Costa Vida

As a Texan currently displaced to Utah I was in dire need of some Mexican food, now if you want traditional Tex-​Mex that is not what you will find here, but the food is great. I had the chicken tacos with rice and beans and even though it was not the Mexican food I was use to, it is really good and this location did a great job of preparing it just the way I wanted it.

Waited 20 min in the drive thru, was given the wrong order. Had to drive back, not really apologetic.

ehhh, a knock off from Café Rio.
I come here in a pinch because Café Rio isn’t close enough. The burrito’s, the salads… all lack freshness and the flavor.
I keep trying this place, and the result is the same. It’s just OK.

Delicious! And this location has a drive-​thru which makes life with littles ones much easier. I love their pork enchiladas with hot sauce and a side of creamy dressing. Parking can be an issue if you go during busy times though.

Wow I really like the Raspberry Chicken Chipotle Tacos. The sweet and sour sauce still makes me drool when I write this. The Shrimp Tacos is also good, especially if you add in a little bit of mango salsa. It is like summer in my mouth all day long. Such a satisfaction!

Costa Vida is a copy cat of a restaurant chain with the initials Café Rio. I always say that if you’re going to copy something make sure it’s good. Well I’ve never actually said that but it seems applicable here. How can you go wrong emulating something great if you copy it well? That’s Costa Vida!
Everything’s fresh and prepared custom for each order, right in front of you. There’s usually not much of a line but don’t be intimidated if there is because it moves quickly. Open seating so just get in line and have faith there will be a table open when your food is done because there always is. In the warmer months there’s outside seating as well.
Choose from shredded beef or pork, steak, or chicken for a great quesadilla, taco, burrito or salad. Check out the daily specials and if you like CR you’ll probably enjoy Costa Vida.

Love this place. The food is delicious. Love the freshly made tortillas and the ranch sauce. Not just great food. Great customer orientation. Today I got takeout. And they offered me a free soda while I waited.

As a mother, I absolutely love the drive threw! Their food is fantastic! I love costa vida!

I love the taco salads! I will choose Costa Vida over a café rio every time. The tortilla shells are just amazing. My favorite part of the salad. The ranch dressing is really good. I love that it’s a drive-​thru.

I come here a lot because it’s fast, easy and it tastes good. The lines are soooo long at times but they tend to move pretty fast. The service needs little work if you ask me. They tend to move your through like herding cattle, not really paying close attention to you as the customer. Sometimes they are so used to putting certain things on your salad, and they anticipate you wanting something when you really don’t. «Black or pinto beans?» And he’s already holding the black beans and ready to poor it on when to his surprise I want pinto. It’s funny sometimes I throw them off with my choices.
At the end of the day their pork salad is good. The pork is marinated in something special. Always pay extra to get the guacamole, it’s worth it.
I would give it a 3 ½ stars if there was an option.

Really great carribbean atmosphere when you walk in and we ordered the carnitas tacos and the flavoring is fantastic! Wished they had these in CA

This isn’t the type of place I would go out of my way to eat at because to me it’s in between a fast-​food joint and a sit-​down restaurant. The food is still prepared decently quick, but the quality is much higher than your fourth-​meal Taco Bell.
All of that being said, I enjoy the food here and would normally choose it over anything similar. However, if it comes down to here, Chipotle, or Café Rio I would probably choose here because they have specialty drinks (limonada, horchata, agua fresca de sandia) that are refillable for free. All you can drink Horchata you say? Count me in! Also, it’s some of the best Horchata I’ve ever had.
Get a smothered burrito (raspberry chipotle chicken is an interesting one), a horchata, and add some smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce and you’re good to go.

Man dis place is dopppee friggen gr8 brittos but don’t pick em up woth ur hands lol. Graeyt quality and (egg)xcellebt compnany ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would eat again

Yet another competitor to Chipotle who differentiate themselves with a way more extensive menu as well as fresh made tortillas. Kudos for the fresh made tortillas that they use to wrap their burritos in — reminded me of the places in San Diego that all do this and which give the burritos a slightly smoker taste and overall different texture.
The place was packed and it’s a fairly large place as also mentioned by other reviewers the line was fairly slow, it’s very loud and parking was tough.
I imagine that the reason for the slow line movement is just strictly due to the variety of not only meals you can order but also the customization of each. When I did finally get able to order, they did get my food to me quickly — and sadly, one of the reasons I really didn’t enjoy the experience as much in that the people working there were working their tails off, sweating and just throwing the food together, putting it thru a little oven like a grinder sandwich and then throwing it into a aluminum tray. It just gave me a fast food vibe.
Again and as mentioned in my other burrito reviews, I’m a burrito snob/​aficionado/​purist — or simply just pretentious– and all that really matters most is the taste. With that initial experience, I have to say I was a little surprised in that the burrito was pretty good. Plenty of chicken, nice seasoning, some good sauces, crisp & fresh romain and a choice of either black or refried beans. As per usual, I opted for the black beans.
Would I come here again? Yes and no. Yes if I was staying again in the hotel across the street and no if otherwise — and in such an event would seek something a little more authentic and quieter.

This place is delicious! I am a die hard Café Rio fan and I found this place to be very comparable, a tie in my book. I got the pork salad with all the fixings, my Rio usual, BUT, I got the small. I loved that they have a small option, usually I leave Café Rio with leftovers or a hernia from trying to down all of my delicious food. I like that they have the smaller option so, if you’re like me, a helpless member of the clean plate club, you don’t have to go all out with a huge meal and still be MORE than satisfied.
Bravo Costa Vida, I never thought my heart would stray from Café Rio.

Lines are usually better than Café Rio. I also like that Costa Vida offers a small salad. Can’t go wrong on most of the menu.

Another win for Costa Vida! They are slowing becoming our new favorite! Café Rio is great, don’t get me wrong. But there isn’t one close!
This was our first time eating at this location and it was as tasty as ever. I have an absurd addiction to the sweet pork enchiladas. When you are watching them make them you think to yourself «Oh boy, those are pretty small». Then I find myself barely finishing. It’s a nice, spacious facility with a lot of seating. The staff were all pretty young and seemed to be inexperienced, running around with their head cut off. But other than that, a great dining experience

I live nearby and often get stuck in the strip mall food area just West of ADOBE. And while the quality of food is on par with any other Costa Vida, the reason I rate it at 2 instead of 3 or 4 is because the lines move a lot slower than other locations I’ve been to. I suppose this is because it’s a newer location and their new employees are still gaining experience.

I work at the same company as Rod S. For some reason the people that work with us really seem to like this place. We had some Ukrainians that we work with in town for the week and decided to go here since they weren’t hamburger fans.
Costa Vida has never been a place that I’ve recommended, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I wasn’t expecting anything great, just a decent meal. I had a sweet pork burrito with bland and pinto beans, cilantro lime rice and cheese. I had them put the red enchilada sauce on top and the green chile sauce inside. You get a lot of food for a decent prize, and it’s actually okay food. Café Rio seems to be the go to standard around these parts, so in comparison to that I would put it a little bit under their pork burrito.
They have a decent selection of hot sauce that you can use, which I always appreciate. They also have horchata available, along with a couple other spanish drinks. The atmosphere is horribly loud. I’m not sure why that became a thing, but I really hate it. Seating is okay, but as is the case with all of the restaurants around this location, it can be very crowded around lunch. Same goes for parking.
Overall this is a nice addition to the area.

Co-​workers made the choice. It wasn’t as completely mediocre as my previous visits. I finally found something that’s only a little sweet and is less than several pounds of bulk food. That’s as good as it gets at Costa Vita.