This was once an excellent, premiere Mexican restaurant in cuisine, ambiance and service. However, changes in the menu and recipes have led to a dramatic decline in the quality and taste of the food. They have removed the beans from meals and replaced them with a shredded cabbage slaw with a sour dressing. The once outstanding Mexican rice has been replaced with a plain, bland beige rice clump. The creamy green sauce with melted cheese on the formerly delicious chicken enchiladas has been replaced with bits of tomatillo and a little baked dry cheese. Prices are still high but the food is much worse. Once a regular, I'm done with Uncle Julio's. read more

Came in during the afternoon around the holidays and it wasn't very busy. The service was fine and the food was okay a bit on the expensive side for TexMex. The disappointing part is that we asked for a booth when we came in and were told there were none available because they've been reserved, even though there were plenty of booths where no one was seated. When we left less than an hour later there were still plenty of booths available, so obviously it wouldn't have affected anyone to have given us a booth. I don't know what policy they have regarding seating but if there are booths available for customers they should be seated where they like. This isn't a michelin star restaurant so don't act like it is. Not coming back here. read more

The staff here are relatively friendly, though they aren't properly trained. The food is pretty terrible as well, and massively overpriced. If you're craving fake Mexican food, you'd be better served by visiting Taco Bell. read more

We had lunch at this place. The environment was welcoming, the dining area is big and decorated beautifully. Our waiter was good, based on his recommendation I ordered a guacamole and chips for starter. Guacamole was seasoned perfect. The chips were prepared at the restaurant, they were good but few of them appeared a little oily. I took my waiter's recommendation and ordered the shrimp tacos. He was spot on, the shrimp tacos were excellent choice. I loved the pineapples and the spicy habanero's, perfect combination of sweat and spicy. I would go again to this place for sure. read more

Uncle Julio's - Menue - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

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This place is entirely too expensive. The food is acceptable, but for some reason, they believe their food is worth 30-40% more than a typical Mexican restaurant. Do yourself a favor and stick to the neighborhood "hole in the wall" restaurants. read more

Nobody greeted us after being seated for 15 min. Waitress kept walking by our table and never acknowledged. Finally flagged her down and when we asked where the waiter is, she said she's the waitress but she's working her other tables.... This was 3pm in the middle of the day and restaurant wasn't even crowded. There were two others tables near us. We were never asked if we wanted anything to drink yet she kept walking past our table completely ignoring us. Waiters are lazy and racist and forget they are working for tips. We got up and left. Horrible customer service. Never again... read more

I'll start by saying the quantity of food for the price isn't a value by any means. We ordered fajitas for two, and maybe it's my big American appetite that ruined it, but it looked like a fajita plate for one. It didn't even come out sizzling and the steak was still raw on the inside (was I supposed to specify?). The chips are paper thin (zero idea how they could hold up to the overpriced guacamole), the salsa is basically oil and pepper - not chunky at all but a decent smoky flavor behind it. The steak and chicken on the fajita was seasoned well, and the dish was tasty (the tortillas are pillowy soft). They charge $10 for 3 shrimp....... And the beans are watery and had bacon in them (is that TexMex or..?) We will probably not eat there again - it's just not worth the money, especially when you can get legit Mexican cuisine for much less at any one of the authentic Mexican restaurants in the area. (Carne asada for $22?? .... No.) read more

Uncle Julio's - This is what a $45 plate of meat looks like - steak and chicken fajitas for two, add shrimp (for $10). - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

