California Tortilla

We tried California Tortilla this weekend and were pleasantly surprised! We placed our order online and it was ready for us at time promised. Tacos, quesadilla, and burrito bowl were enjoyed by all. Food tasted fresh and was delicious. We can’t wait to go back!

First there’s the wait. We were second in line to place an order, which was fine since I hadn’t decided on what to try. I choose the build your own burrito with blackened chicken, black beans, rice, lettuce, salsa, guacamole, no sauce, no cheese. My wife choose the tacos. We picked a table and waited. Four other groups of customers ordered after us. All four orders were completed before ours. When our order was ready, I asked why there was a delay, thinking they had to grill the chicken or something. The staff person was apologetic, and offered chips for the wait, but no reason for the hold up. It’s unfortunate to be placed behind other orders, but I guess that can happen, I didn’t take them up on the free chips.
Second, the food. The blackened chicken was cold, which led me to unravel the burrito to look at it closer. It appears their chicken is cut into nuggets and deep fried, and then kept in storage? There was nothing really «blackened» about my chicken. It was real chicken, but more like day old nuggets, a light greasy crust was on the outside, like from deep frying. Absolutely no way that chicken was either grilled or fresh. The guacamole mixed in the lettuce and salsa of the burrito was fine, but the rice seemed cool and old as well, not sure what they add to the rice to make it, «Mexican» rice. I couldn’t eat it.
Chipotle is not far from this the location, and the quality of food and service there is significantly better. I won’t return to California Tortilla.

I tried food from this location yesterday. I used to go to the one in Oakton. The smell of fried tortilla chips was amazing. The chips were so delicious from this location and they were more generous than the other. I will definitely go back.

I am not a big burrito fan but after trying the Korean BBQ burrito, I was hooked. Adding the honey lime sauce only makes it better. On one of my many trips back I tried the Fish Tacos and now I know why everyone gets them. They were awesome. So far so good. Make sure you get the burrito bucks card, I just saved $ 5 bucks on my meal the other day.

Been here twice since they opened— I’m glad we now have a California Tortilla close by in Centreville. I had previously been to the one over by TGIFriday’s, but this one seems better. I like the layout of the eating area and it’s much larger. The «make it your own» menu is a little complicated since I do better with the Chipotle method of pointing out what I want, rather than reading the long list (pick one of these, now pick two of those, now pick as many as you want over here…) and deciding. I am definitely a visual person! Maybe once I get a routine of what I like, that will go a little faster, but I hate holding up the line while I read the menu board and try to make decisions. In the meantime, tonight I decided to go with one of their pre-​conceived items and tried the Carnitas Verde burrito. It was mostly rice and not much carnitas, but it was still pretty tasty. I love the large selection of sauces available, from 0 (a sweet BBQ sauce) to a super spicy 10 (don’t remember the name, but I’m sure it’s something like Going to Hell to Burn for Eternity).
If you come in after 5 pm on Monday nights, they have a «spin the wheel» where when you buy a burrito, you get a free item or $ 1 off. So that was fun, but I had to remind the cashier that it was Monday night and ask if I could get my spin. He looked a little confused for a moment (oh, yeah, it’s Monday) but then let me go ahead. I got a free brownie or cookie. Eh, it’s better than nothing. I just wonder how many people didn’t get their freebie tonight because the cashier forgot it was Monday.
We live close by so I’m sure we will be back. It’s nice to have some quick food places in the neighborhood with Noodles and Panda Express, and now, CA Tortilla.

Well, if California Tortilla was looking to kill what little reputation it had, it has absolutely succeeded with the opening of this location. I ordered two soft tacos and two crispy tacos to go, no combo or any other confusing addition. There was one person ahead of me in line and a staff of FOUR on the assembly line just waiting for the order to come through. Somehow, it took 10 minutes for them to assemble the tacos and I only received two of them which I didn’t notice until I got back in the car. I walked back in to see what could have possibly gone wrong and the high school staff was far too busy giggling with each other and I could not get anybody’s attention. A man and a woman wearing black shirts just kind of stared at me from the kitchen (I assume these were managers) and I looked back at them hoping one would realize that having just left and then turning around and walking back in, something might be up. Nope. This place is a disaster, new or not. Hopefully they will realize what a horrible mistake they made and close down immediately so we can get back to having an empty space there. Not to mention the chicken in the tacos I WAS lucky enough to get appeared to have been cooked in 2003 and frozen until this morning. So half a bite in and they went straight in the trash. If you eat here you deserve what happens to you.

I would be tempted to chalk the awfulness of this place up to being a week old. I’ll be fair, because some aspects can probably be blamed on its newness: the bored-​clueless attitude of the cashier and the burrito maker, my burrito with its few elusive bites of chicken hiding among the copius rice, the clearly unstirred guacamole and queso, etc. But unless this place received no training from employees at existing locations and made up the ordering process on their own, I can only say that the entire setup makes zero sense. You begin with the cashier and have to repeatedly return to the line to peer at the ingredients and try to decipher which of the three kinds of chicken is which, etc. I had high hopes for this place because my go-​to Chipotle doesn’t have queso. But California Tortilla’s queso tastes bland and (heavily) chemically processed (as does the rice). Also, my 9-​year-​old daughter (who is not at all picky) didn’t even like her cheese quesadilla or her chips. Ultimately, I give it one star because Unilocal doesn’t allow zero stars and because the guac, despite its brownish cast, was pretty good. I may consider returning in the future and ordering something else, but most likely, we will stick with Chipotle, which tastes fresh, has smiling and helpful employees, and allows you to truly customize your order.

Good, especially for a new place. Happy to have them in Centreville. The regular nachos were fantastic. Lots of toppings and tasted great. We tried the Korean BBQ Burrito and the Honey Lime Burrito, both ranked about 3/.5. We will definitely be back. Online ordering was painless and my order was ready to go when I arrived.

Literally waited 30 mins for my small as burrito… If I could give zero star I would but Unilocal too nice for that

Burrito elito!
I am a fan of California Tortilla and came to this location on opening day. They were giving out a «free burritos for a year» card to the first 20 people in line, along with a free burrito and drink to all customers, plus a t-​shirt and other freebies.
I was the third customer and ordered the Fajita burrito bowl with grilled steak, rice, fajita veggies, sour cream, guac, and salsa. The pieces of beef that I received were big, juicy, tasty, and grilled perfectly. The huge dallop of guacamole was fresh with large chunks of avocado. My burrito bowl was delicious!
The staff were all very friendly and enthusiastic, and since this location is brand new, the interior was spotless. I have no complaints of my first visit to this CalTort. I appreciate the generosity of this chain whenever they open a new location and look forward to the next grand opening!