¡VIVA! — Restaurant in Paradise

Ate there for lunch today after attending the KBIS/IBS Convention (2/28). I’ll start with the good and end with the bad.

The food is amazing! I had the Chicken Enchiladas (which you only get 2) and my husband had the Shrimp Tacos (you get 3). We also had the Chips and Salsa and the Salsa was SO yummy as well as the chips. We wanted something light and not super fulfilling and they hit the spot just right.

Now for the bad… Service was AWFUL. Took us 30 minutes to get our beverages (we had water, just not the drinks we had ordered). We watched our waiter attendant (drinks and all) to a group that were seated 10 minutes after we did before we got anything and that made us pretty salty. We hardly ever saw our waiter but watched him address many others multiple times to check in on their drinks and food….but still hadn’t seen ours. We were there for a total of an hour and a half from the time we sat to the time we left. Everything took FOREVER. My husband asked one of the helpers (kitchen staff or bussing staff, not to sure what position he had but he was a sweetheart) that delivered us our Chips and Salsa if this type of service was normal and he sadly said yes, especially when it is busy like it was. That kind, sweet helper informed his manager of our conversation and she then came to our table and was so beyond sweet and apologetic and did what she could to deduct items and gave us a local/employee discount because of how bad things were. She was an angel and that was not our goal or intention at all, but we greatly appreciated it more than she could know. Just her coming to us and explaining things (not giving excuses) was awesome and we thought she was amazing. She was working her BUTT off and you could very easily tell that she was taking a lot of the responsibilities under her own control…which wasn’t right considering how many other staff members there were.

My husband and I own and run our own business and customer service is always a number 1 priority, the manager did an excellent job with this and handled our situation beautifully.

I didn’t want to leave a review because the manager resolved our issues once she was made aware, but I also know that Google Reviews are huge and very important to help make businesses thrive and do better. If you don’t know, you can’t grow and get better.

Staff need to go through Customer Service Training AND each person needs to know their roll, place, and responsibilities within the restaurant.

Overall, the food was amazing, but the service could have been MUCH better.

Thank you to the manager (beautiful female) for making things right and for taking the time to come and talk with us. We greatly appreciated it and it showed my husband and I a lot about her and how she cares about where she works. She’s the manager for a reason and she deserves it. The other staff (not all) on the other hand need some work (at least our waiter did).

Definitely stop here to grab food because you won’t regret it, just don’t if you are in a rush or on a time limit.

Pricing is normal to all other resorts and same thing with “sides”. You gotta add sides and pay for them if you want them, but it’s no different than any other resort restaurant that is $20+ for food. It’s not the Vegas strip restaurant, it’s a resort restaurant.

I can’t say if we will go back, but it could happen in the future.

10/10 for Food. 10/10 for Mixed Drinks. 3/10 for...

We recently stayed at Resorts World and ate at this restaurant. First the not so good.... Some of the staff are not welcoming or even friendly. We got to the restaurant at 4:52PM. The hostess would not seat us because dinner did not start until 5:00PM. Okay, that makes sense. She informed us we could sit at the bar and wait for a table. Nothing she said was out of the ordinary, it was her delivery and attitude that made it unpleasant. We chose to overlook it and head to the bar. At the bar, we encountered a bartender who also was not kind or polite or even attentive. She chatted with coworkers and took her time taking our order and getting it to us. She then disappeared to the back side of the bar to continue chatting with coworkers and never checked on us again. When we finally were able to get her attention to pay our tab so we could be seated in the restaurant, because you can't take your drinks with you to be added to your bill she still wasn't friendly. Our waitress made a good attempt. She was knowledgeable on the menu and knew how to upsell, both of which are good things. She wasn't unfriendly but not friendly either. The food was actually pretty good. We had the chips and guac appetizer and it did not disappoint. The chips were light and crispy and the guac was fresh with just the right amount of lime. If it had a bit of spice like fresh jalapenos, it would have been even better. We split an order of the Chicharron with garlic mojo, radish sprouts and pickled cabbage. We added a side of slow cooked Rancho Gordo Beans and the Crispy Fingerling Potatoes with Chile Mazano and cotija cheese. Everything was cooked perfectly and was flavorful. The Chicharron had just the right amount of crispy exterior while the middle fell apart with your fork. The beans were just the right amount of spiciness but there could have been a better portion of them in the bowl. There seemed to be more liquid than beans in the bowl. The potatoes were very tasty. Overall, the food won us over. Our one complaint was the staff. A course on customer service would be a great idea for the staff, and could more than likely help this restaurant to have...

Our first visit to Viva exceeded expectations!

Anytime I travel, I always spend some time online to make sure I'm going to places that are unique, exciting and memorable. The stories about Chef Garcia that I found along with many great reviews made Viva an easy choice for our first meal of the trip.

Here's what we expected: A fun, lively atmosphere in a cool location with nicely prepared Mexican & Latin American dishes by a renowned chef.

We definitely got that - but here's what exceeded our expectations:

An incredibly warm & welcoming General Manager that recognized our enthusiasm and made some spot-on food recommendations. Katie really made the entire experience spectacular!! Beautifully prepared dishes that are far beyond "ordinary" Mexican and flavors that made us fully appreciate everything we tried. A nicely curated cocktail list with great options for everyone at our table. Attentive, friendly service from everyone that we interacted with. An overall impression that made this one of the places that we will recommend to everyone who is planning a visit to Las Vegas.

The entire staff did a great job and made us feel welcomed. The kitchen staff delivered perfectly on Chef Garcia's creations.

The ancho rubbed lamb ribs were definitely the highlight of the night! The guacamole was absolutely delicious. And, even though I was absolutely positive that I wasn't going to try dessert, I'm so glad that we all tried the churros. The consensus from the entire table is that they're the best we've ever had and we will judge all churros against these for the rest...