Vida Mariscos — Restaurant in Webster

On my first visit to this restaurant, I was first very impressed with its spacious open area inside and out. My first thought was this was a Mexican restaurant that offered the same menu as others I have visited before. My best guess now is that their menu brings two cultures together based on my first impression of the appetizers they bring you first to your table. I have to admit I was thrown off a little bit by the plate of spicy pickled carrots and warm rolls with butter instead of the usual tortilla chips or even plantain chips and red, green or sweet salsa that are sometimes brought out at some Mexican restaurants. To add to my awkward feeling, I had to ask one of the waiters what I was supposed to do with this appetizer? Was I supposed to wait for my main meal to eat it? He replied that most people stuff the carrots in the middle of the bread and eat it this way. What I found out later is that this type of serving is more common in Vietnamese quizine and also served by a few Mexican or Central American restaurants. No disrespect to my own culture, but for me, it will take some getting used to. In addition, they serve a pickled jicama slaw or salad with a little shredded carrot and maybe a little shredded lettuce and or coleslaw mixed in and is added to most of their baked or fried fish and shrimp menu options. My bacon wrapped shrimp or shrimp brochette for about $24 a plate comes with 6 large size shrimp and is drizzled with some Chipotle or soy sauce combination that was a bit too salty for my taste. I also ordered two other plates on their menu. I ordered the blackened salmon with rice, black beans, veggies, and baked shrimp for around $27. I then ordered the Pescado empanizado (fried fish) lunch plate for $14 that included a fish taco with the tangy shredded jicama slaw on a corn tortilla with 3 shrimp on the same plate. Both plates were very good, and I "might" order again on my next visit. The happy hour "large" margaritas are very good, much like all margaritas from other restaurants, and it is priced at $9 during happy hour 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. I almost forgot the 3 fish and shrimp empanada combo for $12 was really good, too. As for the atmosphere in the restaurant, they seem to have a small stage area for a small band possibly for performances on Friday evenings "or" weekends, but I'm not sure. I do wish on this occasion they tone down the music on their sound system, though. I prefer a more quiet environment. Since it's my first visit, I wonder if it's quieter at different times of the week but will see or ask next time if I return on a different date and time. On this visit I failed to do the math on my food and I ended up spending a little over $106 for me and my guest "not" counting the tip for 4 dishes, a side of guacamole for $12 and a margarita. It's a bit way too much than I'm used to spending at any restaurant for the...

Thank you to our waitress, Monica, bartender, male manager with an apron (chef maybe?), and cooks. Y'all are the reason I am giving so many stars. Monica was wonderful! Monica was kind, patient, showed concern for her customers food allergies, and was helpful from the start to the end. The only constructive criticism I could give her is to maybe practice yelling as if she's a drill sergeant in the army because the place is way too loud. For people hard of hearing this isn't a good place for them. This wasn't live music either. I don't get it either because I don't see people dancing, and I don't see a dance floor either. My mother in law requested to be seated in the room to the left since it looked less crowded and was notably quieter (would be great for hard hearing customers) but the hostess informed there aren't any waiters/waitresses assigned to the area. Another reason for the less than 5 stars is because of a rude new hire of whom I don't know the name. She wore a pink shirt, and we did overhear she's not yet on the floor. She came by to see if we were taken care because we had inquired about our drinks and as my mother in law tried to answer she kept cutting her off with "okays, alrights" as she is already walking away from the table. She was very dismissive and she couldn't of even heard my mother in laws sentence because she never finished. We reported it to the male manager/chef that came by to ask us how is everything. Who we didn't report was the busser girl. She was short with a long ponytail. She came by to ask if we were done with a plate (in Spanish), she said a lot of words really fast but my Spanish is very poor. So I turned to my mother in law(she knows Spanish fluently) who was distracted to try to get her to speak. The girl seemed impatient and I figured by body language that she was indicating about the plate and so I told her she could take it in English that she could take it and gestured with my hands "away". She rolled her eyes and hurried off with the plate. As we were standing to leave my mother in law decided she'd like to have another bag since she didn't fit everything into the one bag already given. Monica left to retrieve one and I look past my mother in law and see the busser girl coming with the dish tub wanting to bust our table. We meet eyes, she sees we aren't moving, she rolls her eyes and head, turns on her heel and head back to the sink area at the back of the room chatting it up looking annoyed and looking back at us with glances... lol. The attitudes are unreal. Lower the music, you don't need to turn it off, and hang on to Monica and that man manager that I didn't catch his name (he's older), and then the cooks, and bartender/s. They're the assets and deserve raises. The hostess' (guy and girl) were...

My server was Jennifer S., and honestly, she was the worst server I’ve ever had in my life. From the start, the experience was just terrible. It took her over 10 minutes just to come to say hi and take our drink order. I actually had to get up and ask a busser to find her because we were waiting and nobody helped us. When she finally showed up, she just said, “Sorry, I was busy with another table,” and then took our drink order. Even then, it took her forever to bring the drinks. A busser actually had to bring us water before she even got back.

After she dropped off the drinks, she disappeared again and took even longer to come back for our food order. The place was basically empty, just one other table, and she was literally just walking around doing side work like stacking to-go boxes instead of checking on us.

When she finally came to take our order, I specifically asked her about two different ceviches. I said, “Which one is better?” She recommended one, and I asked her very clearly, “But is it spicy? Because I don’t want anything spicy.” She said, “No, it’s not spicy.” So I ordered it. When it came out, it was extremely spicy, full of chopped jalapeños. I told her about it, and instead of apologizing or fixing the situation, she just said, “It shouldn’t be spicy.” I pointed out the jalapeños and she kept insisting it wasn’t supposed to be spicy. Still, no apology, no manager, nothing. She just asked, “Do you want something else?”, I said no because that was the only one thing that I wanted, my friend had to tell her to take the dish back since I wasn’t going to eat it. She removed the plate, supposedly to take it off the bill, but she never did. About 20 minutes later, she came back with the same ceviche, just with the jalapeños picked out because she didn’t want to take it off the bill, I ended up just taking it to-go, but even the box and the check took forever.

The whole time, her attitude was arrogant and careless, like she just didn’t care about our table at all. No smile, no courtesy, no apology, no effort to make things right. We never even saw a manager, which is unbelievable. Overall, it was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had, all because of the server’s...