Costa Vida,

1492 South River Road, St. George, UT 84790

"I gave it all 5 stars. Why? We came here for comfort food, Lulu and me. Lulu was too sick for school today. But, she came to Costa Vida because it is one of her favorite places. Don't worry, it wasn't the contagious kind of sick that others at the restaurant could have caught. She's got the kind of sickness that doesn't go away--at least not until the one you love goes with it. Words like terminal and genetic and blah effity blah blah. She felt like Costa Vida. Which is a big deal when eating anything is a struggle. She has a team of 4 eating therapists and nutrition specialists who have attempted nearly everything to get her eating more. She told me, "I'm just so tired," as the reason she's only taken two bites. We may be getting closer to feeding tube talks, again. But she doesn't want won, because she likes cute clothes and worries about how the tubes will look. Costa Vida has good food. They make one of the few dishes we can get Lulu to eat (sweet pork salad). So, I give it five stars, because if anything deserves 5 stars--making a dish that a terminally ill girl will eat--heck, it might deserve a frickin' Michelin star for that kind of magic. But, I guess others might see the place as busy, or remove a star because our food was a few minutes later than the online thing estimated, but, you know what? Today you get 5 stars, Costa Vida. Because not only did you make the comfort food we needed, because some days only food makes anything better. And we got 5 bites, before she was too sleepy and needed to head back to bed. Why include details like this in a review? Well, I guess I thought I'd include some of the history of this establishment as it intersected with our lives. I feel like the fact that this location has spinny chairs that a little girl can play on at a surfboard shaped table while we waited... perhaps that doesn't qualify as a historical event or even feature that makes the place famous to anyone but a dad. But Lucy Claire met some people she accidently bumped shoulders with when she spun on the chair here. "It's fine," they said. She ate some bites of the food here. I recommend getting the steak smothered burrito with green chili sauce on the inside, spicy red sauce on the outside, refried beans, extra cheese and jalapeños to the side. It's my go-to. Mileage may vary. But if you don't, consider trying the spinny chairs. For Lulu."

"I really do like Costa Vida. So I went to this new location that just recently opened. I'm a vegetarian. So I ordered a quesadilla without meat, but with onions, tomatoes, and jalapenos. However, the lady working there didn't understand me because she primarily speaks Spanish & she thought I wanted a plain cheese quesadilla since I wanted one without meat. The food at Costa Vida is usually really good. But if you want good service, just go to 1 of the 2 other locations in the St. George area. Also, if you want people to have a better experience at this restaurant, then hire somebody who speaks English as a main language!"

"I’m being super generous with the rating because I know they’re brand new and there is a learning curve. However, the portion sizes here are pitiful. I have visited many other Costa Vida locations so I’m familiar with their food. Today I ordered a salad from the drive thru, got home and found it had about 2 tablespoons of beans, 2 tablespoons of pork and half the amount of lettuce I’ve experience at other locations. The domed lid was completely unnecessary as the salad didn’t even rise to the top of the metal plate. It was the size of a side salad for the price of a full one. My experience with a burrito a few weeks ago was the same but I brushed it off. I really hope they are listening as I saw a few other reviews with the same complaint."

"So I ordered a Shredded sweet pork burrito. Well I took a bite and about choked on a BONE! Not a little one! Very very disappointed and scared! Someone needs to reach out. This is very serious!!"

"Honestly the staff here are amazing !! There were some issues with my online order and they completely took care of me no questions asked. Such a sweet staff, all very willing to take care of any issues I had encountered as well as kindly advised on how to avoid the issue in the future, manager Edger (I believe) was so kind to his staff while fixing my issue, Sylas (I think that’s her name as well) was amazing at hospitality. And as always, the food never disappoints !! I recommend this location heavily !"