Picante

We have been visiting Picante for 16 years. We love it! The service is incredibly fast and the food is consistently good. I love the cheese enchiladas and the Ensalada Verde. My husband is a fan of the burritos and the fajitas.

The service was slow. It took about 15 minutes to get water. Our waitress was friendly but was no where to be found when we wanted drink refills. We ordered the lunch specials and the food was below average. Overall the food was bland. We wish the menu included more detail. I would not eat here again.

My husband and I had dinner and did some salsa and bachata dancing here last night. We enjoyed the food (especially the queso fundido with everything!) Our waiter was attentive and polite and was helpful with suggestions. We had a great time at the dance lessons with the option of both Salsa and Bachata instructors. There was a large crowd here on a Friday night. I am happy to know I don’t have to all the way into Arlington to get my Latin dancing shoes out!

We went here for a family dinner and 4 out of 5 of us LOVED the food. The portions are pretty big and our server was friendly.

Average Mexican food. Not great by any means. We ordered veggie Fajita, and it was tasteless. Chips and Salsa was good.

What a great, welcoming restaurant! The food is delicious, the staff friendly and the atmosphere is bright and upbeat! I’m so glad we found this place on our way home from my husband’s work! Definitely somewhere to come often!

Four of us ate dinner and all came away knowing we had a good meal with two of us taking home leftovers.
My polo chipotle dinner, with great flavor, came with a very tasty soup and ended with a piece of rich chocolate cake.
One of the other diners had fajitas that was both high in quantity and very enjoyable.
The other two meals were equally tasty.
The décor was nothing great but tasteful with several display cases of many varieties of tequila. Worth sampling some at the next visit. The place was clean including the restroom.
A couple of small knocks and those are chips that were just common and no milder sauce. Also we were seated at a table that pinched us.
Worthy of another visit.

My first dining experience at Picante occurred just a few days ago, as my husband and I were craving some good, authentic Mexican food in our neck of the woods. After reading the Unilocal reviews, we were cautiously optimistic that we may have stumbled upon a neighborhood gem. Unfortunately, after eating the cuisine, this wasn’t the case.
The good: loved the house margaritas – well-​priced and strong, and my husband enjoyed the mole enchiladas with chicken, the service was also decent
The bad: I ordered one of the cheese enchiladas with red sauce and a spinach enchilada, and as somewhat of a connoisseur of vegetarian enchiladas, both were some of the worst enchiladas I have ever eaten. The fillings were bland on each one, but more importantly, the respective sauces were incredibly tangy and watery. I think both sauces could’ve been instantly improved had the chef just poured on some Old El Paso canned enchilada sauce. Additionally, the house salsa that is complementary with your meal was too spicy for a generic salsa and a bit too authentic for our taste buds.
Due to the «bad,» my husband I won’t be back to Picante and will continue exploring other Mexican neighborhood options!

I have been meaning to eat at Picante for awhile now! Finally made it at 3:00PM on a Sunday. Wow! I couldn’t believe the food and quality of the meats. Very Tasty and the serving sizes are quite filling. We ended up taking home much of it.
Dine in. Nice atmosphere. Can’t wait to return for Salsa night! Arriba!
Mixed Nacho Plate. Alot of food. Steak and Chicken was super yummy. Not typical pile of nachos with stuff poured over. Individual large chips with a generous portion of cheese, beans, guacamole, and meat. I was happily stuffed before meal even arrived.
Tacos Al Carbon. Being a Texas native (Tex-​Mex food) I was excited with anticipation and was pleased. Generous portions of steak, yummy flavor. Did add just a bit more salt to food because I like more on the salty side. Delish Guac and Pico de Gallo
Chicken Fajitas (for one). Yummy grilled vegetables and same type of comments from above. Delish Guac and Pico de Gallo. Chicken had good flavoring to it.
Kids Meal Grilled Cheese Sandwich. What a sleeper! My kid loved it. If I wasn’t so stuffed from the nachos and Al Carbon, I would have dived into my kids’ grilled cheese. Three layers of bread and cheese oozing out from the sides. So mouth watering.
Overall: Staff very pleasant and prompt with recommendations and to-​go containers for remainder of food. Tres Leches Chocolate cake was a hit with spouse and kid. I’m not a dessert fan, but they inhaled it, even after being stuffed from other foods.
Ambiance was original, clean, and festive.
Staff courteous, helpful, and kind.
Prices: I think great value for what you get!
So glad I finally visited Picante! You, will be too!

