Chuy's — Restaurant in Virginia

Stopped in yesterday to get some Tex Mex. Being from Houston, it's been hard to find in VA. Been to Chuy's in multiple locations over many years. What could have been a great find died very quickly.

So, let's talk about "real" Tex Mex and what this location failed at. Getting "cute" with the food that you claim is a certain genre never ends well.

So, we both got a Taco and Enchilada plate. Mine ground beef, his fajita chicken with queso gravy topper. Very simple.

Salsa is NOT pico de gallo. I eat pico de gallo on my fajitas, not chips. Its loosely based. Chunky is not Tex Mex. It must have a lime squeeze or its just sugared marinara/dead salsa.

Tomatoes are red, not green. (Caused severe stomach cramps at 9pm) The pico de gallo had green tomatoes compared to the beautiful red ones on our tacos.

Cheese was burned on our enchiladas. We were hoping that the specks in the queso were herbs and spices, but somebody just scraped the bottom of burnt cheese off onto our enchiladas.

The chicken fajita meat was NOT a fajita sear at all. Fajita means "to sear the meat". Somebody just dumped a bag of Sam's club grilled chicken in the enchilada because that's what it tasted like.

Lesson for those who don't know the difference. Tex Mex is heavy on lime based arbol salsas and lots of queso in and on everything. We do a cumin/sazón versus chili powder/adoba. Corn tortillas versus flour. Fajitas is strictly a Texas dish, not an authentic dish where the meat is marinated overnight in lime juice. Most "authentic" outlets will overcook the meat every time due to the lime marinade cooking the meat while brining OR just char it to death like beef jerky with no brining.

I don't know what corners they were cutting at this location but definitely had better luck at the Glen Allen location being closer to the original consistency we see down home.

The only reason it gets a 3 star is great service and I always love...

Our server acted like it was a big deal to print an allergy menu for me, and would only do so "if it was really important" which is a truly absurd thing to hear from a restaurant or server. Well after we ordered, a snippy runner brought our food and was screeching out dish names from 10 feet away instead of calmly exchanging greetings and asking us who ordered what. We had to flag our server (or another random server) down for silverware, napkins, refills, hot sauce, napkins again because she begrudgingly gave us 1 each the first time we asked, e v e r y t h i n g. She repeatedly forgot to bring lemons. Not once did she come to check on us-- it was as though she wanted to pretend we weren't there.

The restaurant itself is dirty with noticeably sticky floors, and a dim, cramped, crowded, loud, almost club-like atmosphere unsuited for conversation. There are no signs posted for anything, in any language (eg. staff only areas, restrooms, exits) so good luck finding your way around.

I was disappointed in my food-- the shredded chicken in my burritos had a dry stringy texture similar to microwaved days-old leftovers, the guacamole may have just been mashed avocado with nothing added, the salsa was soupy, the refried beans had a novel and surprising crunchy crust, etc.-- and I couldn't finish my dish. My friend said his food tasted "funny" and when I pressed him he said it was as though there were cleaning chemicals in it... and he also didn't finish his.

It's strange that this place has such a high reputation locally because it did not live up to that in the slightest...

I was apart of the Cinco de Mayo COVID-19 Fiasco.

Edit: I called the next day, the manager Carl was very apologetic, said the app and online order broke and allowed anyone and everyone to order without putting a limit on number of orders and pre-orders. He offered me to refund my money or make up the dinner later. I was very nice and understanding of the mix up and appreciated the apology and offer. I asked to make up the dinner later which I did tonight. Not only did they doubled my order, added extra queso and jalapeno dip, they COMPED THE ORIGINAL ORDER BECAUSE I WAS SO UNDERSTANDING AND CALM. Goes to show a little kindness goes a long way. Even in the crazy times we live in, we should remember that people working are people too. It doesn't matter if you work for Doordash, have cancer, have screaming kids, or don't fully support or understand what social distancing is. People are still people and are we are all stuggling to get through this pandemic. The people who work at restaurants do not deserve to be yelled at and cursed at because there was a mistake that was out of their control. Be kind to one another, have some patience, and realize that we all walk the same ground, no one is better or worse than you. 5 stars, will return, will bring friends.

And one more thing: to the sweet lady trying to get orders out at curbside that night, you were kicking butt and deserve whatever raise...