Pura Vida Cocina — Restaurant in McMinnville

Where is all this great food in the reviews? My wife and I got dinner here based on a recommendation this was the best food in town.

First of all, walking in the more prominent smell seemed to be coming from the bathrooms. It's not a small space so that was concerning.

It was so dry it was nearly inedible. Like, all off it. Tacos? Drier than California in the summer. The rice and beans? More like styrofoam packing. The tacos were the only item with even a dash of flavor. Even the chips and guac were bland. How??

I ordered the Cubano sandwich which came with a side of potatoes. The potatoes were so dry they needed ketchup and were still dry. This is the second worst cubano I've ever had. (First worst is the sad excuse for a Cubano from Jimmy John's. Don't do it!) I saw a little mustard on the bread but couldn't taste it. The shredded pork was devoid of any fat or fluid of any sort and was so dry I couldn't chew some bites without having to drink water to wash it down.

The bread was apparently untoasted or otherwise grilled - and covered in raw flour. This only added to the dryness of the pork and made for a gritty, sand like experience. The sandwich was so devoid of flavor the flour on the bread was by far the dominant flavor. I've never had mustard on a sandwich so scarce I couldn't find it. Maybe the meat absorbed it??

Google says the restaurant is closed despite it being open. Not sure if that's an error that points to larger issues or not, but clearly we should have heeded googles...

My friend and I stopped in for a late lunch this past Saturday and had a most pleasant experience. I've been an ethical vegetarian for 32 years so it's very important to me that I don't eat any animal lard as it will upset my stomach. When I asked our waiter, Genaro, if there was animal lard in the empanadas, he said he didn't know, but he would ask the cook. He did not act at all irritated by my question and told me he was happy I let him know I have dietary restrictions. I was thrilled when he came back and assured me that they do not use lard in the empanadas or beans. My friend and I ordered the empanadas with seasonal vegetables and we both absolutely LOVED our food, and she's not even a vegetarian. The empanadas were perfectly seasoned (I didn't even have to ask for salt) and the veggies inside were perfectly cooked. We could not have been more pleased with the service or food. My tamarind whiskey sour was tasty too. Genaro was very kind and patient. I'd give 10 stars if I could. I may just have to make another trip back to McMinnville just to shop at Oodles and eat at Pura Vida...

When you take a popular understaffed restaurant and combine it with two over worked staff - you literally get "shown the door". Our party of four arrived 8 mins late for our reservation. Since we knew we were running late, we called ahead, apologized, and enquired if it would be okay to be 10-15 mins late, to which they said it was fine. Up on arrival, 8 mins late, we were "screamed at" , by both the staff members (in turns) for being 30 mins late and asked to wait.

We were taken aback but decided to wait. 20 mins later, my very pregnant friend, asked if it would be longer (since 3 of their four seater tables had been open the entire time and she was getting tired standing) to which the female staff member responded with "if you can't wait, there is the door". Extremely unfortunate exchange as you would expect members of a service industry to be (a) polite and (b) empathetic especially to pregnant women.

Note to management - either hire more staff so your team is not overworked or cut the number of tables. The current state isn't delivering the quality of service your...