I've eaten here a couple of times now for lunch. A friend and I met here for lunch the first time. At that point they had been open perhaps a week. We sat at the bar. I ordered us a side of the Three Pepper spicy Guacamole and a Con Queso with ground beef. While we were waiting for that - we were served a basket of chips and salsa. The salsa was rather bland, thin, and watery. We told them it was not very spicy and they brought out a second different salsa that allegedly was made with Habaneros - it was much spicier! The guacamole and queso came out - both were rather tasty, especially the guacamole. Nice heat. The first time I ordered the Beef El Dorado tacos from the lunch menu. my friend ordered the fish tacos. When our food came out, they had my friend's order wrong and had brought him some grilled salmon. So they took the food back and remade his order correctly. The El Dorado tacos were rather ordinary and bland. Not much seasoning and flavor. Afterward the manager came by and apologized for the mixup and tore up our check. We were surprised but made sure we left a tip for the bartender - not their fault the kitchen botched the order. The second time I visited I once again sat at the bar and ordered the Mamacita's Lunch Nacho's - with grilled Fajita chicken and an extra side of Guacamole. There is a .99 cent charge for the extra guac. I also asked for hot sauce - the only options are Tabasco and Cholulu hot sauces. I wish they offered some much spicier hot sauce options. The nachos were actually pretty good. Each chip has some chili and melted cheese, with a strip of the grilled marinated Fajita chicken on it, and small bed of shredded lettuce with a dollop of sour cream and guacamole, and a few slices of Jalapeños... Service was good both times. There are at least two large flat panel HD TV's in the bar area along the back wall. At this point in time, there is no WiFi network available for customers. As far as cell service goes, at least on AT&T, there is a very poor cell signal inside the restaurant. read more

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Update to my last review. I have gone back several times for lunch, and I have to admit it was worth it. This is probably the only restaurant that I actually love the salsa, and I don't like salsa which says a lot. The food if very fresh and flavorful. The fajitas are amazing, but when I'm in the mood for something lighter I get the soft chicken tacos. During the pandemic I will admit the service and food quality was lacking but has very much improved since then. This is now, by far, one of my favorite places to eat. read more

Dirty dirty dirty !! When will this place get it together. The mane t and people are always changing, Employees chatting for more than 15 minutes against a wall very sad The food is great but staff is horrible Corporate needs to do something about this for a Sunday night it was slow and this is because of staff word does travel read more

Uncle Julio's - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

The WORST Uncle Julio's I've been to. My favorite is the one by Ballston in Arlington and I've been dining there for years. Unfortunately, this location is not a good one. I got the fajita steak fajitas (lunch portion is $16, so that's still pretty damn pricey for lunch) and the steaks were hardly seasoned or marinated, they had ZERO sear on them unlike what I'm used to at the Ballston location, and my entree didn't come sizzling. The guac and cheese didn't taste very fresh, the beans were on the salty side. The best thing about my dish, honestly, were my tortillas but those are hard to f*ck up. Sigh. Disappointing lunch, I was hoping this Uncle Julio's would be a good one but I left severely underwhelmed. read more

Uncle Julio's - Bland, no sear, no sizzle steak fajitas - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

Second time visiting. My kids like this place. I honestly don't see why. While the carne was juicy and tender, that was the ONLY item in my entire meal that was hot. Rice and beans were barely warm. The rice was very dry and, well, nasty. They do give you unlimited chips and salsa. The chips are a little oily, but they are tasty. I ordered sweet tea to drink, never got it. Server said they were out, they were brewing more, and she would bring it when it was done. I never saw it. I drank from my husband's soda. The green sauce on the enchiladas is disgusting. It was sour and bitter. To say this place is authentic Mexican is very far fetched. Beans tasted like they were from a can, and rice tasted prepackaged. It definitely wasn't made from scratch like they claim. The atmosphere is good. But they should be playing actual Mexican music, not music from other places. Like I said earlier, this was my second visit and won't be back again. Came back to give it another shot, cuz everyone has bad days. Not going to try again. read more

I haven't been to Uncle Julios in so long, for no particular reason other than we don't eat out very often and there just isn't one close to us. I went recently, and I'm not saying the food isn't spectacular, but I got fajitas. It's kind of hard to mess that up. What I will tell you is that the staff is amazing. The server was so kind and very intuitive, and the manager was just as amazing. The manager came over and checked on us and confronted a mistake before we even had a chance to say anything. They fixed the situation and made our experience spectacular, especially for my kids since we were celebrating two birthdays. We ended up going back a week later just because when we do go out, even though it's rare, we want to go somewhere that we know we will have a great experience! read more

