Uncle Julios- One Loudoun

Excellent food and ambiance! If you want a Fantastic waiter ask for Jhonny!!!
The best demeanor and attention I have received at any place at One Loudoun!

I’ve been going to Uncle Julio’s for their queso for over a decade and was really looking forward to this Ashburn location opening up. What ruins the great food is the horrible service. If I order a whole quart of queso ($ 20 worth) togo, I’m told I have to pay for any amount of salsa or more than a measly amount of chips; however, you can get unlimited salsa in the restaurant where it can’t be charged… but if I order anything to go, I’m nickle and dimed for chips and salsa… quite a turn off, especially when the queso is not consistent and sometimes too watery or thick with large clumps of non melted queso. Get it together guys… the other Uncle Julio’s locations provide better service and consistently delicious food. You have to provide one or the other, preferably both.

This truly was one of my family’s worst dining experiences ever. Started with the host telling us we couldn’t have a highchair at the end of the booth due to a fire hazard, (respectable until) he proceeded to seat us at a table that was pushed so far up against a wall of cabinets that we had to move it out to pull out the chairs to sit, ourselves.
I really wanted it to get better. I ordered a margarita, which tasted like weak lime juice and water. When I reluctantly told the waiter he took it away and sent the manager. The manager defended their fresh squeezed lime juice and said she would check it to make sure it was «edible». Never once simply said «sorry for that». Also, grossly they don’t salt the rim of the glass, they «kiss» the side of the glass with salt. How is it good practice to salt the side of a glass that a customer is expected to lick after a server carried the glass to the table. GROSS!
The salsa was served in hot ramekins which warmed the salsa. Just unappealing. 4 adults and one child at the table. No one continued to eat the salsa.
Server came with a round of water and I asked for a lid for my 3 yr olds cup. He told me he purposefully left it off so he could refill the water later. Then he didn’t bring a lid, ever.
Entrees were luke water and bland. Soft tortillas were fresh. The only part I really enjoyed. Server ask and we were gently honest that the good was cool and not great.
My 2 teen sons left 2 out of 3 tacos, on their plate. Never happens.
End of the experience, the server came over with the bill and said, «sorry that wasn’t a good experience but I’m just the server and I don’t have much control over it». WHAT? I understand he didn’t cook the food, but his blasé attitude toward the whole meal experience just infuriated me.
we eat out several times a week! YOU COULDN’T PAY ME TO EAT THERE AGAIN! Good luck if you choose too.

Our favorite Mexican place! You can’t beat their tortillas or Queso dip and chips. We split the chicken fajitas and that is enough. There is one server, I forget her name but she’s a petite little lady and she is FIERCE. We brought a group once and she wasn’t even our server but jumped in to help. She speaks both Spanish and English which was great because half our group was from Mexico.

I like Uncle Julios; the food is decent Tex-​Mex and they have a large selection, reasonably priced. However, this location is way too dark inside, and the service is slow. We went on a Wednesday night and the place was packed; not abnormal. But it took 40 minutes to get most of our food, and we only ordered one of the combo plates and an appetizer. We mentioned to the server that we were headed to a movie and were kind of pressed for time but it didn’t help. We had to scarf down our food quickly after we got it. I know places get slammed, but it shouldn’t take 40 minutes to get two dishes.

The only awesome thing about Uncle Julio’s is the salsa. Spicy, a little smoky and authentic with no chunky tomatoes — yay!
Thats it. Everything else is overpriced and mediocre.
A group of 6 of us went during lunch. There were a couple fish tacos on the menu, one with tilapia and one with tuna. I never order anything with tilapia, since I feel like tilapia is a «token» fish on a menu. You know, the «we aren’t really excited about fish, but but we should have something on the menu» fish. So, I ordered the tuna.
It took foreeeever for us to get our food. Everyone in the group except for me got some variation of fajitas. The veggie fajita looked horrible. I’m glad I didn’t order it. The veggies were huge chunks of portabello mushrooms, zucchini and summer squash. The pieces had to be cut up before being assembled into the tortilla, what a pain. Everyone else said their food was just ok.
The tuna tacos were stuffed with a mango jicama slaw. They should have been called slaw tacos with a bit of tuna. I had to remove almost all the slaw before eating the tacos otherwise I couldn’t event taste the tuna.
I’ll just continue to go to my favorite Mexican hole-​in-​the-​wall in South Riding. So not worth coming over to Uncle Julio’s.

