Costa Vida

Stopped in for lunch. The service was fast and friendly. We have no problem going back.

Fast food Mexican that isn’t too bad. Decent food but a little expensive for what you get. We had the chicken burrito and two enchiladas. The special was pork enchiladas but they were out of pork. The girl was nice enough to stop give me the special since I had to substitute beef. Good customer service!
The place was a little dirty because it had high traffic, but minimal staff.
Overall…mediocre.

I love Costa Vida and have been to this location a few times. After my visit last night I will never go back again. My friend and I arrived at 6:00 pm. The sign said they closed at 7:00 pm so I figured that we were fine. The chairs were up on the tables already and it was as if we were putting them out to order or be there in general. I have worked in a restaurant myself and know what a pain it is to get people at the last minute, but sometimes it is the nature of the beast. I ordered a small salad and they put that together just fine. Although, when I asked for a side of salsa, you would have thought that I asked them to play Nickelback.
My friend, was ignored numerous times, his order was done wrong and was they were just plain rude to him. He ordered a beef quesadilla, they said a beef burrito, he said no a quesadilla. Another gentleman came in and he took his order and started it, then came back to us and said you ordered a burrito, correct? We looked at each other, thinking we are in the twilight zone at this point and said, no a quesadilla. He went ahead and made a burrito. As we watched him I said, «you put beans and rice on a quesadilla?» He was very put out and almost angry that we asked him to remake the order. The guy that was behind us got his food and was checked out before us. Finally we checked out, and when we asked for it to go, because we were obviously NOT WELCOME, they acted annoyed that we asked them to do something else. We finally left and ate outside and enjoyed the nice fresh air, where we were welcomed.

Our experience with this establishment has been terrible! We placed an order for catering over a week prior. When we called 10 minutes before the kid said they didn’t realize what time it was and got started on our order late. They offered us a little discount and had not even started on our order 20 minutes after our party was suppose to start. The supervisor did not know how to take care of his customers and we had to go elsewhere for our food.

Working downtown, i often order food from this Costa Vida location. The staff is friendly and they always get my order right! Parking is a huge pain, that would be my only complaint at this location.

In a world full of burritos and burrito joints, Costa Vida is also one of them. I’ve had the chance to peek behind the scenes a bit, and there are some points awarded for passion – they’ve got a lot of love for what they’re doing. They also love the world of fresh – they don’t even own a freezer, so you know that nothing is trucked in as a brick only to be thawed. That counts for something.
I also went on a tour a few years back and they had just converted to all gluten-​free stuff (save for 2 desserts) and that gets some love and recognition.
I think this location is okay – the Gateway is still working hard to keep the lights on and the Costa Vida is nice enough, still new enough looking, and was pretty clean last time I had lunch there. I had a shredded beef burrito, and it had all the things you might expect on it. But between the pico and the very wet beef, it was a little soupy. The taste was just fine, but that much liquid was kind of a turn off for me.
I’ve had some really good stuff, so I’m not too critical. Just maybe get a grilled burrito meat if you’re not into really wet burritos and you may enjoy your meal a bit more.

Fresh-​made tortillas, Decent price, Huge portions. Sweet pork was tender & juicy, but there was no balance of smokey, or salty, or spicey to offset the sweetness. The salsa’s and queso both left a little to be desired… Just didn’t pack a punch in the flavor category. The horchata left a bitter aftertaste.
I didn’t have a bad experience, but the food didn’t meet my expectations. Fresh but not flavorful, or not the right balance of flavors. Loved the fresh tortillas, but Qdoba, Chipolte, and local restaurants do it better. I probably wouldn’t seek it out again.

This was the worst customer service I’ve ever had. Not only did the staff not know what they were doing, but the manager was uninterested in assisting. The boy who got my food did not know what I wanted at all and when he put the meat in my salad, then took a huge chunk out and put it back in the pot. That is clearly against health code to put food on a plate, touching other food then to put it back with the other unserved meat. The girl who took my money was no better. As a mall employee I do get a discount but when I asked she still over charged me. This place is good if you are looking for over priced crap and poor customer service.

Firstly, I love Costa Vida and prefer it to Café Rio. I love their sweet pork!
That being said… I’ve gone to this location a number times and have never really been impressed by the service.
They’ve screwed up our orders multiple times, are regularly out of horchata, the manager has never seemed to care if his customers are happy, they are slow at the counter and even slower for call ahead orders, tables are often dirty even when it’s slow and quiet.
We’ve decided it might be worth it to go to Café Rio or one of their different locations (which is further from us) so maybe we could get some decent customer service.

