Pleasantly surprised with the meal I received here. I ordered chicken enchiladas and the bartender recommended this spicy side sauce. OMG, the enchiladas were great but the side sauce was "off the chain". If you are ever at Reagan National Airport, highly recommend this stop pre - or post - flight. read more

El Centro - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

I sat here while waiting for my jet blue flight and had a few drinks. Be aware that they stop selling breakfast at 10 on weekdays! The bartender was super nice and poured me a couple of perfect mimosas. It only took two to get me feeling nice for my flight! I'd definitely sit at this bar again. read more

Our waitress was super sweet and had great customer service. She has worked there for a long time and loved chatting with people about where they were from and where they were going. Very Kind! The food however was not very good. I the Chicken Tinga Tacos, very dry and not much flavor. I have had some really great airport food and this was not an example fo that! The restaraunt was clean and very small. We sat on bar stools facing the main walkway in the terminal. It was great for people watching for sure and very close to our gate. Wish we would have used our money elsewhere! read more

Really good experience, could do much much worse in an airport. Had the Chicken Quesadilla - good flavor with the salsa- it is spicy which I like - but be warned. Meal was $11 plus $1 tax so for airport quality & value in 2022 it is a winner. read more

As airport bars so this place is great. Granted I'm part of a captive audience but all in all the experience was great. The service was great. Nice staff who cares about making you happy as you wait for your plane. I had the wing and they were pretty delicious. Didn't have anything else but can't say that it looked very good but the portions were good. Bar tenders were very attentive and made a nice margarita. Would this place get 5 stars outside of an airport? Probably not but at DCA, definitely recommend it. read more

Good service but the food was decidedly mediocre. I was expecting a better Mexican food experience during a layover at the airport. I opted for El Centro becuase they offered seating and a relatively better environment. but the guacamole was bland and taseteless; the pork carnitas was dry and unappealing. I do not understand all of the high ratings, seriosuly, this place was not great. read more

Food was incredibly bland, tasted like it came out of a microwave. Service was great though.

The burritos were very good. The burger was good as were the fries. It was very crowded but the wait wasn't too long. Our waitress was amazing. Very attentive and made good recommendations. Marion was the waitress and made our experience very enjoyable. The tequila was also excellent. Highly recommend. read more

Seriously some of the best airport food I've had! We started out with spicy mango margaritas which were very tasty. I enjoyed my huevos rancheros and my husband loved his breakfast burrito. The side of potatoes were crispy and seasoned well. The only thing keeping me from giving four stars is the fact that they don't serve food between 10 and 10:30 to get ready for lunch. Some folks were turned away or told they could only get drinks. I understand the need to switch, but at an airport that's inconvenient and unacceptable and the process should be smoother. read more

El Centro - Huevos Rancheros - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Simply amazing. Came for breakfast before a 10:10am flight. Ordered the Torta breakfast sandwich with chorizo. This was not only the best sandwich I've had at any airport, it was the best breakfast sandwich I've ever had. Period. It was perfection, perfect size, perfect amount of crispy potatoes on the side, pickled jalapeños, guacamole, tomato/cilantro salad, medium egg. Paired with a Bloody Mary, this day is off to a great start! read more

Service was great!! Exactly what I needed to brighten my spirit this morning, thank you to my server Donna :)

This review is long overdue. Back in late September, I sat at the bar to wait for a flight. The whole restaurant was full, so I squeezed myself in the seat of a man that had just left, right in the middle of two other guys - one who was visibly drunk. As I worked on my Ipad, I could hear over the headphones how the man kept insisting the bartender for a drink, which he denied to serve - patiently, respectfully and several times. (Kudos!) There aren't many bars who decline to serve patrons alcohol once they believe they've met their quota. Anyhow, when declined, the man tried to take my own drink away but the bartender intervened - Perplexed, I didn't react but continued to watch at the tablet in front of me. I've learned at times it's best not to engage. Long story short, after several warnings from the bartender the man continued and it culminated with the man leaning over to touch me. The two men on the other side of me jumped off their seat to help and got in between us before anything could escalate. At that moment, and based on the previous warnings, the bartender followed the guidelines to have him escorted out. The two bartenders, (A man, and a woman) were kind, helpful, and demonstrated excellent human values that reflect very well not only on their job but on who they are as persons. The review is to congratulate El Centro's for hiring awesome human beings, and for implementing guidelines that should be in place elsewhere. What started as a very bad personal experience, ended as a lesson that there are great people out there, and that should be celebrated. El Centro (or more specifically the bartenders that day) could not have predicted what would happen, it was out of their hands, nor does it reflect on who they are. But their ability to handle the situation does. And for that, I am grateful. read more