Worst experience at a restaurant in a long time. We decided to eat at Uncle Julio's prior to attending a concert at Jiffy Lube Live. We sat at the bar and waited for at least 10 minutes before the staff acknowledged us. The bar seats were ripped and dirty. The restaurant was clearly under staffed on a Friday night. Multiple times we saw waiters on their cell phones instead of attending to patrons. When we received our silverware it was dirty. We actually had to get a waiter of his phone to bring over new silverware which he did not accomplish. The food was mediocre at best. This was a huge disappointment because the Uncle Julio's in Reston Town Center is fantastic. Clearly there is a management problem at this location in Gainesville. We will not be back. read more

Well uncle Julio is a franchise so they really have to stand in their service and hope to stand out. So, I had to write about my server at the Gainesville location, Keyri. Home gurl was in her game and se was all over the place. It just taking care of us but I constantly heard her offering assistance to those around her. Find her and annoy the food along with her services. She's good. We did have a couple of mishaps with margaritas but they finally got it right. Food was on point and the service was above and beyond. read more

Uncle Julio's - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

Horrible and expensive, the servers are just there for tips they don't care about the quality of service, the managers are useless including patty and Dustin, the bartenders are all back alley trained except Brian read more

Table side guacamole was very good. The rest of the food was pretty decent, but nothing outstanding. The classic taco salad was large and neatly presented. read more

Stopped in with a friend traveling for work. Really nice staff and the food was great! Will stop in again! read more

Uncle Julio's - Chicken Fajitas - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

Last Thursday was my family's first time visiting one of your establishments. Unfortunately, our experience from this visit has been absolutely subpar. We ordered the steak fajita bowl, two taco platter, 2 of the margaritas, in addition to a few other items. The margaritas was half filled, although very delicious, it was disappointing with the amount given. In addition, the steak fajita bowl was ineatable as the beans were old, dried out, and salty. The steak was undercooked and tough. The rice was flavorless, hard and old. Our son refused to eat the 2nd taco after the first one because he did not like the taste. Unfortunately, most of the food was not eaten and left on the table. In addition to the poor quality of food, the employees were unprofessional. Most of the staff members, including the bar tender and the two women clearing tables, was on their cell phone. We even had the privilege of listening to one ask her coworker "what the f*** are they still sitting outside for;" referring to guest eating on the patio. Mind you our two children was at our table and could hear. After spending over $100 on dinner, and not eating most of it, it is very disappointing and was a complete waste of money. We are new to the area and could not wait to try Uncle Julio's to celebrate us closing on our new home. Unfortunately with this experience, we will not be returning customers. I tried to contact costumer service twice and have heard no response. read more

Really love this place. I get the skirt steak fajitas and they're delicious. My server always sends me home with chips and salsa and I've never had any issues, just good food and a friendly atmosphere. read more

4 of us had dinner...really good "free" salsa and chips. Really good food, service was so so, not enough to subtract a star. Overall a good dining experience, will return....wish they had carnitas... read more

So I go to this Uncle Julio's and the one in Fairfax pretty regularly and the one in Fairfax is much better. This Uncle Julio's, the one in Gainesville, is so inconsistent, it's scary. One time it will be great while yet another time, it's just overwhelmingly unappetizing or frustrating. I've had orders taken wrong, I've been skipped over waiting for a table, and had food and debris in the bottom of my drinks as well as dirty silverware. The visit in this review is from the not-so-great visits. This one is crowded a lot, so when we arrived, we had to wait 20+ minutes for a table. It's pretty common, so no big deal. I ordered the the ground beef crispy tacos and substituted the refried beans with an extra order of rice (I'm not a refried bean fan). The server was generally inattentive and we only actually interacted with him maybe twice because it was a chore to even get the water refilled. When the food finally came, it looked good enough, but the first thing I noticed was the extra order of rice was missing. The food runner that brought us the food was nice enough to bring me more water and when he came back, I asked for the rice that was missing (the waiter as nowhere to be found). I grabbed one of the tacos and when I lifted it up, grease literally came out of the taco in a stream. When I grabbed the other ones, same thing. It was so unappetizing, I flagged down the food runner again so he could bring over a manager. When the manager came over, you could he was having a rough night and I actually felt badly for him. He asked if I wanted anything else, but I really didn't. We had waited so long and my friend was already part way through his meal, I just didn't to prolong this meal anymore. I think what put off was that he tried to explain that beef, when cooked, can get greasy. Really?!? I have literally had tacos at Taco Bell that had NOWHERE near the grease content of these tacos. In any event, the manager eventually came back over saying he had removed the meal from the bill. My buddy finished up his meal and we were ready to go when guess-who shows up? Our MIA waiter. Apparently he had no idea what had been going on, which makes sense since after he took our order, we never saw him again. What really irked me though was that he kept asking questions like, "Well, it's nothing I did, right?" and "You're not upset with me, are you?" to which I could only reply, "Not unless you made the tacos." In fairness, it's hard to be upset with someone you only saw once or twice through the whole ordeal - I think he planned it that way to be honest. Anyway, Uncle Julio's has been black-listed for a period of at least 30 days. read more

