Vista Taco — Restaurant in Lima

The atmosphere was pretty nice, but our service was less than ideal, food was average. We sat down for almost 20 minutes before our waitress came to get us drinks, despite there being no wait and and somewhat steady business. No Friday night rush yet. We ordered my daughter's food and our appetizer with our drinks, all of which came at a reasonable time. My husband and I placed our dinner orders when the appetizer and drinks came out. We had to ask the hostess for chip refills. We waited 45 minutes for a total of 6 tacos and in the time our waitress checked on us once one time to let us know our food would be out soon and never asked us if we wanted any more drinks. People who sat down 30 minutes after us were getting their food. I ended up calling for her about 20 minutes later because she checked on a table a few down from us but started to walk away and I wanted to see where our food was. She told us she'd check on it and apologized that the kitchen was running behind. She comes back out almost immediately with our food and said that they were setting it out just as she walked in. She set the food down and at this point it was pretty busy so she went off to service other tables which is perfectly fine. However, I took one bite and it was ice cold and had clearly been sitting. My husband's was tepid but he didn't send his back because my toddler was getting impatient since at this point it'd been over an hour. She didn't come back to check on us at all and I had to once again ask the hostess for assistance in getting my food warmed up. The food came back out warm relatively quickly, but at this point my toddler was devolving as it was approaching her bedtime. So I quickly ate and waited for the check while my husband took our daughter outside. Another 10-15 minutes passed and she didn't stop by, so I had to ask the hostess again for help to get my check. I had my card ready and gave it to the waitress as soon as she came with the bill. Once I was handed my receipt and I signed it, she said something about "seeing us next time" and then made a joke about "coming a little earlier next time."

My husband and I have both worked in the food service industry so our patience with poor service goes pretty far. We get it and have been there done that. I was letting everything slide until the last comment of showing up earlier. Honestly overall it was just a really disappointing evening of poor service and average food. I know the restaurant hasn't been opened that long, but I'm not sure at this rate that I'd be willing to give it...

EDIT after trying it for a second time: food was was cold (again) when we got it. Got the same appetizer we ordered last time and it was half a size smaller. We wanted to give this place another shot but it’s extremely disappointing to spend $100 on cold food… come on. Service was decent at the beginning but pretty slow near the end of our time there. Drinks were pretty good.

It was our first time here and we were excited to check it out. It’s a very cool restaurant with nice decor. Music was a bit loud but I’m also sensitive to that kind of thing and the others I was with were not bothered. We got sat right away but it took at least 15 minutes to even see our server. A table came in about 10 minutes after us and was immediately served (two different servers with two different sections) so I understand it but it was still a little frustrating. We ordered queso, which was just okay. It didn’t have a ton of flavor and I definitely prefer the quesos at other local Mexican restaurants over this one. It was also room temp so it definitely could’ve been warmer. Salsa was nothing special, barely any spice to it and lacked flavor as well. The corn fritters were delicious (same as what they have at Happy Daz but comes with a really good dipping sauce). We got tacos and they were pretty good, especially for the price. The chorizo avocado was good but the wasabi in it was way too overwhelming and really ruined it for me. If I get that taco again, I’d probably ask for it without the wasabi if possible. The tortillas were toasted, which isn’t my preference, so I could’ve done without that. They just felt/tasted stale vs toasted. The steak and corn taco was good but steak really lacked flavor and it was topped with hot Cheetos (simpler is better in my opinion). The regular American / ground beef taco lacked flavor as well. Beef was just not seasoned well. All of our food was room temp and that was disappointing. It was either heated up poorly or it sat out for a while before coming to our table. Either way, not great.

Overall, the atmosphere is great and the rooftop bar upstairs is cool to hang out at. I do understand that this restaurant is new, but service needs to be improved (especially after reading other reviews with similar experiences) and food...

Cute place, lively atmosphere. Service was fine, a little slow - basically ended up converting half of our dinner for take out. Did not try the drinks, but they have a good selection. Food was the primary reason for the visit and we will not be coming back. Tried the classic American ground beef tacos, a personal favorite that’s tough to get wrong, but here the beef had absolutely no flavor, like really none at all and dry. I literally ate one taco and left the other one for the birds. Wife had the cauliflower taco and also no flavor, according to her she regretted spending those calories on that. Salsa that came with chips is just fine, we typically have much more satisfactory start at our typical local Mexican spot. Guac I actually finished without the chips, although nothing special. Chicken skewers were good, but honestly I can do that at home, for sure I have that type of flavor, not sure if it’s the Old Bay seasoning or one of the other poultry ones, but for sure I got that at home. Basically I was hoping to get a nice open flame charcoal flavor, not this reproducible skillet thing.. aghh anyway nothing new from Lima, I don’t even know...