Our original flight was cancelled and needed to kill seven hours till next flight. So we decided to sit and have better airport food near our gate. My husband ordered Fish Tacos $17.00 and I ordered Chicken Wings $12.00. He liked his tacos and I liked my wings! Wings are very juicy and tender, their sauce is tasty too. Our server is friendly and always checked on us. Their seating area is so tight, and customers bring their carry-on suitcases, it makes worth. Overall our experience was good. read more

El Centro - Chicken wings - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

This was a pleasant surprise within the B terminal on our layover. Snagged a couple bar seats and after scooting away from the guy hacking up a lung while nursing a Corona next to us, we were impressed with the menu. *$13-18 per entree: about what I'd expect an airport. Fish tacos were hot and fish was nicely breaded. Black bean side was underwhelming. *$6.60 for a 16oz draft really isn't too bad considering you're in not only DC but also trapped in an airport; their pours could use some work though. Saw quite a few going out with 3" of head. Yikes *Very attentive service. Food came out within 15 minutes. Server immediately printed check and placed it nearby, which is helpful if you're in a big rush *Oddly they have no hot sauce in bottles here; seems wrong given it's a Mexican place. They brought me a small cup of their habanero sauce; it had some kick but was nothing compared to Sriracha. Thankfully I'd packed my own Sriracha to go bottle. A must when traveling and TSA approved! Overall this is a solid sit down option while you're killing some time at Reagan. read more

El Centro - Fish tacos. Note my personal bottle of Sriracha - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

The nice thing about this place is the variety they have for a good Mexican breakfast. The service was decent and fast. Prices are very high and the portions are rather small. They do have an incredible homemade hot sauce which will light you up and tasted amazing! Great on the breakfast potatoes! Coffee was perfect too. When it came to the food, it was prepared perfectly and tasted amazing. Only issue is that it's rather pricey. read more

El Centro - Breakfast!! - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Four starts for the service and speed. Our server was very nice and had a laugh with us. Then the food came out 5 minutes later. The food was actually pretty good. Highly recommend when traveling read more

Its a pity this is the only sit down restaurant in the terminal. If the food were good, I'd be happy to pay the expensive prices but the food was horrendous. Yes, there are tv screens so you can watch sports, but other than that, everything else was bad. We started off with guac and chips. The guac was $10 and it was ok. The chips were not that great either. $10 is expensive for guac and chips! The waitress also messed up our drink order and the brought the wrong drinks. I had the bloody maria, which tasted like tequila and bloody mary mix, and it was way too spicy. For my main course, I had the chicken burrito. Most main dishes are almost $20 on the menu by the way, the burrito was about $12. It came with more nacho chips, which weren't even great. The burrito was just ok. Didn't taste great, didn't look great. The chicken inside was soft but not well seasoned enough. Its just bad mexican food. The service was ok. There was an area at the back where you could see them dumping food into the trash and putting the dirty dishes in a bin. Shouldn't this be done in the kitchen? Am I supposed to watch them dump leftover into a trash right in front of me, right next to the bar? Also, they seemed fond of having staff meetings right by the trash bin. Oh, eating with plastic utensils was the worst. They were the fancy plastic utensils that were silver in color so they looked like stainless steel but were actually plastic. The bill came up to $70 for 2 drinks, 2 lousy mains, and a very mediocre guac and chips. Airport food in general is horrible, but I spent almost $70 on this horrible food. Should have gone elsewhere and spent $15 on crappy food. read more

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Meh. The food here was OK but not really much different from a standard taco truck. That being said, if I am paying 17 bucks for three street tacos and small serving of bland rice I expect the food to be a bit more imaginative and better executed. Service was quick which is a plus if you are short on time to catch your flight. But there are better options at DCA. read more

El Centro - Steak tacos - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Just ok. The food is quite over priced for the quality but you're at an airport. The service was great and they got my food out very quickly and my waitress was very attentive. I had steak tacos and they were fine. I'm glad it came with just cilantro and onion. The salsa verde looked like some mystery green creamy sauce .... But it tasted good on the tacos. The rice and beans came in avoid portion but the rice seemed to be like white rice with veggies and then some spice on it to turn it more of a yellowish color. Like I said it's airport food. I thought the portion size was very good. Would come back again if I need speedy service and something to eat before my flight. read more