Uncle Julio's - The grease from the ground beef crispy tacos with rice. - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

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1st time eating here and Amazing Bud waited on me. Very Professional young man. Highly recommended read more

My daughter and I visited Uncle Julio's on 7/29/22. I was looking forward to enjoying the fajitas. Unfortunately, our food experience was disappointing. The tortilla chips served while waiting for the food were stale. The chicken fajitas came out quickly, however, the chicken was dry and blend. On top of that, they served grocery store flour tortillas. The fresh tortillas is one of the reasons we prefer Uncle Julio's over other Tex Mex restaurants. According to the waiter their tortilla machine has been broken for a while. I would have liked to be informed of this when I placed my order. At that point I could have made the choice to stay or leave. The only good thing about the visit was the waiter's customer service. The food was not worth the money. I could have gone to Taco Bell and gotten better food. Very disappointing! read more

We arrived at 8 for dinner. Our party of 5 was seated fairly quickly which is the only reason that they received a star. Upon seating we ordered 5 drinks including 2 Shirley Temples. Our chips arrived quickly. We then ordered guacamole for the appetizer as well as dinner. At that time we told our waiter that we would also want the Chocolate piñata for dessert. The guacamole did not arrive until moments before our dinners. The food was average. During the meal we ordered another cocktail which we never received. Our dinner was not cleared in a timely manner. Furthermore we reminded the server that we wanted the Piñata. We waited 30 min. For the piñata which had increased in price by $7 and decreased significantly in size. We were there for almost three hours! Worst dining experience in my life. read more

I think they changed the whole team and the prices. The service is horrible, taste is bad, food quality is below average! Ambiance is so bad, at the hotest days the whole restaurant is burning up, no cooling system in use. Prices went up significantly but the quality dropped significantly as well. Sad, we used to go there always. read more

We personally love Uncle Julio's and always rate my experience there, but I went for my sister's birthday and our waiter was really rude, did not smile, and gave us bad attitude when taking our order. She seemed like she was in a rush never let us ask what we needed. She took our plates away when we weren't even done. My cousin told her she wasn't done and slammed the plate done and almost spilled her drink on her. I feel like I wouldn't come to a party here again if the waiters are going to get the tip without even earning it. She did not make us feel welcome there. read more

Ordered to-go this time and the food was delicious per usual. I love their pinto beans and the carne asada was very flavorful. Loved the chips and salsa. Tasted very fresh. The rice was a bit too dry for my liking but it's fine. The guac also was just soso this time. read more

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Uncle Julio's def gets 1 star from me. We were seated immediately and served chips with salsa. Salsa was flat. No spice, no flavor. It didn't even smell like salsa. We received our drinks. That ice tea was brown water. I ended up getting a Dr. Pepper to replace it. I hadn't drink soda in years and that Dr. Pepper was the best part of my lunch today. I ordered a veggie quesadilla. My friend ordered chicken fajita quesadilla. We sat and joked around for a long time. I didn't check the time but it was long enough they brought us a second basket of chips. That's a lot of chips for two people, where's my order? It took a very long time. Luckily, our waitress was a peach. So nice and if it weren't for her, I prob would have had an attitude in there. My veggie quesadillas finally arrive. They're cut up into 8 little triangles and not even aligned top to bottom. I took a bite and just got onions and cheese. I took the top off. It was ONLY onions and cheese. I took ALL the tops off and they were ALL just onions and cheese. I told the waitress and showed her all my veggieless tortillas and she looked honestly surprised, I mean, she doesn't cook them, I can't blame her for it. She told me right away, she would have them remake it but after all those chips I really didn't even want it anymore so she took it off the bill. I asked my friend if there were veggies on his chicken fajita quesadilla and he took the top off..... chicken and cheese, folks. What a waste. I was disgusted this happened and I won't be back. Cheese and onion quesadillas. 2 freaking baskets of chips and we sat there forever. Terrible. read more

