El Tipico - gstowne

This is possibly the worst restaurant I have been in my entire life. And I know for sure no other restaurants in the world are as bad as this. 1) food quality ———————— We ordered a meal, but the rice had a soap like smell, which we pointed out to the server. Despite our complaint, nothing was done to address the issue, and we couldn’t eat the rice. The salmon was also poorly cooked and unappetizing. My wife requested water, but the glass had small black particles in it. When we asked for a new glass of water, they brought back the same contaminated water. 2) bill fraud ——————— When it came time to pay, we noticed that the bill was much higher than expected. We had ordered items priced at $14 and $18, but the total came to $53. Upon requesting an itemized bill, we found that the prices had been changed from what was initially shown. They claimed the menu we saw was outdated. They refunded $5, but after leaving, I realized that even the corrected total was incorrect and should have been less than $40. Instead, I ended up paying $48, which included an $8 surplus. 3) dirty and smelly ——————————— The restaurant was noticeably unclean, and the smell of smoke permeated the air. 4) communication —————————— The server struggled to communicate and understand our requests, which made the dining experience even more frustrating. Overall, this was a terrible experience. The quality of the food, cleanliness of the restaurant, and service were all subpar. I strongly advise potential customers to be cautious and double check their bills if they choose to dine here. I hope the management takes serious steps to improve their service and transparency.

I absolutely regret this choice! The place it self is absolutely disgusting! You walk in and it stinks horribly, it’s very very dirty! It gave me haunted vibes! The food wasn’t that bad, just a little salty. What surprised me the most was the cost. My parents and I were in a trip and we decided to stop there, we got the menu and we saw the price to what we all ordered. We all got a $15 meal, mind you it was 4 of us we had to pay $120. Simple math 15x4 is 60. I don’t even want to get started with the service! It was a very terrible experience!! Definitely don’t recommend!!!!

People of Alexandria and all other hungry people near by considering to eat here, please take heed to the 1 star reviews and do not come here!I too am a victim of this restaurants shady practices and feel robbed of my hard earned money and dignity.I was at Home Depot down the street from this restaurant after a long day of work. I wanted pupusas so I googled pupusas and this place came up. Blinded by hunger I did not see the reviews before calling in an order of 4 pupusas to go (take out). The lady over the phone didn’t tell me how much nor how long it would take. Once at the restaurant the lady asked for my card and still didn’t tell me how much it would be. I didn’t think anything of it and gave her my card not knowing it would cost me greatly. As she was swiping my card, and forever changing my concept on pupusas prices, I thought to myself how much could it be, $11 perhaps if the pupusas are around $2.50 each like most restaurants. She then gave me my card back, but did not give me a receipt, so I kindly asked her “could I have a receipt please” in Spanish to avoid any confusion. She seemed reluctant, but gave it to me anyway. To my surprise the 4 pupusas came out to almost $20!! That’s absurd!! And to say the receipt was vague is an understatement. Now, the pupusas weren’t bad. The curtido had little to no flavor and they gave a little cup of sauce that did not taste good. Nonetheless, not worth it. Go to pupusa loca on Duke st and order huge pupusas for that price. Actually, for $20 order take out from red lobster down the street. Now, as for the sopa de gallina, lomo saltado or even the pretty girls that these “five star” reviews are raging about I can’t speak on but definitely don’t think it’d be worth going here for. Thanks but no thanks Aliyah Hall

It's a terrible service, that bitter woman charges you too much for tips! We went with my companions and just because he had something to eat from somewhere else I chased him away and told him to leave the restaurant! Besides, the food is ugly and the service that it gives it its name is terrible! I don't recommend that place!

Honestly only ended up here cause I had to make a delivery nearby and didn't feel like driving around. Pretty terrible experience, not many redeeming qualities. All the other reviews are true. Very shady with the bill but I just paid cash and noped out of there.The staff are weird and it always felt like they were waiting for me to leave. The restaurant itself feels like it hasn't been cleaned since the 1970s. The soup was at least hot, but I can't help but feel most of my meal was microwaves. After I left, I got McDonald's to satisfy myself.