Crediting their continued success to loyal customers and passed-down family recipes, La Cocina Bar & Grill, a family-owned and operated “Mex-Italian” restaurant, has served Round Rock for over 16 years.

About the owners

After working at an Italian restaurant west of Los Angeles called Peppone, Ismael Diaz moved his family from California to Texas in 2007, and bought a restaurant in Round Rock that November. Ismael rebranded the restaurant as La Cocina Bar & Grill in January 2008, alongside his wife, Amelia, and then-21-year-old daughter, Lissette, who’s now the front manager.

“We have our Mexican dishes and we have our Italian dishes,” Lissette said. “We use a lot of the same herbs and spices in both cuisines, but we like to keep everything kind of separated.”

The Diaz family, including Lissette’s two siblings, Kiara and Ishmael, are fully involved at La Cocina. Being from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Lissette said many of the dishes stem from recipes her family uses at home, while others are inspired by Italy.


“That's why we also liked the name La Cocina, because La Cocina means ‘the kitchen,’” Lissette said. “So here in our kitchen, we like to prepare different things.”

What's on the menu
  • Enchiladas suizas: a chicken or cheese enchilada covered in a creamy tomatillo sauce
  • Camarones ala diabla: linguine pasta with sautéed shrimp in a spicy marinara sauce
  • Enchiladas italiano: a ricotta cheese and spinach-stuffed crepe
“Every meal that is made here is made on the spot when you order, and everything is made homemade from our own recipes that we have grown up with in our households,” Lissette said. “Everything from our mole to our marinara is all made here.”

Other traditional dishes include carne al pastor, pork carnitas, lasagna and guisado de puerco—a pork stew recipe passed down from Lissette’s grandmother.

Why they love it


Customers have met Lissette’s children and seen her parents grow older, while the Diaz family gets introduced to grandchildren of longtime regulars.

“La Cocina has just been one big family,” Lissette said.