Costa Vida

I come here all the time and I am a big fan! Always friendly, always fast and fresh.
I love the honey habanero salsa here, it better than the South Hills location’s version of the same salsa.
Join their club to get money off. Also, they cater. I use it for work meetings a lot. Under $ 10/​person for a delivered taco bar.

The service is amazing and the food is some of the best fast food in spokane. I used to enjoy going to Qdoba and Chipotle but since trying this restaurant I’ve never gone back to either, Costa vida is just better. They offer any of their daily specials any day of the week for students. Keeping that in mind, price for what you get is the best deal around.

This place is under rated. We love Costa vida! Tortillas are made fresh right in front of you, high quality ingredients and the tacos are delicious! Good customer service. One of our favorite places. The best part is they use good cuts of meat, not fatty. This place isn’t really «Mexican food» in the American traditional sense (meaning Mexican food in Mexico is not the Mexican food you eat in America) so don’t go in expecting that. It’s more of a fresh Tex mex type. But it’s great!

Forget Chipotle’s! Once you go here, you’ll wonder why you ever settled for anything else when it comes to Mexican food. The staff is fantastic, the atmosphere is great (usually busy, but great), and the food is wonderful! Fresh tortillas, flattened and cooked before your very eyes. Tons of options when it comes to meats, sides and salsas. Sign up for their club and get discounts. Love this place!

Very, very disappointing. My family loves Mexican food and were looking forward to trying a new place. Not sure what all the hype is about — yes, things are fresh and the tortillas are made right in front of you BUT the amount of meats included in their burritos is a total joke. Would be fine if I wanted a rice and bean burrito only. Then, they send out a coupon to entice new business — but make it incredibly difficult to actually USE the coupon — very frustrating. No real help for first timers in picking what they want — just rushed through. Just an overall bad experience and we won’t be back. Happy to drive another mile up the road to a GOOD Mexican place — De Leon Foods.

I’ve never been disappointed and I frequent here. Freshly made meals right before your eyes. Customize your dish however you want. The lady at the cash register was really nice and trying really hard to make sure everyone was happy. Freshly made tortillas that are grilled as you order. Highly recommend trying their horchata. Oh and they’re crushed ice (like sonic ice) is a great bonus!

LOVE this place. Not only is the food delicious, super fresh, and reasonably priced, but the customer service is AMAZING. When I am in town from Seattle, eating at Costa Vida is a must. I wish we had one in the Seattle/​Bellevue area; I would go there all the time. SO much better than Chipotle/​Qdoba, plus they make their tortillas right there from scratch. Delicious!

Way to expensive. $ 18 for 2 tiny burritos and a pop. Outrageous! Liked the fresh tortillas and overall the food tasted fine but such a rip off for such little food. The next day I went to a sit down Mexican place with sooooo much more food plus the chips and salsa plus leftovers for only $ 15. Won’t be going here again!

Nom nom nom. Not even sure you can call it Mexican food since it’s so Americanized, but it’s damn delicious. It’s very similar to Taco Del Mar and Chipotle in the sense that you walk down the counter and tell the employee what you want.
My favorite meal was anything that included their sweet pulled pork.
Also students, if you show them your student ID you can get any of the meals off of the Specials Menu for the Specials price regardless of what day it is. Awesome deal.

incredibly mediocre. We eat at Chipotle and it his ten times better. We both had chicken burrito bowls. Very soupy and lacked flavor. And I think it takes a lot of guts to ask someone if they want sour cream and to charge .49 cents for that. I’ve never experienced anything like it in any restaurant. I’ve tried it twice now and I’m done.

I travel to Spokane a lot for business and always make it a point to visit Costa Vida. The salads are really good, but the smothered burritos are my favorite. The staff is always courteous and a pleasure to deal with. I really wish they would open a location in Seattle!

Just watching them cook their savory meats on the grill, making the tortillas from balls of dough, and refilling the fresh vegetable bins creates an atmosphere of freshness and quality food. as we watched workers set up and replenish the food. It was indeed difficult to make choices. The nachos were excellent and although the size of the small looks deceptive it is very filling and delicious. On previous visits I have had raspberry chipolata chicken but choose shredded beef this trip There is a choice of beans, meat, cheese– then guacamole or sour cream– I personally avoid the sour cream– salsa is a must. I also pay for rice which is not much of a serving so should be free but is not.
The food is excellent and there are more choices then Chipolatas. There is more atmosphere then Chipolatas as there is a surfing– West Coast theme videos and patrons can watch some amazing surfing videos on the various screens. There is also an outdoor patio section,
There are only minor suggestions for improvement — The food quality is outstanding but for the cost you could have a sit down lunch meal at other restaurants for lunch specials– It is worth the price for an evening meal. It is equal in quality to Chipolata but you get more here for your money and more choices so given an option I would always pick Costa Vida given choices between the 2 restaurants.
The food is excellent but served in tin pans which most customers discard in the trash but I take home and reuse for baking These pans ad t to the cost of your meal and cardboard or other stronger paper plates would be a better option for the environment, I can understand that they do not want to wash dishes as that would change the operation and efficiency but they have to wash trays or wipe them.
IT does employ young people which is great and they employees seem happy and they are friendly. The quality of food is excellent, the place is clean, Occasionally there are lines but it is interesting to watch the food being prepared and since customers make choices for types of beans, meat, types of tortilla, size of their meal, cheeses, etc, It is worth the wait and the process is well organized and fast.
Okay why do people order a large drink when the small drink is a good size and can be refilled for free. Ordering a large drink makes no sense.

