Costa Vida

Love this place! Been here a few times and always enjoyed it! Pretty cheap for the amount of food that you get. Service has always been good too!

The staff are friendly and the food is a great deal. Yum for the raspberry chicken salad. added steak! guacamole and Pico. .soo good with cilantro ranch

Craving something different give this place a try. This is fast food that does not come out of the fryer. The four stars is for a fast food comparison. You can get your burrito or taco any way you choose. Give the horchata try.

Food is great! A little over priced lunch shouldn’t cost 16+ for a quesadilla, and drink. The only concern I have is when visiting last week they were changing the holding tanks that sit in the water to keep all the food warm. The holding tank has some build up in it and the girl placed it in the ledge letting the dirty water drink into the salsa and didn’t take any notice. Kindof gross.

It’s so good but my tummy suffers in a real way. I eat here once in a while and I really like it. I’ve eaten salads, enchiladas and horchata. I enjoy the rice, the beans and the beef. I love the cheese and the salsas. I love that this place has large bottles of Tabasco. So enjoyable for me.
But eight out of 10 times my body rejects this food. I did see the staff kind of careless with their attention to cleanliness. Touching the hair or the face and then the food right after… I kinda blocked it out of my mind because I enjoy the food so much but I have to stop coming here. I owe it to myself. I owe it to my digestive system.
The decision is yours. Enjoy this food and suffer for 24 to 48 hours after. What’s the alternative? That is up to you my dear Unilocal audience.

Very good food. Fresh, flavourful and prepared to order. Service can be slow (usually is). Prices higher than mucho burrito. Lost of landfill waste from food packaging — very 1980’s yet to catch up with environmental norms. Want tasty food though this place is a fit

Have had only take out. Sometimes the dishes are a bit cold by the time we got them, but that may just be due to our large order (for the whole office) and transport time. I really like the tacos, although they’ve never been very spicy.

Let’s get a few things straight here. As far as Calgary Mexican food goes, it’s not bad. But these guys don’t hold a candle to a Texas taqueria. Have brought several Americans here and they were unimpressed to say the least.
My visit landed me a chicken burrito with watery refried beans and soupy chicken wrapped in a tortilla that had been sitting on top of a microwave.
I’m not saying this is the worst Mexican ever, but anyone in the know can tell the difference between mushy Mexican fast food and authentic fare. If you are into spicy food don’t even bother as the hottest thing they have is Cholua.
What really gets me is that they have the balls to ask for tips on their interac machine yet don’t provide table service. They must think their customers are idiots.

Been here 8 – 10 times, it was much better and the food was fresher when it first opened. Quality has gone way down

My brother and I went here the other day for lunch. We are used to restaurant style Mexican food but we thought since we were in the are we would give Costa Vida a try. For a fast food place Costa Vida was delicious. I got the extra spicy beef burrito smothered in cheese and sauce. It was much better than I had anticipated and they serve very large portions. I definitely will tell all my friends about this place and will be back for sure! Thanks.

Very disappointed with my experience here tonight. I’ve been here about 7 – 8 times and finally took my husband and he’s officially been scared off from ever trying it. For starters the staff weren’t wearing gloves and were touching all the tortillas and from one order to another. I should have said something right then.
I got sweet pork enchiladas. The corn tortillas were harder than usual and didn’t seem fresh. The refried beans were so watery I would have needed a spoon, except then I found a black hair in my food and saw the guy who prepared my food picking his nails and completely lost my appetite. Which was fine by me because despite going through the heater oven, my meal was quite cold, especially the beans and rice.
I should have complained at the store but I was irritated and left. I am going to call though. This used to be my favorite place and now I’m not sure… I still feel sick and my stomach is sore.

Finally. A great mexican place. Drink the Horchata! Delicious
Enchiladas smother in salsa and cheese are a must! Disfrutalo! O algo asi ! ;)

Found this place through Unilocal.Was very satisfied. Food was awesome; very tasty. Ingredients were fresh. Service was quick and polite.
Would definitely recommend.

Huge portions, clean shop, fresh ingredients, fast delivery, busy at lunch would go back
Order hot sauce (it is not very hot) and be prepared to saw through the fresh tortilla with a knife, too big to pick up by hand

Amazing place to go to for Mexican food!
Ingredients are fresh, and the flavors are superb. You cannot go wrong with anything you would order.

The quality of the ingredients is very high. Everything is fresh, especially the tortillas which taste homemade and not dry or pasty (a rarity for Calgary). The reward program is also quite impressive. I obtained a reward card during one visit, and when I returned, I was able to save $ 1 on my order.
However, there are two main points which are disappointing:
— there is an over-​abundance of sweet meat on the menu, which is not my preference and doesn’t seem to go with the style of the food.
— there is no spice/​heat to any of the dishes. I am a major lightweight when it comes to heat, and the «hot» sauce tasted mild and bland to me.
Additionally, note that they don’t open until 12 pm on Sunday, which is a bit odd since it’s not uncommon to be grabbing lunch at 11 or 11:30.

Stumbled upon this place randomly, while we were waiting for our cars to be detailed — and it was a pleasant surprise.
Ordering was quick, and there is a great selection of mexican-​ish quick bites to choose from — from enchiladas to burritos and salads. The meats and vegetables tasted fresh, and it looks like they make their own tortillas and such in house.
Otherwise, the bathrooms are nice and clean, and parking is pretty easy to find.
Overall, a great quick bite! Worth a visit.

This is a solid build-​your-​own burrito place in the style of Chipotle. The ingredients are fresh and diverse and the overall taste is good. If you are really craving this sort of place, I would say that it is leagues beyond mucho burrito but then again that’s not a hire bar to set.
The place is styled so that you walk in and get in line to order your food. It has a Subway style counter so that you can see the ingredients as you are pointing them out. As with most of these places things like guac/​sour cream can be extra. The décor is a tex-​mex/​cal-​mex style and there is amble seating. This is a great place for a good lunch or mexican inspired dinner. However, don’t come here thinking you’re getting anything close to authentic Mexican food.
In general, I found the flavors good but a little underwhelming. The thing I did like, though, was that the tortillas are pressed and cooked right as we order then which is a nice touch and gives the whole burrito a little added freshness. However, the base flavor of these tortillas did not wow me.
All-​in-​all, I would definitely choose this place for a quick lunch over McDonalds or Timmys but I wouldn’t drive down in the South just for this.

This place is cool. They definitely play up the Spanish meaning of costa vida in the décor. beach life. I like the surfing videos that play on the tv. People are comparing this to Chipotle but the only comparison is that it’s Mexican ‘fast food’. This is fresh tasting and delicious. Chipotle is like if Taco Bell and Subway had a baby (in my opinion).
The food is tasty, so flavorful and decent sized portions. It is a bit on the pricey side and their corn tortilla burritos are weird… more like quesadillas because they don’t wrap them. Maybe the flour ones are different? I really like Mucho Burrito but this place is on par, although these guys are more expensive.

This place is a pretty fun Mexicana joint.
Their décor is surfer inspired and looks like a page out of Coastal California.
There is a ton of seating inside and also a great patio outside.
The salads are great and huge portions. A small is enough for a meal as it comes with rice too. I recommend the pulled pork for the salad with black beans and refried beans. If you like cilantro try the cilantro lime dressing, if not try the salsa ranch.
There is a fountain of Horchada (or something like that) which is a milky cinnamon drink. and is delicious!