El Pueblo — Restaurant in Virginia

12/23/203 - Experience this time ended as a disappointment. We stopped by to eat at El Pueblo for the second time in a month. We were seated right away. It was somewhat crowded, and the staff was undermanned. We understood the little wait we had to get our menus, order and wait for the food. The "bus boy" as the female manager called him noticed that we hadn't received our menus so he was helpful in bringing us menus and took our drink order. We noticed that he then went and told our eventual server that we were ready to order. I also watched "the bus boy" assist other tables with their needs. One particular instance was that he went to the bar to pour cranberry juice in a glass for a table that requested it. While he was pouring the cranberry juice in the glass, he paused and smelled the opening of the container that he was pouring the cranberry juice out of. It just looked odd to me and he still served the glass of cranberry juice. Our waitress Lissette brought our drinks and took our food order. We had to remind her that we hadn't received any utensils for the table yet. She immediately brought us utensils. We did notice that folks that came in after us to dine, received their menus and utensils right away. We thought that was very interesting. We also noticed that our server was serving 3 other tables, but she still did an awesome job at checking on us and she had a very nice attitude. We also noticed that 3 more servers came in for duty which helped with their evening rush. Food came out in a timely manner despite them being busy. Our food was decent but didn't taste the same as when we visited earlier in the month. The "bus boy" brought us our check and we gave him the credit card. He brought back the receipt for us to sign. I gave the SIGNED receipt to our server LISSETTE along with a tip. We left the restaurant and was walking to our car when the "bus boy" ran out of the restaurant to ask us where the signed receipt was. Feeling discrimated against, we told him that we gave the signed receipt to our server LISSETTE. He was embarrassed, and stated he was sorry that he asked. We told him that we felt disrespected that he didn't ask our server first before running out after us. My wife was furious and went back into the restaurant to report the incident to the Manager. The manager made excuses that the guy was "the bus boy" and she was sorry for the incident. My wife was not satisfied with that answer and told the manager that we would never return to the restaurant again after feeling disrespected. Very unfortunate but unacceptable!

12/5/2023 - Went to this spot after attending a funeral and there was no one in the restaurant around the 2 PM time frame on a Tuesday. My wife and I were happy with that because it was quiet. We were seated right away; service was immediate, and the staff was very friendly. The fajitas, mexican wings and mexican pizza were excellent. Even my wife who is particular about her love for mexican food loved it. Our server even explained the difference between magarita with a salted rim vs. a frozen magarita. She explained that the frozen magarita becomes too watery and recommended a better alcohol experience with the regular magarita. The overall meal was about $61 for 2 people. I think we found our new favorite...

This restaurant is a joke. Lousy service! The service-gal stood mostly behind the register towards the back. Had to ask for everything!

What really put me over, after getting our chips and salsa upon arrival, I was told after kindly requesting a 3rd “little side dish” of salsa, for our table of four people, that I would have to pay for it! When I put the server on the spot as to how much we would be charged for an extra side bowl, she first stated $5.00! I pointed to the small itty bitty side bowl and asked, “$5 for this?!” and after having to think about her comment, she added “oh that’s .75 cents.”

I know our food was about to come out soon (it was about 20 min or slightly more of waiting), and I was about to stand and have us all walk out of that place for the sheer principle of knowing how you should treat customers to begin with. I have NEVER had to pay for salsa at a Mexican restaurant, especially when the chips and salsa are FREE coming to your table. We were NOT a complicated nor a demanding table! We ARE generous tippers, we are a group of late 30’s and 40 year olds, we don’t skimp in ordering, as our bill came out to be about $70.00 for that sit-down.

So congrats to this place, they just lost not only our business, but anyone else in this Burke area extended friends, I will quickly revert back to “dishing” out the same! After all, there are other just as great tasting Mexican eateries in...

I've never been to this place before today and I was so excited to try it because of it reviews the food is great but I will never eat at this place again.. I had the worse experience ever. When I walked in the server saw me sit down. It took her 10 mins to come and give me a menu and ask what I wanted to drink.so I ordered a water and a papusa so I could have something while I waited. It took 20 min to get the papusa. I ordered food. And that took over 20 min too. When I seen the people that came way after me received their food before me I asked the server how much longer she gets an attitude and says my bill price I'm like how long on the food. Cus at this point I was late to return to work. So 5 min later my food comes and it's wrong. So I tell her I wanna pay for only the papusa and go. she tells me "No the chimichanga is already ready " so she goes and fixed it . So I put money for just the papusa out she comes out with the correct food. So I only pay her for the food and she tells me "tip isn't included " and I tell her I know when you give had service you don't get tipped. I still tipped her but I will never return to this...