Uncle Julio’s Fairfax Corner

«Very good but not up to past performance.»
Recommended.
We love the Uncle Julio’s chain. We’re big fans of the Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Café restaurant in the Ballston area of Arlington VA going back to the 1980’s era. The chips and salsa are always fresh and made on the premises.
Having said that, our experience here was good but not outstanding as is our usual experience. Service here is not as sharp as the Ballston location. And this location cut’s back on the «extras» (like onions, jalapeño, and other adornments) that normally accompany the Carne Asada’s we order.
We still recommend this chain and the Abuelas chain as the best Tex-​Mex chains we’ve encountered in America. Our cost, for a party of 5 adults and two very young children: $ 140 with tip (and no alcoholic beverages).

Been here a few times and it’s pretty good :) I keep going back for their carne asada — it’s so tasty that it’s definitely not helping my weight loss hahaha. Came here on a Saturday afternoon, wait for a table was about 10 min so my friend and I decided to order at the bar since you get full service there. The bartender was really nice, friendly and accommodating. The chips and salsa were good, but not anything special. Most of the food is very standard for a Mexican cuisine restaurant, but that carne asada I had was amazing. It melted in my mouth and left me wanting more :)
I also liked that our plates came out steaming hot.
Overall, not a bad place for lunch or dinner. Just beware of the prices: my friend and I paid about $ 70-​$ 80 for our lunch.

Not a horrible place but also not an outstanding place to get some Mexican food. Came here recently and ordered the fish tacos which were a whopping $ 16. a tad bit overpriced to me for three very mediocre tacos. They did put a good amount of fish in each taco but again, it wasn’t worth paying almost $ 20 (including tip) for a meal. Don’t think I’ll be coming back here because the prices definitely do not match up well to the quality of food.

Over priced food 4 shrimp wrapped up in bacon appetizer costs 13.99 6shrimp entrée with a small plate of rice and some guacamole and salsa sauce is 23.99 steep price cheap décor and tables except for the booth section and except for the appetizer everything tastes bland I was expecting something better for the price I paid

For all the rave reviews this restaurant had gotten from friends and family, we didn’t experience the food to be outstanding and found it to be very overpriced. Its been a year or so since we visited this restaurant, but the food was just ok and the prices were exhorbitant for what we received. Well over $ 100 for 2 people for a appetizer to share, drinks, two entrees and a dessert to share. A lot of recent reviews seem to give it better ratings, so maybe its time to go back and give Uncle Julio’s another try.

True story: I had an out-​of-​town friend coming by to pick me up after my meal and when I told him I was having dinner at Uncle Julio’s he wasn’t sure if I was talking about a restaurant or if I had an uncle Julio in the area. Hispanic me found it hysterical.
This place surprised me because for a place that looks like a generic strip mall restaurant, the fajitas were pretty good. I mean, if you’re willing to go to Chilli’s, this place is far far better.
We went there on a whim, and because other places were packed, after a movie. We started off with chips and tableside guacamole. The chips are meh but the guacamole was pretty good. Then we moved on to drinks. I found their tequilas reasonably priced and the women in my party enjoyed the margaritas; their skinny margarita apparently tasted just like a full calorie one.
There are a lot of fajitas to pick from. I don’t think any of them will make you run out and find a Michelin reviewer but it’s a lot of perfectly acceptable food for the price.
Not a destination eatery but if you’re at the mall or the movies it’s a great place to go afterward to grab some fajitas and a drink.

I love Uncle Julio’s although I still want to call it Rio Grande Café as it was formerly known as. I’ve been to this location a few times although its a bit further out of the way for me. We came for lunch with a big group on a Saturday. The chips here are excellent, similar to the other local locations. I got the fajita cobb salad, which was good I did knock off one star as I asked for regular ranch as opposed to the three pepper ranch that normally comes with the salad. Although the three pepper ranch has a good flavor its just too spicy for me. They handled our group of about 16 with ease and efficiency though and also split the checks as well which was nice. I’m still sad and upset with Uncle Juilo’s of taking the soup of the day off the menu at their locations. I am also including that in my knocking off of a star but overall, this is a solid choice if you want Mexican.

I went after the dinner rush on a weeknight. The setting seems cozy in the booths, but the other tables seemed very cheaply made along with the chairs that go with them. The inside definitely doesn’t fit the nice outdoor décor.
The chips and salsa were delicious, to a point that I wasn’t able to eat my whole dinner because I was so full. The salsa was obviously made in house and was to die for. I wish I could order a bottle to take home! I ordered the ceviche as an appetizer, I had been craving some for too long. The taste was okay, but not as tangy and delicious as other places I’ve been. It did not taste fresh. Needless to say, it definitely did not fulfill my craving. I ordered the pork tomales as my meal. They were super dry, and not tasty. I can’t say anything for the rest of the entrée’s but by the two I had… I was not impressed.
I may have to swing by during happy hour and try some other dishes.

