Tortilla Cafe

I don't think I actually understand what it means about a restaurant to be on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives but I do know tortilla cafe was - I really hope this spot maintains steady foot traffic and avoids the eastern market local restaurant shut down curse - a small, easy to miss, counter service, local spot with a large EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE menu of Mexican & El Salvadoran dishes. seats about 20ish people.- I got the 1/2 chicken plate ($12!) and my dining companion got the texmex burrito ($11!). you can make most dishes "platters" but adding on 2 sides such as refried beans, yucca, rice, etc - this chicken was soooooo moist. the skin was salty and the seasonings sank into the meat. their signature jalapeno sauce was a thick perfect mix of creamy smooth and tang - I'm always going to love a place where I can get a plate of just chicken lol. like let's be real. but the woman behind the counter was so sweet and the food came out quickly so extra points- the burrito was OK. insane to get a burrito with chicken, steak, and shrimp for under $12. the pico was clearly homemade but the flavors of the burrito itself weren't too unique or amaze.

What a sad progression (see my other reviews! TC has long been a top 5 DC favorite) -- Tortilla Cafe continues to plummet in quality from what it once was. The change of ownership a few years ago meant higher prices for the same menu, which was understandable. But the consistency of the food itself, the service, and more recently, the cleanliness has continued to go downhill.Today I stopped by to grab a chicken burrito to go with a side of jalapeño sauce. Didn't check my order until I got in the car because I had an overtired toddler in tow, and I was unfortunately busy stopping my kid from grabbing the dead cockroaches on the floor of the restaurant. When I hungrily started eating my burrito in the car, I was bummed they forgot the jalapeño sauce I paid for, but that's forgivable. Worse was the multiple pieces of long hair I found in my burrito, which combined with the roaches on the floor may have turned me off of one of my oldest favorite DC eateries forever.

This restaurant in the Capitol Hill area has Good food good customer service, healthy portions. They also have breakfast for very expensive prices.

This is not it. These chicken strips are dry and distasteful. It's just disgusting. Did not eat

A staple on the Hill. The food is fresh, clean, fast and reasonable price. Always a go to for me

I wanted to love it, I did. I personally think the menu should be much smaller. I don't think they should offer Mexican because it doesn't deliver:/ I ordered the fajitas, and I was very underwhelmed. I'm Mexican, I know what I dig. I appreciated the effort, but this was a miss for me.I think they should perfect their pupusas, and make that their focus:)

Great place for the location and the low prices. The lady at the front was very nice and sweet, as well as the guy who brought out my order. The pupusas were good and I liked my entree too. I'd come back!

Small restaurant. Not suitable for large parties. Nice customer service. We ordered:Cheese pupusa - came out fresh and the cheese was stretchy when you took your first bite. Pork and cheese pupusa - also came out fresh and had more flavor than the cheese because of the pork.Chicken tamale - I actually ordered the pork but the chicken came out. I didn't care to complain because i didn't want to have to wait. It was good. The masa was not dry and crumbly. Even when you put your fork in to break apart, it seemed dry but when you're actually eating it, it was moist and almost pasty texture. I enjoyed it. Oh and it's Salvadoran tamale so it's bigger than what you're used to.

This is a nice little cafe selling Mexican and Salvadoran food. We ordered a pork and cheese pupusa but we couldn't find or taste any pork inside it which was odd. Similarly with the spinach and feta empanada that only had spinach and no feta. Regardless, the food itself is good but it didn't leave a good enough impression on me to come back.They really need some AC inside. It was a very hot day and the heated store makes the wait seem so much longer than it actually was.All food will be given in take away containers which doesn't seem environmentally friendly. I'm hoping this is only done whilst the covid restrictions are still in place for DC.

Under older ship it was delicious food however a waitress is picking your pimples while she was asking us what we wanted and I told the management and a snobby customer heard it and lied about me I didn't like that