La Costa Mexican Restaurant

Just not a great experience tonight. Our order was served kind of lukewarm and no one enjoyed their meal. I’ve eaten here in the past and the same order was much better previously.

Decided to give this place one last try last night, because we had a long drive back from Seattle and it is by our home.
I wish I hadn’t. My stomach is so upset, and the food was awful. We both had the Chile Colorado burrito and we asked for sour cream to be added inside. They put two small lumps on our plates and charged us $ 4 total! It wasn’t even inside.
We had 3 different waiters, and one who I asked for a refill on my iced tea, never brought it back.
The margarita we had had no real flavor either. Will not, ever be returning!

Really delicious & authentic Mexican food. Coupons are easy to come by if you need that as an incentive, but you shouldn’t…prices are reasonable, chips/​salsa/​bean dip free and plentiful, & service is amazing. Last time we were there there was a balloon artist there making wonderful things for the kids. Drinks are tasty & appropriately strong.

Ants ants ants! I had ants all over my table and on my menu let the bartender know and he joked about it while I was swinging the menu to get the ants off. Not to mention I have a stomach ache from having nachos if you can call it that they were burnt with no chicken didn’t order any drinks cause didn’t think it would be worth it.
Bummed now I’m sick.

La Costa is a good Mexican restaurant with a diverse menu. Plates of food are on the large side and the taste/​quality is very good which justifies the slight above average prices. The staff consists of very professional waiters and waitresses/​hostesses so expect to leave a tip!

This place deserves more than three stars. The food is pretty authentic, except the kids menu but what else is new. The mole sauce is freaking good, the tortilla soup is awesome and the Chile verde is hella good. Shrimps in butter garlic sauce, is good too. Way better food than Muchas Gracias, for certain.
I’ve never ordered fish tacos here, and that’s what a lot of the low star reviews complain about. Here’s the thing though, I haven’t had a good fish taco anywhere in the PNW. I feel like all the restaurants should just take those off the menu.
The staff is really cool to.

Great, authentic Mexican food with friendly service and a family atmosphere.
I’ve eaten at restaurants in Mexico all along Baja California, and the Mexican food here is authentic and delicious, easily in the same league as the taquerias in Mexico.
My family us dined here twice now, and both times have been excellent. The food arrived quickly, the servers are friendly and attentive, and they are very accommodating to children.
We had tortilla soup, mole enchiladas, chile verde, tacos, and a mushroom soup. Everything was fresh and delicious. We’re making this a regular stop for Mexican lunch.

So, here’s the deal with this place: it’s not really great food and it’s not really great service. I come here for Taco Tuesday. You really can’t beat all you can eat tacos for $ 5. You get the option of soft shell or crunchy, ground beef/​shredded chicken/​pork. I usually order a side of sour cream and douse them with Cholula. The bartender is pretty good about bothering you when you need bothering and leaving you alone when you don’t. All in all, it’s a great place on Tuesdays or happy hour!

I have been spoiled all my life with quality Mexican food and then I moved to Vancouver and am struggling to find that. Like many restaurants LA Costa has some good items and some less desired items on their menu. I have never been dissatisfied with a drink here but the food is very hit or miss. I reccomend coming here for drinks, tacos, and desserts but don’t be surprised when your dinner isn’t what you expected.

Brought my granddaughter here for lunch she had the chicken fajita lunch I had the fish taco lunch it was really really bad! The chicken on her chicken fajitas were the frozen chicken breasts that you buy in a bag at the grocery store with the fake grill marks they were so dry she couldn’t hardly eat them. I got a single fish taco and once again it was one of those fish patties that you get from the gortons fish pack it was deep-​fried and really really greasy I couldn’t eat it I took it off the taco I ended up eating just the beans and rice the waiter was so sweet we had to give him a fair tip but the food was probably the worst Mexican food either one of us of ever had

We got seated with no one around. Six more groups got seated around us and all of them got their food before us. Some we even finished before we got our food. Worst cheese enchiladas in 47 years. A handful of half melted shredded cheese rolled up with bland rice and beans. Wow! Very unimpressive. Wanted to leave comment card but none. Had to tell staff to tell management but never saw manager.

Average «gringo» Mexican food, not authentic, not bad but not great. She had the mixed steak and chicken Molcajete, the meat was not grilled like it supposed to– instead it was pan cooked. I had the enchilada combo plate. The salsas were disappointing as well, nothing spicy and tasted like a Pace style brand.

La Costa had some amazing Mexican food! I was super impressed with their customer service! Chips, salsa, and bean dip were always being replaced! Food was selfish! Go here it’s awesome!

