Vida's - Mexican Cantina and Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

Don't waste your money! The worst experience I've ever had in a restaurant in Ireland! Once they got me a table, I had to ask many times for someone to come and take my order, which isn't ideal, but I wouldn't give it a negative review just for this.

When someone finally came to take my order, I was told that 3 out of the 4 dishes that I wanted were not available. Like, you open your restaurant on a Sunday to tell your customers at lunchtime that your main dishes are not available? What kind of restaurant is that? I got really frustrated but still ordered something else as I really wanted Mexican food on that day.

When the dishes came, I got terrified by how bad they looked. The smell, the look and taste had nothing to do with Mexican food. It felt like they've got frozen food at Tesco, headed it up in a microwave and then served it as Mexican food. Not to mention, they've missed one of the dishes I ordered.

I was so disappointed that we barely eat it, we left most of the food untouched and decided to ask for the bill so we could go to a McDonals or Burguer King and have a decent lunch (comparing to their food). That's when the mockery started.

I had my hand raised for at least 10 minute and nobody would come to my table. The people that work in the restaurant passed by my table pretending that they were not seeing me for at least 5 times. That's when my wife lost it and yelled, asking for table service. Then they couldn't pretend they didn't hear it, cause everyone else in the restaurant did!

To make me regret it even more, when they brought the bill, they charged me for the dish that wasn't served!

I wanted to go out for lunch with my family on Sunday, and they've ruined it! It's not about the bad food, but about the total disregard for the customer.

If you value your money, stay away...

This was a disappointment. All style and no substance. While the venue is nice and has good décor it's missing a soul. It appears over priced and under serviced. The staff look lost with people being left at the door for ages or waiving around for service, the bartenders are far too slow for a half full place with it taking 20+ minutes for 4 margaritas and a lemonade. We also had to remind them twice we would like some tap water before getting it. It took over an hour to get any food without any explanation or apology for this delay. Despite our asking why there was a delay and if there was a problem in the kitchen. When it arrived it was hit and miss. The portions leave a lot to be desired for the price tag and flavouring is mid considering the amount of time taken you would expect better flavour combinations. Traditionally most taqueria would have two soft tacos per each taco, here there is one, which is not good for two reasons 1. It's just plain cheap and stingy for the price at over 5e per taco and 2. When you put wet ingredients in and there's only one they disintegrate. Honestly save yourself the waste of time and hit to your pocket and head elsewhere.

I will say after complaining to the manager about the extremely long delay and lack of communication they apologised and said there was a problem with the kitchen they didn't expect and comped our drinks. However, I would suggest this should have been explained to everyone in the restaurant by management and staff rather than having tables asking repeatedly where their food or drinks were, and becoming incredibly irate. The situation became so bad multiple groups of people began standing up to leave...

I have to say this place is a 10/10. I will admit I have a bias for Mexican food. It’s hard for me to leave with a bad taste in my mouth but this place is so good.

We unfortunately ate all the nachos and jalapeño poppers before I remembered to take a pic and started on the tacos too but it was so good.

The nachos we got the full portion and they’re big. I would’ve liked a bit more guac and pico de gallo but other than that very generous. Full of flavour. Even the tortilla chips you could see were covered in flavour. The guac and sour cream were super fresh as well as the pico de Gallo.

The jalapeño peppers were the best I’ve had so far. Most places do it wrong and get the jalapeño ruined or leave the skin but no spice or lack cheese or come soggy but these were served on top of a chipotle sauce I think and still were crispy. The cheese was delicious though I could’ve used a little more and the sauce was really nice with the jalapeño. Worked to cool your mouth a little.

The tacos were so good. I would’ve liked some more veg with them like pico de gallo cause they were protein heavy but the flavour was amazing. The sauce they came with was so good too. It was a smoky tomato flavour and I nearly would’ve drank it. They were so worth it.

Considering all we got the price wasn’t bad bar the drinks, €4 for small soft drinks is a rip. The staff were super friendly, checking in and making sure everything is ok. They definitely deserve a raise for their customer service skills. As well of the chefs for their cooking skills too of course. Delicious.

It was also quiet on a Sunday evening which was nice. Made for a nice atmosphere....