We eat at El Jaripeo pretty regularly. The food is always tasty and fresh. Service is good and friendly. This location is almost always busy and sometimes packed. That speaks for itself. read more

Have never had a bad experience here! My boyfriend and I go nearly every week. Everyone is always so kind and the service is great! read more

My family and I have always had a great time here. Food was good and service decent. I think it could have been a little cleaner than what I would prefer but they also just had a rush of people come in. read more

Food was great! Grilled Talapia and shrimp came with Spanish Rice and Broccoli/Cauliflower/Carrots. Plate was HOT. Mango Margarita was excellent. read more

Our go to Mexican restaurant in town. When I'm craving cheese dip or a fajita steak taco salad, this is the place to go. They have to think my husband and I are crazy because we get both the cheese dip and chorizo dip at least once a month. We also have ordered off their catering menu for birthday events. Great prices and a ton of food that leaves leftovers for the week after, which we will never complain about. read more

The food is good--the wines they chose are not so good. I'm not so sure the person who picked the wines drinks wine. Wine is supposed to complement the food and not strike a soundless gong. I think they need to reconsider their wine selections. The regular servers and bartenders are great. They bring in new people who seem a little lost sometimes. read more

It was so good and amazing staff 11/10 would definitely recommend and come back very soon!

I recently moved a little over a month ago to Culpeper Virginia from Madison Mississippi, and I was pretty hopeful about trying out this restaurant as it came in high regard by my boyfriend's family. We arrived at the restaurant around 6:40pm EST, 7/1/2024 to have an early 4th of July experience. The place didn't seem slammed, but we had to wait a few minutes just to get seated, and we had a really nice older lady who was short and had glasses; she couldn't speak much English but was exceedingly polite, helpful, and sweet. You could tell she was busy, but she always smiled and tried to make herself available. 10/10 Besides our waitress, there was a tall waiter who was nice as well, he was covering tables for other waitresses and was very polite as well. 10/10 The younger female waitresses though had an attitude; they were never smiling, any chance they got I could hear them talking in frustration in Spanish, and while I'm not the best with my Spanish, I could in fact pick up a bit of it. 5/10 It is not ok to allow your employees to smack talk about customers, even if customers are being awful, you're supposed to be better than that. This is a job, you are meant to be professional, and show what makes the restaurant great. Our waitress was pretty busy, so we tried to flag down a younger female waitress that was tall; she glanced at me and had full intention to ignore and walk by until I called out to her in a slightly louder voice then I normally use because I wanted to make sure she could hear me. She looked at us with a "what do you want" RBF that I was just flabbergasted by; she wasn't even trying to hide her attitude, and all we wanted was napkins because the restaurant doesn't have napkin dispensers! When she responded to us, there was a tone that clearly stated she was in a mood, and I tried to be as polite as possible in our request. 1/10 That waitress didn't even bother coming back to us, she sent the male waiter to deliver napkins to us! Then our assigned older waitress came with napkins to assist us, and she was very polite and apologetic, which we told her it was fine, we understand staff get busy. I used to work for years in restaurants like Bob Evans, Sugar Magnolia Takery, Vasilios Greek Cuisine, and I understand the difficulties of the job, I really do, but you never carry an attitude in front of customers. I have worked as a waitress, as a hostess, and a line cook. How you present yourself reflects the restaurant, and getting an attitude publicly in a restaurant will reflect a very bad image on the restaurant over time. Customer Service: 6/10 Now for the food. First off, I love spicey food, but salsa is not meant to be fiery hot, at least not from my experiences growing up with authentic Hispanic cuisine, as I come originally from California where there is a lot of great family businesses. The put a lot of the seeds from the peppers they used, along with hot sauce into their salsa; there are people who have dietary issues, so I'd recommend leaving spiciness out of salsa, but the fresh cilantro and lime was very good in, 6/10 Now chips when made fresh are hot, crispy but tender, and are usually tossed in salt with a squeeze of lime to give it a real nice pop; if the restaurant really loves you, they'll dust the freshly made chips in seasoning usually used for their meat, as it does give a great smokey flavor. We didn't get that. I have no idea if they were store bought (most likely though as restaurants do cut corners to save money) or homemade, but they were hard and stale in taste; they weren't salted, no lime, and were actually burnt. Like we had a lot of pieces dark brown. 4/10 The main food was a curry chicken enchilada that was gross; I found hair in my enchilada, and they used Velveeta as a "queso sauce" all over the enchilada that tasted like the memories of when I lived in the ghetto of Santa Cruz California. I ate about 1/3 of the meal before finding a large grouping of medium-length black hair. In which case, I got immensely grossed out and didn't finish. 0/10 To put in prospective, I'm white with long dirty blonde hair; this was definitely not my hair, and it was thoroughly wrapped in the rice and ingredients in the enchilada. In my experience working in restaurants, you are supposed to wear a hair net if you're a line cook or cook, as wearing a ponytail isn't enough at times to keep hair from falling out. I'd recommend staff to enforce that. My boyfriend and I started feeling sick to our stomachs only 20 minutes into the dining experience; so we paid for the meal and left as quickly as possible. Our stomachs reacted and we unfortunately experienced food poisoning, as I was up all for the rest of the evening until 5:00 am vomiting and having to empty my bowels. Overall: Would not recommend until improvements are made drastically. read more

