I shouldn't say anything but the guy who was making food that night was heavy-handed with the meat, which made my pork quesadilla awesome. Our other family members were like, wow, this is way better than the Costa Vida at home. So thank you, sir. Costa Vida might not be the most elegant or gourmet place, but you can always count on getting what you thought you'd get--or better, in this case. Reliable is good. And, well, the horchata, so...winning. The patio here is good, too. Shaded during the evenings.
This place is seriously a joke. My husband is vegan and was super hungry for lunch. I warned him this wouldn’t be a good fit but he went in anyway. He asked for one of the bowls with rice and beans. Since he wasn’t doing meat he asked for guacamole. They charged him extra for that. Not only that, they put their bowl in the tiniest containers and it had almost nothing in it. Literally only a quarter full. These are the small dishes they use for a single taco. He just spent $10 on a small side of rice and beans. Don’t waste your time or money.
I go to costa vida often to get sides of sweet pork. As a student, this allows me to make meals at home but add just a bit of something yummy without spending too much. I have had multiple problems at this location specifically. First of all, I recognize that they are giving me a 4 oz serving in an 8 oz container. I do not expect it to be full. However, it is repeatedly less than 1/3 full at this location. Today, a very nice boy dished me up some sweet pork, then another female employee came over and took over half of it out, leaving the container less than 1/3 full. I left without purchasing because I knew I was getting ripped off. I make this order all the time. However, I didn’t feel like driving all the way to another place, so I got groceries and then went back and ordered it again. She filled it barely 1/4 full and charged me full price. She wasn’t wearing a name tag, but I asked an her name was Yully (sp?). She was just not nice at all and this is not the first time I have been seriously ripped off on serving sizes by her. I am a very regular customer at multiple locations and I know what a half full container looks like. I live closest to this location but I will do everything I can do avoid it. The other employees were nice, but I just am not interested in dealing with that again and I hope this review helps someone else avoid the same situation.
Good food, however I was really impressed with Alex, who was working in the dining room today during lunchtime. He seems to be a high quality employee who showed a lot of concern for the customers. He helped many carry their trays to their tables, gave our kids cookies, checked on us to see what we needed, and more. Alex gets these 5 stars
I ordered from this location at 8:33pm in the Costa Vida app on May 31st, 2022. I got an email and a notification on the app that my order would be ready at 9:15pm. I double-checked the Costa Vida app, Costa Vida Website, and the Google listing all showed that this location closed at 10pm. (Which has since been updated to say 9pm). When I arrived at 9:15pm, I found the door was locked and several other people were parked or standing outside confused and wondering why the location was closed. An employee walked outside and yelled at a person in the car that their store has "always closed at 9pm" and that "no one is getting their order tonight" and walked back in. I was baffled at the unprofessional behavior and the fact that the employee only addressed one person and went back inside. That 1 person was nice enough to tell everyone else standing there that the employee said they were closed and no one was getting an order tonight. I pulled out of the parking lot and called the store number to request a refund for the order I didn't receive but have been charged for. The store employee was obviously flustered and kept saying that he had to call grubhub to get my order refunded, even though I had already told him 3 times that I ordered through the costa vida app. I lost my patience and asked him to listen to what I was saying, because I never ordered on grubhub. I then informed the employee that their app, website, and google all showed they closed at 10pm which is probably why there were so many people standing outside confused and waiting for their order. The employee stated they had no idea that all technology avenues were showing they closed at 10pm. The employee told me they were still getting orders as we spoke and that they didn't know what to do. The store manager has obviously not trained them how to shut off online ordering and needs to improve the education of their employees. That employee then offered to take my name and phone number, and said the manager would call me back the next morning to confirm they had refunded me. They stated the store manager wasn't there but was on their way in. As of today, June 1st, 2022 I haven't received a call and the charge just went through on my credit card. I realize this is probably a massive miscommunication from corporate and the store manager, but I am still giving only 2 stars for the total unprofessionalism from everyone involved. I will update when I receive a refund (which I just submitted the request through the corporate website now). Usually this location is really good and efficient, but something went wrong last night. I will be happy to update the stars of my review if there is a resolution with professionalism and in a timely manner.Update: I received an email from the owner saying they refunded me on May 31st. It’s now June 12th and there has been no refund to my card. American Express advised that I open a dispute now because of this. I am furious! I will be submitting a case with the better business bureau on June 14th, 2022. Step up to the plate costa vida. This is so unprofessional!
Costa Vida has been around long enough to know how good their food is. This review is for this specific location AND their manager Alex! Alex is in that category of managers who excel at making customers enjoy their visit. In my opinion, he is worth every penny he is paid and should probably get a raise. I love every I interaction I have with him when I visit for lunch.
This costa was so clean and well taken care of. Alex was awesome! He greeted us at the door, he was great with my kids, he brought us tiny cookies and helped clear our table. He checked on us a few times to make sure everything was ok and to see if we needed anything. The whole team was great and food was delicious!
Alex working the dinning room is the man. Better service than a Michelin Star restaurant. Refilled water, opened doors for us, every table spotless. There were babies crying and he soothed them with a lullaby. Man deserves a raise.
Super good food, the staff is always very friendly, and service is quick.
I’m a huge cafe Rio fan. But I tried costa vida for the first time in a while and it was as good as cafe Rio.