Vivas

We came here to eat because they claim they have organic beans, organic rice and choice of organic meat, as well as organic tilapia. As far as I know tilapia is a dangerous fish to eat unless wild caught so I’m not sold that the organic label is even accurate.
Won’t be back. The food could be tastier but at least it’s organic.

I’ve been going here for years. I even gave them a 5 star review before. Now, it clearly has changes. They ran out of chicken. Had no idea what gluten free was. Got our entire order wrong, it took over 30 minutes to get the order, and NO ONE was in the restaurant. They even seemed mad we were there and they had to work. Sadly, one of our staple restaurants is one we’ll no longer support.

The pictures make the atmosphere look appealing, which is partly why a gave this place a shot. It not that appealing of a place. It is run down, the fountain is dry, the seats are torn, there is no outdoor seating. I got a pastor burrito, and it isn’t very good. The pastor doesn’t come from a rotating rotesorie and just tastes more like a stewed pork. The menu description says grilled pork, but my isn’t grilled. They also charge extra for chips an salsa, which I skipped as they didn’t look very good. The chips look like the kind you get in that giant bag at Costco.

Love this place! My go to spot for sure. Best mole I’ve ever had and the prices for the quality can’t be beat in Santa Cruz. Thank you Vivas!

Ate there a few times, good, healthy food, I’m especially fond of the chicken mole. No salsa bar but the red salsa they have is nice and hot.

Stopped in here for dinner after a day at the Boardwalk. We were visiting from out of town and heard about this restaurant from the Food Babe as it is an Organic Mexican restaurant. The food was clean, but I will say just okay. I ordered the specialty vegetarian plate. Served with rice, black beans, and basically a salad. I suppose I was expecting something more hearty as far as the vegetable offering. My husband ordered the chile verde nachos. He said the nachos were good with good flavor, but there was hardly any chile verde on them at all. Not sure if we will eat here again on our next visit. Just depends on if we are able to find other organic restaurant options in the area.

While celebrating Valentine’s day in Santa Cruz my wife and I decided to try it out because we are trying to eat more organic food and The Food Babe posted about it on Facebook. I had the Chile Verde nachos with black and refried beans, it was good but there was barely any meat on the nachos, I expected some visible chili Verde considering meat costs extra, but it was still good tasting.

The food is delicious!!! Quesadilla is huge and the tortilla was perfectly cooked, crispy soft and filled with gooey cheese, homemade rice, and really flavorful beans without overpowering the fresh organic produce. The chilli relleno burrito was AMAZING, with a crunch of fresh lettuce. Let’s just say– don’t go across the street. I highly recommend eating here.

Had lunch on a quiet Sunday afternoon, ordered a veggie quesadilla and carnitas tacos. Food was lazily put together, service was poor, salsa fresca was just chopped tomatoes and extremely bland. taco was dry and lukewarm. It seems like they didn’t want to be in business anymore.

Great food here. It’s fast food Mexican but with good ingredients and not over budget. Check out their mole, mmmm! Only 4 stars though because not always a clean table to sit at. Good food though, they have it covered.

So good! One of the best Mexican places in Santa Cruz! Definitely a must try if you are in the area. The food is amazing, healthy and organic. I will be back!

It’s fresh. It’s healthy. It doesn’t taste like much of anything. I kept hunting for seasoning, and couldn’t find much.
I went a couple of times a few years ago and gave up. Charlie Hong Kong’s is right across the street.
They opened a branch on the UCSC campus and I gave it a shot. But the food is exactly the same. Nice venue, though.

So fresh and so good! Great, fast service. The steak burrito was yum and the vegetarian salad was perfect. Definitely visit this spot when in Santa Cruz.

I don’t know if something was happening with this place when we went, but it was the worst taco shop I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. They literally only had stale rice and beans and chips, basic salsa, tortillas, tasteless meat, and lettuce. That’s it. We ended up not eating our food and getting some of the awesome organic Asian food across the street. What an epic waste of money.

