El Tio Tex-Mex Grill

It’s probably more of a 3.5 rating, but I rounded down. My friends and I were dead set on getting Mexican one night, but the place we wanted to go to had an insane wait. El Tio’s was our second choice, and it wasn’t too bad. I ordered a sangarita (sangria margarita), which was really delicious. We also ordered guacamole and chips as a starters and I ordered chorizo chimichangas for my entrée. The guacamole was really good, so was the complimentary salsa. The chimichanga was very good as well. I wasn’t a fan of the rice and refried beans. Refried beans aren’t my favorite anyway, so I can’t really blame the restaurant for not enjoying them. The rice was FAR from Mexican rice. It was more of a standard rice pilaf, which is really a joke in my opinion. It wasn’t even good rice, and that’s probably the biggest reason for the rating. We ordered Sopaipillas for dessert and they were delicious. Not too sweet, but a perfect touch to finish our meal. I wouldn’t mind coming back here another time.

New in town and we love Mexican food. Came last night place was packed. Figured that meant it was THE place. Was sat relatively quickly. The service was exceptional! Three people saw my drink was empty and asked me what I was drinking to get a refill. Such wonderful service! However, the food was ehh. $ 15 for a steak burrito that was tiny? Nah, I’ll pass. Food was kinda bland. The queso was literally melted velveeta, no peppers or anything. Probably won’t come back here only because of the food.

To the Anonymous visited the restaurant and talk about JOSE…
Well I have to say that Jose is one of the best waiters there, not to mention others, if you have a bad experience with him you should call the manager Oscar, he will make it up to you right way, but leaving $ 5.00 as a tip. that was mean and very cheap and, do you know that when you leave a tip they share the tip among ALL the waitress??? so doing that you are Judging all of them the same, and trust me they will talk about that kind of costumer and All of them will know you as the Chap costumer, next time talk to the manager and he or she will take care of your concern!!!

Came here for a quick lunch on Saturday with my parents for the first time. As soon as we walked in we were seated and a man was waiting for us to sit with chips and salsa. That’s what I like! The service was great, very fast! My water never went completely empty before I was asked if I would like more. Definitely will be returning.

Love this place — good food — good service and awesome margaritas — also if you can handle hot spicy food ask for the green habanero sauce — it isn’t advertised but very delicious

The food was good, I had the fish tacos. Fish was cooked perfectly, and their guacamole is very good. My wife is a vegetarian, and had a quesadilla, which was also good. Good not great pretty much sums this place up.

They have great reviews, so my wife and I decided to try it out, since we live close by.
To be honest, while I wasn’t disappointed with any aspect of our experience, it doesn’t wow me enough to justify spending double what I have on similar restaurants in the area. Dishes that are $ 8 – 10 elsewhere are $ 14 – 20 here, and their quality is about the same. Good service though. Their green habanero hot sauce was the highlight of my experience, perfect amount of heat and very good.
I wasn’t disappointed, but I probably won’t return by my own accord.

Nice Mexican restaurant. We enjoyed the fresh light tortilla chips. I also ordered chicken tamales which were quite tasty. Quick service and lovely atmosphere. Very clean.

The food here is very good, and although it somewhat positions itself as authentic Mexican, the truth is that it is really just Tex-​Mex.
Like I said, the food here is good and you won’t be disappointed; however, what is disappointing is the price. It is way too expensive for what you get.
The service is great and otherwise a nice place to grab a meal, but I still think it’s too expensive for what they serve.

Absolutely the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten in my life my family loves this restaurant, very nice family atmosphere, great service, would recommend to anybody. Family owned. Great mixed drinks. Servers are the best also. Love me some el tio

Tasty Salsa!
I had a Chorizo ChimiChanga, no complaints. Not overly spicy or anything but a little.
It’s a busy place, lots of people, lots of families, but nice staff, fast service.
We stopped in for a meal before a movie and were plenty happy.

Came here on date night while visiting with the fam (everyone needs some time away, right). It’s an interesting take on tex mex — they have the normal mexican food including guacamole table side (who wants to come next time, so i can get this, hubby isn’t into it!) But they also have Peruvian dishes — including lomo saltado and fried plantains. I’m so interested in trying them, it was just a surprise to have it on the menu.
I went with chili relleno, It was tasty. I mean a big ball of cheese in a pepper, battered and fried. I wouldn’t get it again, but it was tasty!
They bring you as much chips and salsa as you can stuff into your face.
They are friendly and attentive and have pacifico on tap (i know, i know, but when in rome…)
All in all it’s a cute place, plenty of seating, pretty good sized bar, need to check out happy hour, and close enough to the movie theater for make it a full date night, or outing with friends!

El Tio is a favorite stop for me. The nachos are large and individually plated, so no pile of dry chips under soggy chips that take the brunt of the toppings by the time you dig in. The nachos are truthfully my guilty pleasure. I also enjoy the camarones a la plancha. The margaritas are always on point and I can’t stay away from the fajitas. The California salad is large and fresh, and a selling point for me is that the dressing is always on the side. Definitely a must-​go if you’re in the area and crave Tex-​Mex! Only down side is when it’s busy, service definitely slows down a bit and it can be frustrating.

I thought we were alone, but judging from so many others’ remarks, I see we’re not. Service is consistently awful; wait staff are rude. (Amusing they think some people don’t understand their Spanish slurs against others too.) At a party celebrating a colleague, they slammed food in front of people, spilling it on them without apologizing; rolled their eyes at another who asked for a plate; tried to take away food that was less than half finished and while someone was about to put their fork in for another bite; slow, etc. Overpriced, and the food was bland. Not worth it at all. El Vaquero West in Haymarket, meanwhile, is consistently fantastic — go there instead. And hurrah! We’re getting Uncle Julio’s in Gainesville soon. Always good.