Favorite mexican food place in the area. Been a fan for over 20 years.
Chips. These are the best damn tortilla chips I’ve ever eaten. They’re super thin and I’ve definitely ruined an appetite or two overdoing it with the chips and salsa. They’re really that good. And the salsa is great unlike most mexican places that serve you a thick ketchup with some diced onions in it, but if you’re like me and you need a little more fire in your life, ask them about their hotter salsa. Easy though tiger, you play with fire and you’ll get burned. Do yourself a favor and order a bowl of the queso con chorizo and you’ll see what I mean about how easy it is to overdo it before the food even arrives (which is usually crazy fast). They should literally just bag these chips and sell them cause the grocery store stuff doesn’t even compare.
Tortillas. Alright so, I used to live in a border town in Arizona. Like literally you could walk to the other side of town in 10 minutes and be in Mexico. But on the American side of the border, we had grocery stores that used to make their own tortillas. It was pretty amazing being able to buy bags of right off the conveyor belt fresh tortillas, still warm and steamy in their plastic packaging. Uncle Julio’s basically has a mini version of the tortilla making machine that these grocery stores used to pump out thousands of tortillas a day. And they’re just as good as the ones we got back home, or at least as close to the real thing as you’ll get on the east coast. These things are delicious just by themselves. Definitely make sure your waiter is bringing you more tortillas every time he hits your table. Ask to take some home and throw ‘em in the microwave. They’re addictive.
I definitely recommend getting the steak fajitas, those seem to be a hit with everyone. But I really love the shrimp quesadillas. They’re served with pico and sour cream and you really can’t beat that with a cold beer and a little lime, maybe a side order of rice and pinto beans. But everything here is good, you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. I’d like to try everything here at least once before I die but I’ll probably keep ordering the quesadilla with shrimp and never be disappointed. This has to be one of the best places to eat in NOVA.

Best food. By far. I wish there was an Uncle Julio’s in San Diego. Even my Cali raised husband agrees that Uncle Julio’s fajitas cannot be beat.
³⁄₅ stars due to the bad service from a particularly rude hostess when we flew in to visit my family.
Being quoted at 30 min and ended up waiting 2 hours on a Wednesday night.

Such a pretty evening, we decided to eat on the patio at Uncle Julio’s tonight. There was a short wait for a table, which wasn’t a problem since we weren’t in a hurry. The host said three tables were ahead of us, refusing to give a time estimate. I thought that was unusual but went with it. She said we could have drinks and appetizers on the front patio and they would carry our items over to the dining area when our table was ready. Sounded good.
While we were waiting, we got the queso and guac combo for the chips. Yummy! I ordered a margarita but it hadn’t arrived when our buzzer went off for our table. That’s when some confusion came up. The server at the bar/​app area wasn’t aware that he was supposed to help us bring our appetizer and drinks over to the dining area. He looked at us and said, oh you can just take all your stuff with you. Um… a little help here! We now had two drinks, a basket of chips, two plates with queso and guac… you get the picture… besides, didn’t the host say they would make sure our stuff would get moved over? Hmmm. someone didn’t tell the bar area that! So we all trouped over to the host stand kind of awkwardly, to get our final destination, and finally got settled on the patio dining area. Phew, that was harder than it should have been. To top it off, our server then comes over and has a puzzled look on his face. «Has someone helped you already?» looking at our drinks and appetizer. Is there no communication here?!
OK, so once THAT was all straightened out, we moved on to dinner. I had the combination enchiladas and my honey had the flautas. Both were okay, not great, but not bad. Just okay. The coconut flan was pretty delicious, so that was a sweet ending. All in all, sort of expensive for what we got, but the atmosphere was nice enough to let it slide. We were seated under an umbrella (I’m a sucker for an umbrella table) and had a nice view of the sunset. If I squinted, I could pretend I was in Mexico for awhile.

Bit pricy, but love the food and drinks here!
Love the skinny margarita and sopapias, so save room for drinks and dessert. In fact, this is a good place to come with a large group as the plates are more than enough to feed 2 – 3 ppl.

