El Tequila Mexican Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Columbia Heights

I usually love this place. Norma, one of the servers, is amazing and she always provides a good experience. However, I went today with a friend and had a terrible experience. Ordered a drink called Caliente Mami and we both hated it. Asked our server, Jimenez, to swap it out for something else and she acted confused. I told her it was nasty and we didn’t like it and she acted like it was a problem. She didn’t take the drinks back and told us she would talk to the bartender. She came back a while later and said that the drinks were good (they were not), basically calling us liars. I didn’t want any trouble so I said we’d pay for the drinks but we didn’t want them and to please take them away. She finally did and got us different drinks. She was talking to the bartender about us while we were there. We were uncomfortable the entire time and decided to leave after a while to get away from the negative atmosphere. We gave the waitress no tip because her attitude was terrible and so was the service. We won’t be going back again unless we get our regular server, Norma.

Update: Went back on 7/29. I called ahead and made sure Norma was there. She heard about our experience and apologized profusely. It wasn’t her fault at all but we appreciated it. She gave us a hug when we came back in and was extra attentive to us. She’s absolutely amazing and deserves a raise for how friendly and awesome she is. Norma is the type of server you’d want at any...

Overall, our experience was good. There were a few hiccups, which we're not too bad, although the weirdest one was when our waitress charged our card to a different table. She informed us and told us she voided it, but that the transaction went through. It should take a few days to be returned. That doesn't happen too often, so it was a bit odd.

The food was good, I got pastor tacos, and my guest got trucha frita (fried trout). The food definitely tasted a bit above average. The staff was nice and, for the most part, did a good job. We don't drink alcohol, but they have a great bar at the restaurant. Whenever we've gone in, there have been a fair amount of people eating and drinking at the bar, but it's big too, so there are usually several seats available.

They do have dancing and a dj on certain nights. We went several years ago, and it was fun. It's pretty casual with the dancing, so if you are a bit shy about it, the crowd is small enough to feel comfortable being yourself.

Even if you don't live in the area, it's definitely worth a trip to this place. Although, one note, they do have limited salsa and chips. They used to bring them freely to the table, but I think you have to actually order them now, because our waitress didn't bring us any. In the appetizer section, it says the phrase, limited chips, and salsa.

There is also a nice outdoor seating...

This is a Mexican restaurant which has a good crowd on Friday and Saturday nights. While I waited for my to go order at least 30 or more couples arrived for dancing and food, most of whom were Latino which speaks volumes for this business as when the patronage is of the ethnicity represented by the business you automatically know this is place where the local Latino population goes! The food was mot spectacular but well within the Mexican palate. For the most part I found it to be slightly Americanized with lettuce and tomato on the tacos whereas the taco eaten by Mexican people in general contains only seasoned meat and cooked onions. In I found this establishment to be a good stop if you're wanting reasonable Mexican food and atmosphere at a reasonable price. They also feature a well stocked bar and a selection of Mexican beers and spirits. I had a bottle of Tecate while waiting which is a decent beer made in Mexico. It is in a strip mall sort of thing located at Central Ave North at 40th in Colombia Heights and has parking for at least 100+ cars plus the MTC has a Park and Ride there as well. I can find nothing to fault this restaurant on other than that single stated Americanization and that is more on me than anything else as I am known to be rather finicky in regards to food choices. It's a good place to find good atmosphere and food and I...