Salva Vida

Tacos were really delicious (a real pleasure), very flavorful, and ample-​portioned. 3 tacos (Chicken, Carnitas, Tempeh) plus a split order of [delicious] guac made for a very satisfying meal. I would venture and say it’s the best taco meal I’ve eaten in Brooklyn, and I’ve had many. The style is authentic and completely unpretentious. The two hot sauces we were given were dynamite: full of interesting flavor, and plenty hot without being masochistic.
Great food, sweet place: give it a go.

I’ve been passing this little shop for years but finally stopped in for some vegetarian nachos and you can’t go wrong, $ 6 for bean/​cheese nachos with guacamole. Also, the shrimp burrito is really tasty and filling!
The staff is very friendly as well and delivery is super quick, within 10 – 15 minutes.
They’re not on Seamless — that would be my only recommendation.

Meh, not very good. They were out of steak, so i got the nachos. What came was a pile of lettuce and salsa. The cheese was some type of grated cotija that doesn’t really melt. Just a big sloppy mess on top of some chips. I probably wont be coming back anytime soon

It’s hard to give two star reviews, but this is the most this place deserves. They reopened this year after closing for a couple of months. Not sure why they closed soon after opening. Anyway, the food here has gotten worse since the last time they were around. I have been looking for a taco/​burrito place in the neighborhood for a while and thought when it opened that it was the answer to our prayers. The place is cute, cool and very causal.
The flavor of the food, the seasoning and ingredients have definitely changed from last time around (for the worst). The steak is pretty salty, the flavor is off. I tried this place 3 times since it was reopened, each time eating the same thing. I was hoping that maybe they missed a few things in their ingredients and was hoping that they come right. I’ve tried a number of Mexican joints in the past and this is by far the worst.
Need I say it’s a «cash only» place, a bit inconvenient sometimes when you have to go find an ATM.

Simple tacos but tasty! The usual quaint brooklyn hole with a surprisingly wife variety on the menu. Skirt steak and chicken tacos excellent. They have 3 varieties of salsas– all good. I will be back to try the quinoa and black bean salad! Staff very friendly :-)

Excellent neighborhood takeout place. Have tried the shrimp, fish, chicken, carnitas, and chorizo tacos. All tasty but shrimp is my favorite! My boyfriend really enjoyed the steak burrito. The quinoa salad is a great healthy way to round out a meal if you’re looking for that. Make sure to try their salsas. Warning, the hot one is super hot!

Spotty service, not great food, and rude owner!

This hidden gem was amazingly tasty and totally unexpected! An amazingly delicious shrimp taco for around three dollars, nachos heaping with shredded chicken, onions, diced tomatoes, guacamole tasted great. This is a small little place that makes their own hot sauce and seasons their own meats in their underground kitchen. The manager, Isiahs is very friendly and greeted us a shy smile. Halfway through our meal he brought us a small mole enchilada with chicken to try. Service was great. Friendly, helpful and clean place.
Will definitely go back because the flavors are perfect this is a true hidden gem! Awesome Tex-​Mex flavours in Brooklyn. I gave this five stars because for a casual quick bite it’s perfect.

It was cold day yesterday i was looking for something warn me up. I ordered shimp taco and the chicken soup of the day i loved they just make my day. The soup came with tortilla chips on the side and shimp taco with bok choy peppers pico and lettuce topping with Chipotle mayo i added habanero
sauce it so yummy

delicious place, great prices, the nachos were crispy and delicious. very friendly staff.

I absolutely LOVE Salva Vida. I come here at least twice a week for great food and an amazing price. There is a great variety of tacos, traditional and some newer takes. The shrimp & chicken are delicious but my fav are the fish tacos. The quesadillas are also great, super filling and only around $ 7. Tacos around $ 3 each and two are plenty. I recently tried the Chicken Soup — perfect for a cold night with chunks of potato, carrots & onion, shredded chicken, cilantro, tortilla chips (full not shredded), a family recipe. The customer service is also amazing — don’t know how this place ever gets less than 5 stars. I think one of the reviewers confused oozing with sauces… Bottom line, this is a great cheap friendly spot.

