Buena Vida Tapas Bar — Restaurant in Atlanta

Disappointed and Misled – Not Worth the Hype

I visited Buena Vida Tapas and Sol on July 29th, 2025, after their last July series yoga class on the grass in front of the restaurant, across the street, ended early due to rain - which I had RSVPed for. The restaurant has been promoting a food and drink special on their Instagram and website specifically for yoga attendees, so I asked my server, Justice—a young, thin black man with glasses—about it before ordering, with my yoga mat with me. Instead of explaining the deal, he vaguely recommended that I order more than one tapa. I proceeded with one "vegan" tapa and one agua fresca drink, still unclear about the promotion.

Unfortunately, things only went downhill from there. The tapa took far too long to arrive for such a small plate, and the drink was overloaded with ice, diluting it and making it poor value. Meanwhile, staff—including a white woman in a green and white summer dress and another young black male server—interrupted my meal multiple times to ask if everything was okay. It felt excessive and disruptive; I would have flagged someone down if I needed anything.

When I asked again about the advertised special while paying, Justice gave another vague response about occasional promotions and donating to charity. While charitable efforts are commendable, I was looking for clarity on a promotion that was actively advertised—not a deflection.

After I paid full price (about $23 total), I overheard the woman in the summer dress—likely the hostess—ask Justice whether he had charged me full price instead of the promo rate. As I got up to leave, he stood awkwardly behind me, frozen and unsure of what to do.

To top it off, I later learned that their vegan options are prepared in the same air fryer as meat. That is a serious issue for anyone with dietary or ethical concerns and should be clearly disclosed. Labeling something “vegan” when it is subject to guaranteed cross-contamination is misleading and unacceptable.

Bottom line: Poor value, inconsistent communication, unclear or ignored promotions, intrusive service, and a serious lack of transparency about dietary practices. I left feeling frustrated, hungry, and disappointed. If you care about honesty, respect for your time, and clear communication, I recommend going elsewhere—I certainly will not...

IN RESPONSE TO THE MANAGERS RESPONSE BELOW: You cannot claim that you offer vegan options not prepared in your shared fryer. My review is literally exposing the fact that this is not true. I do not need to be educated on what cross-contamination is. This is my life and I live it every day. Your manager and staff literally admitted that every single “vegan” option you have is cooked in a shared fryer, and then in the same breath claimed that there is no cross-contamination because it’s not cooked “together” with anything else.

Secondly, you did not do me a favor to cover my drinks. We asked for the check and were ready to close out and leave. That was a very small thing you only did so you can claim you “tried to help”. Your manager WAS NOT EVEN APOLOGETIC! Instead, he was rude and had an attitude. He justified the menu and defended the fact there are vegan indicators on foods not truly vegan.

ANYONE WHO HAS DIETARY RESTRICTIONS DO NOT EAT HERE AND DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE MANAGERS RESPONSE BELOW. THESE PEOPLE LIE LIE LIE and their response is filled with nothing but air. You’d do better to take accountability and take off the “vegan” markings on your menu.

WARNING: MISLEADING MENU! This restaurant has cross contamination and the menu has FALSE indications for dietary restrictions. All of the “vegan” options are cooked in a shared fryer and the management admits this and then denies cross contamination in the same sentence!

THERE ARE NO VEGAN OPTIONS HERE! If you have any allergies or dietary restrictions, don’t eat here! The manager didn’t even apologize or take any corrective action, just had a defensive and foul attitude from the beginning of the conversation. I have eaten here multiple times in the past and after finding this out feel extremely violated! Consumers should be able to TRUST restaurants that they are properly indicating their menu items. This is a serious issue and I really hope the owner sees this and takes corrective action. They need to tell people honestly that they do not have any vegan options and take off all indicators from their menu before someone gets...

The only decent aspect of this restaurant was the food it was actually really good when you could actually get some. It is almost comical and unbelievable how the evening went. We have eaten here before so we were really shocked and disappointed on how things went.

We had a reservation. The hostess acted like we were bothering her and it was a stretch to get us a table. Should have taken that as a sign and bail. It took them 10 minutes to seat us even though there were plenty of tables. Once seated, we were not given any menus. Was told by hostess it would be 10 minutes until menus were available. How does that even happen? We sat for 30 minutes before anyone ever came to check on us. Another 5 for menus. Placed our entire order. Took 10 minutes for water. They brought 1 drink out. After sitting for even longer, the manager came over. We told him about missing 2 cokes and a drink. I think he actually went and got them himself.

We waited again for 2 of our 6 plates of food. We still didn’t have any plates or silverware. Eventually, another plate came out, which is when the waitress then told us that she would put the rest of our order in. Why? Why wasn’t it already put in? Of course, this meant another 30-45 minute wait. While we were still waiting on our food, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. Another plate came out and then they told us one of the items we ordered was not available anymore. It really was like what else can go wrong. I almost wondered if we just got the bad service until we ran into a friend there too, and said they were having the same experience.

The manager did talk to us numerous times and tried to make it better. Unfortunately, we will probably not go back. It is sad because the food was actually...