La Costa, Olas — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

La Costa, Olas is located across from the new Las Olas parking garage and provided an excellent food and service experience. We arrived expecting Mexican food and were surprised to see authentic Honduran dishes on the menu. Our server, Alejandro, explained that there is a mix of Mexican, Cuban, and Honduran dishes on the menu and had excellent recommendations for us. Since we were originally in the mood for Mexican fare, we decided to order the Guacamole (Pico De Guac Guac) and Elotes (Corn on the cob) for starters. The Guac was delicious and the corn on the cob was spicy and scrumptious but the chips that came out with our Guac were a bit stale. Fortunately, that was the only low point of our meal. Our table ordered Carne Asada with French fries and coconut rice, Roatan's Coconut beef ribs, and an order of Carnitas tacos ( comes with 4 tacos unless it's Taco Tuesday, where the you can order each taco individually). Being no strangers to Central American cuisine , we could immediately tell that this is Honduran Coastal Atlantic cuisine which is heavily Caribbean influenced. Hence the coconut use in their dishes. Everything tasted amazing and pleasantly different than what I am use to. Being born in Miami, from a Nicaraguan background and eating all kinds of Central American cuisine all my life from Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras, this was a great foray Into the Caribbean coastal cuisine of Central America. Not common to find but oh so delicious. I highly recommend you give this place a shot and try their more traditional Honduran dishes when you go. Service was excellent , food was excellent, presentation was excellent and everything was very clean. I am so happy to have found somewhere close where I can order my Baleadas and Sopa de Mariscos whenever I have the craving. Our server, Alejandro, was extremely warm and welcoming and helped us decide on what is best to order. I will definitely be going...

Initially, my husband and I visited this restaurant on Monday. We were blown away by the service rendered by who we think was the owner. The woman greeted us at the door and immediately told us the specials and handed me a menu. I was on the fence about the restaurant because I’m vegetarian. But her warm and friendly demeanor superseded my urge to walk out. We sat down and the owner/hostess took her time and explained the menu. Made recommendations and listened to my simple but picky order. I only wanted hard shell tacos shredded cheese and guacamole. She accompanied it with black beans and rice. As simple as this order is, it is screwed up across the country. She made sure my order was right on the first try. My husband got a platter with 4 meats and enjoyed it. Our experience was amazing. Now let’s fast forward to tonight. We walked in at 830pm and the staff seemed annoyed because they were sweeping up to close. But nonetheless, they sat us. I attempted to order the same exact thing I ordered Monday. It was a fail. The waitress did not listen. She didn’t show patience either. Then insisted on selling me 4 tacos instead of listening to my request for 3. Then proceeds to go to the kitchen to argue with the chef. Our experience from 2 days ago was night and day. Therefore, we decided to leave and not dine there. Restaurants typically don’t do well because they aren’t properly managed when the owner isn’t present. I hope that the owner sees this and makes adjustments accordingly. Update: went back 10/6 and the owners nephew was there. We explained what happened the night before and he apologized. His demeanor was friendly and understanding. He listened to our order and properly executed. Due to his customer service, I upgraded...

The place is a scam. I don’t usually bother to write reviews but I don’t want other people to be tricked by a seemingly high rating like we were and I want to call out the dishonest restaurant owners. It starts with the location and continues with the food and hidden or forced costs. First of all, it is not really on the Las Olas strip where you would do your promenade. It’s at the very beginning of the boulevard, across a busy bridge and not a walking distance to the main area. Second, watch out for the pricing schemes. There’s mandatory 20% gratuity on parties of 3+ and a credit card fee which they don’t tell you about until you see an extra charge on your check. There’s no free water and no free refills on water and soda. My son asked for water and we were charged $3.75 for it. Another person ordered a coke and it was $5 for a tiny bottle. We asked for hot tea and they brought us iced tea that they microwaved in soda glasses with plastic straws in them. The food was fresh but what made me wince is that it is served on wood cutting boards. Try eating rice from an old scratched up wood board and you’ll end up eating bits of wood guaranteed plus it is unsanitary because wood is a breeding ground for bacteria. Another fact that made me raise my eyebrows is that they gave us plastic straws, which I thought was a big no-no in Florida, especially near the beach. I’ve checked and plastic straws are prohibited in Fort Lauderdale. All in all, I felt completely ripped off and had indigestion after shrimp tacos which only had grilled onions and shrimp in them. It was $20 on the menu but magically turned into $25 on the check. Long story short - stay away...