Costa Vida

Top 2 or 3 places my family picks we want something quick and tastey. Service is quick, will make substitutions and it is always fresh to order. Priced right too!!!

Love this place! Been going for years! Quick food and always tasty and good price :)

This place still sucks! Wow! It’s within walking distance of my house and I will never eat here again!

Yes the food is a little spendy but well worth it! Fresh food and great service every time. I also love the fact that they offer a rewards card.

Used to have really great food and service. Now it moves very slow while employees just sit around and talk to each other or text on their phones. The proteins are cold and often undercooked. They just don’t seem to care anymore. Will not go back.

I’ve tried Costa Vida twice and wasn’t impressed either time. My first complaint is that the prices are outragous. They charge you extra if you want salsa, sour cream, or guacamole with your burrito. The food is ok, but for the price you pay, you get more food and better food by going to places like Azteca. The first time I went, they gave me larger portions than the second time I went and I ordered the same thing. The cafeteria style ordering experience works for places like Subway, but Costa Vida can’t get the hang of it apparently. They have several slow workers maticulously counting every little item they put on your plate, making sure that if they accidentally go over the designated amount, you get charged. I give restaraunts two shots before I wash my hands clean of them and I plan on never going back to this place. It’s a rip off. If you want a good, cheap taco, go somewhere else.

Decent food, average chain place. Their points card is nice, and I loved their student specials when I was in high school. My favorite item is their chicken tacos. Yum!

Used to like this place, but the quality of the food and service have suffered. I ordered shrimp tacos and got undercooked shrimp on a flour tortilla. I asked if anything else came on it and they said no (check the menu online, it specifically says fresh greens and salsa). Additionally, we were the only ones in line and it took forever to get our food. Three employees were just standing and talking! The price: four shrimp tacos, black beans and rice, chips, and two drinks was $ 25. For that price, go to Fuego down the street.

excellent food, and with coupons, daily specials, and their point card, it can be a great deal! We usually get beef burritos (50% of the time smothered) and chips and queso for the kiddo. The best feature by far is their rice, which we always ask to skip the beansto get a douple helping of, and the food is made fresh on the spot! Their desserts are wonderful, but we usually skip on those due to the amount of food that we are getting. For all GF sensitive people out there, they have corn tortillas! Highly recommend, will be there again soon!

I eat at Costa Vida a couple of times a month and have yet to be disappointed yet. The food is good and the people are always friendly. The pork is the best in my opinion but no wrong choices here.

I am loving Costa Vida! This place reminds me of many of my lunch time favorites while going to college in Arizona. I love the healthy options and it is quick when I am in a rush. We need more places like Costa Vida in the Tri-​Cities. Can someone please bring Jamba Juice!

Zero complaints. It’s an oasis of sorts in a vast wasteland.
After several hundred trips through Kennewick, I finally found a spot for my fam to eat that wasn’t nasty fast food… quite the opposite in fact. Easy to get to off the 395, fairly healthy, and super delicious. Picture a Chipotle where they make your tortillas fresh at the start of the line. Not the cheapest place ever, but the portions were more than generous. Very CLEAN too, which is rare in the Tri Cities.

I don’t understand all the complaints about the «cafeteria» style restaurant. The same as as chipotle, freebirds, sandwich shop, Panda Express etc. I don’t think it’s fair to fault them for what they are. Cheap «faster» food that’s less crappy than actual fast food.
We were on a road trip, we had vegetarians with us and picky peeps ;-) we were meeting someone in the walmart parking lot and it was close, fast, and healthier! Between us we ordered a burrito, wet burrito, nachos, quesadillas and a everything was really good. The restaurant was clean and service was friendly. I don’t think they could have done anything else better and that’s the most fair to rate them. You can’t compare a less expensive or fast food restaurant to a 5 star dining experience at some ritzy dinner house. Not fair. Grade them by what they can or could have done better!
I apologize that this reviews is several months late costa vida but thanks for the quick yummy bite!

In Utah, where I just moved from, these are everywhere, along with their rival restaurant: Café Rio. This is like the Pepsi/​Coke debate, people have very strong opinions on which is better, Costa Vida or Café Rio (Café Rio is better). Since there’s no Café Rio here, I’ve allowed myself to eat at Costa Vida a couple of times. Costa Vida is cute and surf board themed and all, but all I can think of every time I eat here is how much I miss Café Rio.
The food is fine, and the portions are huge, but I wouldn’t call it a «must-​try» or anything. My one recommendation: if you get the sweet pork salad, get the tomatillo ranch dressing. It’s the best one.