Gotta admit I’m a queso and guacamole snob. That being said, my favorite dine-​in Mexican restaurants in the Northern Virginia area are Uncle Julio, Cyclones, and El Paso.
So what is the one thing in common with all of these restaurants? The food is amazing. Do have to say that Uncle Julio’s flan is the best I’ve ever tried.
Can get a little noisy in here. So be prepared to speak louder so your dining companions will be able to hear you.

I was pleasantly surprised at how kid friendly this place is (kid cups and crayons). I told myself I would never go to another Uncle Julio’s again (the fish tacos were that bad), but my friend called us out. This time we got the quesadillas and they were alright. I loved the unlimited chips although you have to pay for the better salsa. The cheese dip is worth it too.

Uncle Julios gets one star because they do have good salsa… and Unilocal won’t let me give them one half star.
I’ve returned to Virginia after being away for 5 years, so now that I’m back I was looking forward to visiting my old haunts. UJs was on my list and I now regret my decision to eat there today.
Lunch portion of steak fajitas were expensive $ 15.99, but I had a craving. First, only a few pieces of peppers and the tomatoes sat on a huge mound of lettuce to cover up the fact that they went cheap on the tomatoes.
Also, the onions were crunchy raw. Waiter did not ask me if I wanted flour or corn tortillas, but he delivered flour… no big deal, right? wrong! There was so little flavor to the steak and oily uncooked onions that all I tasted was flour. I had skipped breakfast, so I ate it… regretfully.
When I eat Mexican I eat my charo beans last… UJ, what crap. Good beans cook for a long time, yet these were dense (hard, but not crunchy… more like the continency of an uncooked potato).
UJs was always closer to where I lived than Guapos in Shirlington, so I used to go to UJs more often (even though Guapos was so much tastier). However, I’ve learned my lesson that convenience is not worth eating garbage. Guapos, I’ll be by for a visiting hopefully, you haven’t gone downhill like UJs.

I USED to love uncle Julio’s… Until they changed the menu. Why is everything so much more expensive now??? Exactly the same food but more expensive and smaller portions?
We went in the other day and ordered the chicken nachos. It was $ 13.99 and literally there were 8 INDIVIDUAL CHIPS with beans and chicken and one tiny scoop of each guacamole and sour cream in the middle. And they now charge $ 2 extra for a kids drink with the kids meal? What?
The décor did not change and the service certainly did not change… The new menu totally ruined my favorite Mexican place for me. Not just the prices… I’m willing to pay if what I’m getting is excellent! Here… It’s just not.

Recently dined here with a group of 6. Service was attentive. Our waiter was happy to provide separate checks.
The pre-​dinner tortilla chips and salsa are my favorite. The chips are hot, freshly hand made. Well, there is a real tortilla machine on hand where you can watch them being made. Works for me.
I ordered my usual, a platter with a little bit of everything. One chicken enchilada with a white cheese/​crème sauce, a beef taco, a beef enchilada with red sauce, and a chicken corn tamale with lime and tomatilo sauce, all served with fried Mexican rice and pinto beans. I also had a tropical type lemonade.
Everything was pretty good. Way too much for one person, so I wrapped up what I couldn’t finish and took it to go. My only complaint, the ground beef has way too many green onions, lacking flavor, sort of rushed.
Other than that, the hostess was pleasant as well as our waiter. I will return as I have been for the past couple of years.

First, the unlimited chips and salsa are delish. The chips are not too salty and the salsa flavorful.
Disclaimer: i only get their fajitas, and if it was up to me I’d just get the beef (sometimes the people I’m with want the chicken). So I can overwhelmingly say their fajitas are delicious. I also love their guacamole — it’s fresh.

A nice family tex-​mex restaurant. We were seated right away and brought chips and salsa; we were offered table side guac and drinks. We had very friendly, efficient service. The salsa was different, I would call it smokey? Was good though. Loved the thin crispy chips!
The 1 and 3 year olds in our party enjoyed the crayons, kid menus, and dough (fun fact: the crayon can change the color of the dough).
I recommend the tacos; soft or crispy, fish or grilled chicken. All yummy. Our drinks were never low (a sign of a great server).

Had a family weekend lunch yesterday and I have to update my review a bit.
Our server Daysi was very sweet and smiley the whole time and I thought that was so cool.
My Cob Salad with Chicken was very good with many nice ingredients such as black beans, bacon, avocado, tomato, corn, etc. and the citrus vinaigrette was coating the greens just perfectly.
The pico de gallo for my family’s Beef Fajita was, to my surprise, not watery. Excellent!
The dessert Flan was in perfect shape and tasted heavenly as it should have.
The only downside this time was that the beef fajita did not come to us with the wonderful «sizzling» sound.