La Costa Mexican cantina — Restaurant in Jacksonville

New to the Jacksonville Beach area, my wife and I are on a fast and furious restaurant tour. Today we decided to give La Costa Mexican Cantina a try.

As luck would have it, we came in around 6:30 on Thursday and it was surprisingly not busy. (Not yet anyway.) With a warm greeting, Daniel, also our server, seated us.

Right off the bat, the things we noticed and liked were the lighting, openness, and cleanliness of the restaurant. We also enjoyed the whole “vibe” there. Music in the background, which was festive, upbeat, and not overpowering.

Daniel offered us menus and we ordered queso dip with chips to start. He told us about the day’s drink specials which were a variety of mojitos and a watermelon Marguerita. Our first round were mojitos: I had the cherry; my wife had a mango. Our second round of drinks were the Margueritas. Large drinks, with a good quantity of alcohol. And even though I really do not enjoy Mango or watermelon flavors whatsoever, all three of our drinks were surprisingly delicious.

For our meal, we came in with the full intention of ordering Chimichangas, but for giggles asked Daniel for his recommendations. He said the Chimichangas are really good but what he really wanted us to try was the Molcajete - a dish with steak, chicken, shrimp, chorizo, fish, jalapenos, cheese, and jalapenos and served with a side of rice, refried beans, salad, and tortillas. I know what I like and usually stick with whatever I was craving when I come to any restaurant. This time, we decided to take a flier from our server and follow his recommendation. Boy was that a money choice!!

The Molcajete arrives in a bubbling dish. Envision a small cauldron. The presentation is impressive. Strips of marinated steak, chicken, edible cactus hanging from the side like an alien flower. In the midst of all that bubbling goodness--more meat, onions, shrimp, chorizo, fish, cheese, jalapenos, and everything else. It is a two-person dish and trust us on this, the portion is very generous.

To briefly return to our service. Daniel was attentive, accommodating, friendly and cared about the restaurant, his job, and our experience. Whatever we needed, he was right there. He was so thorough, we felt guilty for how hard he was working.

During our meal, another gentleman named Oscar asked us how our meal was and if there was anything else we needed. Like Daniel, Oscar gave wonderful charm and customer service, making us feel so welcome and valued as customers. That seems obvious, but I have eaten at numerous restaurants that unfortunately did not. Oscar greeted every customer coming inside, most, obviously regular patrons—as if he knew every one of them personally. We even met Victor, the owner, who passed by to share his appreciation of us choosing to dine with them.

Start to finish this was an exceptional experience, and La Costa Mexican Cantina became one of our instant favs! Fantastic service, delightful food, and outstanding value. TotalbellyLove!

Whether you are flying solo, with your family, or out on a fun date night, this spot gets a special nod. My only regret was enjoying (a little too much) the warm, fresh chips and that heavenly queso! They are addictive, so good luck not falling into...

Located in a strip mall a lot of parking. Rice and refried beans were good, black beans also were good. Service was a hit or miss, our original waitress was great but then another waitress ended up bringing out our food and that is where the “miss” happened. We order birria tacos and other Mexican style “regular” tacos, I had to ask her for the birria taco sauce, I also asked for salsa verde “green salsa” she then brought me red salsa which I already had from the previous waitress 🤷‍♀️ I asked her again and she said they don’t have green salsa 😮 I then asked who I thought the manager was and he brought me salsa verde 🙏🏼 👌 it doesn’t have any spice to it which I am fine with I just prefer the green as it doesn’t mess with my stomach 🤢 and the flavor of the tomatillos are delicious on tacos! Overall food was good,atmosphere was welcoming and comfy, prices are decent… we will go back 💕also $2.99 Taco Tuesday special was nice, it only applies to Mexican or American style tacos tho not the “speciality tacos”🌮 It would be great to have salsa verde option with or without spice as I know a ton of people who cannot eat ANY...

Ive eaten here before and the food was great, but the service I received tonight after my order was not delivered is making me question ever ordering from this place again. I placed an order online through their website for delivery. The delivery was going to be done by Doordash. When I checked to see that the driver was close by I went outside to wait. All of the sudden the app said my order was delivered, despite me standing their empty handed. Well I called La Costa as instructed by Doordash and was then passed off to three different employees before the final employee asked if I could come pick up more food. No I can not, that is why I ordered it for delivery. He then tried to offer me a free meal in compensation next time I come in...but offered no solution to resolve the issue at hand. After going back and forth for a few minutes I said, never mind I want a full refund and his response was "Ill try". At this point I'm not sure I will ever get a refund and some Doordasher got a free tip and a free meal. I will be driving over there as soon as I can to dispute the...