Permanently Closed - Buena Vida - Arlington

I was disappointed with both the food and the service. We waited a long time for our food and often times items were missing! They kept forgetting little things like napkins and coffee which btw they charge for which is outrageous! Coffee should be included in the 35 dollar brunch cost! Not going back.

Best part about this brunch was the drinks and the atmosphere. Decor is beautiful and definitely has a hip vibe. Our issue was with the food. Everything was pretty bland and left a lot to be desired. I think they need to pair down the brunch menu to fewer well-made dishes. I gave it a good overall rating for the service, drinks and vibe.

Great experience! Food came very quick

Went for a brunch all you can eat during peak hour. This place is super busy during brunch and super loud. Some of tapas were good and some were so-so. Also, they took forever to get our foods.. and people next to us were also complaining about their food not coming out on time. I wouldn’t go back because it is just too chaotic..

Went there for brunch and had some of the drink specials too. Our favorites were the Chicken empanada and Serrano ham Benedict and the spicy cucumber cilantro drink. They were all delicious!

Love the food and the small plates fixed price menu. Noise level is ridiculous, made tolerable by late dining.

Buena Vida is an energetic restaurant with an overwhelming menu -- $35 for all you can eat tapas, which was too much. We managed to get the a la carte menu and order reasonable quantities of food. What we had was good, including brussel sprout quesadillas. The restaurant is large and loud.

Great variety of food and neat atmosphere. Love all the small plate options!

This was a great place to dine. We came for brunch and I was most impressed with the interactions of the wait staff, host, and manager throughout our experience. They constantly checked in to make sure we needed anything, made excellent suggestions about the menu, and thought ahead in asking about food allergies. I also appreciated how we were originally seated near a window, but the staff had a request from an older couple dining that afternoon that wanted the table instead and how apologetic yet understanding they were in seating us elsewhere. In most circumstances a diner might be agitated and want to push back, but we were more than willing to accommodate upon the host communicating the issue with us. Great drinks and filling tapas, I definitely look forward to returning soon.

The food was really delicious but service TERRIBLE!!! Took 30 minutes to get our margaritas after we ordered. Multiple orders were messed up. The server clearly forgot to put in orders. I really did love the food but I don’t think I’ll come back here bc of the service. I just wanted a margarita and relaxing dinner for my birthday but it was kind of ruined!

This is my third time coming back to Buena Vida and it's been a great experience!

Food is great, we really liked the limitless tasting menu, the only downside of this place is the margaritas being expensive compared to other Mexican restaurants.

Amazing brunch! Loved this place!

The perfect brunch! I went here with a couple of my friends and had the unlimited brunch and it was everything that I had hoped for. Every plate that came out was delicious and the drinks were great too. Do not sleep on the yogurt parfit. IT IS AMAZING.

Food and drink were amazing. Service started out great, but after awhile we got the hint that she wanted us gone, because she became totally scarce or avoided us altogether.

Celebrated my birthday here and had a great time! They really took care of us!

I loved that there were plenty of options for vegetarians. We had fantastic service.

Great staff, great food. I’d definitely recommend dining there.

Food and service was unbelievable, people, you need to try this place.

Wait or forgot our orders multiple times

We did the $35 endless small plates option and would highly recommend. Lots of very delicious bites and a few weird ones. The lamb barbacoa, chorizo croquettes, and chicken empanada were universal hits. Only one of our party of 6 liked the mushrooms in BBQ sauce... But when it's endless, nothing feels like a terrible waste :-) Great, friendly, and well-paced service. We'll be back!

Overall everything was great but the service was not. Sadly we could never find our waitress. The food was delicious though. Definitely will go again but will ask for a different waitress.

Love the ambar-style approach to the dinner menu. Hits: guacamoles, ceviches, vegetable burritos, grilled salmon, branzino and Shrimp. So-so -- eggplant, lamb barbacoa.

Great experience! We had been at this location when it was a different restaurant. We weren’t big fans of the last restaurant so we were a little concerned that it might be the same owners. Turns out there was no reason to be concerned, it was a wonderful experience. Good food, great service.

An outstanding array of small plates that can be shared (or in our case hoarded). Plenty of options for vegetarians, pescatarians, and carnetarians. Authentic renderings of classic dishes and innovative additions, as well. Good service overall.

What an excellent choice for brunch. Food was fantastic, inventive and flavorful. Dishes were small enough you could try many different options and go back to what you liked the best (which I personally love at unlimited tapas restaurants). Service was good, friendly and did not rush as we ate ourselves into oblivion. Drinks were fantastic. Can't wait to return!

We had the $35 restaurant week menu. I really enjoyed the food and the selection of dishes. Will dine her again soon!!!

LOVED the variety - and the $35 unlimited small plates during restaurant week! We are fans of their sister restaurant across the street - Ambar - and have confirmed they are doing just a brilliant a job at Buena Vida!

Wonderful staff, food was fantastic, tapas style plates, enjoyed visiting with family
Will be back, keep up the good work.

Awesome Brunch! Great food and service.

. We had a 8 pm reservation but we’re not seated until 8:37

Not acceptable. John Hackett

Ps

We arrived 10 minutes early as well

Employees were very accommodating and friendly and helpful. Delicious food, great atmosphere. Slow bar, slow kitchen.

Spent new years at Buena Vida.
The ambiance was great the general look and feel of the place is very pleasing.
Food was really good, very edgy with the taste combinations and traditional mexican cuisine.
Service was the best part, really friendly folks, Dusan our server for the second time was great, and all the folks there are very patient and friendly which is a win win combination.

Great location and nice venue. Low value. Food overpriced.

Outstanding service, very attentive wait people, food delicious and overall experience was excellent. Will definitely recommend to others and expect to visit again in the near term. Great New Year Eve menu as well for ringing in 2020.

Another great celebration at Buena Vida. Great food, great cocktails and friendly service. Such a treat!

Waiter was accommodating and very pleasant. Food came out very slow once tables started getting filled, despite the restaurant not being full. Would go back for bottomless brunch,but slightly earlier so that we wouldn’t have to wait so long for food and drinks

Food is good but pricey, the $35 all you can eat tapas is a nice experience but you best be hungry if you want to get value for your dollar. The wife and I spent $100 there for two drinks and the food and it didn’t quite feel like it was a nice enough place to spend that kind of money.

The food could be better. Great ambiance, but generally I wished more from the flavor of the food.

The portions were large and the prices were high, so we wasted a lot of expensive food. The food was okay. We just didn't love it. We think the chef must really like pepper and we don't. Spaghetti and meatballs were fine -- lots of garlic, the steak was fine but the fries were crispy all the way through, the kale and quinoa salad was very filling so I couldn't eat much of it, the snapper was good but I left most of the other things on the plate, and the pork chop was pretty good. Dessert was the best part: we enjoyed the bread pudding and warm chocolate cake. The atmosphere is very casual and service was attentive.