Guapo's Restaurant — Restaurant in Centreville

I have literally been driving past this place my entire life I had no idea how good this place was. There’s something to be said when each ingredient is cooked to perfection with consistency throughout the dish. Not only that but seasonings taste fresh. Nothing is over seasoned nothing is under seasoned. That’s been one of my biggest issues with going to places that claim they are authentic. I find that there are close to Ngo seasonings and they might do one part of the dish right but the other part of the dish is not right. And in my personal experience, that’s been the challenge with Mexican food for me is having inconsistency throughout the entire dish because there are so many components and parts that create the dish somehow Guapos manages the expectations at a high-level. The atmosphere itself just transports you out of Fairfax. I recently came back from New Mexico and the top restaurant that was in New Mexico where I was staying, looked very similar to this. It’s the music it’s the decor it’s the cleanliness. That I mention customer service the customer service is phenomenal. There are servers, but also people who are helping in between the service to fill the gaps for anything anybody needs it it’s not too often you find restaurants that can have that much manning power to provide that type of service but I guess clearly Guapos can since they’ve been around for a long time. So I don’t have much to say about the food because I’ve only had Birria tacos for lunch and everything about this lunch was impeccable to the cheese with the beef Birria, and the dipping sauce that came with it . The two salsas that came with it had very nice flavor, and the red sauce was actually spicy and complex in flavor. My friend ended up getting the strawberry lemonade and I didn’t think too much of it until she asked me to try it and even that was perfect. I expected some type of overly sugary drink, but that’s all I could really taste was the strawberry and the light lemonade flavors , that was just perfectly balanced. I think one thing I will point out is the rice and refried beans that came with my dish were perfect. Let me explain. I do not like refried beans they come clumpy the consistency is always off and quite frankly the flavor is pretty bland, but the consistency determines the texture, right. so today was the first time I had refried beans that were smooth, and somehow tasted like they were made there at the restaurant which I truly doubt, but they were amazing and the rice that came with it each grain was individually cooked. Well, you could taste the seasoning in between the rice you could taste the individual corn and the green bean that was a part of the rice. I really hate Spanish rice when it’s overcooked and become clumpy and mushy. Coming from an Asian background we take very seriously so I just rarely come across this in the Mexican cuisine world. So it was just so nice to have something as simple as rice to be cooked perfectly. Yeah, I know I’m late . I’ve just had so many bad experiences with Mexican restaurants in this area I had given up hope for 20 years. But this is one of the most consistent and best places in the area if you’re looking...

I ate at the bar on a Tuesday night to mark a Taco Tuesday at a place with which I am familiar from prior enjoyable lunches. The bar area has a lively tone with the decor and noise level (some coming from music that could have been a touch lower for my preference). Service was quite prompt and quick to greet me and offer a drink of my choosing. The staff I saw had a pleasing energy level and seemed to be engaged and hustled throughout the evening.

I ordered one of the appetizer ceviches from the special ceviche menu followed by an order of chicken oaxquennos tacos and a pork morsels entree sans rice ending with an order of fried ice cream (a bit of nostalgia from my student days). Proteins seem to be a strength if sauces may not be. The salsa accompanying the chips seemed quite thin to me. My appetizer was ready in less than five minutes. I am used to ceviche presented in a small glass cup, so this presentation was unique. The ingredients tasted fresh, especially the firm feeling seafood and the avocado. I liked the subtle sweetness of the sweet potato mousse and could have eaten more. The roasted corn kernels were a peculiar part of this dish to me, and the sauce seemed watery and too aggressively seasoned to go with delicate seafood. The staff attentively checked on my tacos twice which came out 20 minutes after I finished my appetizer. The tacos were portioned wonderfully and had good balanced flavor in each one with well cooked chicken and vegetables. Why I got rice and sour cream when I requested having neither when I ordered was puzzling. The next dish seemed to take another 20 minutes to arrive. The pork cubes have a slow cooked look and taste as advertised but why they are smothered in so much onions I do not know. The plate had some unappealing wateriness (not juiciness) at the bottom which could have resulted from trapping the hot pork under all the onions or something else I suppose. The vegetable garnish needs seasoning. The black beans and plantains tasted fine. Finally I received what I think was an order of cajeta instead of its cousin dessert fried ice cream. Being close enough to what I ordered I ate without complaint. The portions are reasonable and thankfully lack any greasy fried texture. The ice cream remains predictably cold and does not get drowned by too much caramel.

The total cost for this meal amounted to about $70 including tax and excluding tip. All in all I think the value seems aligned with prices in the area for similar food. I likely would return with a bias towards lunch instead of dinner when the noise level is lower and the pace quieter than what I experienced on this...

After ordering online and being told 30min for the pickup I had to deal with no parking had to park in front of the Best Buy and walk to the entrance in the middle of a wave of cars going around in circles hoping that someone would leave to takeover their parking spot and avoid a good several yards worth of walking, long lines going in with people often cutting it from all the directions made it a little harder to get to the counter where employees were trying their very best to overcome the massive amount of people the best way possible to the best of their capabilities. Masks were no only enforced but I would to say that it was a option as well, as I stood in line there were people without masks taking pictures in the mirror picture machine shoulder to shoulder with people waiting in line, also where the entrance is happens to be between the bar and the restrooms so people were walking freely without a masks in their way in and out as well. Again my online order gave me the expectation of 30 minutes for my order to be ready, got to finally speak with someone that tells me that they didn't it have it ready as I looked at a table with a bunch of bags sitting on top of it. After patiently waiting for 20 minutes I asked once again about my order and a lady went to check and came back saying that it was being prepared still, at that time I told her that I was leaving if I had to wait another 5 minutes. Once my waiting period of 5 minutes had expired I want to my email to see how easy it was to cancel the order as I am trying to navigate the options 5 more minutes have passed and another lady came with my order. I get it... it is a very busy day for all the Mexican food restaurants across the US and I would have no trouble waiting 1 hour at home prior going for my order, I waited for the double of the time told and felt exposed at all time... it's not going to amaze me if I learn that in a few days that place has to close due a Covid outbreak at the restaurant. Have been in this area for almost 10 years and always had a good time at that place going in for dinner often and all but sorry to say that I won't be going back for a long time. In my pictures you will find people shoulder to shoulder waiting to talk to the front desk staff and the reserved parking for pick up order's being occupied by people having a drink while waiting for a table. I wish the place good luck in business moving forward hoping that everyone stay as safe...