Coyote Grille

I’ve been going here for years. The service is always incredibly personal and welcoming. Food is consistently fantastic, especially the steak. Marinated to perfection. The queso is awesome too. Prices have increased a bit while portions have decreased over the years, but still one of the best restaurants in Fairfax.

I’ve eaten here several times without being impressed or disappointed, but this last trip was just ridiculous. The server never brought us chips and salsa and the food came before the mixed drinks. How does that even happen?! Their chicken tastes likes it’s thrown on a grill that’s never been cleaned. It’s tastes like burnt meat, yet it’s not burnt. Gross.

Stopped in yesterday after a trip to the mall. We were seated immediately even though the patio was pretty packed, I think we got the last table. Someone came over to take our drink order which we both got a margarita (lime in the coconut and a cadillac). The margs were pretty good, tasty and strong.
They brought us some chips and salsa to start, we got 2 batches of chips and the first batch seemed slightly stale but the second batch was good. Just average chips and salsa. I used the free chili con queso from Unilocal as well. The waitress asked if we would like ground beef or chorizo and we told her chorizo. When it came out there was ground beef in it instead of chorizo. We told our waitress and she goes «are you sure? I think thats chorizo» sorry but we know what chorizo looks like and that was not it. She didnt even offer to go have it checked we just told her it was fine and we would eat it.
For our entrees we ordered the mixed grill and chicken chimichanga. The mixed grill came with chicken, chorizo, and rice (and yes the chorizo came with this one and looked completely different than what was in our chili con queso). My boyfriend enjoyed his meal and let me try it and it was tasty. The chicken was slightly overcooked but not too much. I ordered the chicken chimichanga. The menu said it came with red or green rice (I was not asked which one I wanted) and black or refried beans. I was asked which beans I wanted and I told the waitress refried beans and when my dish came out I received black beans. I didnt even bother telling the waitress that she messed up again after the first time. My meal was decent, I wouldnt say it rocked my world by any means but it wasnt bad. We did end up ordering a tres leches for dessert since my boyfriend wanted to try it and it did not really impress. The cake itself was on the dry side.
Not sure if I would come back or not. The service was not very good. Maybe instead of telling the customer they are wrong, especially when they most definitely are not, take care of them a little better. also I know things happen and dinner is a busy time but instead of trying to memorize everything slow down a little and write the order down so you dont get it wrong and end up with another 2 – 3 star review.

I love this place, everything, and Mexican food is not even my favorite food.
I really don’t get the bad reviews here on Unilocal,everyone is entitled to their own opinion but hey, easy on the review, these guys are really hard workers and love what they do.
The food is good, I personally think they have the best chips and salsa.
I usually get the steak fajita because i don’t eat seafood but when I have guests I always tell them to order the shrimp fajita and they love it!
The atmosphere is pretty awesome and the owner or the manager are always there to make sure everything is going smoothly, again I gotta say i really don’t get those bad reviews.

Decent overall experience. Nice server. The cheese enchiladas were satisfactory, tortilla soup tasted fresh as did the chips and salsa.

Went here with coworkers after a work event. The menu is varied and has a good mix of cheesy delicious traditional Mexican dishes and more healthful grilled options.
The food was absolutely great. From the nachos to the salsa to the orange tequila shrimp (though I do wish the latter had been spicier and less sweet). The service was also very, very good. Unfortunately, they seem to not stock ingredients for a few seemingly standard things that different people in our party wanted to order.

Stopped in here for after dinner drinks. I can only rate the service & drinks. The bartender made a really good spicy margarita and was very attentive. Coyote grill has a cute little patio area that I think they will fully open up once the weather is warmer. The chips and salsa were good, but the chips seemed a little greasy.
Looking forward to coming in here for lunch/​dinner sometime soon.

Service was good, food– awful. Like really awful. I ordered the steak wrap medium; it came out super medium well, with tomatoes which weren’t listed (ick).the lettuce was soggy, the tortilla was soggy. I’m feeling sick just thinking about it. Also the queso dip as our app was luke warm. Overall crappy experience.

Went here tonight with my family. The food was mediocre at best– it tasted really cheap (like velveeta cheese cheap). The poor server had a zillion tables even though there seemed to be a lot of people working there so service was slow… It was odd. Will try somewhere else next time.

I had a craving for carne asada so I gave this place a try.
Nice portion size for my meal. Sides and sauces were a hit but my carne asada was tough. The flavor was all there but my jaw hurt from having to chew through the tough meat. This was not what I had in mind when I was craving some carne asada goodness!
The service is good and their other dishes may be worth a try but I most likely won’t be coming back for awhile.

I have been here twice. Once for a meetup group HH and it was packed? Staff were crazy busy. Tonight many of my GF’s went out to dinner here. This place is very busy and I don’t know why. Is it because of the $ 5 margaritas? Maybe, I can’t say. I will say the chips and salsa were meh. I found them nether great nor bad.
I ordered chicken enchiladas and they were dry and flavorless despite being covered in green and red sauce. Hmmm. There are two on a plate. Inside chunks of chicken are cubed and then rolled in corn tortillas and smothered with sauce. Unfortunately some of the chicken was fatty and that repulsed me so my dining experience was over following after the second bite produced grisly meat.
I tried the rice, Meh again.
Our server was very polite and did a great job keeping us serviced.
I would stick to this place for drinks but not food.