Meh. It’s ok. There is a lot of hype about it. I have had better and there is always a line.

I love this place. The atmosphere is laid back but far more upscale than what you usually imagine when you want Tex-​mex.
I had the following:
–Table Side guac: TO DIE FOR!!! Best guacamole ever. My bf and I both loved it.
–Veggie Fajitas: these were delicious as well. The sauce they cook the fajitas in is something I’ve never tasted before and have the dish an updated feel.
They can be a little bit on the pricer side for Mexican but it is so worth it. Last time I dined with them I also enjoyed the fresh watermelon margaritas they had.
I can’t rave about this place enough! Such a fan and will def be back soon!

Came here with office folks for the Holiday party. The place was too crowded, a little uneasy to move. The stewardess forgot a couple orders, had to repeat. It took too long for the orders to arrive, but its okay to blame it on the holiday season. We had a good time chatting around and playing White Elephant.
We ordered Cheese Quesadilla, Fajitas, couple margaritas and couple teas. However here is the review–
Food: Ok
Service: Decent
Price: Overpriced
Best part: Chips and salsa, Table side Guacamole, Jalapeño– Pineapple Margarita
Worst part: Of course the order mess up and repetition

So its been a couple of months since I’ve been to this particular location. My husband and I went not to long after they opened and although the food was good the service was just so-​so. Now for the update.
The décor is a bit more upscale if you will than some of the other Uncle Julio’s locations you can certainly tell this place is newer. Overall the food is good and consistent with the other Uncle Juilo’s I’ve dined at around the DMV, and trust me I think I’ve been to most if not all of the other ones at some point over the years. I actually came into buy gift cards, and then decided I was hungry and opted to dine at the bar for lunch solo. Hey the husband was at work and a girl’s gotta eat. The service was prompt and the bartender was attentive but certainly wasn’t a pest. Mind you this was Christmas eve and although the dining room had a good crowd, the bar area was pretty empty.
The bar at this location has better lay out in my opinion than some of the other Uncle Julio’s (i.e. Fairfax, or Reston). It seems more open and a better flow which would probably be easier on patrons trying to move around when this place gets busy, which if its like the other locations I’m guessing it probably does.
The only main downsides about One Loudoun in general and its not specific to the restaurants is the parking stinks!!! It seems like you have to park a good distance away from anything and then its a good walk to get where you’re going, they have a bunch of surface lots which on a weekend or with nice weather gets pretty filled up quickly.
Overall I’d come back to this location but I will say this again as I have with my other Uncle Julio’s posts, bring back the black bean soup!!! Or if you’d kindly share your recipe with me so I can make it at home that would be great!

The first time I came here, my husband and I shared the Juanita’s platter. Although it came with a good variety (beef enchilada, chicken enchilada, beef taco, pork tamale), I thought the platter was just ok.
We came back another time to give it another try and had the guadalajara which I found delicious. The meats were juicy and tasty, and the tortillas were fresh. I also tried the mojito, which was very refreshing and one of the best ones I’ve had. I’ll definitely come back for these!

This restaurant is overpriced, food is OK but the snobby service is a terrible experience. No water refills, no chips refills. Nobody asking us if everything is okay. Our plates were taken away before we were even done with our food!
Also, don’t bother eating their beans. They taste like they have been prepared in salt water. So just don’t waste your time and money. I prefer Los Toltecos or Plaza Azteca in Sterling.

We should have gone to Reston! The waiter got the order wrong. Then it took the manager at least 10 mins. to come to the table. She wasn’t very apologetic, seemed to not care. I believe at that point the 2 meals were put in. I’m posting this after waiting 15 – 20 minutes of waiting for the correct plates. I have to give it to them. They got the 2 kids cheese quesadilla’s and the Fajita’s right. Oh and the waiter and the drink refills sucked as well.
Update-​we only paid for drinks. Between the slow service to fix a screw up, the toilet paper missing in the bathroom and the lights that are out on the name at a new restaurant. I’m doneski! Hope they turn it around. Unfortunately, I’ll never know.