Decent margaritas and Guacamole in DCA airport. Good place to sit and wait for your flight to board. No complaints. read more

El Centro - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Got breakfast to go here as the Dunkin Donuts line at the airport was NUTS! Got 2 coffees ($3.30 each), a diet Pepsi ($3.30) and a Breakfast Burrito for $14.00 to go. Of course, the prices were expensive, but we were a captive audience and I was grateful they were able to fill my order quickly. The coffee was good and I really enjoyed the breakfast Burrito, which I had requested split, but was not. It came with eggs, chorizo, beans and cheese on a flour tortilla. I should have asked for salsa, but did not. We returned for lunch, since our flight was delayed and I got a Margarita to drink. We split a Chicken Quesadilla with some Chips, Salsa and Guacamole. For a restaurant in an airport, it was pretty good and the wait staff was very nice. I hope I don't get stuck in Reagan National for 9 hours again (and then our flight was cancelled) but if I do, I wouldn't mind eating at El Centro. read more

A solid 3. I will say the service is friendly and attentive which is rarely the case at airports. I was satisfied with my sparkling roses (it was one of those Fridays), and beer battered fish tacos with corn tortilla, red onion, a light chipotle mayo? And slices of avocado. To be fair I didn't eat the fish tacos until about 15 minutes after they came out because I was madly responding to urgent emails, but they were still tasty. The batter was fine but not the lightest, though still crispy. The combo of flavors was solid. The rice and beans on the side were pretty tasteless. All in all, an unremarkable but reasonably satisfying meal. It's the only sit down place in the mid section of B gates (20s to 34 I think). read more

This is one of the better airport eateries I have experienced. The staff was very friendly. Unlike most restaurants in airports, this was not understaffed and the servers were actually able to take care of their customers. We had a bit of time between flights, but we weren't terribly hungry. We had some beers, and were happy with the variety the place had. We also ordered the guacamole. It was okay, but pretty bland. We seasoned it with the salt and pepper from the table, plus a lime from one of the beers. That made a nice improvement. read more

Stopped here for breakfast while waiting for our flight. The Huevos Rancheros was good and the wait staff are very polite. Good place to sit while waiting for a flight. Just don't have alot of baggage because the seating is fairly tight. read more

We stopped here for some breakfast while waiting on our flight like many others. The food was decent. Better than most airport restaurants I've dined in. I ordered the breakfast burrito and it was tasty. The breakfast potatoes that came with it were also good. I ordered my potatoes on the side because I didn't want them in my burrito, and come to find out they come both in the burrito and on the side. The service was great. Our waitress was super friendly and got us our extras in a timely manner. We ended up wanting to spice it up with some habanero hot sauce, salsa and som additional crema. read more

El Centro - Breakfast Burrito - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

3.5 stars... convince me otherwise. The staff is really nice, they work hard in an airport restaurant and deserve every dollar they earn. The orders the Aqua Fresca for $4.50 and it was nothing more than watered down pineapple juice. Supposedly it was squeezed fresh on-site, but ... not so sure. I had the quesadilla... not bad. But had to ask for sour cream. I had the three tacos without beans and rice. Not bad. Prices reasonably well. A different take... not much doing I'm site down in Terminal C of Reagan. read more

We ended up eating here to waste some time as the weather was delaying our flight to the point of cancellation. I felt it was over-priced but I am thinking it was because we were inside the airport terminal and everything is over-priced in there. The waitress was very nice and helpful and the service was pretty fast. The table was a little wobbly and we had small children so I was just praying we didn't have a glass of water go overboard, thank God it didn't. I ordered a burger and it was pretty good I think that getting airport food at this quality is pretty rare so I was happy we could sit down and enjoy a meal like this. The kids enjoyed it as well and my sister was able to find a vegan meal that she was happy with as well. read more

Brent - Champion hustler. Professional. Great bartender and server. Personable and efficient. He was chatting and taking orders across the bar. He made a great recommendation after asking a couple questions about my preferences. He was also good about paying attention to everyone around me - no one's drink ran dry or went without snacks on his watch. Mike - Loudmouth. Grand stander. Performance artist? Unclear. What was clear, was that he was happy to loudly (LOUDLY) disparage customers and coworkers to anyone who'd listen. He was holding court at the bar while Brent and a couple of bar backs and another bartender (with great braids) worked around him. I ordered the pork carnitas and loved them - well seasoned with a delicious spicy salsa to accompany them. The latter had a great balance of heat and flavor. The woman next to me ordered the chicken quesadillas and was also really happy with them. I'd definitely stop by again on future flights. read more

