Costa Grill and Bar

Reviews & Tips

• 0

  Awful.  That is all I can say.
  
  I ate here about two months ago (May/June 2012) and at the time they may have been reworking their menu (I say that to give them some leeway)... but this place is just terrible.  Its sad too, because the owner seems like a nice guy, but MAN was it sh*tty!!
  
  They advertise themselves as a Mexican Grill, um... not even close.  If you want bar food, fries, maybe a hamburger, cool.... but the food is barely edible.  The menu is poor, there are about 8 choices, and when we were there they didn't have about 5 of them available...
  
  The service was terrible.  Absolutely awful.  To top it off, the owner (as I said, seems like a nice guy) came out and threw some of his employees under the bus for "wanting to go to the beach instead of work", not very professional.  I don't care why the service sucks, plain and simple it just DOES.  If you are a professional establishment, you get over the fact that you hired irresponsible high schoolers and make it work (or stop hiring them altogether).
  
  The only thing it has going for it is location.   I hope they get it together and have a good restaurant/chef/menu change, because this place isn't even worth going in for a beer.

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  Posted on 08.05.12 T R.

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• 0

  This place is horrible! We actually went to Taco Bell after eating here and received a better meal. I am not a Taco Bell fan. I adore Oaxaca Kitchen, Geronimo, and Tacuba.  This place is awful. Aside from the terrible quality of the food the portions are teeny tiny for $11 of tacos or quesadilla. The beans clearly came from the can and the rice was very odd. The menus were dirty. I don't know who is giving this place 5 stars- but it is so terrible it must be the owner's relatives. I would also like to point out that the menu that is advertized on their website is not the menu that is presented at the restaurant. Aside from the terrible quality and quantity of the food the owner was 5 minutes late and one of his two staff members was then 40 minutes late. I watched her apply makeup in her car for 5 minutes before she walked in. I also believe that I spoke to this woman on the phone the day before. I asked if they were open and she advised me they opened at 4. They didn't open until 5:05 and she didn't get there until 5:40. I have never written a review before but this place inspired me to sign up on Yelp so I can warn people. I also plan on writing positive reviews for all the great places in Branford that I frequent.

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  Posted on 05.28.12 Melinda L.

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  Ok, I was prompted to write a review of this restaurant for the express purpose of either A: hastening its demise so that a good restaurant would take its place, or B: waking the owners up to the fact that the food they are currently serving (I went in Aug 2011) needs to be dramatically upgraded.
  Clearly Deven C. and I went to different restaurants. The burritos and enchiladas that my wife and I ordered did not even reach the level of Taco Bell. Seriously.
  Listen, I'm not a food snob, but it's inconceivable that of this writing (December 17th, 2011) the Costa Grill is still in business.

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  Posted on 12.17.11 Michael M.

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  We heard that this restaurant opened recently, and wanted to check it out.  It was a very hot, muggy night and at first we weren't sure whether to sit outside on the patio; we did, and were not sorry.  The position of the patio near the marshes and the ceiling fans kept a cool breeze coming in, which was very pleasant despite the heat (and there were *no* mosquitoes, either!)  The management is very solicitous, and a server arrived immediately to take our order. We got drinks (which were very good...not too sweet).  The menu is typical Tex-Mex fare, with a few original chef's creations.   Our dinner was good; reasonable portions (not too small and not gigantic) and the ingredients were good.  Perhaps the only complaint I have is that the tortillas were flash fried (to be expected), thick and "held onto" a lot of the oil...they were very heavy.  The service was fast and--if anything--a little toooo attentive (she really meant well, but came to our table seriously every 2 minutes to ask if we needed anything...it's a delicate balance, guys!)  All in all, this was a great evening, and Costa is a nice addition to Branford open air eating!

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  Posted on 08.08.11 Elle N.

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