El Centro DF – Georgetown

We came here because we have enjoyed the happy hour food at other Richard Sandoval restaurants but this Georgetown location is absolutely atrocious. The only positives I can say about our dinner — the salsa and the chips were good. The waiter was nice. Everything else was sub-​standard. The margarita was so syrupy that we could not even finish it — and we love a frozen drink in summer. The tacos were horrible. Absolutely unacceptable when you pay close to $ 16 for 3 tacos and you cannot even taste the mahi mahi fish or the shrimp. All we tasted was some crunchy batter — we were eating food (?) that tasted like cardboard. We will never go back to this location again and I’m also doubting if we should ever go to any of Sandoval’s other locations — I do not want to risk wasting another $ 100 to get cardboard food. Just this month we went to Espita Mezcaleria and they have great fish tacos for about the same price — so why waste your money?
Richard Sandoval — Quit putting your name on restaurants if as a Chef you are not going to have any quality control of the food that is being served.

El Centro was quite accommodating for a recent business Happy Hour/​birthday event! All staff were efficient and friendly. I would recommend El Centro for any future outing.

This was one of our favorite places to eat in Georgetown but have noticed the quality is slipping. We cane for dinner in a Saturday and they got my boyfriend’s meal wrong. It took almost 15 minutes for his food to come out. By that time my meal was dinner. There was no apology our attempt by the staff to mange up for this. Very disappointing. On top of that the food was just mediocre. I don’t think we’ll be back.

I don’t get this place. The happy hour policy is restricted to their bar area, which is indivisible from the restaurant section, and makes no sense at all. If their idea is not the give tables to those drinking, that’s fine. But those dining shouldn’t be punished by this. Totally idiotic. Consider this plus the fact that they’re already watering down their drinks.
Staff is OK and perhaps too eager to help, asking every minute of everything is OK. It will be if you’d let me eat, please.
Music is pathetic. If this place is supposed to be Mexican, I don’t get why the music is limited to old Puerto Rican or Dominican music.
The bathrooms are weird. No mirrors and you can actually see the opposite gender’s restroom. Also, you wash your hands in some weird steel bucket. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be Mexican but I’ve never been to any Mexican restaurant (in Mexico) that looks remotely like this. Who knows what their thinking is here or what changarro they’re using as inspiration.
The tacos al pastor are very tasty, but just not al pastor in any way. Plus, they’re not customizable. I don’t like pineapple and I was forced to pick the pieces off of my taco on my own as «they already come that way». To think that their taco mix is already made is disturbing. They were accompanied by cold, dry rice and tasteless beans. The best thing of this restaurant are the tortilla chips and their salsa. But if that’s the highlight of this place, they’re ought to be in deep trouble.
I’m sure to avoid this place in the future as it is neither Mexican nor tasty. Two thumbs down.

Dined here a few nights ago (6÷7÷16) and we found the restaurant because we know the quality of food that Richard Sandoval puts out and we wanted to give this place a try. The atmosphere was very nice — it was rather slow since we went around 5:30pm but it was great because service was amazing! We were greeted with chips and salsa (A+ on the salsa) and our server, Luis, came over and started our service for the night.
Since my boyfriend and I are vegetarian, it was such a plus that the restaurant had a separate menu that had all vegetarian items on it. It made it easier for us to find & decide on what to eat. Unfortunately, the menu was a little out-​dated and Luis informed us that there were a few items on there that they didn’t have but they did have a few items that weren’t on there including, my main entrée, 3 tacos stuffed with goat cheese and a side of refried beans and rice — I don’t exactly remember the name of the dish but ask Luis when you go :) This item was amazing! My boyfriend got their Chipotle BBQ Avocado Salad and he enjoyed it very much.
For drinks, I went plain Jane and got a beer but my boyfriend got a Casamigos Anejo margarita that he couldn’t stop raving about! For dessert, he got the Banana Tres Leches and I got their famous churros.
Overall, we loved this restaurant — food was amazing and service was timely, informative, and very friendly. We are originally from AZ so we are sad that we can’t make this our regular spot for food and drink but when we come back to the DC area — this will definitely be on our list of places to eat!

