Viva Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in DuPont

I was driving through Dupont Washington and decided to take a break with one of my favs, Tex Mex. The initial impression was of a large space with only two occupied tables. I may have looked concerned, and the manager said Dupont was a ghost town over the long Labor Day weekend. Made sense, I sat at the bar, and more folks filtered in.

As for the service, though, the manager went of his way to take care of me. He fixed a nice, balanced Herradura Marguerita on the rocks with salt. He brought me several glasses of water without being asked. He ended up brewing coffee for me, specially, when I asked if he had coffee. His colleague, the sole waitress on at that moment, was also smiles and thank yous. Really nice, attentive, intelligent service.

I had the chips and salsa to start, again, without even asking. The chips were crisp and house made or made nearby from someone with care and a feel for the craft. The salsa was flavorful and fresh, but not so spicy, so the manager brought a kicker, meaning another salsa with serious heat.

For my mains, I had the 3 item combination with a hard ground beef taco and two enchiladas, one with beef picadillo (shredded braised beef) and one with shredded chicken. All three items were very good. With the kicker, they were awesome. Frijoles and arroz were good as well, but not memorable.

I’d happily go to Viva when down that way again....

I really, really wanted to love this place. The look and feel of it is great. But I have been reading lots of reviews about this place and I know what went wrong now. They were getting lots of complaints and reviews saying how the food was so bland, had no flavor, needed spice. So when I went there to eat, I think they thought they had fixed that bland thing. However, all they had done was add massive amounts of SALT to everything! So Much Salt! The food looked fantastic when we got it. And so much! It just looked great. But the very first bite told the tale. I tried, though. I had four bites from that plate. I couldn't do any more after that. I was so disappointed! I have never been able to find good Mexican food here. In all these years. So, there it is. A fabulous looking place, real Mexican atmosphere, and too much salt in the food. That is no way to give the food "more flavor." Please, try again, after you find someone who can explain that "spicy and flavorful" does NOT mean "hot and...

So I actually really enjoyed this restaurant, the food was good, the drinks were good and our waiter was really good. I had all intentions on coming back until I got a notification from my bank that some money came off my account. When I went to see what this was, I had the displeasure of finding out my payment was changed with a tip added on that I did not add. When I go to a restaurant I bring cash to leave a tip because I want to make sure they get their money, so I did what I normally did which is put $0.00 for tip write the total and placed cash on the table. So I am extremely upset and disappointed to find out a tip was added to my receipt anyway and taken off of my card without my permission. I called the restaurant where it was confirmed that yes there was money added onto my receipt and there would be a conversation had with the employee. I truly hope no one else encounters this type issue and it is handled because someone else might not take it as...