Julia’s Empanadas

Many savory empanada options and some sweet. They are juicy and stuffed generously. They make good snacks for a night out in Admo, but this is definitely not a sit in.
I was here once when a confrontation arose: a girl cut the line and ended up yelling at the group she cut. She then threw her empanada at a girl from the other group and went to stand in front of the line again for another empanada.
After assaulting someone, the cashier didn’t know how to react. Instead of asking her to leave, he continued to serve her. This was ridiculous, and I left before ordering.
Their food deserves a 3 – 4, but this service scenario put a dent in my last experience.

Yum yum yum yum. Hot yummy empañadas for $ 5 each. Throw in a Coke and there’s lunch for $ 12.

The Chilean Beef empanad is warm and very tasty. The sauce is spicy and sweet. The olives bites are chunky. The size is like a big mac. So, it fills up nicely.

The Empanadas were delicious great section and cooked perfect. One Fruit, one meat, and a diner for sub $ 7, you can’t beat that.
I would probably have been 5 stars but the guy behind the counter acted like he could give two S#its if we were there or not.

Disappointing! I LOVE Empanadas and these are nothing to write home about.

The empanadas are so, sooooo good. The dough is sweet and thick and perfect. The fillings are amazing — my favorite is the spinach but the Jamaican and Saltena empanadas are also classics. Julia’s is great late-​night drunk food but it’s also just great food in general.

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ESSENTIAL TIPS & EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
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# At $ 4.80 including tax for each empanada, let me tell you, I expected some really good empanadas. What I got instead were average tasting pastries at best filled with a price point that doesn’t make sense. I’m sure Adams-​Morgan has expensive rent like most parts of DC so I was going to settle on a 3 yet marinating on the fact there isn’t much flavor for nearly $ 5 per pop (sorry…empanada) makes it hard for me to forgive. «Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in SoCal anymore».
# In all honesty, I know that the empanadas were not at their peak when I visited at 2 AM. But I would like to think that excellent empanadas can last at least 12 – 24 hours after being baked in the morning, no? I think that’s fair for good number of baked or cooked dishes.
# I bought 3 empanadas for $ 14.42. Two were spinach and one was Chilean style. I don’t know which one was more average. The Chilean only had the taste of soft and plain ground beef while the spinach tasted like a spinach, egg, and cheese quiche that was left out all day.
# This shop is truly for the drunchies. You know… the moments when you are drunk, wasted, smashed, hammered, snozcumbered, gobstoppered, willydinkered, or to put in a non-​Roald Dahl way… fucked up. I think I’ll visit again when I’m gobstoppered (that’s when I’m drunk, brown out, regain attention and want another drink, but then I stop… gobstoppered…it’s a verb!), but not when I’m close to sober after relaxing over 2 drinks at Dram & Grain.
# Not enough is done with the fillings. I feel that the ground meat, veggies, and other sauces are combined together without attention to how the flavors meld together. The fillings could use more prep time so that the cooks could caramelize the onions, fully cook the spinach, marinate the beef longer, or whatever. The extra effort is lacking.
# I took a look at Julia’s website to get a comprehensive review of her philosophy and as much as I sincerely appreciate the «made from scratch», «made by hand», and «baked with love» mission statements, it sure did not taste or feel like it in my mouth. It’s almost like I knew how mediocre each empanada was halfway into the bite and the way the shell collapsed against my teeth. I’m sorry to say, but Julia’s has to refine her recipe. The taste and texture may fly in DC, where people don’t know any better, but in the west coast and southern regions, this shop would not survive unless there was a very strong client base consisting of friends and family.
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MY EXPERIENCE:
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One of the mutual friends who is a resident of Adams-​Morgan raved about this place and how good it was. Oh how good it wasn’t! Straight up plain. Straight up expensive for what you get. Only the two sensations, moist and soft, were predominant in every bite. The other flavors never came out of their shell to stand up to those two pastry pocket bullies.
The shell of the empanada was not super soft where you knew it was old and compromised. The shell was just soft and nothing more. It was not crispy. It was not flakey. It was soft like the underside of my left tricep before I began working out years back. No, I did not nibble on my underarms!
Let me explain myself. All I’m trying to say is that these empanadas are mediocre or average at best and the price for each one appalls me. Average — not satisified = 2 stars. I don’t think I want to put my tongue in her empanada again unless it’s for drunchies! Heyyyyyy! Heyyyyyy! Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Hey! Get that empanada out of my face!

Pretty good savory empanada. Got the chilean style beef and liked it. The fruit ones are not good at all. its like those 99c mini pies you get at the grocery store, only with less fruit goo.

Oh hot damn, this is my JAM. Or really, empanada spot!
So delicious and warm. I told myself I would wait until I got home to eat them but I couldn’t contain myself… one bite and I was a goner.
Savory ones are ~$ 4 while fruity are ~$ 3. They offer a deal for ~$ 7 that includes one savory, one fruity, and one soda. I think it’s a good deal if you’ve never been. But now that I have, I would suggest two savory instead… yum! :)
FYI: the main dislike is $ 10 minimum for cards. Bring that ca$h.

