Costa Pacifica — Restaurant in San Antonio

First I hated the waiter, which biased the whole experience. Picked a good table, back to the wall, guest and myself could look out the window at the parking lot & freeway, and then noticed the shiny, glossy black table was dirty. Smears of stuff. I was prepared to ignore it, but my guest was not.

Lazy waiter showed-up and I asked if the table could be wiped down and he suggested we move to a different table. There were lots of them, but I wanted THIS table, so I asked again if the table could simply be wiped down.

What the waiter did not do: Immediately remove the corn tostada thing, the mole, the guacamole, the silverware, napkins, salt, pepper, plates, etc... to an adjacent table, then get a clean rag and/or paper towel and wipe it down. Instead, the lazy waiter "THUMPED" the water glass down on the table, went off to get the busboy, who slid stuff from one side of the table, spritzed cleaner on the table (getting it into the water, the food, the everything), wiped half the table, then moved everything over to the clean area, and wiped the other half.

General impression: Waiter is the one that put appetizers and water on a dirty table. And I don't care if it's the bus boy's fault. The bus boy isn't working for tips. The restaurant is 75% empty and there's no excuse for ANY of those tables to be dirty and when I worked as a waiter, I made certain that my tables were all always ready for my customers. Lazy Waiter doesn't see it that way. It's my fault for sitting at a dirty table, and it's the bus boy's fault for not cleaning it. Waiter is wrong. The rest of the service was similarly off. I asked for coke and got diet coke. Check wasn't ready when I asked of it, Lazy Waiter failed to tell me that he serves as cashier (and not the hostess at the front). Note, none of these details are in and of themselves all that terrible, but cumulatively the all add up to the fact that the waiter should be working in a strip mall somewhere selling phone accessories.

And when a dining experience starts off like that, it's REALLY hard to get back on track.

Good News: For the first time ever, I "get it" on mole. For years these Mexicans have been talking about burnt peppers and chocolate and every time I've tried mole I was always left wondering "Why bother. It tastes highly forgettable.", however for the 1st time ever I've actually gotten "it", the reason why some people go on & on about mole. No, I didn't think it was all that spectacular, but I can see how other people would. There's a special flavor in there that this restaurant has managed to create that no other restaurants I've tried have been able to do. It was good, but it was burnt peppers and chocolate. No, I didn't like it, but if you've been wondering what the fuss is all about over mole, this is the place to go, because this mole will make it all very clear. You might even like it. Guacamole was mild, smooth and sophisticated, but not HEARTY.

The fried whole fish was good, but I thought the batter underseasoned. HUGE platter, lots of lettuce, rice, tomatos and fresh onions. For $10.00 you get a lot. I had the Seared Tuna and that is a bit of a mixed reaction from me. First, when I read "seared" I assumed you are getting a fully-cooked tuna steak that just happens to have had it's outsides seared at high temperature. Not true. "Seared" in this case means 1/3 to 1/2 of the center of the tuna steak is raw. SURPRISE! Luckily I can handle Teka Maki, so bravely I ate most of it, gave the rest to my guest who also liked it.

Not sure how to react to this, as I may not have the "educated palate" enough to evaluate it fairly. I got the idea the kitchen delivered EXACTLY what they were trying for, so I give them credit for that. I would have expected the sear to be darker than it was. This was golden brown, and had no seasoning besides a light mist of lemon juice, so there was a chemical-cooked ceviche thing happening. The vegetables were very plain, steamed broccoli and carrots with light salt, and a quarter...

Costa Pacifica San Antonio. This was a dining experience that I was looking forward to. The wife and I hadn’t been out to eat in months. I’d read the reviews which seemed generally positive and I’d zeroed in on the Red Snapper Taylor Made, cooked using the Zarandeado recipe, which is a coastal Mexican recipe which is grilled and flavored with local spices. We started off with adult beverages which were pretty good, hence the two (2) stars. We then had a very forgettable, bland, shrimp ceviche. Then came the the bad news. The red snapper fillet that I had been salivating over was not available! They were apparently reserving their red snapper for their whole fish “ to share “ menu! So I ordered the Zarandeado fillet and my wife ordered the Grilled Salmon Taco plate. What a disappointment!! Both orders of fish had never even been in sight of a grill and to cover this up they were liberally smeared (drowned) in sauce. Mine was, I think, a Chipotle/mustard mixture and my wife’s I was calling a mystery sauce, which she swears was Thousand Island Dressing! We each had a half cup, molded lump of white rice and a few leaves of lettuce with two tomato slices with what I think was more mystery sauce/ Thousand Island spread over the top. Oh, the wife had some refried beans we’re quite certain came straight out of a can. I bought into the story of the two cool dude owners, according to the photo on their website, remembering their love of the fresh, delicious fish dishes cooked in the coastal Mexican locales and wanting to bring that here....

This restaurant serves mainly Mexican seafood. Instead of the usual chips and salsa, they brought out mini tostadas, salsa, and refried beans. I don't like refried beans, but these were amazing: smooth creamy texture with no lard-like taste. We had shrimp ceviche, and it was the best I can remember having. It had finely diced tomatoes and onions and cucumbers, and it tasted very fresh - not soggy like you sometimes get. (They also have fish ceviche.) For the main course, we had a marinated and grilled fish which was tasty: excellent texture and not over-salted as so often is seen in restaurant foods. It came with rice and celery and a pre-dressed salad. I like to dress my salad myself, so I was a bit worried, but I'm a believer in this case: my wife and I both absolutely loved their dressing. I wish I could re-create it.

One of the factors of our enjoyment of this place is the wait staff: if you need something and your waitress or waiter doesn't happen to be in sight, all you have to do is catch the eye of one of the runners or bus boys. They will get you anything you need. Our waitress was Karla, and she was an amazing waitress and really added to our enjoyment of this place. We asked the manager, Carlos, over so we could tell him what a great job Karla did. They have Happy Hour all day Mondays and Tuesdays (til 7pm other days) and live music on the weekends. My wife and I both give 5 stars. We will most certainly be returning to...