Buena Vida Tapas Lounge — Restaurant in Bakersfield

Food was delicious. Portions were ok. We had an issue with drinks tho that were not resolved like they should have. It was 5 bills total and one was my brother's which there was a HUGE unsanitary issue. He ordered a margarita flight. He was taking sips of the cucumber margarita until my sister in law (his wife) noticed there was pink lipstick on the glass. She told him to stop drinking it and we called our waitress. She said, "sorry" and brought him another sample of the cucumber margarita. I told him to call the manager over but he didn't want to make a scene. If that was mine, I would have definitle made a big deal about it. HE HAD ALREADY TAKEN SIPS OF IT. I wasn't comfortable after that but since my food was in a molcajete, I ate what was in it. I ordered a Mango Mami alcoholic beverage for my girlfriend but the alcohol was non existant. Mind you, I paid 18 dollars for it and it came in a Don Julio 1970 bottle. I asked the waitress if they forgot to put alcohol in it and she said there's alcohol but just a tiny bit and did a gesture with her thumb and index and suggested us to order something else if we wanted something with more alcohol. THIS WAS 18 DOLLARS MIND YOU. I told her there is no taste of alcohol and if they can at least add a shot but she said she would have to charge us another 8 dollars. We said no and ended up going next door to the liquor store and bought mini shots of Patron for 3 bucks. I expected the manager to show up to our table for an official apology at least for the unsanitary glass but nothing, waitress just brought the same one sample and my brother was skeptical about it after what he saw. They still had the audacity to charge every bill almost 20 percent of gratuity even after the horrible experience. Food was good but not good enough to go through that again. Our business will be...

I have visited this place 3 times, overall it is very good, there is a waiter who is quite helpful. Until today August 31st, several things went wrong, I think when you go with children the service is different, they give preference to people who are drinking alcohol. They never gave me cutlery, until I asked for it.

Upon arrival they brought us a plate with chips and 4 different salsas (which I never asked for and they never told me they had a cost, I thought they would be a courtesy like in most restaurants that give you chips while your food arrives) in the end they charged me for them as something called Salsa Flight.

The grilled octopus has been well cooked other times, this time it was burnt but edible so I didn't say anything so as not to be (Karen) picky, my 3 year old daughter didn't want a quesadilla so I asked for some rice and beans (other times they have given it to me as a courtesy).

My wife ordered the Million tacos and they arrived cold and with a hair on them. Obviously I had to mention this to the waitress and she asked us if we wanted a change or to have it taken off the bill. We were already full because we had ordered an appetizer, so I asked for it to be taken off the bill.

I definitely don't know if I would go back to this place, although the atmosphere and music are nice, I would recommend this place just for drinks, I don't think it's a good place to have dinner and even less if you...

I visited today for brunch at 11:30 AM with my child and family, excited to try out this place. Unfortunately, the experience left us very disappointed. While the waiter was kind, we were seated and placed our orders before a large party behind us—who turned out to be the owners and their guests. However, their orders arrived before ours, and, to our surprise, all the tables seated after us received their food and drinks before we did.

By 12:30, we still hadn’t received any food, nor were we offered chips or anything to hold us over. I had to ask for chips just to keep my toddler from constantly asking where the food was. The surrounding tables were already halfway through their meals by the time our food arrived. At 1:00 PM, the majority of our table was served, but my child and I were the last to get our meals.

I understand that impressing the owners may be important, but shouldn’t customers come first? Serving a child’s meal last, especially when it was the first ordered, is unacceptable. Having to go to the kitchen myself to request chips felt entirely unnecessary. A kids’ meal should be a priority, especially when it’s the first order placed.

To top it off, more than half of the plates were room temperature or even cold, clearly not fresh. I truly hope this feedback helps improve the experience for...