Uncle Julio's - Here they are with the tops off. NO VEGGIES IN THERE. Look at that huge chunk of onion. Digusting. - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

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Service is good, except the fajitas quesadillas didn't have peppers and onions in it. But the food was pretty meh at best, besides the kids chicken tenders they seemed to like them. This is definitely a one and done kind of place we won't be coming back. read more

Uncle Julio's - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

Service was absolutely awful. Avoid Omar as your server at all costs. We ordered two orders of Fajitas, and were not brought tortillas to be able to even eat our meal. We made eye contact with the waiter numerous times and attempted to flag him down, simply to be ignored. We had to ask another server for the manager and tortillas to be able to eat our food, but by then we had already been waiting 10 to 15 minutes, as our food became cold. The manager was super apologetic, and was very pleasant. However, afterwards, we were met with retaliation and attitude from the server Omar, asking why we were speaking to the manager. After we finished eating, we waited another 20 minutes or so, attempting to flag down our server so that we could just pay and leave after eating our cold food. We made eye contact, waved him down, and were straight up ignored. Overall, the absolutely awful service we received boiled down to Omar being downright disrespectful and inattentive. read more

I visit Julio's frequently, sometimes a couple days a week after work. The food is always fresh, and drinks are just what you need after a long day. Laci is amazing! She has a great attitude, and always has a smile on her face. She knows just what you need every time. I would highly recommend if you need good food, drinks and even good company find yourself a seat at the bar when she is working and I promise you will leave there happy! Love the environment and the staff! read more

Professionalism at it's finest and speedy service. Rick gave us several recommendations and all were outstanding choices. We definitely admired that he was able to multitask and check on our table frequently. The food was hot and tasty. read more

Had the worst chicken enchiladas tonight. I'm pretty sure it was canned chicken. The beans were inedible. Will not be going back here again.

The host girl have a terrible attitude, she looks like she wanna be at home but not at work, if she doesn't love her job she should quit

Service is horrible, we've been neglected, and treated like we are a burden. Andrew is marginal at best, as a manager. Nothing like having a lackluster manager stand over you and talk to you like you're a child. read more

Everytime I come here, the experience is terrible. Food was cold and subpar, waiter was sassy when I mentioned my dietary restrictions, restaurant smelled like body odor, and our table and seats were dirty when we got seated. I've worked in a restaurant, and I cleaned both the table& seats along with the floor before calling it "clean". Don't bother going here. Go to the Fairfax one if you really want Uncle Julio's food. read more

Took 2.5+ hours to seat us after telling us it was approximately 35 min because they somehow forgot that we had been waiting? Our server was super sweet and swamped but her co workers were useless. She was clearly busy with multiple tables but there was literally a small army of people standing around doing nothing. The place smelled like vomit. I saw our drinks made and left at the bar and no one brought it over for 20 minutes. They ran out of watermelon margaritas and just brought us blackberry margaritas in replacement without first notifying us or asking if that was an ok replacement. Our "guacamole" was straight up a single solid unripe piece of avocado that a spoon couldn't even get through. I don't expect much from a chain but wow still awful. read more

First time coming here and Mitchell the manager made it a wonderful experience for my family and I despite the long wait we experience--he took care of us. The food is delicious and their kitchen is open for you to see how your food is cooking. The ambiance is nice but it reminds me of a Italian theme than Mexican. I like their outdoor seating. read more

Uncle Julio's - Chicken platter - Mexican Near Me - Gainesville, Virginia

I wanted to celebrate my daughters graduation and someone suggested Uncle Julio's. It was our first time there and the food was so tasty and delicious. Each bite I took it melted in my mouth. My daughter kept saying, "Mom, this is so good". We both agreed that we never had any food like this that was so authentic and tasted amazing. We had a great time and we will be returning. The waiter was also very friendly and provided great customer service. read more