La Costa Grill — Restaurant in McAllen

The place was busy but there was no wait for a table which at the time we went the restaurant we actually wanted had the usual long wait. The service was okay. The tostadas, beans, salsas, and consome they bring out as a courtesy were okay. The beans and the green salsa were actually the better things I ate here. The consome is very salty to the point that I took two sips (one before and one after adding lime juice) before deciding it's not redeemable. The food doesn't command the price point. I had an octopus dish that not only was overly salty, the portion was very small for $25, it was also not done well. What seemed to be stir fried rice it came with was mushy and had what seemed to be a whole egg mixed with a small amount of wet mushy rice. The octopus was in this salty garlic heavy pepper sauce, by garlic heavy I mean I counted the whole garlic cloves to be over 8. The larger still discernable garlic chunks were over 10. I don't know how much garlic I ate that was actually minced smaller. All I can say it's more garlicky than scampi or any other garlic heavy dish I've ever tried and also oilier. There was a significant pool of oil at the bottom of my bowl which was also disappointing. I was trying to avoid the deep fried and cream based options and steered clear of potential tummy issues with fresher alternatives. This was obviously a mistake. My companion had the cilantro sauce combination plate which the sauce resembled and almost tasted like a watered down mayo with chopped cilantro added. The seafood was not seasoned separately so the fish tasted like nothing without the sauce. I can't comment on the shrimp as I didn't taste it but she said it was a bit tough. The sides her plate came with were not too bad. However it was definitely not $23 worth. The waitress didn't offer any guidance even after she was told it was our first time there. Nor did she check on us through out our meal. My drink was never refreshed either. Even when we were done it took a while to get someone's attention and our ticket. Over all not an experience I would recommend nor a place I would consider giving a second chance to. I could have had a good salmon dinner a couple of restaurants over and saved myself the experience and about $10...

I give very detailed and objective reviews about each restaurant I visit. My main focus is on service, cleanliness, quality and teamwork. That being said, the restaurant is very clean and the ambience has the correct feel for the type of food being served. I sat at the bar top and in all fairness, the chairs are a little uncomfortable and the bar area is a little cramped. The quality of the food is very good! I really enjoyed the little pre-dinner beans, salsa and the soup along with the house chips. Nice touch! I ordered two different tacos that were tasty but a little greasy for me. Beers were ice cold and I enjoyed limes and sea salt with my Tecate Lights. I was a little disturbed by the bar staff standing around and really not doing much with the exception of my bartender Crystal, who was very nice and accommodating and was really the only one who appeared to be doing any work. The other two whom I didn't ask their names, appeared to be "hating" on her and for some reason moved her to the other side of the bar where there were no customers. At that point the service really tailed-off and I lost interest in being there. I paid my tab and high-,tailed out the door. I was going to have a word with who I think was the main manager, but decided to leave this review and will welcome his call so I may explain my experience in more detail. I would've given a higher star score but all facets of my review need to be taken into consideration. God...

This was our first time here, our last too. Food was OK (that is why the 2 stars and not a 1). I liked the octopus, but the other dish we ordered, the Molcajete was just Ok. The Molcajete was advertised as one of their specialties. It lacked flavor, which was dissapointing.

We were seated outside, this was Nice. But the service was just bad. Our waitress after just taking our order, did not accept a request for a change of a menu item. She said that had just put the order in, and it was being put together. Literally after less than 2-3 minutes of ordering. Ok, we did not complained then (but made us think how something like a complex menu item is done so quickly, maybe pre-cooked? Not sure). Just decided to go with what we ordered. The food came rather quickly after, so we thought "Ok, al least that is good". But then she brought the food, and completely forgot about us. We were never rude to her, and we never said anything negative. But what followed was, she did not bring me my Mineral water, until I was halfway my plate. Also forgot about our flour tortillas, until about the end of our plate. Never offered dessert, or anything else. It was like "she was done!" And frankly so were We. It took us forever to get the check from her. She was very uninterested in our bussiness. It was a demonstration that our table was not important. Very unfortunate and...