Loyal customer here. I’ve been going to El Centro at night (bar hours) for birthdays, and come back the next morning for bottomless brunch. Review will stick to bottomless brunch.
1. Price/​set up– 5 stars– It’s what you expect for 2 hour bottomless brunch, including bottomless food and drinks ($ 35?). Unlike most places where they force everyone to pay the same price, the bottomless brunch is ten dollars less for those who are not drinking– food only; much appreciated by non-​drinkers/​designated drivers.
2. Drinks — 5 starts– definitely a crown pleaser for my group of friends. The girls love that the mimosas are flowing, and the guys love that we aren’t tied to those, as they have margaritas, bloody marks, bloody marias, and other alcoholic drinks.
3– Food — 3 – 4 stars; depends on the menu. I’ve seen enough changes on it and my general opinion is that the current menu isn’t as great at the ones they almost a year and so ago, but the food is consistent. LOVE churros. Just make sure to be careful with seafood dishes on really hot/​humid days. I went here for bottomless brunch with my boyfriend and his brothers before a Nats game, and well two of us got food poisoning that started very quickly after the «one bite it takes.» (and yes, I went to the hospital and got diagnosed). Don’t let it deter you though, like I’ve said, I’ve been back since without any issues, just wish they didn’t take away some of the popular (albeit pricer on them) items.

El Centro has all you can eat, all you can drink bottomless brunch specials. On paper, this is a dream. Taco fiends and boozehounds, unite! The stark reality: the lack of great flavors in the sprawling menu really negates any mild novelty available from a Mex-​style brunch.
I came in on Mother’s Day with a party of seven: awful numbers with awful timing. Mother’s Day brunch always devolves into a lawless free-​for-​all rush hour where no reservations are ever honored and a lengthy wait is practically guaranteed. Luckily, ours only lasted less than half an hour, which gave us time to get some hangover hydration from the bar. The system is simple enough: $ 25 to order/​eat as much as you want within a two hour time limit. Extra $ 10 if you’re feeling bottomless drinks. I had already drunk my weight in whiskey the night before, so I took a pass on the mimosas and grabbed a watermelon agua fresca. It was fine enough but brought a lot of tart that I wasn’t ready for. A foreboding start.
The shining stars of the menu for me were the chilaquiles (chips fried in a tomatillo salsa, plus an egg) and the empanadas. I also loved the cucumber salad, mainly because the freshness helped to take the edge off of my pounding migraine, and the guac — because where can you go wrong with guac? Sadly, there was a pretty steep drop-​off in how much I cared for the rest of the plates. The steak tacos were pretty rough; tough meat that was bland to boot. The posole was all kinds of wrong. Most definitely NOT the stew that abuela used to make and more like the kind that her sketchy friend from down the street would bring to the block party that no one would eat. The ceviche came in a surprisingly thick citrusy mix and just didn’t have the punch of fresh zest that I would’ve loved from this meal. The churros were a perfect chance to end the meal on a great note but fell just shy of satisfying without a dust of sugar to set them over the edge.
I have two main gripes with El Centro, the first being that for a place that has the Mexican capital to thank for its namesake, the flavors from the brunch menu read more as bland tex-​mex. The second, and perhaps less forgivable: they need to ditch their satellite radio provider because I do not feel like listening to the greatest hits of 2014 well into 2016. All is not lost, though. The key to having an enjoyable brunch here is knowing which plates you like going in, which unfortunately usually takes a first run of trial-​and-​error. If I ever came back, I’d love to chow down on back-​to-​back orders the chilaquiles. Though I’m not sure I can quite justify the flat rate if all I’m gonna do is grub on chips and churros…

Only been here for nightlife, but based on that a really good experience. The place always has a good amount of people, yet is still spacious enough. Always a good atmosphere here. Bartenders are quick and attentive too. The rooftop in the back is pretty big. One of my favorite places to go for the Gtown nightlife.

Any place with a weekend happy hour gets extra points from me. I came here a couple weekends ago to enjoy a Saturday happy hour with a dear friend. She always lets me pick the place when we meet because. .. well just check my profile for reasons lol. Anyway, I chose this place because it was close to where I was going to be for another event. It’s right in the center of bustling Georgetown.
I started with an agua fresca because what are happy hours for if not to drink, which was as the name suggests, refreshing. It’s a simple drink comprised of agave tequila, agave nectar, lime and a seasonal fruit; I had hibiscus and watermelon.
For bites I chose the jalapeño beef and chorizo sliders and mole fries. Really enjoyed the sliders. So much so that I recreated them for my housewarming party. The mole was good too. Not too sweet and the perfect consistency. You really can’t go wrong when you throw delicious sauce on fries. I’ll definitely return to have tacos and anything else with mole on it!

