Costa Taco Palm Beach — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

Disappointing First (and Last) Visit – More Style Than Substance

Tried Costa Taco for the first time after seeing all the hype on Instagram and glowing reviews—but honestly, the experience was a complete letdown from start to finish.

As someone who works in a café myself, I understand the importance of a warm welcome. When we walked in, there was no greeting, no smile, no human touch at all. It felt like walking into a machine—not a hospitality space. Still, I thought, “Maybe it’s just their vibe.”

Since it was busy, we decided to be thoughtful and not occupy a table, choosing to take our food away. But when I opened my order, it was already falling apart. I had barely walked a few steps! The tortilla was a mess, everything spilling out. If it can’t hold together for even a minute, what’s the point?

The biggest letdown was the Birria Beef Tacos. I was so excited after seeing the Insta posts, but what I got looked nothing like the pictures. To make it worse, I paid extra for the consomé and didn’t even receive it. What kind of quality control is this?

And then come the hidden charges. They advertise tacos for $7 or $8, but I ended up paying $21 for just two tacos. They even charged me $3 extra for tomatoes—really? It’s not about the money, it’s the principle. I feel for all the honest small businesses out there who serve quality food, give value for money, and still don’t get the attention they deserve—while places like this thrive off curated Instagram reels that don’t match reality.

Costa Taco looks good online, but in real life? It’s all smoke and mirrors. Not returning, and definitely won’t be recommending it to anyone who values their money and...

Worst experience. A friend suggested we go here and I horribly regret it. From the minute we walked in the staff member that approached us gave us a bad impression. The place looked very quaint and inviting but I would not reccomend going there at all.

For starters as mentioned the guy who came to the door just couldn’t even be bothered to seat us or to show us a menu. Just pointed at the sign and said use your phone and look then walked away.

We seated ourselves and then went to order. When I tried placing the order I said can I please get one beef taco and the guy was like okay is that it…while I was trying to order more he then looked around to his friends in the kitchen like I was wasting his time. Note that it was not that busy and there was more than enough staff to cover the restaurant. When the food came out the guy who was at the door (brown hair, built, egotistical) slammed the drink down on the table and walked away. The portions are rather small, one of the tacos didn’t have the salsa as pictured on the menu, the meat was dry and sour. We don’t mind paying for GOOD food and GOOD service but when you paying a hefty price essentially for “take out” and the staff can’t be bothered then it’s a hard pass.

A few tables were unhappy while we were there and one couple actually got up and left (smart choice) because of the lack of service.

This restaurant has so much potential but not at this...

The food was delicious but it wasn’t worth the almost an hour wait for our food. We arrived and ordered take away, it was evident the restaurant was very busy which I had no issue with assuming food would come out within a reasonable time frame.

I stood outside for awhile and came back inside to ask how long it might be until my order is ready when I over heard a customer being served and advised of a thirty minute wait. This wait wasn’t mentioned to me when I ordered. I continued to wait to get the attention of a staff member which didn’t happen and just went back outside to the street.

It’s a shame because the overall atmosphere of the restaurant seems good with a lot of people enjoying their time over some drinks, but noticed to that even people sitting inside were waiting just as long as me, if not longer to get their food.

The restaurant also doesn’t take bookings and from what I observed a lot of people were turning up to get a table and were lining up in the same line of people waiting for their take away which was causing confusion. Customer service/Communication from the staff would have definitely made waiting almost an hour for food bearable. Whilst I appreciate it was a busy Saturday night, a little bit of communication would have...