I love Mexican food and I truly wanted to like this place, but sadly everything from the food to the service was a huge disappointment.
My table and I ordered the Cozumel shrimp tacos, chicken enchiladas, and steak & enchilada dinner. The cozumel shrimp tacos came with 3 soft tortillas consisting of seared shrimp, pineapple, mango jicama slaw and their mango habanero sauce. It SOUNDS good, but truthfully the platter actually lacked flavor and was very bland. The chicken enchiladas were okay, definitely not worth the expensive price and the steak and enchilada dinner was unmemorable.
The service was inattentive and not so friendly. As other Unilocal reviewers have mentioned, it definitely seemed like the servers were more engaged in their own conversations with each other then their actual customers. On the plus side, the décor is nice and most definitely trendy. However, I think I can find better tasting food and at a cheaper price elsewhere.

I’ve been to uncle Julio’s in Reston before
I love Mexican food
But tonight was our first time in one Loudoun location
We had to wait over 30 minutes but it was worth it
Our waitress was amazing
She was super nice and fast for delivering our orders
She was smiling and as busy as it was she didn’t rush us
Her name is Sandra
We will ask for her again

Love Uncle Julios! My fave is the chicken nachos! Very filling, tasty, and delicious!
Service was good!

Bottom line: expensive slow and really salty meat.
9pm on a Monday, ordered Nachos and steak enchiladas combo. Nachos come out cold, sent them back then they come back later with our entrée. The steak was way too salty and the enchiladas were tastless. They had good chip and salsa and the beans and rice were ok, that’s about it, but for a place where nachos are $ 14 and entrees are $ 19 I would hope to at least eat more than two bites before I had to quit. As you can see from the picture the meat was just that bad I couldn’t eat more than two bites. The second bite was just to make sure that the first one was not a fluke.
Do not recommend. Anita’s is way better and at least 30 percent cheaper.

Somehow this review was put under Anita’s…um, NO!
I’ve already given this place 5 stars but I’ll give another 5 — we had a fantastic experience on a rainy Saturday here. We did the call-​ahead which I’ve never tried and didn’t think it would matter, but it did! We were seated in less than 15 minutes. Our food came lightning quick, I forgot to tell my server I just wanted steak fajitas and not combination, they had the correct order in front of me in less than 5 minutes! We were stunned!

I love Uncle Julios. They are consistent in their food quality. Their chips are super thin and fresh, with the perfect amount of salt. They offer a warm salsa that has just the perfect amount of garlic and seasoning.
This place usually has a LONG wait… often times 2 hours. On an early Saturday afternoon, we walked in and the entire bar was empty! The seating around the bar has some comfy stools with backs, perfect for old folks like us! The servers were great. They instantly planted those fabulous chips/​salsa right in front of us.
I love their swirlies and it was just the right afternoon to indulge! Hubby tried their drink of the day: Pineapple Jalapeño Margarita. Yes, it had jalapeños and not exactly what to expect when you see a yellow margarita. I’m not sure it was really worth the $ 11 price point…
For lunch I ordered their fish tacos. This included 3 corn tortillas stuffed with a grilled or somewhat fried tilapia. These were massive, enough for take-​out later! Hubby enjoyed his enchilada platter. He stated that the ‘raw onions’ really made this meal.
This location has lots of outdoor patio seating. Parking is on the street or there are adjacent free lots.

UJ is a chain Mexican restaurant that… I really like. Why don’t we have one on the East coast in the New York tri-​state area??? IMO, the best meal on the fajita menu is their la Guadalajara: bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp stuffed with Monterey Jack and jalapeño with either chicken and/​or beef combo. When it comes to flavor, you can’t lose. The shrimp and chicken are tender and the steak good. It comes with rice and beans and the fajita fixins’ (sour cream, pico de gallo, and cheese).
Fresh Ingredients:
The tortillas are freshly pressed on a heated conveyer oven right before your eyes. Quite entertaining for the kiddies and adults. One would not go wrong ordering table side guac especially when you can specialize your own heat intensity with more jalapenos. Another must is their queso blanco. The creamy cheese dip with peppers has a little kick of awesomeness which will leave you scraping the bowl before placing another order.
Drinks:
I was excited when I saw the pineapple jalapeño margarita but wasn’t impressed when I ordered it as it lacked the spiceyness and was fairely weak. I’ll stick with their frozen margaritas which are popular.
Uncle Julio’s: When are you branching out to the New York region?