This was our first time at El Centro for Brunch and let me just say it will likely be our last.
From the moment we stepped in and tried to order a drink, we were already hounded about «starting our 2 hours»… We were waiting to be seated for a group of us, so of course we said no.
We finally got seated and luckily the server was quick with the drinks, the drinks were the saving grace here for brunch and the Watermelon aqua fresca was pretty good.
Right off the bat the server was arguing with someone at our table over a drink order… Which seemed useless if it was all you can drink.
It was a table of 20 of us so I can see where that can be a bit of work but our server seemed irritated and over worked from the start.
Someone had the bright idea to write all the orders on a piece of paper and hand it over, to try and make things easier, this helped but most of us still didn’t receive any of our entrée plates. I’m talking 4 people ordering at least 3 small plates individually.
I guess I waited too close to brunch being over because the server seemed upset that I was asking about my food, even though he said it all came out already. He was nice enough to bring me out 1 small plate, which I guess was okay.
All in all it was a mess and a lot of hassle for mediocre food.

As far as drinking goes, I love the outdoor patio and I love the margaritas.
If you’re into salsa music, staying inside is your friend although it can be quite crowded. I have only brunched at the El Centro on 14^th Street but I am confident that the brunch here would be equally delicious.

Nachos… Ehhh
Chillaquiles– ehhh infused made with tortilla chips instead of an actual tortilla. I wasn’t a fan, eating a fried egg on top of tortilla chips wasn’t great.
Sliders — hard to mess those up!
Empanadas — were decent– nice & crispy!
Food took forever — steak tacos took an hour. Good thing he kept topping off the mimosa.
Our Server, Cesar, was great! He was very pleasant & patent with our 100 request for the tacos that took an hour.
I’m in the service industry and understand bottomless brunch can be very overwhelming on the kitchen staff, servers & support staff.
All in all it was a great deal for $ 35.00

I frequent the 14^th street location, but this Georgetown location is just as great — with the plus of being able to walk along the waterfront after your meal.
El Centro is very vegetarian friendly. Their rice and beans always fulfill my craving — and the veggie enchiladas are fantastic.
They give fresh chips and salsa to start, and here’s when I would suggest getting a guacamole as well. When they ask smooth or chunky — I always ask for it to be chunky.
The staff is great, and always know what they’re talking about. I’ve never had a negative experience here.
I just wish they would bring back the «guacamole festival»! And I’m not sure why they discontinued handing out vegetarian menus.

I’ll be back for Happy Hour margaritas anytime I’m in Georgetown! What started out as a mixed experience was quickly turned around with the chill vibe, tasty margs and excellent salsa to compliment their corn chips. We showed up with a large group for Sunday night happy hour and were told by the downstairs hostess to head upstairs to the covered (and heated) patio. Unfortunately, there was seemingly no communication between the downstairs hostess and the upstairs bartender and there weren’t enough bartenders to open up the outside patio. The bartender upstairs put us into a very awkward predicament when he said we couldn’t use the patio, but worse, he didn’t try to help accommodate our group or make us feel welcome after the miscommunication.
We were able to put tables together for ourselves and ordered at the bar (margaritas for $ 5: on the rocks or frozen) and a good assortment of happy hour menu items. The margaritas were the best part of the evening. They are definitely using a homemade mix, it’s sour and delicious! They serve up a great, smokey salsa and the guacamole was delicious as well. We also ordered the chicken tacos, which were just okay; I’d stick with drinks and guacamole if in the mood for a snack. Overall, a great experience, although more group friendly than date friendly (it’s pretty noisy and gets crowded further into the night – at least at the upstairs bar/​restuarant area).

Is there anything better than chunky guacamole & frozen margaritas?
Albeit, the guac will set you back almost $ 10 on any given day, but thankfully El Centro’s saving grace is its happy hour.
From 4 – 7 everyday, you get can your fix of $ 6 guacamole (still expensive… but I’ll take it) & $ 5 margaritas that pack a decent tequila punch.
Not the best Mexican you’ll ever eat, but with a good happy hour & a great back patio during warmer weather, it’s definitely worth the early evening trip there.