I give it stars for: freshness, taste, quality, and flavor. The reason it did not earn 5 stars is because A) my sweet pork taco needed more sweet pork (why so skimpy?!) and B) there’s no salsa bar. They portion up your salsa/​condiments behind the counter. I would have liked to try a few different ones with my own portions.
But let’s face it, as far as Tri-​Cities goes, this place ranks WAY up there on the go-​to list.

This was my first and subsequently last visit to Costa Vida.
I didn’t mind the «cafeteria» style dining, it is whatever. I didn’t have a huge problem with the foil containers and plastic cutlery. But let me tell you what I did have a problem with!
To begin with, the food is not good. As in Taco Bell is better Mexican cuisine than this place. The sweet pork and raspberry chipotle chicken were so cloyingly sweet it was nearly stomach turning. The «lime rice» tasted like nothing at all. The refried and black beans were meh, so so. Second problem was the servers. Both of us received a mere 2 tablespoons worth of beans and rice. About enough for 3 bites! The enchiladas were tiny and only had about 4 dry strips of chicken apiece. My final problem was the prices and value for money. $ 11 each for the aforementioned paltry entrees! Sodas, extra. Salsa, extra. Ranch, extra. Sour Cream, extra (need I go on?).
I realize to each their own, but I honestly can not fathom the 4 – 5 star reviews of this place. Go to any of the amazing local Mexican restaurants and spend your money there.

Tried this place for lunch because it was in walking distance of my hotel.
It is one of those new «fast food Mexican» places that have an assembly line… kinda like Subway.
I had the quesadilla. All the ingredients were fresh and the place was very clean. But the misstep was in the flavors and seasonings.
The flour tortilla is strangely sweet and thin. The pulled pork was good, but all the sides were bland and needed salt, at least. They charge extra for guac and sour cream.
Not a bad quick meal and better than most fast food.

I’m sorry fellow costa vida regulars. The price of their food is way over priced $ 8 for 2 tacos… seriously!!! My husband and i literally turned around and walked out. We went down the road and probably had way better quality tacos from mi Lindas Mexican restaurant. i think $ 1 tacos was way better priced wont be back here

The best description of the food is «Mexican food for white people». I don’t mean that to be offensive. The burritos and tacos all use the type of ingredients that aren’t true to mexican roots. They use salad type lettuce, they smother everything in sauce if you want it, and the cheese on the tacos is cooked like a cheese sandwich.
It’s ok though. It’s something different and appeals to a totally different crowd. This is a more suburban California vibe. Surf boards, expensive TV’s for menus, etc.
The location (dine in) is slow and chaotic. Slow because they have the ordering process similar to Qdoba or Subway but the line moves slow. They have 1 person grilling the tortilla, one person grabbing the meat, another person doing the veges, and so on. Not efficient and it gets bogged down very quickly. I say chaotic because the acoustics of the room are absolutely awful. It’s like eating in a cafeteria in the 8^th grade. Everyone’s voice is trapped in the high ceiling with metal fixtures everywhere. If you are sensitive to noise, take it to go.
It’s average. Nice change of pace and the food is ok.

Today was my wife and mine’s third visit here and this is also our new favorite place in Tri-​Cities to chow. Great food (including fresh, hot, home-​made tortillas), nice atmosphere, and super friendly staff (they smile a lot and often ask how’s it going and if there’s anything they can do to help)!
The restaurant style is similar to a Chipotle’s (where you go through the line and pick your ingredients) but we like it better. Others have compared it to Taco Del Mar (and I like Taco Del Mar too) but there is just no comparison when it comes to food quality and taste. Costa Vita is way better! The place is always clean, service is fast, and there’s always a lot of people here which is a good sign. Awesome place to eat!
So far I’ve tried the following: Steak Burrito (AWESOME)… Chicken Enchaladas (AWESOME)… TACOS (AWESOME!!!). My wife loves the Pork Nachos. They also serve Horchata (rice water), which is one my favorite beverages to consume with Mexican food.
I am also a bit of a Flan connoisseur and OMG they have THE BEST flan I have ever tried on planet earth!!! SERIOUSLY GOOD STUFF!!! My wife’s not a big flan fan, but she tried Costa Vitas and guess what? BIG FLAN FAN!!! LOL!
The place is a little pricey, but no complaints here on the food! Just out of this world good! You absolutely get what you pay for!
If I had to pick something negative I guess the only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the Spanish rice. It’s still very good, but not like the Spanish rice you would get in a regular Tex-​Mex style place like Azteca or something. I much prefer traditional Spanish rice. Other than this though, simply awesome all the way around.
The atmosphere is cool too, with surf boards everywhere, flat screen monitors for menus, a water fall wall, high ceiling and bright colors. A totally fun place to eat with great food. Definitely in my top ten of good places to eat in Tri-​Cities!!!