaquiles the room-mate ordered looked fantastic! And so I did. Haha! The chilaquiles were superb! On this occasion I went with a friend who had never been there. She noticed the colors and design on the booths. "It's like we're in an old fashioned train. Look at the wheels. I feel like I'm traveling. I love it." And it was true. It felt like we'd left the city to eat a good ol'-fashioned desayuno mexicano, sippin' on cinnamony-coffee as we chit-chatted the entire morning away. Mmm! Great new memories. So yes, go eat here. Do a breakfast first. Take a stroll down Cermak after, then head over to Pilsen. Invite me! read more

So this is now the 3rd Cocula's location I have visited. I like it! The Margaritas at this location definitely the best so far. Yummmm! The food was good but I prefer the food at the LaGrange location - the food at this one just didn't seem to have enough flavor but still edible. I opted for the chicken flautas dinner. The service super fast! Like really, really fast! This location has the booths in another room and it does seem cozier that the other two locations, nice for a casual date night or solo dinner when you don't want to be in an open room. Will definitely come back and try some other dish and see how that turns out - for sure will come back for margaritas and apps. Best part - they have a parking lot! Not so great part - no wifi read more

Not bad for a nabe joint. The waitstaff wears gobs of makeup, but that's fine, they're really nice and usually attentive...unless it's the weekends, because that's when they're driven nuts by families who come in by the truckloads to chow down on the taquitos, flautas, soups and all that. Love the little open-kitchen display area in the front (the veggies on display are real and fresh, touched 'em just to make sure), and the pozole on weekends. A huge bowl is less than $6 and comes with all the trimmings. Go on a Saturday for the best soup, because by Sunday night you'll get the bottom-dwelling meatshards and waaay-salty stock. read more

Cocula was a happy accident for me and some friends the other day. We had just left a hip-hop show and were just randomly driving around to find food when we stumbled on this lovely little Mexican place. Started with a pitcher of margaritas and an order of guacamole. The guac portion was HUGE. After having been to several places in the Chi where they give about a cup of guac and then charge you $6, I was very pleased to get an entire plate full! The margaritas were tasty, though not strong. The server was so sweet and patient, which is great since my graceful self knocked over and broke a margarita glass within the first five minutes. She was quick to replace it and joked with us about it. We all got combo meals. I guess our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, because none of us could finish! Everything we did eat was delish. I'm not sure how the prices were, but for the four of us to have margaritas and guac, and all have entrees for $20 each including tip, they must have been good! I'll be sure to hit Cocula again if I'm ever in the neighborhood. read more

Knew from the chips and salsa I was in a great place! Ordered quesadillas with steak. Plate was very attractive with rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, onions, avacado, lemon wedge and lime wedge. Quesadillas were delicious! Service was prompt, polite and professional. I will be back next time in Chicago! read more

I agree that this place really needs to kick their food up a notch. Their salsa is pretty well-balanced with occasional chunks of tomato which was enjoyable but they need a much spicier option. Nothing to say about the chips and the pickled carrots were nowhere need pickled enough. They were barely tangy, not spicy at all, and still raw and crunchy. I ordered the Cocula which included a taco, torta, and tamale with sides of bean and rice. The best thing about the dish was that they really don't skimp on their proportions. The torta was covered in veggies and pork with a tablespoon of sour cream and guacamole on top. My pastor taco was probably the best thing out of the three and was decently seasoned although I've had much more flavorful pastor elsewhere. The taco could have used some more moisture as the meat seemed a little dry. The tamale was the weakest part as the chicken inside was meager, dry, and honestly flavorless. A real chicken tamale should be filled with warm gooey chicken cooked in a spicy green chile sauce! The overall best thing on the whole plate was actually the beans which are greasy as heck but sooo filled with flavor it was hard to ration it throughout my meal. The rice wasn't bad as well, not the weak over-cooked tomato-sauce rice you get at cheap restaurants. Overall, the food here is somewhere between average and good. If I could, I'd give this restaurant 3.5 stars as it's better than average but I'll probably never crave this place like I do my favorite restaurants. It's a nice clean place to visit with friends perhaps but i'm looking for a new go-to place in this city and this place isn't it. read more

Changing my rating from 3 star to 5. I've been here a few more times and the food is actually great. One of my fav spots.