One of the places I really miss after moving away from the area. Dropped in and picked up a turkey empanada. Still deliciously wonderful!

i got the caribbean. it was ok. nothing amazing, not nearly as spicy as i was hoping. they are cash under ten bucks.
price= around 6 bucks for one
glad i tried it, but i think ill stick with the frozen ones i get from the store

I used to love them until they gave me VIOLENT FOOD POISONING. I know it was them because I live a very vegetarian diet and had eaten a fresh salad. I ate one of my favorites and couldn’t stop puking. PLEASE DONT GO HERE

Julia’s is a DC institution! They are a great hand food while on the go. Pretty much the perfect breakfast food too. Definitely a perennial cheap eat in this city.
All the savory ones are delicious! The sweet ones are just ok. What I love about them is the thick pie crust that encases each pastry, each one in a unique fold or braid. Think of them like hand held pot pies. I know some people empanadas need to be fried and crispy, but I don’t really care it’s «authentic», it tastes good!
My hands down favorite is the Chilean beef, it’s ground beef with onions, a hard boiled egg and raisins. It’s a unique combination that is sweet, salty and rich. Oh man, I want one right now just thinking about it, haha!

Open late, delicious sweet & savory empanadas, and super cheap. Don’t expect to come and lounge, it’s a stop-​and-​go type of place for a tasty late night snack.
My personal favorite is the Jamaican– freshly prepared piping hot and loaded with beef, onions, potatoes, and curry spices. The spinach, mozzarella, and ricotta cheese one is a close second. But really any flavor you get is guaranteed to be good. The outside is flaky/​crispy crust and the insides are so flavorful!
They also make mini-​sized empanadas, as the regular size is pretty filling.
They have other food offerings, but the empanadas are what you come here for!

Really want to give this place five stars, but I only tried one empanada (once I do more due diligence, I’m sure I’ll update this review with five stars). So the Saltenada was freaking awesome. With a crispy crust, the stegosauras-​shaped meat pie filling of chicken, onions, and egg was delicious. Can’t wait to try more!

I recently moved from the Dupont circle area to the bottom of admo/​u street. I was packing up and thinking about the different lifestyle changes I would have to make– bus/​metro lines, grocery stores,…and then it hit me. I would be losing my favorite go-​to empanada place. Okay, realistically, my go-​to drunk food. Sure there are plenty of pizza places and Amsterdam falafel is good, but this place is easily the best. This is not to say you have to be drunk. I definitely eat there sober as well. I just see this in a category with other restaurants sharing the following variables:
«Drunk Food» (*this is not to say you HAVE to be drunk to enjoy it):
— Located in an area highly populated by bars
— Open late, particularly on Fridays and Saturdays
— Not particularly inviting when it comes to sitting down (aka, food to walk with/​take home)
— Relatively cheap (because odds are you already spent plenty of money on the overpriced drinks)

Taste is great. Loved the spinach empanada. Just a little too pricey for one empanada.

Empanadas? More like heaven in a pouch. The variety and uniqueness of the fillings were fantastic and unlike anything I’ve seen before in an empanada shop. Plus, the surrounding pastries were perfectly crusty, fresh and light and were specialized to each filling. You probably only need one to fill up because they are absolutely STUFFED with filling but you’ll end up buying more than one because you won’t be able to decide between all the delicious options.
I’ll be back to try the deserts too.

Come here and expect: no seating, just delicious food to take to friends, or a picnic
What I got from it:
So, this is totally a hole-​in-​the-​wall joint. It doesn’t offer you a place to sit. There are only 3 stools. If you do sit, you will actually be in the way of those who are trying to order some empanadas. So do everyone a favor, and don’t consume your empanada here. Thank you for your support.
Here’s one idea I tried. Next time you have the opportunity to bring a dish to share, bring some fruit-​filled empanadas. If they are not a hit, you are hanging out with the wrong people. I bought 2 of each sweet empanada, and I practically had the women asking me if I could take them there on a date. I revealed that the place wasn’t hard to find, but it’s certainly small. I can’t afford dates anyways, so they could take themselves out.
I first got to experience these wonderful pockets of savory because my supervisor wanted some for lunch and treated. They even have a great lunch special! Buy a savory type, a sweet type, and a soda for under $ 7!!!
You will not fill empty with these empanadas.

Mediocre empanadas and even worse customer service.
I’ll start with the customer service, from the second I walked in the guy behind the counter acted like I was annoying him by walking in the door. Originally I ordered a single empanada, as the guy was ringing me up I noticed a sign on the wall that you could get a meat and fruit empanada and a soda for the price of the single empanada, so I asked the guy if I could have the deal and he got an attitude and asked me why I didn’t say that to begin with. At that point I was like if it is too much trouble forget it and I’ll keep my money, at that point he improved his attitude a bit but I didn’t understand his issue, it wasn’t like I was holding up the line as I was the only person in the place but whatever the customer service was lacking.
Empanada itself was eh, I had the Jamaican beef style, dough was very dry and too flaky, meat was not very tasty and flavor was very lacking.
I will admit the apple empanada I had was good, nice flavor well put together, not really worth a trip just for it though.
Not really interested in returning to Julia’s between bad customer service and poor food quality, I’m just not that interested in returning.