Costa Vida

I wish I could give this more stars but I’ve been 4 – 5 times now and every time it takes FOREVER to get through the line. They had just 10 people in line (half full) tonight and it took me 30 minutes to get three pork tacos. 30 minutes when not even busy?!?
I stopped here as it was closer than Café Rio to my house but would of saved a solid ten minutes by driving the 3 extra miles to Gilbert road and going to Café Rio over there.
Inefficiently ran, so if you go call ahead as they get those done in less than 10 minutes
Food is mediocre and the meat isn’t as succulent as Café Rio so I won’t becoming here again.

I love the food here, but the take out is horrible. I called to place an order and was put on hold for almost 5 minutes. I finally hung up and called back. They answered and took my order immediately so I’m pretty sure they’d completely forgotten about me the first time. Then the girl on the phone couldn’t answer my very basic question and had to ask someone else. When I got there, they hadn’t even started making my food. After several minutes, I had to grab someone’s attention to remind them I was standing there waiting for my order. And even then, it took a few minutes for someone to start on my order. What’s the point of take out? I could have just come in and waited in line and it would’ve been less hassle.

Absolutely love this restaurant. The pork is amazing. Go get a sweet pork burrito or salad. You’ll love it. The restaurant is always fun, full and delicious.

Love hate relationship with this place. Love the food but there’s always about 10 people working behind the counter with only one really handling the food/​behind the assembly line. Not sure what all the rest are doing but it doesn’t help the movement of the long line that is constantly there. Food is really good though…

This is the Starbucks of Fast Food Mexican food meaning it’s Crack!!! So good and crackfullllllll

I called last week to inquire about catering our holiday party. We have a lady in our offer who has Celiac and CV is all GF so we were excited to order form here this year. I was speaking with the manager and he was incredibly short with me and the 4 – 5 questions I was asking. Simple things like the order minimum, if they include chafes, little things. He finally RUDELY interrupted me and asked if I had any other questions. I was a bit put off and I politely said, «I guess not, thank you!» and he immediately hung up.
After that conversation we decided to go back to Café Rio, whom we used the last two years for our holiday party, even though they are not GF friendly, their service is excellent! I will not be recommending your catering to anyone as the manager was just incredibly rude, wish it were different.

Great service, delicious food! I always take my family here when they come out to visit. I got the raspberry chipotle chicken and it was SO GOOD!

Oh Costa Vida… I’ve been to this restaurant twice now and both times there’s really nothing that stands out, nothing special that makes me want to come back. As I see in other reviews, this place is almost an exact clone to Café Rio which in my opinion is worlds better but I’ll keep on Costa Vida for now. The setup is the same as Rio, the meals, the way the food is displayed, the turbo chef to cook etc. The food however isn’t that great, as mentioned earlier there’s nothing that stands out, no bold flavors, the salsa is just alright.
I feel like the food could be improved because the meals seem bland. The service is nothing to brag about. And the price for what you get/​what you taste isn’t worth it. I think what keeps this place afloat is the fact that it’s in a strong business complex. Other than that, there are plenty of restaurants in Dana Park that I would much rather go to.

I love this place! Cheaper than Café Rio and the service is excellent.

So bad. Waited in line tonight for 40 minutes. This location was so hot people were complaining and fanning themselves with whatever they could find. The a.c. was set to 85. It was 92 degrees behind the counter. They were out of ice but didn’t bother to tell the customers. I went up to the counter and asked them if they had more and they got me some but other people that asked where turned away. The nachos were not worth the wait. My chips were soggy and gross… I wasted $ 20 and won’t go back to this location again. Café Rio is a much better choice!

Pretty good american Mexican food. Nothing authentic about it, but it’s still good.
Very similar to Café Rio.
I really enjoyed the option of a small salad rather then a large or no size option.

This has to be one of my favorite places. Love the sweet pork salads from there. I go there a couple times a month for the sweet pork salad. You should try them out.

One of my favorite places around Gilbert!
I try not to go here when I’m dieting, unless I want a splurge meal… You can get salads that are very low calorie but they won’t taste nearly as good as anything with the (decently high calorie) delicious sweet pork! Honestly, I think that going here and not getting the pork is a waste because it’s the brightest highlight of this restaurant chain. I typically get the sweet pork burrito, which last I checked is their most popular entrée. Get it smothered with cheese and the medium sauce and it becomes a dish to die for!
If burritos aren’t your thing, the nachos are also amazing! The chips themselves are just sub par but once they’re smothered in meat, queso, and pico they get much better.
The sister company to Costa Vida, Café Rio, is different in very few ways. Basically the differences lie in the ambiance and feel of the restaurant (Costa is more beach-​like in vibe, while Rio is more Mexican-​feeling) and that the pork is significantly sweeter at Costa than it is at Rio. For me, there’s no competition and I much prefer Costa Vida — though I’ve heard that you end up loyal to whichever one you visit first.