Some great food with great people and great service. Prices are pretty reasonable and the food is well seasoned and staff is attentive. read more

El Jaripeo - a plate of food on a table - Mexican Near Me - Culpeper, Virginia

See all

Great Mexican food. Friendly wait staff. Always a positive experience. Lunch or dinner read more

Food (5/5): I've been to the downtown Charlottesville location multiple times and LOVE the food. I was excited to see one in Culpeper since it's closer to home. My go to dish is always "enchiladas poblanos" - which is chicken enchiladas with (the most amazing) mole (spicy chipotle chocolate sauce) poblanos sauce!! Sooo hard to find and so hard to get right. So, you can imagine my surprise when I go in today and I can't find it on the menu!! After asking the waitress, "where's the mole poblano enchiladas" (perhaps I had a wide eyed look of horror on my face), so she pointed to the "enchiladas mixdatos" (sp?) that you can get either "poblanos or Chile green sauce". Supposedly, "poblanos" (which means "chili") is my beloved "mole poblanos." I winced a bit (the on-line menu still has "enchiladas poblanos" posted BTW) and ordered it anyway (I always swap out chicken for cheese enchiladas.) Drumroll, please! The enchiladas came out PERFECTLY!!! Check out the glorious picture! My hubby loves chorizo so we got the chorizo queso dip for an appetizer and it was delicious. He also got the Chori Pollo which was chicken with chorizo and cheese - also delicious!! So, I really wanted to give this place a 5 star rating based on the amazing food - however - - Atmosphere (2/5): It's rather divey on the outside and the inside is a bit dated and sad. Service: (2/5). The server was really nice, but pretty slow. I had to ask twice for everything even though we were mostly alone in the restaurant. My hubby is also gluten free and usually Mexican restaurants are pretty safe. However, when I asked the server, she didn't seem to understand the question. (Note to El Jaripeo, please educate your waitstaff!!) read more

See all

Food and service were great. Lunch specials were a good deal as well. I would definitely stop here again if in the area.

great food, seasoned well. salsa is perfectly spiced. Glad that they don't bland it down and is closer to actual seasoning.

Fajitas huge portions to share. Quick service and nice atmosphere. If you want extra chips they charge you. Very good white cheese dip

The food is delicious, the service is fast, friendly, and efficient, and the atmosphere is one of a large group of people enjoying themselves. We've been here several times and the great staff at El Jaripeo have never disappointed. No matter how busy they are, always the same great food and same great service. If you're looking for a little quieter atmosphere, I recommend coming during the week, Weekends bring out a more boisterous group of friends. read more

Cinco de Mayo, decided to go here for food. After being sat in a short time my fiancé and I waited for 15 minutes and had no interaction from any if the wait staff. We proceeded to leave and I expressed my displeasure with the host that for days like this, an adequate amount if staff is needed. The food quality is good here, but unfortunately on this date there was a lack of service. read more

The food here is great! So why am I rating the business as only 3 Stars? That's because we ate there this past Thursday and today I find a charge on my Debit card for $.45. This is a tactic by someone who has stolen the information to see if they can use it BEFORE they try to buy something BIG. This is the ONLY place where my new card has been out of my site since I got it. Someone at this restaurant stole my information. Be careful and pay with cash, it's a great restaurant. read more

First time coming here. Food was great. Called in a takeout order for lunch on Saturday. The taste was great for all the food. Location was good very easy to find. It seemed as if they were fairly busy inside while waiting for our food. Only issue was we were told 10-15 minutes and it ended up being closer to 30. That's irritating. If it's going to be 30 the ok fine just say so. Guacamole that came with the taquitos was so so good. Family also enjoyed chicken quesadillas, nachos and cheese dip. Definitely would come back when in the area. read more