Plenty of space to social distance. Great $5 margaritas!! Enjoyed the guac, too. Queso was strange (I'm from Texas), but still good. My friends and I will definitely be back for more. read more

I think this place certainly deserves 4 stars, for an airport restaurant. People who give 3 or fewer stars clearly do not know the (abject) average quality of airport food. By recommendation, I had pork carnitas. You cannot go wrong with this, get it. The beer was cold and the food hot and aplenty - what more do you demand beyond the security gate? If you're looking for a satisfying Mexican meal at Reagan, this is the place to go. read more

El Centro - Pork carnitas - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Ugh there's is really no point in writing a review about food at the airport since people typically eat there when they have no other choice but here we are. Key points of our experience: 1) Much more expensive than the other El Centros. I typically go to the El Centro in Georgetown (usually just for happy hour b/c I can't justify going there for the food alone, given my love for real Mexican Food). At the other El Centro, the chips and salsa are free and I actually like them because they are kept warm and salty (and on the oilier side). However, here, you have to pay for them so we did. 2) Do not get tricked into buying the guac. The table next to us paid $14 (I think) for the guac and chips and the guac that came out was a sad 2-3 SMALL scoops that did not fill up a small bowl. I had second-hand disappointment for them. 3) The nachos were not bad. Yes, we somehow decided to order 2 things that both consisted of tortilla chips for some reason. Plus, it came with a decent scoop of guac so it was probably good bang for the buck. 4) Beer selection is meh but it's not like we expected to find microbrews here tbh. 5) Service was good. Water was always refilled and the waitress checked on us a few times. read more

For airport restaurant, this was pretty good. Chicken enchiladas, black beans, and rice were excellent. Service was friendly and fast. read more

Don Pablo's-calibre food, with better salsa, at triple the price. I swear the chips were Tostitos. The only time Richard Sandoval has ever disappointed me. For shame. read more

Fish tacos were delicious. Jam packed with beer battered fish, cabbage and a slice of avocado. Decent beverage selection and quick service. Others near me seemed satisfied with their food a well. Pretty standard Mexican menu; I would come back here for another meal. read more

El Centro - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Such good food for the airport! RIP to the 14th street El Centro but at least we can now relieve the glory days in the DCA terminal. Food was good plus great margaritas. Good and fast service. Now if they could only put a club in the basement like the old location lol read more

What can you say - breakfast in an airport - it was pretty good - nothing to write home about except the habanero sauce - oh wow!! That makes it well worth trying - esp at 5:30 am! read more

A friend and I, shared the the *Carne Asada Steak Nachos with no sour cream extra queso on the side and had Diet Coke. The server brought Carne Asada Steak Nachos but there wasn't any spicy queso on the nachos. There was hardly any or none pico de Gallo, A baby handful A black beans on the nachos. Carne Asada was okay not that good. The nachos only had a few whole chips The rest crumbs. We dig it two sides of extra queso but it was not spicy queso. We did get them to remake the order because of the crumbs of the chips. But it was still the same. Where was my spicy queso on the chips? Where was the spiciness in the extra queso that we ordered. We also had two plates so we could each pick the nachos off and put on our plate. My friend was done eating and she took his plate. I wasn't done eating and I told her I wasn't done eating but she still took my plate away. but she did leave the nacho plate. I'm like thinking to myself how rude I'm still eating. Well when I got done eating of the nacho plate. I lifted up the nacho plate on purpose and waited for the waiter to look over here and I said loudly "I'M DONE NOW YOU CAN TAKE MY PLATE NOW." I think I embarrassed her. The waiter was very rude also with saying the food wouldn't be cold read more

Had the cheese enchiladas and a margarita. For airport food, it was definitely on the better side. A little spicy but after some jet lag I'd say it's alright. read more

El Centro - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Very good service and the bar is a good way to wait for your flight, good beer and the food is awesome!!!!

Wow- knows my the EC in DC, this was just shameful. Service was friendly Ish but not attentive whatshowever and needed reminders to eben just bring water. Specially at an airport time is crucial. Burger was sad and fries likely hung around already on our plate for a while before serving. Sad. read more