Costa Vida

Service was fast and friendly. The ambiance was vibrant and clean. The food was was really disappointing and overpriced. Ordered a grilled chicken burrito with the green chili sauce, because it sounded like a good combination. The chili sauce was sickly sweet and gave a really bad flavor to everything else. Tasting the ingredients individually, it seems everything had a certain level of sweetness. Not what you would expect from Mexican or Baja style food. Not going back and for the money would opt for a local place like Chuy’s.

This place is actually really good! Food is fresh, they gave big portions/​chucks of meat. I ordered the chicken enchiladas special, one with red sauce and the other with the tomatillo. It came with rice, beans and a drink. My husband got the steak burrito. His only complaint was he wish they put the sour cream in the burrito because theirs was thick and hard to pour on. Loved their horchata and love that it is a drink option for a Mexican grill place.
Here’s where they messed up… concept is cool but you should have opened closer to the UA. Not really a next to Trader Joe’s type of restaurant if you know what I mean. It’s totally surfer, by the beach, SoCal kind of restaurant. The signage is weird. I’ve been driving past this place for the past year and I thought it was a more older demographic place. Who knew it was an Abercrombie meets Chipotle concept! Fire your marketing person seriously! At least make the back-​lit on the signage teal like the inside chairs or something.
Next, I walked in and thought I should head to the right cuz that’s where it looks like the line should start. Nope! Wrong way, turn back and head the other direction. Now you are reading the menu left to right instead of right to left. It took awhile to figure out the concept. And I know it wasn’t just us cuz when we got our food, another couple did the same thing. The cashier was nice but the staff wasn’t good at navigating newcomers. I even ended up apologizing letting them know it was my first time.
All-​in-​all, I will be back! Food is good.

Delicious steak here. I got the steak salad. The dressing was a little too sweet but the steak made up for it.

I love this place. The service is consistently fabulous. They cook the steak perfectly, tender and flavorful. The sweet pork is too sweet for me. The grilled chicken is great, too! Portions are large, tortillas are fresh-​cooked, and there is something for everyone. The amazing service is just icing on the cake.

I stopped in for lunch the other day, and grabbed a chicken burrito to go. It reminded me of a chipotle. You choose your beans, and toppings, and meat. The grilled chicken had a good flavor to it, but the tortilla was thick and got soggy quickly. It was a bit pricey for a burrito. It might have been better to go with the chicken enchilada lunch special. It was plain and nothing special. At first I thought this was Costa Rican food, but it’s actually Mexican.

Really good burrito. I ordered the sweet pulled pork and ended up getting extra cheese sauce on the inside and the outside. Green sauce on the top. Yum, yum, yum. Very good service and the food is really good. I’d rank this right up there with Chipotle.

Well I am still getting used to this place. It is a very handy location for me. I can see the parallel to Chipotle and other places.
I first went because I got a coupon in the mailer pak. Then being there I got hooked on the «rewards» program. You can earn money off your next meal.
My first meal was a very nice large salad with grilled chicken. It was a full meal for me. They automatically give the dressing on the side — hooray.
Next is the Bean and Pork burrito. Good.
Their fresh tortillas taste very good and do not turn into hard plastic like some as soon as they cool.
Standard drinks — self-​serve. Nice interior. I need to get their wifi password. It might be a very nice place to work on some projects while I eat.
I will keep exploring the menu.

I went here with a friend for lunch and the place was pretty packed with lots of folks who are looking for fresh, healthy foods prepared in the open kitchen. Lots of choices, cheeses, salads, sauces, salsas, burritos, big menu. Very competent servers with the patience of saints. I had a coupon for the sweet pork burrito stuffed with rice and beans. It was pretty tasty. My friend had the tortilla soup and a chicken mango salad. Also good. This is NOT gourmet food but very similar to Chipotles menu. I A plus is they have Horchata on tap. Love this drink albeit is fattening. Lots of colorful tables all around and plenty of seating. Portions are huge. They also have a machine that makes the home made tortillas. The food is fresh, and tasty. People who want a quick very descent lunch or dinner. This might be the place. It is very Franchisee feeling but the good news is that with this said they have standards they must adhere to. Good addition to Tucson’s growing foodie crowds.