BEWARE OF NEW OWNERSHIP! STAY AWAY!
I have been a HUGE fan of Costa Vida since they opened here in Spokane. Unfortunately one of my favorite go-​to places has now become an absolute nightmare. They have an entire crew of new hires, none of which actually know what they are doing! A meal that normally cost me about $ 8.60 rang up at almost 13 dollars because the cashier didn’t know how to use her register!
It is OBVIOUS the new owners have done some hard core training with their staff on portion control. They get by with the absolute minimum amount of each item — and if you say something about it, they will charge you extra just to give you a normal portion.
The other day, my husband ordered fish tacos — as did the couple in line behind us. They received their tacos right away, and we had to wait over 20 minutes for ours! We only received ours after finally reminding the employees of our order. Nobody even bothered to apologize to us for the wait.
Bottom line… don’t bother. Unless they can figure out how to properly train their employees, this place is NOT worth the hassle!

My absolute favorite. High quality food, fresh veggies, and don’t be hesitant to try their steak. This place never disappoints. I also love the fact that they have the whole wheat tortilla. They make a mean salad and their cilantro lime dressing is to die for! I frequent the one on division and the staff is always fantastic.

I think they have the BEST tacos in town. Love the sweet pork, handmade tortillas and fantastic tomatillo ranch dressing. So yummy! Been there many times, and always have great customer service… they are always smiling and attentive. Clean restaurant, lots of choices for toppings. It is a little on the pricey side — my lunch was about $ 8. for two tacos, no drink, no rice, no beans. But I will keep going back, because there is no comparison for taste as far as I’m concerned!

The food is not too shabby. The customer service was terrible was though. I recommend attending the Costa Vida up on the north side. You will have a much better experience. Definitely put a bad taste in my mouth, at the south hill location. Won’t be going back. Just not worth it. Unfortunate.

Nachos exactly like I would make them only I don’t have to. Definitely a good lunch place. The big bonus, horchata on the soda fountain which is creamy and cinnamony to cool the hotness…

Love this place. Lots of people have said it’s like subway for Mexican food and I’d tend to agree. It’s a similar model to Chipotle, but 100x better.
I love the fresh made right in front of you tortillas. All the meat, sides, everything is great. They’re daily special is always a full meal for like $ 6.
They also have Horchata, which I’ve fallen in love with, and free refills in the dinning room.
Employees are cool, the pump it up when it’s busy, and are friendly when it’s the normal steady pace.

I do like this place a lot, it’s like subway but mexican food and very tastey! I appreciate that their sides are beans and rice but you can substitute for double (i hate beans).
DISLIKE their «medium salsa» is like sucking on sugar its absolutely disgusting. wheres my spice!!!

Costa Vita is much like a Subway style mexican resturant, but nicer. You place your order with the first employee behind the counter and he makes your tortilla fresh right in front of you. He uses a tortilla press and places it on a rotating cooker.
When you order you decide if you want: tacos, burritos, nachos, salad, enchiladas or qudesadilla.
Then you pick the type of meat you want: sweet pork, shredded chicken, shredded beef, chipoltle chicken or grilled steak or chicken.
Depending on what you order you can also pick the type of beans you want: refried beans, black beans or pinto beans.
They put it all together for you quickly then pop it in a small oven for a moment to melt the cheese on top.
Most of the menu items are $ 5-​$ 8.
I ordered the raspberry chipolte chicken burrito. It was very flavorful but a bit too much sauce for my liking. I respect that it had good flavors and everything seemed fresh it just was not my cup of tea.
My husband had the shredded beef nachos, I would say he had the best of the two lunches. The meat was very tender like my chicken but I liked the flavor much more, almost as though it was shredded beef pot roast. Almost every chip had toppings on it, he said that these nachos were better than he has had at any nicer restaurant. One big down side is that some of the entrees do not come with sour cream, (special) salsas or guacamole. If you ask for it it will cost you, I think $.50 each, for a very small scoop.
The employees were nice, professional and quick. The restaurant looked clean and it was a nice atmosphere. One suggestion is not to sit to close to the door as every time someone opens it you get a blast of freezing air.