Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Draper

It had been a while since I last visited Costa Vida, so I decided to stop by for a quick, late lunch around 2 PM today. I really do love their tortillas. The establishment appeared clean and well-maintained. Despite only having one party of three ahead of us, we waited quite a while in line, and they also had to wait a bit even with no one in front of them.

When we reached the part of the line where you can choose additional toppings, there was some confusion. I realized as we got to the register that the worker had added the toppings we requested to the dish that the party ahead of us ordered. The ambient noise (kitchen noise, loud music, etc.) made it hard to hear clearly, but it seemed like the other party also noticed something was wrong. When it was our turn, I saw a worker now adding items to my daughter's order.

When I reached the young woman at the checkout, I asked her to open my daughter's order so we could verify what was in it. It seemed that our requested items were put on the other customer's order. She kept repeating "It's ok" each of the 3 times I asked. Finally, she told me that they were remaking the other customer's order. While I was glad for the other customer, I was more concerned about our order being correct. I had to physically gesture and stand behind my daughter, pointing at her and the dish, repeating myself louder each time to ensure she understood that I wanted my daughter's order checked. She continued to say "It's ok" and suggested remaking the order without actually opening it to verify the contents. At that point, I was so frustrated I gave up, paid for our orders, and left as quickly as possible.

When we opened our food after leaving, sure enough, it was the wrong order. The food we received, although inaccurate, was tasty and fresh. Basic customer service is the minimum expectation for any meal experience, and this missed the mark. I won't be returning to this location any time soon. While I enjoy their food, a quick stop for lunch shouldn't be...

I went to log into the app and it wouldn't let me, popping up with a notice that members who'd made accounts before November of 2023 needed to create a new account. So, I tried. I put in all the correct information, but then it said it couldn't create a new account because my phone number was already tied to an account. I tried logging to my account again, but it still wouldn't let me. I tried to do a password reset. But it wouldn't send an email to me. I waited, tried to have it send an email again, waited, it still wasn't working. I never received any of those emails. So I selected guest order, put in my order, and then went to the location a few minutes later. When my order was ready, I double checked it and realized they'd gotten my order wrong. I'd requested no salsa, because I'm allergic to tomatoes, but they put salsa on it. I had to give it to one of the employees and ask her if they could remake it. She was sweet, and tried to be helpful. I waited, it took a long time for them to remake just two tacos. When they finally got it to me, and I got home, I realized that they hadn't given me bean dip with my chips like I'd requested. They'd given me some sort of queso sauce or salsa instead, I don't even know what it was, that I couldn't eat. Because I had to order as a guest, I couldn't use the app to request a refund. The email receipt I received mentioned a survey, which I tried to take, but I couldn't because the staff had taken my copy of the receipt to remake my order. So, I was left with food that I could barely enjoy, and a cost in the time, effort, and money spent that far outweighed any enjoyment I could have had from that food. I have no idea if I will ever go back, which is sad because I've enjoyed Costa Vida for many years. But I will definitely never be using...

"They don't look like they have a drive-thru," I said. I was nervous, but tried to maintain a confident calm in my tone. Hungry anger is a real thing, and my wife was going through the worst of it. She was probably also mad at herself for not having had breakfast. I was also mad at myself for not realizing that fact. I had taken the responsibility, after all, of making sure breakfast was ready. In an accusatory tone, she said, "Well can you spare a minute to eat inside?" Of course I could do such a thing, but she had made it amply clear that she wanted to eat in the car before entering the parking lot. "I can spare 100 minutes," I said, "but not much more than that." The joke didn't land, and still continues falling through the joke chasm in space-time to this very day, along with all my other attempts. As we went inside, we were delighted to see that only about 30% of the tables were filthy. This is not a Costa Vida judgment, it is expected of all fast-food establishments at this point in time. With staffing levels so low, I don't mind wiping off my own table. I did, however, wonder how so many tables got so dirty in just the 15 minutes they had been open before we got there. No matter - the objective was to eliminate her angry hunger. I stayed with the baby as she went through the line to get food. The situation remained tense. When the Diet Coke dispensed as a clear liquid, I nearly lost my marbles. Then I remembered that I wasn't the angry one, and the Diet Coke was only for me. So I patiently waited for the employee to change the bag of syrup and proceeded to enjoy a fresh, sweet, cold soda that could only be dispensed from a brand new connection. Or maybe it was a placebo effect. The rest of the experience was...