What a pleasant surprise Picante was! To be honest, from the signage out front I expected a faster food Mexican type place. I had no idea that Picante was a family owned business that has been in the business of serving up some pretty decent food for the last 20+ years.
My husband and I stopped by on a Thursday evening. We weren’t hungry enough for full blown meals, but wanted some nachos to share after a stop at another business nearby. We were greeted immediately and since we were just snacking asked to sit at the bar. That was a bit of a mistake as the bar was a bit too high for the chairs making for a somewhat uncomfortable dining experience, but not so bad we asked to move. I would highly recommend a table.
The menu was huge. Although we knew what we wanted — steak fajita nachos — we took some time to look over the menu to get an idea of the offerings. After trying the nachos, I am eager to come back and try a meal. That plate of nachos was more than enough for the two of us to share. I think they used an entire steak on this one plate. The steak was flavorful and tender without being too salty. Although they do not offer tableside guacamole, what was offered was tasty.
We also enjoyed a couple margaritas. Picante has 120 different tequilas, to include several I have never seen before (and I thought I knew my tequilas fairly well). The margaritas tasted as if they were freshly prepared rather than using a store bought sour mix. I’ve seen some comment that they were too limey, but my husband and I enjoyed them. Kudos to Sarah for the great drinks and the recommendation for another tequila that saved us a few dollars on each without compromising quality.
Berta spent quite a bit of time telling us about the business and some of the events they offer. Salsa lessons on Tuesday I believe and Salsa dancing on Fridays. If I wasn’t a klutz with two left feet, I might consider going. Before we left, she also gave us a cute Mexican themed plate celebrating their 20^th year in business.
Berta and Sarah (I hope I got the names right) were really sweet and welcoming. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Picante and will be back to sample some more tasty Mexican dishes!

Picante! Has the most amazing salads. When I am doing low carb, I order the grilled vegetable salad with my choice of meat. Nobody has anything like this salad.

Solid Mexican food at very reasonable prices. I love their white tres leches !
They are a little bit hard to find … Call for directions.

Spicy delicious hot damn. Great find. Don’t let the Baha Fresh looking sign fool you. Terrific food and service. And fast for a Friday night!

The staff at this restaurant is so sweet and attentive! If you go there frequently, they recognize you when you come in, know your usual order, and are always super friendly.
Their wet bean and cheese burritos are the bomb— a classic staple with really good red enchilada sauce. You get a lot of food for the price, and they have pretty good daily specials.
They have a really extensive menu I’ve been meaning to try but every time I come in I go for the burrito because it’s so good! :)

More like 3.5 stars, but rounded up to 4. The food is pretty good.
Trying to find good Mexican food in the DMV area is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Coming from the West coast, nothing has even come CLOSE to the taste of home.
Picante!, on the other hand, is surprisingly good in comparison to what is available in the area. I ordered delivery and they were on time and polite.
* The Picante Sample platter — a combo of apps for the indecisive consisting of Nachos especiales, tamales, flautas, veggie quesadilla & chile con queso — is quite tasty. While it will not feed 5, as the menu says (maybe 2 – 3??), the taste is definitely there.
*The tortilla soup is more soupy than thick (what I’m used to), but it’s also good.
*The spinach burrito is HUGE, but you pay extra for the cheese/​lettuce/​tomato, which is standard in most burritos elsewhere.
*Chihuahua cheese comes from the milk of chihuahua dogs — if it’s authentic, and I always opt out of this type of dairy
*The chocolate tres leches cake is extra sweet and very filling and plenty for 2 people (and I’m not often one for sharing desserts). They did *not* include the fresh fruit topping from the description, less ½ star.
*They did include a massive amount of tortilla chips, which was a nice gesture.
*Delivery fee of $ 3.00 — a bit much? (less ½ stars)
The prices are higher than other local Mexican fare (less ½ star), but the quality of the food (including the meat and chicken that was included in the Picante Sampler platter) were good enough that I’d order from this place again and maybe even try the restaurant in person.

