Colada Shop — Restaurant in Washington

What a perfect place to meet up with friends during good weather. Near National Airport, we met a few friends flying into town for dinner. Here's our experience.

1. Food: The menu is Cuban and serves a variety of pastries, salads, sandwiches, and more. Every dish we got was full of flavor and well made. The chicken empanadas weren't dry and the sauce they come with is delicious. The BBQ guava sandwich was excellent. The guava pastry our eight-year-old daughter enjoyed. They also have a kids menu and our daughter loved the quesadilla.

2. Drinks: Water is self-service inside, but don't sleep on the $8.50 frozen daiquiri. It comes with lime, carrot juice, and clementine and is so refreshing.

3. Service: Staff were very attentive and friendly. Order from the QR code at your table or order inside, whichever is easiest. When the food is ready, they will bring it out.

4. Space: There's indoor seating and an outdoor patio. The design is inviting and there are murals inside. They also have two clean restrooms inside.

5. Neighborhood: In the heart of Crystal City, you can usually find parking down near Long Bridge Park. The area has lots of other restaurants and green spaces. The Crystal City Metro is...

I had heard many great things about Colada Shop so my friend and I decided to stop by this recently opened location to check it out.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with a friendly welcome. I decided to be adventurous and ordered the Orange Raspadura & Boniato Latte. I was wondering how a latte with sweet potato would taste like but it was actually very good! My friend also enjoyed her coffee as well.

The location is bright and airy, with a beautiful painted mural on the main wall. The ambiance is fantastic, and I loved the upbeat and lively Latin music which just makes you want to get up and dance!

I’ll definitely be returning to Colada for the good vibes and coffee.

Side note: My friend and I visited on the morning of Sunday, October 6. While we were enjoying our coffees, we witnessed an incident where two female employees (1 in a yellow apron and 1 in a blue apron) were berating another female employee (in a blue apron) behind the coffee counter. It seemed like the two employees were ganging up on the other. Perhaps there is something going on between the team members that should...

This place is really cute with a nice open vibe and good music. The decor is nice. The staff was friendly, but didn’t seem to know much about the menu. One of them rushed me to order even though the place was pretty empty, and both the girls I spoke seemed really unsure when I asked basic questions about the food and drinks. This made ordering difficult because I kept receiving “I don’t know” when I asked simple questions.

The Sofrito Chicken Wrap tasted good but was basically all lettuce, there was barely any chicken (maybe 3 tiny pieces worth) and zero chickpeas at all like the menu said there would be. On the bright side, the croquetas were so good.

The La Negra Tiene Tumbao cocktail was just alright… it tasted like an overly sweet piña colada. The menu said it had fernet, but I only saw a few drops added on top, and I couldn’t really taste it. Definitely didn’t look like the picture, which made it seem a lot more balanced.

Overall, it was underwhelming, but I’d give it another shot. Prices were actually really reasonable for this area, which was a nice surprise. Might be because they skimp...