Solid place. It gets five stars cause it’s my go-​to in the neighborhood and the tacos are tasty and decently priced. I’m one of those annoying people from LA who is always complaining about how Mexican food here sucks, but this place delivers a tasty taco with plenty of stuff in it in that messy, just-​put-​it-​in-​your-​mouth way that I miss. So, five stars.
The shrimp tacos are my favorite — they give you enough shrimp and they’re sweet and bouncy. The carne asada one is like, trying to have an Asian twist but I think it’s because the clientele here is demanding so they have to try to be creative. It’s still delicious.
It must be really hard to satisfy people here in the taco department. Some reviewers complain about it not being «authentic.» Others complain about ingredient quality. Dude, a taco is tortillas, veggies, protein, and salsa. Just put it in your mouth. It’s all good.
P. S. They have legit salsa verde hot sauce in a funny bottle the label of which was totally printed out on a home printer. It’s really tasty. They also have nopales. Awesome.

The good: Solid customer service, quick food, nice interior, great carnitas, decent prices
The bad: Ingredient quality, horchata (very bad), smallish portions, overcooked chicken

I really was hoping that this was going to be a wonderful little hole in the wall taco place, where I could run in hungry and run out with some guacamole in my tummy. I went here with my roommate and we were so excited we may as well have brought balloons. I ordered the chicken quesadilla and he ordered every single taco.
We got home and it was literally the scariest experience. His tacos were literally oozing pink stuff. I was hoping that maybe the quesadilla would save the day, but when I opened it up the quesadilla itself was soggy and it drizzled with oozing white stuff. The guac was pretty good though. Anyways, we immediately felt sick.
Bottom line, it was just all too soggy. Sorry :(Maybe if we ate in it would be better…

The shrimp tacos with the chipotle mayo are amazing! Also love the pico de gallo, not too spicy at all, just right!

FINALLY OPEN ONCE AGAIN!!! But the menu is ALL DIFFERENT! BRING BACK THE VEGGIE QUESEDILLA!
The food was never AMAZING, but it was good enough for a small taco stand that I could pick up quickly and take home with me.
Just bring back the veggies quesedilla please!!!

Cheap and fast Mexican food. There are many reasons why I love this place: the crispy sear they put on your burrito after they roll it, the amazing picante sauce, the drizzle of crema they put over your quesadilla.
Definitely not authentic Mexican, but amazing all the same. I usually get the carnitas tacos, very good. Chorizo tacos are sublime.
I was not impressed with the fish tacos, and sometimes their burritos are inconsistent and I get way too much rice, but overall good food for a good price.

I was hopeful that this would be a decent neighborhood Mexican joint when I moved to the area, but after dining there once, I’m pretty confident that I won’t be going back.
My friend had mediocre fish tacos and my carne asada tacos were quite bland.
I ordered in Spanish and requested hot salsa in Spanish, but the salsa I was given was similar to a hot wings sauce. I felt like the guy was embarrassed to give it to me.
For good Mexican, I’ll have to keep making the trek out to Jackson Heights/​Corona in Queens.
Another reviewer commented that these tacos are like what you would get in Guadalajara – more like Gringolajara.
Step up your game, please, Salva Vida!

I enjoy all these reviews that take an ironic and snarky tone of voice, like they are doing parodies of fine dining restaurant reviews. Or wait, maybe they are serious.
Anyway, this is a place where for a couple of bucks and change you can have a decent lunch. Plain and simple. This is not haute cuisine. It’s a taco joint.
These aren’t tex-​mex style which I think throws some people. More like what you would get in Guadalajara.
I like the guacamole, it has lots of cilantro.

I’ve been here once, so i’m not exactly an expert, but what i do know is that i like this place. I’m not in love with it, but it’s good, and cheap. I had their Chorizo/​papas taco which I thought was REALLY good, and their steak quesadilla, which was also good. It is indeed difficult to find some good Mexican food, anywhere in NYC, but this I actually enjoyed, so I agree with Milla on this one, give them a shot!
PS: CASH ONLY