I’ve been eating at this place for 10+ years and I feel terrible that I haven’t posted a review. I’ve recommended this place to friends, family, and co-​workers. The menu is rather large and they have a good variety. I will admit I haven’t made a dent in trying out the expansive menu, but I will at least provide my insights on what’s good and perhaps what you should skip (although not much).
I last ate here about a week ago. My newest favorite and now go to is the tacos al carbon. They serve it on a skillet (sort of like fajitas minus the fajita toppings). I order it for two and can easily get two additional meals after taking it home. The burritos are also good, although I will say I’m not a fan of the chicken burrito, the last time I had it was made with pulled chicken and was rather bland. The bean and cheese burritos are excellent. I can only get through half a burrito. The fajita tacos are also excellent, I’ve only had the chicken but the tortilla is stuffed with meat and of course peppers and onions. The nachos are ok, my hubby likes them, to me they are a bit too heavy, they’re good but I’ve had better elsewhere.
They also have a good drink selection the large margarita is huge, so if you’re not driving drink up. If you are driving I suggest sharing with someone else or get the smaller sized one. They do have salsa dancing on Friday nights on the bar side of the restaurant. I normally come here for lunch though on the weekends which its not too busy. Never had to wait for a table here.

I went to the restaurant last night for dinner with my daughter and I felt fooled by the staff. I order the fish veracruzana that is a classic Mexican I ask what kind of fish they use and the lady responded grouper! and I order it. Came the dish and the sauce was well made but the fish was tylapia a difference easy to recognize by my palate since I cant stand the muddy taste of that farm raised cheap fish and I do know my grouper. I told the waiter but the cook denied the scheme, we did not ate it but they charge the 15 dollars anyway.
If anyone concern with this restaurant read this I ask you to please dont try to fool the American people you know you can’t fool a Mexican.

Originally came here because DC Paint Nite was held here. I ordered their margarita and it was okay. It just tasted really limey in my opinion. After painting, my friend ordered fajitas. I only tried a bite, but the meat was tender and it seemed to be flavorful.
One thing I didn’t like was that it was crowded with all the people from paint nite and the waitresses didn’t seem to care about the space. Meaning every time I stood up to go somewhere they just pushed through and when I looked at them they were like «oh, excuse me.» I’m like uh, okay? I will be back to try the food some day… I’ll update my review then…

The food is pretty good here. I come here a few times a month. Sometimes it’s phenomenal sometimes it’s alright. The service has always been good and the portions generous. Except last night they were really stingy with the guacamole. Which is surprising because all of the local grocery stores have had sales on avocados. And I am not aware of any droughts…

The food was ok, but I left disappointed that both items I ordered came different than described in the menu. The Tacos Al Pastor were tasty, with plenty of meat and toppings. A few complaints: 1) some actual pineapple in the meat would have been nice, 2) the menu didn’t state that you had to assemble your own tacos (I would have chosen something less messy), and 3) I found out later that they were supposed to come with frijoles a la charra, which were never brought out.
I got the Valentina for dessert, which is supposed to be white cake, but the one I got was chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, and the cake’s consistency reminded me of a frozen Pepperidge Farm cake from Giant (not good). My friend got the Vanilla Blossom, which was a definite improvement. He wants to go back for dessert again, but I wasn’t all that impressed by the experience.