So let me explain this review —
The tacos were great that wasn’t our issue. The issue was the service and the costs. We got charged a dollar for a dollop of sour cream, a dollar for a dollop of guac a dollar for this a dollar for that it seemed like we were being nickeled and dimed when you spend 25 dollars for 4 tacos and 1 drink. Then we wanted some limes, well the girl at the register had grabbed her drink and went into the back to talk to the others so we had to wait for someone to come out to get us a few limes.
No beuno Costa

Cheap food. Good luck trying to find a seat before a jazz game. It seems they have greatly reduced the amount of meat on the burritos. It was a rare find when we did.

I love costa! (Gateway Location) Pork burrito is perfect everytime and the staff is always nice:)

This is a great Mexican restaurant! It’s way better than café rio & they have great gluten free options! Everything at café rio has wheat in it :(… They have a mango salsa which is to die for. Their Nachos are amazing. I tried there raspberry chipotle chicken the other day & was hooked! Everything there is amazing & they have great kids meal choices that comes with a yummy cinnamon & sugar tortilla yum!

They told me that the chicken they were serving was cooked the day before. They were cooking chicken and would not serve me the fresh chicken.

The Café Rio copycat is the food equivalent of an awkward cover band. Just go to Café Rio or Barbacoa unless there isn’t one within a few miles.

Meh… this place is a nicer chipotle… that is not a compliment, I don’t like chipotle… burrito was soggy, sweet pork is, well, sweet, not much flavor other than being sweet. Portion size is good, but a large portion of mediocre food is not necessarily a good thing. Nachos were the best order although when they heated the nachos to melt the cheese the meat dried up… so again, my evaluation is… meh

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a video of the deplorable conditions that gluten is raised in in this country. Small stalls, no lighting and lack of ventilation are just some of the complaints many have against the gluten farmers of america.
If you agree and want to do something to stop the barbaric destruction of baby glutens in america, then I’d suggest you give Costa Vida a try. They have converted a large portion of their menu to Gluten Free. I say its about damn time! Its 2011 and high time we realize glutens are more than protein structures that give our pizza crusts a delightful chewy texture.
I was invited to sample some items from their menu. That means I didn’t pay a dime (suck it elites!!), but from what I tasted and heard from others, nothing is lost in the gluten free items. For you sadistic barbarians there are plenty of «traditional» items to satisfy your primitive urges.
My Rasperry Chipotle Chicken was too sweet for me, but I feel pretty confident I could find something I’d like here on a return visit. The desserts were very good. The samples of Key Lime Pie, Tres Leches (I once led a sing in to protest poor Leche labor conditions) and the gluten free Flan were very good as well.
Bottom line, if you’re dining someone who can’t eat gluten, this is a good choice. For the rest of you, ask yourself this: What will you do when your daughter brings home a gluten she’s dating. Welcome to the New America. Please try and keep up.

Hearing about all the hype of Costa Vida and Café Rio from my Arizonian relatives (I guess there is a huge debate on who is better), we found ourselves starving, walking around the Gateway and saw Costa Vida smiling down on us.
The ambience is not very tex mexy, definitely more like a trendy surfer shack. I dug it!
I decided to go with the special of sweet pork enchiladas to make it easy.
Never again! I know it says SWEET and it is my fault, but I still thought it would have some kind of kick to it. It is supposed to be mexican after all. Nope, just pure sugar tasting!
All the toppings, beans, rice, fresh cilantro, salsa’s, etc… were great though. I think if I had went with a different meat, I would have been okay.
Service was great and the restaurant was clean!
If you are looking for some spice, steer clear of the sweet pork (of course now that I’m typing this, I’m thinking «Duh Shawna!) and test out a different meat for a quick lunch.

Mediocre food. Decent service.
Take some of this «sweet» pork. Use a spoon to get some of the sauce that is around it. Taste the sauce on your spoon. Tell me it doesn’t taste a bit like pancake syrup. It is absolutely sickeningly sweet. It probably perfect for a 6 year old but I am not sure that adults should be eating anything that sweet except for during brunch and dessert.
The rest of the menu is better than the pork but not really good.

Every time I have eaten there, I have been disappointed. One time I ate a pork burrito and it was soggy from the lettuce, adding insult to injury to the already not so good taste. Speaking of the sweet pork, have you ever heard the term «sickeningly sweet’? That would be the best way for me to describe it. It is an unnaturally sweet taste, (I think they get a good deal on sweet n low or something) I can honestly say I haven’t had anything there that has been any good. I usually only go there because I work at the Gateway mall and my boss gives us coupons.
Like another reviewer said, don’t waste your time there, go to Café Rio where the flavors marry one another in a blissful union of taste, texture and loveliness.