Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Apple Valley

Food is ok. Lots more sauces you can choose from than your standard Chipotle and Qdoba, but still just offers tacos, burritos, or enchiladas. The latter is really the only factor that is different. I gave this place a few tries, but not going back as the service is rude and slowwwwwwwwww. I have never spent less than 15 minutes waiting to order. Not have my food made, but to order. Then it’s another who-knows-how-long interval of waiting to have your order made bcuz the staff is running around trying to figure out if they should fill the drive thru or in-store orders first. When it’s actually time to have your order made, the staff then are impatient because YOU dare ask what the sauces are after they ask you what sauce you want??? Frankly, not my problem that there are zero labels indicating which is which when all the sauces are sitting next to each other. Next comes the fun part of adding your toppings - don’t you dare confuse the items used for salads with the items for your meal that you haven’t seen yet because they are 10 ft down the service line and you should have known that. The staff wants to know what you want to add NOW! Oh wait - you told them what you wanted, but now they want you to speak up because they can’t hear you? Could have also been they weren’t listening because they were answering questions from other staff in a tizzy over drive thru orders. Then they’re offended because you raise your voice so they can hear you? Yea this all happened during my last ever visit to Costa Vida during which I ordered one item and there were two people ahead of me in line. Super busy. I should have completed my order and walked out without purchasing except I didn’t want to contribute to food waste. Avoid this place if you only have 30 min lunches; avoid this place if you have an hour lunch, but don’t want to scarf your food down in less than 15 minutes; go to this place if you’re hungry at 230 pm, have time to kill, and don’t really care where your $10 fast food money goes. As I started with,...

The newest place to hit the fast food/fast convenience Mexican style restaurants scene and there is only one in the state so far. It is set up very similar to a Chipotle, but they make their tortillas on-site with the use of a giant spinning hot table!

Their meat and preparation are definitely different compared to other options (including Chipotle). Their pork is a sweet pork that, while tasting just fine, belongs at a BBQ joint, not in a tortilla. It was far too sweet for "Mexican", but again, still tasty. We also got the shredded beef and that again was decent, but nothing really super exciting. My wife loved it though!

The grilled chicken appeared to be a little dry from what I could see and they also offer a raspberry style chicken. Again, not something I think of when I have Mexican on my mind. And, the steak wasn't available right when we were ordering our meals, while the shrimp wasn't even considered. Of course, we will be back to check these other options out as well to give everything a fair shot.

When they prepare your meal, they put together the following ingredients first and then run it through a mini pizza oven for a quick bake; tortilla (tacos or burrito) or a bowl, rice, meat option, salsa option and beans if you so desire. After a quick bake to melt the cheese, they add all the extras you want. Be aware, they do charge extra for guac (like Chipotle), but they also charge extra for their ranch (not sure why that's necessary).

While I will always prefer Chipotle to satisfy my craving for Americanized Mexican food or hitting up my favorite authentic spots (the very few that actually exist), this place isn't terrible by all means and many of you may very well dig it. Give it a try!

I put together a ranking of the Twin Cities local fast food/fast convenience Mexican style restaurants and this ranks at #3 (Wife's Pick). If you want to see my full list, send me a...

Had the Baja Bowl with their newer Raspberry Chipotle Chicken protein, and I'm surprised, to be honest. It tastes way better than I was expecting. It's sweet, savory, with a hint of spicy. All around, it is my new favorite protein, and I can't wait to try it in the street tacos!

Staff are always welcoming and very helpful🌟

For those of you who have never been here before, it can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you know what they will be asking, it makes it a lot easier. So, as an example, you would walk and decide ahead of time what you want, so let's pick a salad, and you can get that in a small or regular, but the regular is really a large in general, anyways they will start by what you want and what size you want it in, then they'll ask if you want rice and beans. (which there is white and fried rice, then pinto, black, or refried beans to choose from) Next, choose a protein flavor that is previously listed at the bottom of the menu. Now comes the toppings (Note: the more toppings you put on, the more your meal will cost) I like to get guacamole, mango salsa, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips put on my salad. You can also get tomatillo cilantro sauce on top or on the side they have another sauce, but I can't remember it cause it's not nearly as good as the tomatillo cilantro. You can always tell them you've never been here before, and they will help you out if you are undecided on...