Great food and great service. The food was very good. It didn’t take long to get our order. The water was very nice and the person up front was even willing to take pictures of my brother and I

I especially love this place because of their outside seating. Decorated tastefully and I always look forward to a grande margarita on a hot summer day

Great food, service and drinks.
However, the inside is could be cleaned a little bit better. The menus are sticky and need a good cleaning. Some of the menus are falling apart. The interior of the restaurant is showing signs of aging and needs some touching up.
If they can’t keep the the dining area clean, I’m a little concerned about the cleaniness of the kitchen.

Let’s be real honest here, because this is Unilocal and honesty is our business. Mexican food in the Pacific Northwest is a real hit and miss thing, and if you find something that reminds you of Baja, or a class joint in Arizona or California then it is something you bookmark as someplace to keep coming back to. Consider La Costa bookmarked.
Honestly I am surprised how lucky we are in Vancouver to have some very good Mexican restaurants, just be sure not to tell the people in Portland, it’ll be our little secret. La Costa is plopped right smack in the middle of a dense restaurant cluster, one you couldn’t swing a dead raccoon without hitting four different places. That being said to survive in this ultra competitive area around the Vancouver Mall I suspect they will be here for some time to come.
The Wife, The Tax Deduction and I arrived to find a very full parking lot, a good sign. We figured we were in for a wait but were pleasantly surprised to be seated immediately. Chips and salsa and bean dip were on the table before we had our butts in the seats. Impressive. What was that? Yes, I said salsa AND bean dip. The menu is extensive but not so massive that you’re afraid they can’t do everything well. The prices are comparable to other fine Mexican establishments The waitress was around to get drink orders fast, but we already knew what we wanted. The Tax Deduction went for the Mexi Bites which is cool little dish for kids we mini quesadilla, chicken tenders and fried mozzarella with fries and drink for only $ 4.95. The Wife did the Burrito Grande with chicken while I went for my signature Chili Colorado with corn tortillas, the dish by which I judge all Mexican places. Both The Wife and I went for Iced Tea.
As we waited for the food to arrive I gazed around and noticed a little station to refill salsa, It was not well marked and I am not sure if it was for servers but I saw people using it freely. Luckily we never had to worry about that because staff was on task with refills before we even knew we needed it. Decorations we nice but not over the top, seats were comfortable and booths were plentiful as well. Bathrooms were ultra clean.
The food arrived hot, I knew that because the waitress was using a hot pad and it wasn’t quite cutting it. It was a large diameter plate and it was covered in chili, beans and rice, but not covered as in «that is more food than I can eat» rather it nicely layer with food evenly over the plate. I actually wasn’t sure it would fill me up. I was very wrong. The chili was spicy but not hot, it had layers of flavor in the red sauce and the meat was tender. The Wife reports that the burrito was perfect and Tax Deduction says that his was great… well, he’s nine, what does he know about good food, you aren’t ordering from the kids menu anyway.
If I had to ding La Costa for anything it would be something completely out of their control, as a temporarily handicapped person there was all of one parking spot for handicapped. There are more near Ross, but it’s a trek across a rough parking lot on a knee scooter. Other than that I was impressed with La Costa and am coming back soon.

I went to this restaurant three times during my stay in the Northwest a month ago, and on one occasion even took a family member.
This was a good Mexican restaurant. I know good Mexican food when I encounter it.
I had a Mexican burger on one occasion, and a Mexican pizza on another. They tasted good and were cooked as I asked. The service was professional. The atmosphere wasn’t overpowering, but present enough. The menu is explanatory and clear, important when it is in both English and Spanish.
I had no problems at all, unlike some of the other folks commenting on this restaurant. Maybe they just had a new/​bad server?

Its gets pretty packed but the chips and salsa were good. Also ordered Camarones a LA diabla and I was satisfied!!!
Will come again soon. !!!

Now THIS is what a Mexican food restaurant ought to be! I’ve been eating at too many Nuevo cuisine places lately, featuring small plates delivered with Snarky service at high prices. La Costa is a wonderful antidote to this and a throwback: efficient service (not too speedy, however), provided by a respectful waiter, of a massive amount of FANTASTIC Mexican food. While the menu is extensive, there is no guessing as to what you’re going to get.
I’m real big on freshness, so I like a restaurant that is busy. This place was packed on a Wednesday night. The crowd looked to be mainly families, regulars and, thankfully, lots of Hispanics.
One more thing: I asked about the ownership and was told it was owned locally. This is nice, because La Costa is situated among a clutter of chain restaurants: Olive Garden, Outback, Red Robin… yuck.
It is a keeper.