El Nopalita Grill

So very sad to see their doors close. This restaurant was really good. owners, staff and crowd was always good. What happened?

I’ve been passing by this restaurant so many times, but finally went in. Now I’m sorry I didn’t go sooner.
I believe we went on a Wednesday evening, and there was a live band, which I’m told is a regular thing. There are plenty of Mexican or «Tex Mex» restaurants nearby, but the band is a nice little extra.
The food was really good! A friend of mine raves about the seafood linguini, but I tried the chicken fajitas, which came out sizzling as expected. They were your typical, yet good, fajitas (and not too pricey!), so I’ll spare you the detailed description. There was enough for dinner, and a snack to take home. Next time I go, I’m excited to try the enchiladas.

This is a solid Tex Mex place. The chorizo is solid and the carne asada was tasty also. The whole tapas menu was a little weird. Chicken wings and tamales, odd combo.
Overall this is a nice place but nothing wows you. Having top 40 music annoys me to no end, play something Mexican! I also have to say that not having warm salsa is truly a shame. Its a little heavy on the onions but other wise pretty tasty.
The fajita is a little small and when asked if its big enough to share they said sure. The tamales had nice fillings but get the chicken one instead of the duck. Better seasoned. However, the tamale as a whole was mushy.
Nothing excellent and nothing bad. A decent place working visiting if you are close by.

Stopped here for lunch with a friend. Fantastic crab cakes, delicious lamb chops. Prices are very reasonable. Also very easy to get to, right off the ICC.

I come here almost weekly. My family owns a restaurant and after reading the other reviews I pointed out some steps to take to fix the problem people were complaining about.
I personally never experienced anything bad.
They have the BEST chips & Salsa and a Unilocal review brought me here and the Sala keeps me coming back. Yum!

Looks like a hole in the wall, but the food is amazing. This place is one of my family’s go-​to restaurants. Every time the kids are home from college, we eat here at least once. Chile relleno is one of my favorites.

I went with a group of 5 people to this restaurant for 5 De Mayo. It was our first time here.
Chips were great but the salsa was orange and interesting. It was not the typical salsa for chips that you would get at like a Guapos or Rio Grande (for example) but ill give them a B for creativity. I would have enjoyed the regular cut up tomato dip that’s spicy. Just my opinion.
Waiter came off as new. She didn’t really know the menu selection. Someone ordered Seafood linguine and her response was «okay what seafood.» That’s the name of the dish. Overall she was unpleasant. She didn’t smile. She seemed upset and as if she didn’t want to be there. At times she came off as rude.
The food took long to come out which was bothersome…
I ordered the tropical salad w/​chicken. The chicken was forgotten so I had to request for it again. She apologies and corrected the order by taking my salad in the back again. A little unsettling due to how she was acting throughout waiting the table. Nonetheless the chicken was delicious and the salad was enjoyable.
We all just felt the service in general could have been better. It felt sloppy and unprepared. Food was good but we probably won’t ever go back bc of the service. Unfortunately.

We had a great meal there today; started with tortilla soup and tropical salad, then went on to the incredible sampler, a fabulous mixed grill. We enjoyed the shrimp and ribs there at the restaurant and brought home the chorizo, chicken and beef.

I have dined here 3 times, and the food has been outstanding each time… The owner Ismar is a wonderful chef, and person also! I would be a weekly diner if I lived anywhere near this wonderful jewel in the northwest corner of Silver Spring… Salute!

I have been eating here for about 4 – 5 years, but ever since they remodeled to make their bar bigger, I keep finding more excuses to go in here. The food here really is great, but more importantly, they make a solid Margarita.
Now, if they could tone down the topless Aztec warrior paintings, I could spend more time at dinner enjoying the food rather than answering my kids’ questions about the art. ;)

I’ve been going to their happy hour for drinks and light dinner for a few weeks. The mango margaritas are sweet and strong. The regular margaritas are sweeter than a regular margarita, but also strong. The drinks are a generous size.
The foods so far has been delicious. I love the ceviche, which at happy hour prices is a steal. The mussels are also good. The tortilla chips are fresh and light. The salsa is excellent, more saucey than I am used to, but it is very flavorful.
The service can be a little slow, but it is worth the wait.
I look forward to dining on their outside patio this summer.

I always thought I disliked mexican food until I ate here. The main reason we even went was because I wanted to eat outside and they have a patio.
Everything I’ve tried here has been wonderful. The homemade salsa is the best i’ve ever had, and I don’t even particularly like tomatoes. The guacamole is so creamy, I’d love to know what their secret ingredient is. The calamari is wonderful. The chicken chimichanga is my go-​to dish. And don’t forget to order a margarita! Avoid the crab and cheese burrito, it’s not worth it. The staff is really friendly! It’s our new Friday tradition.

The food was fine, but not worth a special trip. If this place were closer to my home, I’d go once in a while, but otherwise, I’ll pass on going back. It’s located on the farthest edge of Silver Spring on the way to Olney.

