Ok it's not perfect, but what is? I like its little flaws and eccentricities. I don't know that the cuisine is quite as fine as I considered it in college, but it's still the place in C-ville I recall most favorably. Tuna tostada is still lights out, the Santa Fe Enchiladas are always solid (don't neglect the pumpkin muffin!) and the ever-present margaritas are always a great way to quickly inject mass quantities of tequila into your system. Yes the wait can be lengthy, loud, and crowded, but if you go at the right times, an excellent hidden hole in the wall, one of my favorite parts of college nostalgia- read more

Good food, reasonable price. Great margaritas. We had chicken fajitas--yummy--and beef tacos--a bit tough. For a starter, the Red Hot Blues were delicious, chips with feta cheese and nice with the salsa. Nice, casual atmosphere. Servers were friendly. read more

3.5 overall Decent dinner on a quite night. I would go back, but have many other places in town i'd return to first. Creative menu, my girlfriend had Bison meatloaf which was better than my standard mexican fair. Good, not great, but worth a try read more

This place is incredibly hard to find, but has pretty solid food. The staff was friendly and the drinks were terriffic.

I heard about this place from a former co-worker two years ago, who tipped me off about it with a wink and a sly smile - as if I was being let in on some great local secret. As I have lived in Charlottesville for years, I was a little skeptical that it could be so amazing because I had never heard of it before. Surely, if it was all that I would have already been there or at least heard about it, right? Wrong. Since I received this info, I have driven through it's general location, looking for a sign but never saw one. I figured they had closed down and I had missed out. On a whim last Friday when I had family member coming into town, I did a google search for it to see if I could find anything, and it brought me to Yelp. After seeing the recent reviews I was ensured that it was still open. So, I took note of the address (still in the same general area where I looked before) and decided to take my family member there for dinner. I called my husband and invited him to meet us after work. Still, I could not find it! There was no sign. We drove up and down the street a couple of times in traffic looking for it. We were getting hungrier and more temperamental. I was annoyed! Finally a parking spot opened up near where it supposedly is located so we decided to park and investigate on foot. There was a neon sign which said "Get In Here" on the front of a very plain storefront, with no other clues that a restaurant was there. When you walked up to the front door, there was a small handwritten sign that said "Continental Divide". Ah ha! I was baffled. How could this restaurant survive without putting up an identifiable sign? When I peeked in, it was PACKED. It became clear that this restaurant is indeed a local "underground" secret and clearly it is so well known through word of mouth that they don't NEED a sign. My annoyance at its difficulty to locate was replaced by excitement and watering taste buds. :) We were put on a waiting list for about 15 minutes, and finally when we were seated at a booth we were able to check out the menu. There wasn't a huge amount of selections but everything looked great and the prices for entrees were mostly under $10. I wasn't drinking that evening but the beer selections were pretty good. We got the Red Hot Blues for an appetizer, which is basically vegetarian nachos made with goat cheese. WOW. It was excellent. For an entree I got the chicken fajitas, which was also excellent. They served two levels of hot sauce with our meals. The one with the skull and crossbones means business, so beware. :) I really want to go back and try the chipotle enchiladas w/ pumpkin muffin. The atmosphere was really cool, even though the noise level was off the charts. Clearly everyone was having a great time. This restaurant has good vibes. I joked that the food was so reasonably priced that everyone could afford to order more beer and were therefore quite jolly. When the check came, It was around $50 for an appetizer for 3, 4 import beers + 3 entrees. Not bad at all! Now I see what my co-worker meant and I appreciate that she let me in on Charlottesville's "secret spot". read more

This is a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Show up at 5PM or be prepared to wait (and make sure everyone in your party is present if you want to be seated). The menu doesn't change much, but there is always a fun selection of specials. The house margaritas are fantastic and there are more tequila options than you can imagine. My only complaint is that there is no nut-free alternative to the pumpkin muffins. Bummer for those of us who are deathly allergic. read more

So yummy. Great atmosphere. Get a tecate and pork tacos. Be prepared for loud and busy, but a great environment.

Interesting dishes, super hot sauces, and relatively cheap. One downside is its loud, yet very atmospheric as well.

It's a local spot that you can easily miss as you walk down main street. Without any clear signage on the exterior of the restaurant, you are filled with a hungry yearning to learn more. And I am certain you will be pleasantly surprised when you step inside. There is not a lot of ambiance to the place, but that in itself makes it a homey dining experience. They have an extensive tequila list so you cannot miss their top shelf margaritas. Once you have a margarita in hand, start with their tortilla soup and/or the soup of the day. The soups are quite large and surprisingly easy to share. Very rich. You really can't go wrong with whatever you order next. It is fun to try out their changing quesadillas as they are very creative in the combinations of ingredients they may use. The nachos are unlike any nachos I've had before because they do not shy away from putting just about anything on top of their blue corn chips. Finally, I absolutely love their enchiladas, but do expect to leave very full. read more

Though I have moved out of Charlottesville, every time I come back I make sure to go to Continental Divide. Prices are great as it's got a younger (i.e. student) crowd, but it's unique, flavorful and won't break the bank, either. read more

Magna Carta Holy Grail status. Booyah.

