Costa Azul Mariscos & Micheladas — Restaurant in Bastrop

Unfortunately, I will not be taking my business here anymore, and I will explain why. I often order lunch for myself, and as I usually do, I put in an order for myself from my place of work, meaning my computer. I arrive and they do not have my order ready or in their system. I was not alarmed as I knew the payment went through so I proceeded to show them my bank charge and because the payment processing company did not say Bastrop TX after it clearly stated FOOD ONLINE ORDER matching the price of what I ordered the staff said to me I might have ordered to another restaurant in a different state. If they are using a third-party website you would assume that their location might not be Texas. At this point, they tell me I need more proof so I now have to drive back to work to print a snapshot of my screen where it clearly shows that I ordered from Bastrop. I drive back to show them the paper and they now can't refund me my money until they contact the third-party company. As I mentioned to the staff and business owner my frustration was the lack of customer service and waste of my time with this matter. I just wanted my lunch! When I had to leave to print out my proof that I did order from their restaurant they were very dismissive. When I came back with the proof I had already wasted most of my lunch trying to resolve their problem, they weren't apologetic until I expressed my frustration and it was minimal at best.

My father owns a restaurant and let me tell you things would have been handled so differently. It could have been easily handled like this- here's the food you ordered, which did not even exceed 20 dollars! I'm sorry for all the trouble I know you're on lunch we value your business and would love to keep seeing you here. We will give you a call once we resolve this, from the beginning!! Not 40 minutes into my lunch after I stated to the business owner you know what, keep my money all I wanted was the food I ordered at your...

What a terrible experience. We went there for my daughter’s birthday; with no expectation we asked if they did anything for birthdays. Our server told us yes, they sing and whatnot. Cool – they never did. The server barley checked on us, the food came out incrementally, with some sides coming out after we already finished our meal as we were waiting for the check. Also, to our surprise, (but I guess there’s a sign on the door, we missed that) there was an automatic 20% gratuity on a family of 5, 3 being kids. Pretty nice gig for terrible service, I guess. Avoid at all costs, not worth it.

UPDATE after response:

I appreciate the response, but it’s disappointing that instead of taking real accountability, you chose to downplay my experience and make excuses. Let’s be clear: this wasn’t about a “missed avocado.” It was about a complete failure in service—from the lack of follow-through on what was promised, to the staggered food delivery, to the inattentive service, and finally, to the sneaky auto-gratuity on a family of five, including three kids.

You mention prioritizing kids’ meals, yet somehow that didn’t extend to basic service for the adults at the table. You also acknowledge the service charge but make it sound like it’s my fault for not seeing a sign on the door. If your service were actually up to par, you wouldn’t need to rely on automatically adding a tip to ensure your staff is compensated.

Instead of actually addressing the core issue—poor service—you minimized it, making it clear that guest experience isn’t really your priority. I won’t be back, and I’ll be sure to let others know to avoid the same...

We ended up here on Father's Day on the recommendation of a friend, and what an unexpected delight! We ordered El Vallartazo appetizer for a variety -- all super-fresh and tasty. The Ceviche de Pescado was definitely the hit for the rest of the table, though I thoroughly enjoyed all of it and cleared the plate.

My wife had the coconut shrimp, and was glad to find it NOT too sweet, as it is many other places. My son had the momia - shrimp wrapped in cheese and bacon. It was perfectly done so that the bacon was crispy, the cheese was melty but not runny, and the shrimp were still tender. His fiancé had the culichi - shrimp in poblano sauce - and I had the pescado Costa Azul - fish in chipotle sauce. Both were excellent, and served nicely in a dish that allowed you to sop up all the yummy sauce with the rice. The rice, by the way, was notably excellent -- to the point that my son commented on it, as did my wife, who usually doesn't like Mexican-style rice.

The service was excellent -- friendly, helpful, timely, and attentive, but not overly so.

The drinks were great, too. My son sampled a couple of their specialty cocktails. My wife and I had their drink special, which was a ginger beer with dark spiced rum -- amazing! And the did a beautiful virgin mango michelada for my son's fiancé. Other than the daily specials ($5), the other drinks were a bit pricey, but it seems they are pretty much everywhere these days.

We had dessert waiting for us at home, so we skipped theirs, but they had beautiful red velvet and carrot cake in their pastry case -- we'll definitely try it next time we're back (and we will definitely...