California Tortilla

Well my boyfriend told me Cali Tort sucks. I should have believed him, but I wanted to give it a chance. I came in on a random Monday afternoon to a dead restaurant. No acknowledgement. I order the screamin California burrito and a side of chips & salsa. $ 10 bucks. This better be amaze.
Once you order, I guess you’re supposed to go through the assembly line, like Subway, and be offered toppings and options. None of that happened. A woman, who didn’t speak English, slopped some pico and cheese on, skipping through most of the toppings that I wanted. Once I realized what was happening, I started speaking up and telling her what I wanted/didn’t want. The attitude on her was unreal. I mean, can I get some cilantro please? Can I tell you I don’t want queso and sour cream in my burrito? Jeez.
For $ 2, my chips & salsa was a bag of chips with a very small ramiken of salsa. I asked for another ramiken of salsa. Eyerolls for everyone! Is there a problem here? What’s it to you if I want another salsa?! Like really. They must hire literally anyone, because there is a MAJOR service problem.
Once I got home, I was disappointed to find that the salsa was completely soured (which means the workers left it out too long/​overnight) and it was inedible. The actual burrito was fine, a little too rice heavy, but again, that’s the result of service, not product. I have to say, as far as food quality goes, it wasn’t too bad, but you cannot overlook the horrendous service and service issues here associated with quality. Chipotle wins.

So what makes sense would be to compare this to the bigger national chains: chipotle, qdoba and moe’s. I found California Tortilla perhaps in the same league as Moe’s but would absolutely rather eat a burrito at Qdoba or Chipotle. Not only are the ingredients here lower quality (cilantro with full stems, weird hard pieces in my chicken, a guacamole that looks like it was mixed with tomato or salsa, sour cream out of a tube, I could go on), but the prices are actually higher than the bigger chains by roughly 20%. So what exactly am I paying that premium for? The burritos wholly lacked in flavor, even basic salt. We won’t be headed back

Food is good. Service is okay. To the young lady making the food — It’s okay if you don’t understand what I’m saying to you, but don’t ignore me because of it. Get someone who speaks English to help me. It’s infuriating to be ignored. By the way, I only speak English and I respect you for trying to succeed in a foreign place. I’m not certain I could do the same.

Great for families and kids! Perfect for when you want quick and not too expensive, but don’t want fast food.

I got a free birthday brito. First a staff is not sure about this deal and the manager came out. I wonder I’m the first one to take the deal there???
Taste: Delicious! Fresh! California something is the best. Korean is pretty good too. I wish they put more lettuce or some vegetables.
Price: Brito is usually $ 6.99. many things under $ 10.
Unique: They have a hot sauce shelf. They put heat levels too. Many kinds. I wish I had one like that at home.
Interior: Like energetic South America!
Staff: Not friendly but nice enough.
Parking lot: Tons free parking spots in front of the restaurant.
Thank you;q

OK, the suckage is strong at this place.
In an attempt to hop on the «hip» trend of Asian tacos, this place is now trotting out a «Korean BBQ Burrito» (and tacos). According to the menu, this creation includes a «choice of grilled Mesquite chicken, pork or steak (+$.60), rice, fajita veggies, sweet and spicy Korean BBQ sauce, crisp slaw, Sriracha chili sauce and cilantro.»
So what I got was a burrito with cold and tough chunks of chicken and a whole lot of (cold) rice, onions and peppers. WTF is this? There was barely a drop of «sweet and spicy Korean BBQ sauce» and no slaw or Sriracha sauce added at all. You call this Korean? I call this crap.
Seriously, this place is just coasting on its name and has no interest in serving you good (or even hot) food. Avoid, people.

I like the wide variety on the menu, and the food is good for the price. Would be a ⁴⁄₅ stars, however…
They need to up their service and cleanliness standards. They seem to let the place go to hell throughout the day and then do a big cleanup after dinner. This is unacceptable — there should be continuous cleaning throughout the day so later diners don’t have to walk through filth. I often come in around 7:30pm or 8pm — two hours before closing — and there is food and trash all over the floor and tables, with mop buckets out like the place is closed. I’m generally «all about the food,» but this is needless.

Some of the best food you will ever eat and definitely better than chipotle. However this location is absolutely filthy. I am almost concerned about the handling of the food. I’ve been here quite a few times day and night and the floors, tables and counters are absolutely disgusting and not indicative of restaurants in this area of Alexandria. Please make adjustments.

Decent food but service poor. The person behind me ordered the same thing as me yet they made hers first and then acted as if they never got my order and rushed to make my meal. Disappointed.

Poor quality food and service and higher price by 15% compared to chipotles nearby. not clean premises. very dusappointing

I love California Tortilla and I love THIS California Tortilla. Great healthy options and interesting choices. Traditional things like tacos and burritos, great salads, and «bowls» with meat, rice, and lots of veggies. I eat heresy least twice a week.

I’m a fan of California Tortilla — just not this location.
The staff seemed fairly disorganized on my recent visit and they’ve been open long enough to work out the major kinks. Plus my chips were stale and sadly my guac browning. Wish I’d opened the container before I got home. Guess I’ll go back to visiting one of the other locations. Shame as this was so convenient to home.

This is a standard mediocre place for lunch/​dinner and especially a quick lunch to grab with coworkers. They have a lot of variety, but that doesn’t translate to better quality. I think chipotle is better than this chain. California tortilla wins for more choices — they have queso and a variety of salsas. Customer service was subpar at this location. Portions are bigger at chipotle in regards to bowls.
Overall, not terrible. But I’d go to chipotle over this. Simplicity and better quality make chipotle a better choice I think.

food is good, the service was fine nothing special. the parking at this location is very scarce, you have to park a block away if there’s no spaces in the tiny parking lot that services a Starbucks, Teds grill, two other restaurants and a cold stone.
we ate a quesadilla, and two tacos that we both made into combos (drinks& chips with salsa) and our bill was $ 20. my boyfriend loves this place, but I think it’s a bit over priced. you order at a counter then they call your number for you to come up and get.