Small place and worth the wait. Great margaritas! Food was good also. I do agree about the lack of service by the bartender. It took him forever to take our order and quite a long time to get the drinks. read more

The food is delicious! Their specials are always the bomb and definitely the best stuff I have had there. Last week when I was there I had a fried cat-fish burrito with goat cheese and bacon and lots of other yummy stuff. it was seriously one of the most delicious things I have put in my mouth. This place could be 5 stars, but the atmosphere is awful. I understand when you first open you can't afford the luxury of re-vamping the place, but you've been open for awhile now and the acoustics in there are just awful. You can barely hear anything anyone is saying at your table. I always want to get out of there as soon as I am done eating just so I can have a normal conversation. DON'T go there if you want to hang out and chat for awhile, it is not the restaurant to do that. read more

Best margaritas in town, I like to opt for the special one with the bartenders choice of tequila. The pork tacos are great, there are two HUGE tacos and some rice and beans. I always end up taking one home for the next day. We also get the red hot blues. They aren't super spicy (so if you are looking for your mouth to be on fire ask for the hot sauce) and delicious. There is usually a wait for tables, so not the place to go if you are already starving. Sometimes we eat at the bar when the table line is too long, when there are only two people in the party it is totally fine. With three or more you might have trouble hearing. read more

Great atmosphere. Friendly service. Mediocre nachos.

Continental rules. The food is great and very inexpensive. Hands down the best margaritas in Charlottesville. Great staff. Wait a minute sauce is so good I could drink it. Too noisy? Too crowded? Too bad! read more

The Santa Fe enchiladas are unbelievable. The red hot and blue enchiladas are pretty good. Skip the margaritas.

Really cool place, hard to see from the road: you just have to know where it is. Not your typical Americanized Mexican food, better. Hot sauce is delicious. Good tequila selections, beer a bit lacking. The chili is awesome. read more

I would eat here every night if I could. Been coming to Continental since the nineties... every item is consistently great, even if I have a tough time straying from the beef tacos. Perfect margaritas, I've had scores of them over the years. read more

The pork tacos entree and red hot blues app are both heavenly. I love the low key atmosphere and Ska music playing. I'd recommend the margarita with commemorativo (sp). Love this place. read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE! Loud and full and wildly delicious food. Get the nachos! Also they have Virginia beef which is excellent. Would recommend going at 5pm before the dinner rush starts. read more

Fantastic dinner last night at CD. We got there early. We got a table and ordered margs and red hot blues. Drinks were great! Best margs in town! Red hot blues are the best nachos. Awesome start to the dinner. I got a sante fe enchiladas.i hadn't gotten this dish in a while. It was better than i remembered. My wife had the tuna tostada and she thought it was "excellent as usual"! I also had a great local craft brew, VIPA. Tasty. Highly recommend this place if you can find it! read more

Best Mexican in Charlottesville plus great margaritas and craft beer. Excellent food! A little tricky to find if you aren't walking because there is not a big sign outside. Can sometimes take 5-10 min to get seated but good reason to hang out at the bar and order the artisan cheese nachos read more

The absolute BEST restaurant in the world, in my humble opinion...and I live in New York and have plenty of scrumptious places at my fingertips to compare it with. Cheap, flavorful, and perfect. read more

I love this place! The red hot & blues can't be beat. The tuna tostada might be my pick for last meal.

I kind of feel bad for Holly, though the owner is right.. the shirts do say too loud, too noisy, too crowded. With that being said, my friend and I were a little underwhelmed with the food. We've heard the hype about Continental Divide so we thought we would give it a go. I got the beef tacos and he got the fajitas.. both with little flavor. The beef tacos were a little soggy, and the fajitas were a little boring. With that being said, it does strike me as a place that doesn't care if you do not like the food, don't come back. I just thought I might post a review in response to all the rave about the mexican food, because it was average. The margaritas, specifically with the special were great. read more

I ADORE this hole-in-the-wall of a GEM! The servers are funky and different. The food is SO yummy! I love that they serve you pumpkin muffins - you can't stop! Their margaritas are the BEST. The only caveat is the noisiness :) read more

Loved, loved, loved the tuna tostada. It's amazing with the danger hot sauce. If you don't do hot spicy, stick with the other mild sauce. Prices are pretty good. I would have given it 5 stars but the service is not so good. It might be because they only had one bartender and the poor girl seemed stressed out. read more

Before I begin, I would like to make it clear that I have had their food before and it is good. However, Mono Loco is just as good, if not better. Service is awful. And I wish there were negative stars to give, especially for their hostess (the one with the incredibly large sparkles). I went to go there Friday (Oct 24) with two friends. One friend was on their way from the University. We had first called to ask about reservations. Response "Absolutely not" with some attitude. Once we got there and put our name in we went outside. I returned to let the hostess know. I also asked if there was a wait time. Response "Whenever someone stands up." At this point I was pretty fed up with the attitude of people working there. However, I had it after she came out to ask if our third person was there yet. We said she was walking this way down Main Street and was about 5 minutes away. The hostess smiled and said "Ok." My friend noticed she had began seating other people. I went in, let her know she needs to let people know that she will not sit you unless everyone is there. Again, while the food is decent, it is not worth the inhumane way they treat people. read more