With all the great Mexican food around I’m not sure why anyone would go here. If you do want this kind of build-​your-​own salad/​burrito/​plate, go to Chipotle. It’s cheaper, fresher, faster, and cleaner. Clearly, I wasn’t impressed with my salad. Ingredients were pretty weak (i.e. Not a lot of options, especially for vegetarians. No shrimp or seafood option either), service was slow, prices were high and the place felt dirty. There were a lot of people running around behind the counter but nothing was getting done. Two stars (instead of one) because they took extra precautions to cater to my gluten-​free friend. But I won’t go back. There are two many better options around.

Everything about this place, the name, the décor, screams good, savory, spicy fish tacos. That they don’t have any is downright wrong. The Sweet Shrimp Tacos are the only seafood option. They would be much better if they featured non-​sweet grilled shrimp. This place was like the Applebee’s of fake Mexican restaurants… Honey galore on everything. Not going back.

Chipper and competent servers, big portions, clean place. Hence the two stars: great service, and reportedly clean bathrooms and the like.
Food = bland attempt at speedy Caribbean cuisine (I think). Something about the sea too … but no seafood. Plus horchata and some twist on churros. Maybe Mexican? Not Oaxacan. Not Michoacan. Not Veracruzeño. Just some branding scheme-​o.
Add fresh (good, actually) tortillas of several types. Perfectly cooked beans, the black, the refried, and the pinto, and rice with a just the right tooth.
But all lacks flavor, except a sort of sickly sweet undertone.
Don’t compare it to Chipotle — it’s apples and oranges. Chipotle has an ethical model of food sourcing and production and integrating organics. Chipotle’s food has flavor. While Costa Vida discusses health and well being, it’s lip service, because there’s no indication it’s any healthier fast food than Subway.
P. S. Please at least provide the capability to recycle if you’re going to serve everything in foil and plastic. Thank you.

What a weird place. I felt so marketed to… But it was like some Chinese guy was trying to make a Mexican place.
Weird things…
–tons of beach pictures, ocean theme… No seafood
–I asked what made the pork «sweet»… they said ‘sugar and soda’. What kind of soda I ask… «We can’t tell you» was the fun reply. Ew… sugar and Orange Crush? I have no idea. Also… why do they think this is Mexican?
— Pico de Gallo is the only salsa? really? You don’t have hot salsa?
— EVERYONE gets an aluminum dish… no recycling available… made be feel like an asshole.
— I got burrito… no rice on the side… it was awful rice btw… hubby got enchiladas… they happily gave him rice… ew. two lunches with no drinks… $ 21 or so.
— re-​fried beans tasted awful. It was like reconstituted, pre-​digested food, texture and flavor was terribad.
Seriously, the food was pretty weak.
Funny things:
–So, you have to watch the video… it’s comedy gold.
-«our mangoes come from Mexico, illustrating that we are Mexican cuisine». OMG we giggled at that one.
— «Sustainability harvested chickens». What, do chickens grow wild and have to be harvested carefully to not over-​fish them?
— Lots of pictures of ocean, running, hugging on the beach… how this relates to mediocre Mexican food… I have NO idea.
— «Mexican is being redefined“‘ I have no idea what they are talking about… It was like a Chipotle and Blimpies got mixed up… There was nothing new except the gross sounding sweet pork. The lack of good salsa is kinda killer here in AZ… just saying.
This place made us realize how great Chipotle is.

Decent, but lack luster. Without comparing it to Chipotle immediately, I think I could have gotten a little more bang for my buck. I got the daily special, which was a chicken salad. For what I got, I could have probably gotten a healthier, cheaper and better tasting option at Trader joes next door. It wasn’t horrible, the food was ok and I finished my entire salad, but wasn’t anything special that costs $ 8 FOR A SMALL.
And now, with the obligatory Chipotle comparison– I feel that get more value at Chipotle with better quality and more flavor. When I get my ‘usual’ at Chipotle, I get more food, can add extras without the nickle-​and-​diming and I still get out of there spending under $ 7 for something delicious.
Not to mention, the parking situation is a NIGHTMARE. I could have walked there from my office (two stoplights down) and walked back in the same amount of time it took me to drive there, wrap around that insane parking lot three times, almost get backed into, etc. That may be enough for me not to go out of my way to get lunch there in the near future, but I would go back and try something different than what I had my first visit.

