The only good thing about this restaurant is that it's in an industrial area with no other businesses nearby so parking is easy and plentiful, but as a restaurant...???!!!\n\nfirst, the concept behind this place is great....they support local produce/farming and supplies. I can get behind that.   But as one of my close vegan friends told me, the biggest problem with the growing number of vegan restaurants is that they tend to be run by vegans but not by business people so they do not know how to properly run a restaurant and oftentimes feel like by just existing they are somehow doing you a favor.\n\nSimply put, waiting 2+ hours for food is unnacceptable, especially when no one alerts you to any delays and food shortages they are experiencing.  And this restaurant is very small, inside holds less than 20 people and there are outside tables for another 8.  so at full capacity it holds less than 30 people and when we were there they were not at full.\n\nThe chef had a condescending attitude towards my friends who inquired politely where the food was, and tried to somehow pass off that it's normal to wait 2+ hours for your food??!! WTF?!!\n\nLong story short, half of our party got our food, the other half did not while we were there.  The restaurant was finishing up 2 of the orders by the time we left so they packed it up and gave it to us for free, but the ironic thing is the one person who never got any food ordered the simplest easiest quickest thing to make on the menu. Pancakes!\n\nSpeaking of the menu, when the waitress comes and says she needs to explain it, you know you're in trouble.  No menu should require explanation, that means it's too convoluted and needlessly complicated.  Personally I didnt think it needed any explanation, tho it was quite large, and maybe they would  be better served editting it down to half the items, do them well, and get it out to the tables in a timely manner.\n\nI felt bad for the waitress since she seemed frustrated too, BUT at the same time she is the liason between our table and the kitchen, so where was she in being proactive about getting our food prepared. Also in 2+ hours she NEVER refilled our waters.  Sure we could have asked for refills, but really, at that point we really shouldnt have to ask.\n\nAs for the food itself?  Nothing great going on.  We've had much better vegan food elsewhere that employed finesse and technique and managed to be full of flavour.  Our soup was very bland and needed a lot of salt to get it edible.  Our cheesy potatoes could have been good, but the potatoes were not cooked all way thru so a bit hard.  We must have literally gotten the last half of potato since our other friends who never got their meal was because of running out of potatoes.  Our quesadilla was ok, but the basic point of a quesadilla is tortilla and melted gooey cheese inside, anything else is an afterthought.  Almost no cheese, just a bunch of veggies stuffed into a tortilla.  The grilled cheese we got was really good tho.  The vegan cheese melts and has the same texture/taste as real cheese.  Sourdough bread really good.  But a grilled cheese sandwich shouldnt take 2 hours to serve.\n\nEven my vegan friends in town know of this restaurant's reputation and said they could have told me not to bother with Pura Vida.  I'm not their prime demographic (not vegan or veg) but it's not doing them any service when the vegan community knows to stay away.