This place has pre-​made everything. At fist I didn’t care… But recently workers claim they are out of items on the menu just because they don’t want to prepare them. Also, they microwaved the Chile relleno with plastic wrap over the top. Plastic wrap seems to make their «organic» food less appealing. Better off going somewhere else… like planet fresh. In addition, don’t order their flautas or their enchiladas. Their chicken is hard, dry, and extremely gross. They leave their food in the heating bins way too long, or they don’t cook fresh food every day.

Came here a while back forgot to write a review. It’s a cute little Shop.
I got the Carne asada burrito on a fresh made spinach wrap with no rice. It was delicious I ate the whole thing even though I was full halfway through. They have alot of options for gluten free and vegetarians as well which is a plus. Everything was really fresh and you definitely need to try their Verde sauce :) Mmmmm.

PROS:
it’s some of the only organic fast food around. still not seasonal, though.
the meat is lean.
it’s right by a bunch of other decent food spots, so you can bail if you get pissed.
they have my favorite green salsa.
CONS:
the green salsa is rotten about half the time.
the music is awful.
the burritos can be really dry.
the burritos are about 25% tortilla, and it’s not toasted so it is doughy.
the employees, meh.
the prices are almost half again as much as a regular taqueria.
they are frequently out of the good stuff, like the grilled veggies.
it’s right on the corner of a busy intersection.
in the afternoon, the sun blasts through the huge windows like a death ray. do not forget your sunglasses.

Jesus Christ the employees here are the most miserable people I have ever come across in the food industry. The younger cashier girl is so damn rude, sorry I asked for an extra salsa with my to go order you lazy ass bitch don’t need to throw a fit.
The salsa is really good though! :)

I’ve been a number of times, and the food is good. I like the fact that you do get a healthy and fresh version of authentic tasting Mexican food, the problem is, it’s very hard to actually get what you want to order since they’re usually out of it! I suppose it’s because they don’t like to have food leftover at the end of the day, but it’s sort of an issue when every time you go there, you have to go with your second or even third choice. For example, the best thing they make are the enchiladas. Much better than you’ll get at a standard Mexican joint, and fairly priced too. But it’s rare that they’ll actually have them available, maybe about 25% of the time.
I remember on one particular night I ordered the enchiladas. Sure enough, they were out of them. I had gone there specifically for the enchiladas, so now I was disappointed. Okay, what else? I’ll take the nachos, those aren’t so bad. Oh wait, you’re out of nachos… really?! Okay, I’ll a tostada and a taco, but I’d of rather just went somewhere else but now I’m here and I might as well order anything.
Oh, and the burritos. They’re okay. I wouldn’t really recommend them, but they’re edible and are healthier than other burritos. Just don’t expect the same thing you’d get from your local delicious and grease pit taqueria.

Not everything on the menu is organic but everything is affordable and I remember feeling very satisfied after wolfing down a torta for under $ 6.
Granted I was still hungry after that but for a single entrée, it’s a great dish to order (size, price, and of course: taste). No complimentary chips and salsa, sadly but there is no need for it because the food came out extremely fast.
A water dispenser is available by the counter next to the utensils. You seat yourself after ordering/​paying. when your food is ready, it is served to you at your table piping hot.
My Bistec Torta was delicious. Everything was good; from the bread, lettuce, tomatoes, beef, and fresh avocado made my dinner quite epic. And what I love is the price.
Gavin had the cheese quesadilla which was slightly greasy and my daughter had the chicken and rice kid’s burrito. I appreciate the guy at the counter pointing me to the kid’s menu. I originally was ordering from the billboard menu (regular stuff). Though a buck or two was saved but that little can help me so much in the long run.
The guys at the counter was friendly. They both smiled and laughed when they saw me pull out my phone to take pictures. What can I say? I’m a Unilocaler!
Awesome dinner. Thanks to Craig for treating the kids and I that evening. I would love to come back sometime to try something else or maybe pick a different torta. I love tortas.
Tortas FTW!