Stopped by for lunch today to try this new place out. Love the décor and cleanliness of this place. I ordered the build your own burrito which consisted of a wheat tortilla, refried beans, shredded beef, cheese, lettuce, green chili sauce and sour cream. I also ordered the chips and salsa which was fairly large for $ 3. Overall this place was delish and I would definitely return and try something different, maybe even go for some dessert ;)

When I was reading the first reviews for this place I thought, «Why do we always have to compare everywhere to Chipotle?» But here I am, about to do the same.
I’m gonna have to side with team Chipotle. Sad to do, since this place has some really fun offerings: unique meat flavors, refried beans, horchata at the soda bar, nachos. And the fresh tortillas are very nice.
But my burrito was just kinda disappointing. I guess when I turned down the rice, I expected there might be options for other good stuff to fill its place. (At Chipotle that might be fajita veg or a number of chunky salsas.) But my sad burrito got wrapped up with just beans, meat and cheese. A Sonora-​style-​just-​meat burro in a Tucson taqueria is fine by me, but if you’re selling me a Baja-​style 7.50 burrito, I would like it to be bigger than something from Taco Bell. Granted, these are the hot ingredients only, as a pile of plain lettuce and bland pico is added to the side after the burrito briefly runs through an oven. But really, the pico was flavorless and has anyone ever wanted a plain pile of lettuce?
And the overwhelming message of Healthy! Hand-​made! that is plastered everywhere kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Like they’re trying to cash in on the health-​conscious crowd without doing anything special. ‘Eating healthy starts with the freshest ingredients…’ Meaningless talk like that just reminds me that Chipotle actually regulates the quality of their ingredients.
I may try it again because they really do have a very diverse menu and I probably just picked something boring. But I wish I had loved it.

Not bad. Kindof like an amped up version of Chipotle. Some cool features that differentiate it from Chipotle and Qdoba. You can get things «smothered» in sauce/​cheese ($ 0.99) and the burritos get toasted which is a nice touch. The burritos are served with a tiny side salad + salsa which I don’t fully understand, but it’s pretty good. I only tried the grilled chicken but I also hear the sweet pork is super tasty.
BUT…
Maybe I am super critical about rice because, hey, I’m Asian and have eaten my weight in this stuff… but ahhhhhhhhh parboiled rice makes me cringe inside. It makes me feel sad. And when I taste it, all I can think about is how much I HATE parboiled rice. Good thing it was smothered in cheese so was mildly less offensive. If I could take these toasted burritos and use Chipotle’s delicious cilantro lime rice, it would be a solid 4.5−5.0 star fast food burrito joint.

This is exactly what I want Chipotle to be (unpopular opinion: I’m not a fan of Chipotle…)! The sweet pork is reminiscent of Café Rio, which is easily my favorite fast-​food Mexican place. I really like the roasted green chile as a sauce option and refried beans for a bean option, and the homemade flour tortillas are great!
The only downside is that there seems to be one vegetarian option plus the bean-​and-​cheese burrito standby – so maybe not the best place for vegetarians. My burrito was also a little heavy on the rice, but since I’m not so much a fan of rice in my burritos, I might just leave it off next time.
If it’s a choice between here and Chipotle, here definitely wins.

5 stars all the way! I would give them more of Unilocal had more stars to give. By far the freshest Mexican food out there! I love the sweet pork (my absolute favorite!) and all of the other perfectly flavored meats are amazing. We are Costa Vidans for life, we go at least 2 times a week and we are impressed and taken away by the food every time. A great place and fun environment for the family or even if you’re getting a quick bite to eat on lunch break. But get there early! There’s usually a line, a sign that the food is that good! Its worth the wait, it’s the best. Thank you Costa Vida for being such an amazing company, you are amazing! I would say I’m your number one fan, I love your food so much and I tell everyone about it! Well it’s about lunch time, so time to get ready and head to Costa Vida!

Looks like a Chipotle, tastes better than Chipotle.
I love the variety you can have here, with as many strange combinations as you’d like. For example, we ordered the chicken mango salad, but asked for the sweet pulled pork instead – deeelish!
I asked for a side of lettuce and guac, and they didn’t mind me asking for a little more.
Good, fast, and filling food!

Costa Vida, or Coast of Life, of Lively Coast, with a pipeline wave as the logo only offers shrimp as a fish option. My girlfriend expected a grilled mahi mahi or grilled tilapia, but nothing on the menu. I feel the name and décor of the business is misleading…
Honestly, for a vegetarian, I would go to Chipotle, or get a wrap from Trader Joe’s (next door). While service is nice and friendly, and the atmosphere is fine, the food leaves something to be desired. Even through the tortillas are fresh, the vegetarian burrito I ordered tasted mostly of salt. With mediocre guacamole and no heat in any salsa’s I had, I cannot say I will be going back under my own free will. In the end I was full, but not satisfied.