I just received a takeout order from this restaurant. The person that ordered said you get lots of business. I can't see why. The food was decently packaged and the order was correct. I had a #8 combo. The tamal was so tasteless, I couldn't choke it down. The rice was nothing to write home about. It bordered on salty and it was dry. The refried beans were horrendous...must be boil in bag beans. The chicken enchilada was so dry and crusty...I spent $40 on the food tonight. This is the worst representation of Mexican food I've had in VA. I'm not exaggerating (over salted, dry, tasteless food). The red and green salsas were fine. The chips were fine. Please try harder: you obviously have a clientele: do something for them! ¡No bueno! I gave it two stars for getting the orders correct on a Saturday night: two#8 combos, one #3, side of queso and chips. Not good at all. I asked for cilantro (only)- it had mixed onion in it. You should advise your customers. My friend said when she picked it up, the host didn't say hello, had an attitude: just wordlessly handed her the bag. $40 is expensive for $5/plate food. read more

Food was great! Service was also great considering how busy and under staffed they were.

I met a friend for lunch today. My lunch was the taco bowl. I mixed everything and it ended up being a little thicker than soup. Should have had a spoon to eat it with instead of a fork. Didn't really have any taste to it. Waitress brought our food and we never saw her after that. Finally, after we were finished (15 minutes afterwards), my friend had to go back to work, I sat and waited for our check. No drink refills, and I had to ask another waitress to get our check. As I'm paying the bill, she is telling about them getting a new computer system. What does that have to do with me getting a refill on our drinks? read more

Good drink specials, especially on tap. Food is ok, mainly come for the happy hour. Service is good and they are tentative.

Just moved here and found this awesome American restaurant! Food and service friendly. All ages welcome great place with a great prices!

When i go ai always get the soft taco with beans and rice and when its on the grill i can already smell it

The guacamole is out of this world! Everything we have had here has been great. Fresh and authentic, energetic staff. Follow up. My wife asked to go here for Valentine's Day. It was busy! But this staff kept up with demand! Food and service was spot on. Thanks for making it special El Jaripeo! read more

Terrible service. No refills on chips or sodas until our food arrived then no more soda refills at all. Daughters fries were cold and undercooked. Will not go back read more

El Jaripeo - a plate of french fries and a bagel of chips - Mexican Near Me - Culpeper, Virginia

I'm kind of surprised this restaurant is so low on the "Culpeper Restaurant" list... This place is our "go to" and the BEST Mexican restaurant in Culpeper. Take my word for it... Go. Try it out. You won't be disappointed! read more

Great food. The place was really nice with inside and outside seating. We ate inside due to the humidity. The staff was very friendly and attentive. read more

Superb Mexican Food!!! Great, Friendly Service!!! Best Guacamole In The World!!! Taco Salad Is The Best!!! Fried Ice Cream Is Delicious! Not A Bad Thing On The Menu!! read more

I tried this Mexican after the previous tip gave it a glowing review. Most Mexican food tastes the same to me, even though it's my favorite food. As a gluten free vegetarian, it's one of the few places its quite easy for me to overeat, although my options are still limited. I've eaten at most every Mexican place in Culpeper and Warrenton. This one gets the prize to date for most attractive. I was actually quite surprised by how attractive it was, and it was super clean too. Maybe it's a new place? Since I'm pretty new to the area, I think so but I'm not sure. I'd like to suggest a hook to hang purses in the bathroom, please. I know they probably read these reviews and plan accordingly to take out annoying reviewers, haha, but that makes it a great place to ask for small changes that patrons appreciate. I thought the service was good, and the lunch menu was $6.50 from 11-3. They were accommodating in giving me beans instead of beef in the taco and enchilada which I appreciated. The chips were not as good as I've had elsewhere, and the meal was about on par with what I've had locally. Nothing really jumped out at me as significantly better or worse. Since I have few choices, it makes it easier to compare apples to apples. Quantity was just about right, and so all things considered, this moves into the number one Culpeper spot for me. I'd say give this place a try next time you're in the area. read more

BEST MEXICAN FOOD IN CULPEPER--- If you are a Latino and truly know what our food tastes like, you will love this place, there's nothing like feeling yourself at home. Food is amazing the carne asada is so good( I'm really picky on this I don't approve any cheap steak) but this one is soooooo gooodddd! Totally approved! The chips the salsa everything is great. There's just 2 things I didn't like: 1) if you are not aware the waitress try to keep your change, like if you don't ask them for your change back they will totally keep it! 2) on Fridays and Saturdays it's impossible no eat there, or you should go if you are not really hungry and willing to wait for like an hour for your food (NO KIDDING) Like I said I really like the food here, so as long as you are aware of the tips I gave you, you will be fine ;) read more

See all

Very odd textured food. Guacamole was mixed with like whipped cream. Not a fan at all.