It's a very cozy space on Main Street and definite worth the visit. The margaritas are excellent. Amazing selection of tequilas. The menu is eccentric and wonderful. The food just leaves you wanting more. They meld favors from all over and blend it perfectly with a southwestern flair. If you don't eat here you are missing out on life. The only negative is they are not open for lunch. read more

The Margaritas are top notch!! The restaurant is small, but the food is good. We drove by when were looking for this place and we could not find it. So, after parking we were able to find the place on foot. Even then, the words near the front door are small and do not stand out. It can be easy to miss this place. We were lucky enough to get in before the crowd started forming at the door. The house margarita is very good!! It is the thing that I most loved about this place!! I ordered a house salad and santa fe enchiladas. Both were delicious!! Rice & beans and a pumpkin muffin came with the enchiladas. I am not a pumpkin fan, but I ate the entire muffin because it tasted good. The chips and salsa were okay. The salsa did not really have much flavor, but it had a little bit of a kick to it. This made it good enough to keep eating it until the food arrived. I really liked this place and the atmosphere and I will be going back the next time I go to Charlottesville. read more

My husband and I tried the this chicken tacos and the bean cheese. Burrito enjoyed both. It is really loud can't have a conversation

Some of the best margaritas in town! Definitely one of my favorite spots when I'm wanting to sit at a bar, drink perfect margaritas, and eat delicious TexMex on a week day. Get the red hot Blues & a reposado margarita for sure! All their dishes are pretty awesome, so there's nothing that's my hands down go-to (I usually like to switch it up), other than the Blues as an appetizer. read more

Excellent, delicious, fresh, and creative describe the food here. I highly recommend it. Drawbacks are its small, crowded, and noisy, but for a reason. Don't miss this fantastic food. read more

This is a great place for an inexpensive quality meal. Ingredients are fresh and combinations are unusual and tasty. During our most recent visit, we had the shrimp quesadilla, tuna tostada and fish tacos. All were really good. The tuna was sushi grade and served rare. The quesadilla was crispy and not greasy. The fish in the tacos was light and flaky. We each had a couple of drinks and none of us payed more than $30 with tip. We always sit at the bar where the drink service is faster. This is NOT a Mexican restaurant, so don't go there expecting that. The Divide features Southwestern cuisine. This means that there is a heavy Mexican influence, but it is not "authentic" nor will you have Combo Plate #2 or whatever. The food is a bit more upscale though the atmosphere is casual and fun. They also source locally as much as possible (once had local goat!), which is always a plus. Ask for the "Wait a Minute" sauce! read more

If you don't go in expecting typical mexican food, you'll be delighted with what you get! The food is amazing and the laid back vibe makes for a wonderful evening. Definitely a restaurant you must try! read more

Almost every time I come to Continental Divide, I order the Santa Fe. It's always delicious, but the real winner is the Red White and Blues - nachos with goat cheese that are excellent with the provided dipping sauces! Definitely get one of the patron margaritas with fresh squeezed lime juice! read more

I love this place and always have. IDE give them a five star if they had a little more space but the food is amazing. There is limited space so be prepared to wait. The wait is well worth it though. They have a great variety of vegetarian options and their red hot nachos are out of this world!!!! Yumm.this place is not to be confused with the one in Richmond. The quality of food and service is 100x better! read more

I've been to this place multiple times and it just keeps getting worse. Not only was the bartender awful, but the kitchen made me a "chorizo quesidilla" that only contained 3 small pieces of chorizo. It was basically all cheese. When I pointed this out to the bartender, he said that the kitchen would not give me any more chorizo without charging me. I explained that I wanted a real meal, he talked with the kitchen women for another 2-3 minutes, and offered nothing. Don't waste your time here!!!! The place is horribly rude and the food sucks! read more

A friend and I enjoyed dinner here last night. First impression - it's hard to find! I bet they've had potential customers that looked and gave up, because we almost did! It didn't seem to hurt business, though. The place is small, and was doing well for a weeknight. Our server was very friendly and informative. She answered our many questions with a smile. We had house margaritas and shared nachos with black beans. Both were delicious. I tried and liked the Santa Fe Enchiladas. She put the Chipotle Sauce on the side for me because I can't handle a lot of spice, but I ended up using it all. My friend had the quesadilla(?) of the day that included strawberry and bacon, and said she liked it. I would definitely go back. A couple of notes: for those used to typical Mexican food restaurants, there is no complimentary salsa and chips. I probably won't bring my husband here although Mexican food is his favorite, because I don't think he'd appreciate the creativity of many of the offerings. He likes traditional tried and true and I'm not sure what he'd order. I certainly don't consider that a failing of Continental Divide, though! read more