The food was fine nothing special but the waiter was another story. When we went to pay he didn’t bring back my credit card. I asked for my credit back and he acted like we had. It took over 15 mins for him to fine my card. When he finial brought it back he stated that your money is fine. Makes me think that something funny is going on and I’m going to cancel the card. I will never go back to this place. If you do go back bring cash.

We loved El Tio when we first moved to the area, but they have really fallen off in the last year or so. Prices have gone up at least twice in the last few years, and some enchiladas and burritos now hover in the $ 12-​$ 14 range, which is a lot for what you get. Food quality is generally good and much more authentic than most chains (although the salsa is consistently pretty terrible– very watery, and they have put up a fight about bringing more than one small bowl of it at a time).
The biggest problem has been the service, which more often than not has been rushed and rude. During our last visit we were seated quickly and saw the restaurant was mostly empty– just three or four other tables had guests. We waited close to ten minutes before anyone approached. When the server came over, she asked us whether we wanted a margarita or sangria. All of us ordered water or a soda; the server became visibly unhappy that no one ordered alcoholic beverages and again disappeared for about ten minutes. In the meantime, another server brought chips and salsa to the table. He put them down, and as we were reaching for them, he picked them up, said sorry, and took them to another table. Chips and salsa are complimentary, so I’m not sure why we couldn’t keep what he brought to us. Also, I don’t like that he served them to us and then took them and served them to someone else. I wouldn’t want food from someone else’s table served to me. Our own chips and salsa finally came about five minutes after that.
We placed our orders when our drinks arrived (now 20 minutes after we first sat down at the table), and the food took almost another thirty minutes before it was served to us. Almost an hour from sitting down to being served in a mostly empty restaurant is pretty poor service in my opinion. During that time our server was nowhere to be seen, so beverage glasses and the chip bowl were empty for a long time. The food was good, but the experience left us frustrated.
It was upon realizing that we had suffered through similar service a few times before that day that we decided enough was enough and we won’t be going back. I’m not going to continue to pay higher and higher prices for bad service, and we have a few good to very good Mexican restaurants in this area.

What I don’t like about El Tio (any of the locations) is that there’s a drastic price bump in items. The typical burritos and tacos hover around ten to twelve dollars for a plate, but then the true entrees jump up to twenty bucks. Yikes! I can’t honestly say I’ve ever been to a Mexican restaurant that was this expensive in terms of non burrito /​taco items.
Overall, the food is average. It’s not bad, but it’s also not mind blowing. I can honestly say I haven’t had anything «bad» here. I’ve just never had anything that left me saying, «I need to come back and have that again.»
Acceptable dining option if you’re in the area — Not worth going out of the way for.

Love the premium Patron margarita. 10 $ but really good. Love that they don’t add fake coloring and doesn’t taste like that awful mixer. Also they now do table side guacamole and its awesome! My fav dish is the shrimp fajitas.

I am so torn with this place. My husband and I just moved to the Gainesville area and wanted to give this place a try. We went during the middle of the week for dinner, so the restaurant was not too busy. When the hostess seated us, out of the entire place, she sat us beside a huge party with incredibly loud kids and adults. Half of the restaurant was empty, so there were plenty of other places to be seated.
We waited about 10 minutes before a server even came over to greet us. By that time we already knew what we wanted to order. I asked for a skinny margarita (no sour mix) and the server proceeded to tell me that the restaurant was too busy for the bartender to make me the drink I had asked for. I don’t know why I just didn’t get up and leave right then and there. I told him fine and to just bring me a normal margarita. When he came back he had told me that the bartender was able to squeeze in my skinny margarita and had brought me what I had originally wanted. I was grateful, but at the same time still bitter and shocked that someone told me no after I had ordered.
I will admit that the service did turn around in a good way. Our server ended up being very attentive and was great! He is the ONLY reason why I gave this place 3 stars instead of 1 or 2 stars.
I ended up ordering fajitas with shrimp and chorizo and my husband got your typical combination meal. I have NEVER been to a mexican restaurant that rips you off as much as this place. The prices are incredible high for a place that is just mediocre and nothing special. I only got 3 shrimp and 3 – 4 small half pieces of chorizo. The skillet wasn’t even filled with peppers, onions, and meat. I can’t believe they charged close to $ 25 for my meal. Granted I never finish a skillet of fajitas at any place, but we love leftovers. I would have been fine with the portion served if they at least charged what it was worth. There wasn’t anything on the entire menu that was not over priced.
This place is a total rip off! I will not be coming back here. I would rather drive to Manassas and get real mexican food for half the cost and better quality.

Pass. I am not a fan of this place. I have been three times and it was worse each time. Service is slow and food is very very bland. And the last time I gave them a try there was a huge hair in my salad. If you want some good flavorful Mexican food try El Vaquero West just a very short drive down the road in Haymarket.

If I could give less than 1 star I would, unfortunately…
I must caveat my review by saying this review is for the food only. Our service was okay; nothing over the top outstanding, but no issues. We were craving Mexican food and gave this place a try. First off, chips and salsa were TERRIBLE especially the salsa. Salsa lacked flavor. I don’t want to have to add hot sauce and salt to add flavor. They also serve the salsa in the teeniest of bowls which is ridiculous; do you really want the server to have to come back 20 times to refill the salsa? Chips tasted like they were store bought. I ordered the steak fajitas and my husband ordered the enchiladas; both were ehh. Overall, the food here was far less than desirable and hence we won’t be coming back.