Puente De Oro - Salvadorian and Mexican food, Fairfax, VA

10312 Willard Way

Fairfax, VA 22030
Tel: (703) 691-3232

Puente De Oro recently moved down the street from a different Fairfax location, presenting itself as more of a family restaurant, rather than the sports bar it used to be. We've never been to the previous location of Puente De Oro, but were encouraged to visit this new location by the Yelp reviews... ok, there were only seven of them, but they were all five-stars, and it's been a while since we ventured out for Central American cuisine, so we headed out here.

As everything is relative, some of the Yelp reviews pointed to the fact that the previous restaurant in this same location was pretty bad. We've never visited the previous restaurant in this location, but can definitely see how there are at least a few aspects of the New Puente De Oro that are quite appealing.

The Pros: There is ample parking in this Safeway/CVS plaza. The restaurant is large... with two equal-size rooms separated by a clear glass wall. Television sets line the walls to keep diners updated on everything from news to sports. All-wood dining booths and long bar tables are all roomy and comfortable. Happy hour specials abound and the prices are very reasonable. Portions are large, more than enough to share or for doggie bags.

The biggest Pro is the greeting and wait Staff, which is clearly the best asset of Puente De Oro - they are all friendly with bright shining smiles, making you feel like the most wanted guest in the restaurant.

All those things are great and almost sufficient reason to dine here, if you're in the area.

The Cons: Food is "not bad," but to those of us who prefer more bolder stronger flavors, this is definitely not the place to go. Salsa that accompanies chips is EXTREMELY BLAND... Without a sizeable dose of hot sauce that is on the table, it is a warm, tasteless tomatoey mush.

Admittedly, good ceviche is difficult to find, so we had to try it here, especially since one of the Yelp reviewers recommended it. In conclusion, we'd have to say, keep moving.... nothing to see here on the ceviche front. We asked for the ceviche to be served without shrimp, and told by our waitress that this was no problem, sure enough the ceviche came out with shrimp, but it was hidden on the bottom....

Chicken tacos were the blandest thing that probably ever existed in the universe of Latin American food.....

We came here with a group of friends, so while we have photographs of various dishes, we did not taste all of them. Most of the feedback on the food was that it was good or ok, not sure if it was out of politeness or because the meat seasoning on the Mixed Grill entrees was better than on anything that we ordered....

The worst thing on our table was the Fried Yucca dessert with molasses syrup. You'd think that anything fried and served with syrup could never disappoint... yes it could! There was not a single person in our group who liked it and we ended up leaving most of it on the table....

Since Puente De Oro has no website and no menu online, we can't even tell you the names of all the dishes, but at least we can show you what the look like. 

Also, Yelp lists this restaurant as serving Salvadoran and Spanish food, but their menu clearly says they serve Salvadorian and Mexican food....

It is a shame that the restaurant does not take its online absence or its consistency in marketing seriously.

Our server Ileana was very sweet, efficient and helpful in recommending various dishes. She was really the highlight of the visit here.

Even though our experience was - not bad - it is unlikely that we'd ever return.

 Ample seating in bar area

Ample seating in dining area

Ceviche ($10.95) with a Happy Hour Dos Equis Beer ($1.50)

 Chips and Salsa

 Front Cover of Menu

 Wide selection of food either a la carte or as larger entrees

 Mixed Grill

 Salvadorian Fish Dish recommended by the server

 Charcoal Mixed Grill

 Stew

 Corn Tamale with Crema ($2.50)

Chicken Tacos ($8.95)

Fried Yucca Dessert

Sarita's Salvadorian Restaurant - Falls Church, VA

2794 Graham Rd

Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 533-9448

To the best we could tell, Sarita’s caters to the local Salvadoran community, providing a comfortable atmosphere with familiar fare. For us, however, Sarita’s was a disappointment.

Not sure why www.yelp.com and some other websites list Sarita’s as a Mexican restaurant. It is not. It may be Latin, but not Mexican, at least as we're used to Mexican (see Anita's, El Paso, Tequila Grande or even El Tio),  We went in there thinking it was, but after seeing the menu and tasting the food, we asked the staff, and they confirmed that it is a Salvadorian restaurant.

Let’s start with the cafeteria-like décor. The plastic tablecloths and the dingy furniture, walls and floors were an immediate turnoff.

The dinginess would have been ok if it was compensated by the quality of food and the service. It was not.

The service was pleasant, but clearly serving English-speaking clientele is not the restaurant’s priority. Our waitress was sweet, but rather clueless and definitely inattentive. The few staff hunkered around the bar area chatting with customers who came in after us, no one approached our table to ask us about our meal. The water wasn’t refilled. We felt like we had to pull teeth to get any attention.

As for the food, it was disappointing both in taste and presentation. The bottomless chips were rather greasy and the salsa was tasteless. We had to mix it with the tobasco sauce on the table to give it some flavor. The nacho plate we ordered was a slopyy, soggy mess, as you can see in the photo. The chicken tortillas were blah to say the least. Mushy meat and soft tortillas (plain pupusas) left a lot to be desired. The chicken stew was barely at all a stew, as you can see on the photo. Again, tobasco sauce to the rescue.

If Sarita’s offered a better dining experience the prices, which are rather average to an ethnic dive, would not have been so insulting. But we felt that we paid way too much for the mediocre quality of lunch we had at Sarita’s.