We sat at the bar for bottomless brunch & football. The bartender was great and made some solid recommendations. It was busy but not insane for Sunday brunch. Here were some of the stars and flops of our meal:
YES
Drinks: Mimosas, Bloody Mary
Tacos: Steak, bacon egg & cheese
Chef’s Specials: Huevos rancheros, Mexican Benedict
Starters/​Sides: Platanos, carne asada quesadillas, guacamole
Sandwiches: El Centro dog, chorizo slider
NO
Michilada — too spicy!
Mole fries — not impressed, just a filler
Pozole — way too salty
Churros — not crunchy or sweet, needed more sugar
Mexican Benedict — components of the dish were good but the poached egg was overcooked and not runny
Overall, great service, but there are too many options on the bottomless menu for anything to be outstanding. My rec is to keep the menu simple and step up the quality/​flavors in each dish.

I’ve been here for bottomless brunch on the weekend, and I’m a fan! Its fun, casual atmosphere makes it great for group brunches, and its reasonable price makes it more fun for everyone. $ 25 for bottomless orders of whatever is on the menu, and $ 35 if you want bottomless drinks. The menu includes an impressive variety of options. We ordered many things including the tacos, quesadillas, sliders, breakfast benedict, huevos rancheros, empanadas, plantains, and churros.
Among the dishes we tried, my favorites were definitely the empanadas, chorizo sliders, and churros. The empanadas were almost as tasty as the ones I had in Argentina — the crust was a balance of doughy, moist, and crunchy, and the meat filling was well-​seasoned and savory. The beef and chorizo sliders were juicy and aromatic, and the guacamole on top was a refreshing complement. The churros were a wonderful ending to the meal; they were light, crispy, and not too sweet. They were paired with warm, decadent caramel and chocolate sauce for dipping if you have a sweet tooth like me.
As far as the other dishes, I enjoyed most of them. They were pretty tasty, but I did notice a lot of them were very saucy that it sometimes overwhelmed the dish or made it too heavy. Because of this, I didn’t enjoy the mole fries or the huevos rancheros.
Overall, a great place for a boozy, bottomless brunch on the weekend.

Food here is good but a bit pricey. The guacamole actually wasn’t great, and I have had much better. The salsa for the chips was great.
I got the pork carnitas which was good. The sauce is pretty spicy, and I didn’t really like it. You get Mexican rice, beans, and a side of guacamole with it too.

Being in your twenties every birthday needs to be celebrated out in the city. You want your birthday to be full of life, people, good food, and excitement. El Centro delivered in a big way.
We went here for my best friend’s 23^rd birthday and were instantly greeted by a warm and inviting atmosphere of people in their early 30 and mid to late twenties. The place was packed from the first floor to the second. Our waiter was extremely friendly and cute to boot! We each ordered their famous tacos. I ordered lamb and my friend and the birthday girl each ordered chicken. They were served with refried beans, salsa verde and yellow rice. The beans were very authentic, just as how I had them when I went to Guatemala and the salsa was exquisite. The rice was pretty standard. However, the tacos were phenomenal. The lamb was perfectly cooked and succulent. We also ordered spicy mango magaritas on the rocks. These were pretty darn good too, they even had spicy sugar on the rim which was an amazing touch!
The place made my best friend’s birthday extremely special with surprising us with some special birthday shots and their signature churros with a candle. The waiter even facilitated singing happy birthday. It was honestly one of my best friend’s best birthdays to date!
As we were finishing dinner they were getting ready to set up the dance floor and as we were leaving there were already people lining up to get in for the late night festivities. Everyone was dressed to the nines and super excited!
All in all it was an amazing experience and we will definitely be back for dancing some time soon!

Stopped in for happy hour and had a great time. To enjoy happy hour you can only be seated at the bar, table seating does not get to partake in happy hour specials.
$ 5 margaritas and sangria as well as complimentrlary chips and (delicious) salsa (guac is extra). We had the classic margaritas and were not disappointed! If I had more time I definitely would have had a few more.
Our bartender was friendly and attentive. The place is pretty big with seating on both the first and second floors. Family friendly! This was a perfect start to our evening.
It seems like a pretty popular place as it was getting busier by the minute. Great atmosphere and good location.

En ocasiones uno confia en las experiencias de otras personas para visitar los restaurantes. Esta vez fue algo equivocado
La comida estaba muy desabrida, el precio muy alto para la calidad de la comida.
El menu muy reducido.
Nos fuimos de aqui muy decepcionados.