One night after class, my friends and I were looking to get some food and we were craving Chipotle… But my friends go there way too much so I told them to try something new. Then my friend suggested that we go to Coyote Grill since he used to work there.
It is a combination of southwestern and European continental favorites, so they state. I had never been there before but it sounded interesting and the place was pretty packed for a Thursday night. The atmosphere was nice and cozy. Paintings on the wall were very festive, the lighting was dim and made it seem like a great place to go for a night out or for a date.
Anyways so we were starving and we decided to each order a dish. I ordered a salmon salad and my friends got some type of chicken tortilla bowl. It looked amazing based on the portion size… And it felt like the food was calling me. Oh and since I love soup, we ordered a roasted red pepper soup with chicken on the side… oh my gosh… explosion of flavor in your mouth. The soup was a ⁵⁄₅ but the rest of it was maybe a 4.
I would love to come here again to try out more dishes on the menu since there’s so many interesting dishes I saw and would like to try.
Management is friendly and made conversation. I would recommend to anyone who loves Mexican food or are adventurous eaters.

I have to knock a star off for the carne asada. Too tough and thick to be legit carne asada.
Their burger is really good though; big, filling, juicy, tasty. Not a fan of the fries — they’re the weird ones with crust on them.
The staff are super friendly, and all the food comes out pretty quick. Excellent service so that’s 5 stars. We’d probably dine here again, and if you’re in town and want tex-​mex with a couple American options thrown in (the burger) try them out!!!

My family has been coming to Coyote Grille since it opened. My wife craved their salads and salsa when she was pregnant. It was the first place we brought our daughter after she was born. So when I asked our daughter where she wanted to go for her 11^th birthday dinner, of course she said «Coyote Grille!»
Their basic margarita is the best basic margarita I’ve had. Their food is all good, and they have great salads, which you don’t find at every Mexican restaurant. Some of our favorites — the Mojo shrimp, chili, salmon salad, chicken tacos, steak & shrimp tostada, chicken & chorizo burrito. In our eyes, you really can’t go wrong.

The food is horrible. Seriously the worst Mexican-​like food I have ever had. The décor is bad as well.
Only redeeming quality was the service. Our server was excellent.

This is our first time here and there’s nothing wrong with their food. I ordered the grilled mahi tacos and they are sooooo good! We also had the sierra platter, carnitas and the steak burrito. Not bad at all. I will definitely eat here again.

We were driving back from Manassas and stopped here to get some food.
We had done a search for nearby bbq places and for some reason this came up even though it’s very clearly Mexican. Whatever, we were hungry so here we were!
They were extremely responsive and brought lots of chips and never let the drinks get totally empty, big plus no doubt.
I got a salad of some sort with grilled chicken. The salad itself was kinda meh but the chicken was really good. Everyone else got normal Mexican fare (enchiladas, burritos, etc.) and had nothing but good things to say!
Mmmmmm

My review is for the bar.
I wanted a margarita on a hot Sunday afternoon. I wanted multiple. I didn’t want to travel too far and I wanted to feel relaxed while I enjoyed it, maybe some chips & salsa.
The place is tiny inside. I was looking for a bar. It turns out that the main bar is outside. At first I was skeptical because outside on a hot day was not where I wanted to be. But it’s covered, and cozy, and a breeze comes through there, so I really wasn’t hot. I relaxed my mind, got in touch with my inner Chi, and ordered the Suazarito Margarita, which the bartender recommended. Then I went to my happy place.
It’s a cool little outdoor area. I could see have having a small party or gathering there.
Eventually, when my best girl showed up, we ordered the quesadillas (steak), which she had seen received good ratings on Unilocal.They were good.
I will add this place to the rotation…

One of the giant highlights for Coyote Grill is that it has an outdoor patio year round. The drinks are also great and I am a giant fan of the chips and salsa.
When I come to have a meal here I usually always get the Santa Fe Chicken Salad with shrimp because it is fantastic and the dressing is to die for.
The service could improve because every time I have eaten here there has been a waiter or waitress who has forgotten that we are there. They are very friendly though most of the time so it makes up for slow service a bit.

Met some friends for dinner here. Brought the kids, so there was 6 of us and a baby. The dining room is a bit cramped, but we were able to make it work.
I had an appetizer of Calamari aioli. They were a but rubbery and fishy, which should not be with good calamari. The breading was nice and light though and overall was a decent dish. The aioli was not overwhelming, and they gave a decent amount.
The chili con queso was a small portion, however tasty, smooth and mild.
The carnitas was very good. nice tender pulled pork, seasoned nicely, not over seasoned. served with tortillas, pico, lettuce, rice sour cream and black beans. Portion size was adequate.
The chicken fajitas were very mild, and the chicken overcooked and ry.
The steak burrito was good, The beef was wonderfully ender and flavorful.
Finally, my daughter really enjoyed her cheese enchilada.
Overall, we had a nice evening, with our friends with good food.