Meh
A bit pricier than Chipotle
Longer wait in line
80% of workers teenagers
Beans over seasoned and old
Rice dry and flavorless
Chicken in tacos dry
I could seriously make fresher Mexican food at home. Tried it won’t be back.

This place is delicious. Sweet pork with the red enchilada sauce, you’ll thank me later. Shredded beef is great too, but gives you some serious gas. Totes worth it.
Go during lunch hours or taco Tuesday and the place is busy. Other than that not much of a wait time. Worth the wait though.

Love Costa Vida! I always get there steak salads! I’m obsessed! Employees are friendly and the place is always clean.
Sucks there closed on Sunday’s but other then that it’s my favorite place! I wish they had a location in the Phoenix area!

For me, chicken salad or nachos is the way to go here. The chicken is amazing. This isn’t Mexican food, it’s sort of Mexican-​ish. The pulled pork is extremely sweet. It’s like super sweet bbq with not enough spices to cut the sweetness. I know lots of people who love it though. A small nachos and a drink is just under 10 bucks, but I can’t finish the whole thing, and it keeps me full a long time, so it’s not a bad deal. I see a lot of families here getting a large nachos and splitting it with smaller children. Every time I eat here the food is fresh and perfectly cooked.
As for the waits in line, it’s probably due to some numb nuts at the front who can’t decide what they want. Maybe if they made the counter shorter so customers could see what’s available, it could help. When I’ve been here the employees were helpful and the place was clean.

This place is delicious. Definitely try their sweet shredded pork. It’s seriously to die for. It’s decently priced for the amount of food you get. Big burrito and a drink is about 8 dollars and the burritos are huge. This place is clean and the service is great. Will come again and again.

I had a few tacos here, and it was ok, but by no means great. Other places have a variety of salsas, and don’t charge extra for that. Costa Vida lets you pick one, and it wasn’t even that good. Carne asada was basically flavorless, and the tacos fell apart.
Lots of people rave about the «sweet pork», and it was fine. It’s pulled pork in a sweet BBQ sauce, I’m more a fan of grilled meat, which Costa Vida doesn’t seem to do well. Still, it’s not a 2-​star place, I’d stop by again if I was there and had to grab something quick.

Love the food! Service is terrible. This location is always so poorly understaffed. We do a lot of to go orders and every time it’s an additional 10 – 20 minutes on top of the 20 minutes they quote on the phone. I don’t understand why they can’t figure their concept out and make it run more efficiently. Chipotle does it.
If you’re not in a hurry and not hungry order a sweet pork salad. Otherwise head over to Café Zuppas where the service is always fast and friendly.

Brought my husband here today because I ate here a few days ago and it was really good. While I very much enjoyed the food quality today, they definitely did not have their poop in the group today. We were there a few minutes before 11 when they open and patiently waited outside, it was a beautiful day… 5 min past 11 I decided to try the door in case I missed them unlocking it (BTW, there are probably 7 – 8 other people waiting as well)…nope still locked. Around 10 after they opened the door to the hungry mob. It was clear that they didn’t have every one on the line, and it took so long to get our food. It wasn’t quite right either. I ordered the quesadilla meal which comes with rice and beans, but they sort of forgot about my food and by the time we were paying they asked me if I wanted the rice and beans. I didn’t want to wait anymore so I just said no thank you.
I know stuff happens, so hopefully this was an isolated incident. I really like their food and would like to give them another chance. My husband enjoyed his Chile Verde burrito and their salsa was great.

The Wednesday special was a great deal. For $ 5, you get a huge chile verde burrito, enchilada style, with lettuce and pico de gallo. The burrito itself was filled to the brim with pork, green chile sauce, rice and beans, and when I requested pico de gallo only, they heaped a enormous portion onto my plate.
Service, unfortunately, is pretty slow. Despite having what looks to be an army of staff for busy lunchtime, the line still moved at a snail’s pace. The waiting area for the line is also uncomfortably warm. If you have limited time for lunch, I probably wouldn’t eat here unless you’ve phoned in an order ahead of time to take out.

I really wanted to like this place but the food is so blah. I got three tacos (pork, shrimp, and shredded beef). They took the tortillas and placed then on the flat top, which I thought was to warm them up and then they put cheese on them and waited until it melted. The kept them on for so long that they all burned and black on the bottom. Then they added the meat, lettuce, pico and sour cream. There was so much juice from the meat and pico that the tacos were dripping and soggy. But the bizarre thing was that they had zero flavor. The pork meat was very sweet which was kind of a nasty combo with the pico and sour cream.
So I guess I’m the odd ball based on the rest of the reviews. I think this would be a great place for someone who does not like spices or is afraid that Mexican food is too spicey. No worries here since the food is very bland.