I am a fan on «top» lists. Call me lame, call me silly, or you can just call me. After reading about one of the «best margaritas a Washingtonian should try» I had to go there. Luckily, El Nopalito was in Silver Spring. Two of my favorite people live there, so a few of us trekked to Maryland for a family dinner. One side note for those reading this is that this place is not directly Metro accessible. I am not sure of bus routes but I can say there’s no Metro train within walking distance.
Back to my review!
Our table for seven was seated promptly at 8pm on a Thursday. There was no drink menu so we had to ask if there were varieties on our libation choices. We opted for a two pitchers, lime and mango and served on the rocks. The lime was tasty but sweeter than I was used to. (Even with a salt rimmed glass, which looked like table salt not rock salt.) I drove so I only had one glass. I tasted the mango and it was super sweet and felt thick. After a little dilution it was bearable but the sense of mango purée still lingered. Stick with the lime, it’s much better.
So the list let me down with drinks but I was happy with fooooooood! I fajita’d myself with chicken and steak. Tasty. Tortillas were warm and soft but the portion size of extras with the fajita plate was small. I needed a little more black beans and kinda wanted cheese too but I was still a very happy camper.
Service was a little slow but we were quite loud so they maybe were avoiding us. :)

Let me start by saying that my family and I have gone here for many, many years, before they revamped, however, we’d gotten bored with Azucars (our other local) and last night was our second time back at El Nopalito Grill this week.
My husband ordered the Lamb Chops and I ordered the Stuffed Shrimp with lump crab meat, our kids had shrimp fajitas & mexican pizza. The margaritas were great, and just as dinner arrived and I put my napkin on my lap, a huge cockroach ran down the wall of our booth, and across the table heading straight for my daughters plate. I jumped up and caught it with my napkin, but was totally grossed out and did the girly dance while holding onto it. My husband passed it off to the waitress and he and the kids kept eating. I couldn’t. I just wanted to leave. I was almost in the fetal position.
The waitress came back and apologized. I could see that she told a few of the other workers, but neither a manager, nor the owner came near us. She brought the check, and she had taken off my meal and my margarita.
The lamb chops were amazing according to my husband.
We have two huge dogs, and two five year olds, our house isn’t always clean, hell it’s never clean — someones always peeing on the floor, they spill food and crumbs constantly, just last week I found a strip of bacon under my sons bed that had been there for at least a week, and I have NEVER seen a cockroach in our house.
From what we’ve heard about cockroaches, there’s never just one.

Disclaimer-​I grew up in SoCal and lived in San Diego for almost a decade. That being said, I’m a HUGE Mexican food snob. So, El Nopalito Grill was just okay for my tastes.
Upon entering the restaurant, the smell of tasty food filled me nostrils. I got excited because I thought this was a sign of good things to come. We decided to sit outside since the weather was nice yesterday evening. We ordered the beef and chicken fajitas (beef and chicken on a bed of peppers/​onions, beans, rice, sour cream, and flour tortillas-​$ 15.95) and the ranchero steak (grilled beef tenderloin with nopalitos, onions, and guajillo-​tomato sauce -$ 20). The beef fajitas were pretty tasty… tender and flavorful. I couldn’t say the same for the chicken though, which was bland. The sides, I also didn’t care too much about… definitely nothing to rave or write about. I could be wrong, bu the tortillas didn’t taste like they were home made, but store bought… too bad. I tried a piece of the ranchero steak. Ummmmm, yikes! Too chewy for me. Tasted more like a beef chuck than a tenderloin. Maybe because it was pounded super thing? Who knows… all I know is that I didn’t really enjoy it.
Service was pretty slow. Our waiter didn’t really check up on us after he dropped off our food. No refills on the iced tea either… bummer!

A bit out of the way if you are coming from DC but this place has great food and awesome service.
The chef is well known and a culinary genius. Was looking forward to trying his famous crab pupusas (a Salvadoran specialty) but they were not on the menu. Went with the mixed fajitas and they were delicious. Tons of meat and well grilled.
The other people I was with had the jicama and mango salad with shrimp, again, she commented it was amazing.
As far as desserts go, the tres leches (3 milk cake) is delicious. On many occasions we have ordered the cake for carryout to celebrate birthdays, it’s that good.
Planning another trip pretty soon to try the crab pupusas.

I thought my dish was a 3, but I tried the other people’s dishes too and it was pretty disappointing… For starters we had calamari, P.E.I. Mussels, and Gambas al ajillo. I liked the shrimp sauce the most because it was really buttery adn salt. I used it with my bread. But the shrimp doesn’t absorb much of the sauce. Same with the mussels; seafood just doesn’t absorb liquid sauce well. Calamari was okay, came with a sauce that had no taste though… I used the shrimp sauce for this too, hah.
For my main course I ordered the Plato Grande only to have them come back later and tell me they didn’t have the ribs! So I settle for the bistec ranchero. It was okay but really not that good. I’d say a 3 star. My friends ordered the carne asada and the lambchops. They had like no taste to it, just a cooked piece of meat… I can do that at home. It was really disappointing.

I always get takeout from here. The Fajitas are very good and are priced at $ 14.95 but it is a good portion of food. Their salsa is delicious, I don’t know what it is about it but I loveeeee this salsa more thna any other i’ve ever had. I often go and pick up chips and salsa for $ 2.50 +.
It is also a
restuarant so you can get a good deal. voucher for $ 10 gets you $ 25. :)

I love Mexican food and have tried many Mexican restaurants in the area. El Nopalito Grill is by far my favorite and I have been going there regularly for several years now. At first, I thought it was just another «hole in the wall» Mexican restaurant at the local shopping center, but after a receiving recommendation from a friend, I decided to give it a try. The food is great, the service is terrific, and the margaritas are strong.
The menu has all the regular burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and fajitas, as well as many seafood dishes. I have had fajitas from many of the well-​known Mexican restaurants in the area, and these are the best I’ve had. You will not leave hungry either. For dessert, I prefer their Tres Leches cake, but my wife loves their sopapillas. They serve margaritas by the glass, half-​pitcher, or full-​pitcher, and you can actually tell there’s alcohol in them, unlike many other places I’ve been to (be careful).
As for price, they may be a little on the high side, but we don’t mind because the service is excellent. They have had pretty much the same waiters since we started eating there several years ago. They always recognize us and treat us well. They don’t even mind that I print the 15% off coupon from their website and use it at least half of the time, which helps with the price.
El Nopalito Grill will always be my favorite Mexican restaurant. It is truly a hidden gem that will keep you coming back again.