We had planned on enjoying an early dinner after enjoying a free 2 p.m. matinee this past Saturday at our local Library of Congress theatre, but thanks to the - ahem - government shutdown, which we'd both completely forgotten about, we were met by locked gates at the Library of Congress campus. Grrrrr. So, since we were both washed, pressed, & freshly-dressed, decided that we'd instead enjoy a late lunch/very-early dinner instead. Realized that we hadn't been to El Jaripeo in a long while, so headed over there. This time - more the wiser after our last visit a couple of years ago - we opted for the jumbo "Patron" Margarita ($10.50 ea.) instead of the less expensive "Texas" Margarita. Although both contain our preferred Grand Marnier as the orange liqueur element in the cocktail, we had found the "Texas" one a little on the weak side. But boy - the more expensive "Patron" version was right on target. Apart from our cocktails, as usual, ending up more expensive than our entrees, we had double shame - lol - as we seemed to be the only ones sucking down jumbo Margaritas at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. All adjoining tables seemed to be having water & soft drinks with their meals. Oh well - guess our dining-reputation die is cast - lol - but I simply cannot enjoy a nice Mexican meal out without a good Margarita on the side, regardless of the time of day. Two large glasses of lemon-spiked water were brought out along with fresh, thin, restaurant-style tortilla chips & a dish of very nice spicy salsa, although it did seem like the chips basket was a bit smaller than last time. Came out to about 8 chips apiece. For entrees, I - as usual - stuck with my favorite, the "Enchiladas Verdes" ($8.50), which still consists of two nice shredded-white-chicken-stuffed corn-tortilla enchiladas topped with a spicy green tomatillo sauce & accompanied by a little Mexican-style rice & refried beans. The rice was wonderfully not instant rice, which a lot of Mexican places seem to serve, & the refried beans were quite flavorful compared to what I've usually experienced. Still the usual puddle (which I do actually like), but a very flavorful puddle. This time husband opted for the "Enchiladas Poblanas" ($8.95), which was three white-chicken-stuffed enchiladas topped with a dark mole' sauce & accompanied by the same Mexican-style rice & a small sort-of salad of lettuce, tomatoes, & a dollop of sour cream. I didn't have a taste, but husband did like it & said that he'd order it again, so I assume it was good. Service was good, even though there were quite a few tables, including one large party, on a Saturday afternoon. Bottom Line: We'll be back, even if our drink order IS larger than our food order - lol! Everything was very good & very reasonably-priced for the quality. Very nice meal for just a little over $40. read more

We love going here for Mexican food but there is one other place that is more authentic and way cheaper (see another review from me). However, this place is great for a group or takeout. I love their queso (though watery when first delivered) and their fajita taco salad. Everything is always tasty and we get an endless supply of chips. Service can be hit or miss depending on the day. We have also gotten catering from them - now that was amazing. TONS of hot fresh food - enough for double the people stated on the catering menu. I will definitely be doing that again. read more

We'd been missing our tex-mex fix since Maria Bonita retired and sold their restaurant to a more traditional mexican business, so we finally decided to try El Jaripeo - and I'm so glad we did! I had the beef taco salad and it was fantastic. My only complaint would be that they don't use very much lettuce, but I will know for next time to request extra. Their guacamole is outstanding and portion sizes are very good. We will most definitely be ordering from here again. read more

My favorite Mexican restaurant! Not always the best service but great food and drinks. Been coming here for years!

Excellent price and serving size of lunch fajitas and carnitas. Food is served as soon as it is ready. Food has a great taste and flavor, even the refried beans. Guacamole is very fresh and very good. Excellent service. This is a must try if you are in Culpeper and you have a desire for Mexican food. read more

Very good Mexican food. This is my second visit and the food was very good. The service is good, but can be a little slow during the dinner rush. The salsa was spicy but not too hot or mild. This might become my go to Mexican restaurant. read more

2 stars for the really slow kitchen. It was busy, but not super-crowded. We stopped here because it was right off 29. That location should dictate the pace of the cooking. Travelers want their meals in a timely fashion. The food was good. Nothing out of this world, but good. No lime with my tacos which is weird if you're calling yourself an "authentic" Mexican restaurant. But hey... the margarita was great and the staff was friendly. read more

Great food on 3 different visits, really slow service on each of those visits. If they could get their service act together, they be in 4 star contention. read more