Uncle Julio's Gainesville — Restaurant in Virginia

From our arrival at the restaurant until the end of our meal, this restaurant just missed the mark. We arrived 10 minutes before our reservation and were told that we would have to wait for about 30 minutes before could be seated. The host explained that they were waiting on some large groups to leave but we were a party of two. When I questioned the host about the logic of making a reservation if we would still have to wait anyway, she just shrugged and broke eye contact in awkward silence, hoping I would accept my reality and walk away. She simply huddled with two other hosts/seaters and they stared at the I-pad with the seating chart on it together. It was such an odd response to feeling uncomfortable when a patron was addressing them. I understood that it was Cinco de Mayo, but that is why I made the reservation.

During my wait, I went to the bathroom. As I walked through, I saw many tables that were clean and ready for people to be seated. I also saw many tables where parties had left and the bus staff had not made it to them to clean. It was clear they were short-staffed on probably one of their busiest days of the year. Another couple pointed out that they had a reservation time at the same time as we did and said they saw a group leave a table in the bar area at least 15 minutes ago that remained dirty. They joked that they would remove the dishes and bus the table if it meant they would be seated faster.

The bathroom was horrible and needed cleaning. Only one paper towel machine had paper towels in it so those of us washing our hands had to dance around each other to get to it. The floor was wet.

We eventually were seated and they walked past at least 5 prepared tables inside and sat us outside. Although the weather was nice earlier, it was a bit nippy at 8:30 at night. They had the heaters on, but some were off o had run out of propane and the occasional cool breeze would make its way through to us. My wife needed my coat for additional warmth despite not being underdressed for a dinner date she expected to have inside. We worried that if we requested one of the inside tables, we would be put back into the wait-pool.

Our water, chips & salsa were served in short order. We ordered an appetizer. It took a while to come. I had nearly finished the tableside water while we waited for it. My wife decided that it would be all she would order and i ordered a small steak fajita. The waitress explained that it may take some time because the kitchen was 'really busy'. This was the first acknowledgment of being short-staffed. When the food was served, It was a cast iron plate with what looked like a whole onion, one red pepper strip, and two green pepper strips grilled with 4oz of flat-iron steak on top. Certainly, more veggies than I needed for the amount of steak served. it came with cheese, guac, sour cream, rice & beans. They forgot to bring tortillas, lettuce, and pico. I informed the waitress of my missing items and she brought me the tortillas. I ate steak, cheese, and onion fajitas. I used the salsa they gave us when we were first seated in place of the pico.

I am not sure who chose the music for the restaurant, but it was a droning combination of downtempo songs in Spanish and the occasional reggaeton song. I expected salsa and merengue. It just didn't set the tone for Cinco de Mayo for me. I'd be willing to wager that they would have sold a lot more margaritas if it felt like an upbeat atmosphere. All in all, I was less $27 for my fajitas and $72 overall before tip. It was not the best experience, sub-par at best. Receipt Table 321/1...

Uncle Julio’s is officially the death of Mexican cuisine, and this particular location should be called mexican’t food, since it can’t possibly be authentic. Where do I begin, I have eaten at many places and have rated well over 180 different spots.

This place was by far and hands down the absolute worst food that I have ever, and I mean ever had, period. For all the reviewers that gave this place a five star rating, please go and have your doctor have a look at your tongues, and more specifically, your taste buds. I am sure he will agree with me when I say, if you called this food delicious, or any other positive word, that your taste buds are dead and have been for some time.

How on earth do you over cook tamales?!?! Like, it’s not rocket science at all plus they are cooked in steam. And what happened to the seasoning?

Don’t get me started on the bland and lifeless guacamole, what they did to that was sacrilegious, for Pete’s sake, a little salt and or pepper would not kill ya Chef!

Oh, and the best of the worst, I mean the absolute cherry on top. The piece de resistance, the height of my dismay and sadness. That which drove me to tears. Was the oh so sad and pathetic ceviche. Again, Chef, why oh why did you not season this dish? Did your taste buds die as well from having to taste too many horribly put together Mexican’t dishes? Save yourself, or at the very least the whole cook team should save us. Go into another line of work. Something that has nothing to do with preparing food since you do not understand even the basics of cooking. Season taste then season and adjust as needed. You should never, and I mean never have sent out that dish. It was utterly horrid and completely lacking anything that remotely resembled flavor.

As if this was not bad enough. Why do I have to watch a female server constantly walk around delivering people food while picking and or rubbing at her nose with her hands then wiping it on her smock?!?!? What the ?$&@ was that??? Disgusting?!

After all that, there are several rays of light. Our server, Nazim, ( I hope I spelled that correctly) was absolutely on point and handled his business like a pro. Shout out to AJ who saved us from the insufferable gaggling hordes of Chatty Cathies. Also, honorable mention to manager Christine who assisted us with removing that damn nasty ceviche...

Great first impression, but couldn't keep it up.

We made reservations on a Friday night. Turns out it wasn't necessary, but it was nice to walk right to our table. That was 5:45pm. By the time we left, there were people waiting, so reservations were still a good idea.

The place is very attractive. The lighting is soft and the seating areas are separated enough that you don't feel crowded. Everything was very clean and had just enough decor to be interesting without being distracting.

Our server was friendly...when he was around. It took quite a bit to get our order taken. We notice the next table had four people (to our two) and was served a good bit before us. We also had difficult finding our waiter to tell him that we didn't have utensils and at another time to ask fo queso. We ordered queso for the chips because our order was taking so long. This led to us not being very hungry by the time our order arrived. The chips are thin and appear to be cooked on site (they had oil still on them) but were not hot. The salsa is a green variety with a bit of peppery bite to it. My wife liked it. I was indifferent.

I had the margerita of the day. It was watermelon. Very tasty. Not much alcohol. Very lightly salted rim.

We ordered a safe dish...chicken and steak fajitas for two. It was served hot, but not sizzling like many places. There were multiple additional dishes for guac, cheese, rice, etc. It made a nice spread for $37 (for two). The chicken had a very nice mesquite taste. My wife thought the steak tasted funny. I thought it was tough. Either way, we were both disappointed in the steak.

Total cost for fajitas (for two), queso, and a margerita was $60. Not bad. The server brought a device to the table for payment and explained that the tip that was prominently displayed as the first step was only a suggestion...then stood there to watch whether I accepted the suggested 20% or not. Not cool. When all I had to do was sign the screen with my finger, he actually left me with the device still in my hand. I placed it on the table and left.

Overall...well prepared; poorly executed. We will continue looking for a Mexican restaurant in the area that we can call a regular. We might give this one another try, since most of the issues seemed to...