Olla Cafe & Bar

Family loves all the food here. Popular place! Come and try it. You will not be disappointed

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Birria Tacos, Paella, Cheese Pupusas, Carne Asada, Pupusa, Tres Leches

I've only been once (well twice), and I'm willing to have my mind changed. So many people like this place.

First time: My friend and I went years ago when they first opened (post covid) and ordered Birria Tacos to go, took them home and ate. Not great at all. Flavor was very good, but everything was soggy because they put the tacos in a sea of juice and grease instead of putting the sauce (juice and grease) into a separate lidded container.
Lesson: Don't get Birria tacos to go.

Second time: Another friend and I went and ate there. Was extremely crowded. We ate outside, it was nice. He has something with 5 different kinds of meat/seafood and said it was very good. I had the Lomo Saltado. It was mediocre, at best. Wayyyy too much soy sauce. Tasted Chinese instead of Latin. The peppers (green bell) and onions were such tiny slivers I almost thought there were none. The meat was an OK quality but not melt in your mouth. The French fries were ok, but not great. I ate about 2/3rds of it. Wasn't worth stuffing myself for sure. Every other Lomo Saltado I've EVER had was miles above this one. I give a D for that particular meal. And I've had many a Lomo Saltado in Northern Virginia. It's my all time favorite Central/South American dish except for Mojarra Frita (whole fried trout) at the Margarita Grille in Burke, VA. <- THAT is awesome, melt in your mouth, celestial, as long as they don't overcook it. I just tell them to be sure not to.

SO... the jury is still out. Price of each dish was $20. More than I wanted to spend but I know prices have gone up in the last year in general. Everything is more expensive. Service was decent. Outside always seems to get slower service for some reason. Atmosphere was good outside. Inside it was crowded and loud - too much IMHO.

It will probably be several more years before I spend that $ and try that restaurant again. There are other places I know I like a lot better, like Don Chema's.

Although... I might look up the price of the pupusas here and try them sometime soon, (pupusas should be cheap. ~ $3 each; unless they are absolutely to die for) but if their pupusas don't cut it, I'm done. 😆

Oh, it was Wednesday night when we went.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

get the birria tacos. get the horchata. have zero regrets. best place for both of those things!! also, the staff make it super easy to place an order over the phone

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The BEST!!!! Birria tacos and chips in the area hands down!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Street tacos are awesome!!!

I hate to leave a review, cause this place is everyone's favorite secret.. its tucked in to a strip mall and it is always packed. Horchata was perfectly sweetened and strained... paella had the perfect proportion of rice to seafood. Highly recommend.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Cute place- they definitely should get a bigger location because their food is amazing and they deserve to have their restaurant full! Wonderful service and amazing food. Ran out of the tequila we wanted but definitely have a lot more options than other places. They are also one of the few that will make a pineapple 🍍 margarita.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Birria Tacos, Pupusa, Pupusas Revueltas

Delicious, fresh, homemade food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great Authentic Latin food. Good atmosphere…

ordered pupusas at Olla Café. They arrived hot. I took a bite.
For a moment, I forgot my own name.
Cheese stretched so far I thought I was in a dairy-themed Olympic event. The filling was so good, I briefly considered adopting a Salvadoran grandmother.
The pupusa didn’t ask for thanks, but it deserved it.
I finished, stared at my empty plate, and felt both full and betrayed that it was over.
Five stars. Excellent pupusas. Would let them emotionally ruin me again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Best pupusas in Stafford/Fredericksburg area!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Birria Tacos, Cheese Pupusas, Pupusa, Empanadas, Taco De Calle Street Tacos

The food is amazing, the atmosphere is out of this world. The chef loves what he does and he has done everything he can to make a small space into a whole different world. I have seen some reviews about the service, I’ve eaten here for almost 2 years now and it is extremely rare that I have gotten a bad server, I’ve also gotten the chance to talk with the manager and they’ve expressed that they are taking every recent review seriously so they can make the changes needed. now everyone has their days for sure but I’ve also noticed that the manager and her team are doing everything they can to make mine and many other customers food and dining experience the best!
I love eating here and I will recommend this place to anyone that asks me where to eat. I hope they stay in business for a very long time as they are one of the few that’s bringing life to their area. Thanks for being the great small business that you are!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Poor service overcharged me on drinks and told me their house liquor is the same price as their top shelf liquor which i know is b.s explains why it was empty

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

Latin kitchen with heavy American influence. The teenage server didn’t speak Spanish, so I translated for my parents. Asked what natural drinks they had, she didn’t know. Ordered appetizers with the drinks. Then 10 min later ordered our main dishes. A phone call came in, apprently they take orders of the phone to dine in. Fast forward the phone callers get their main dishes before our appetizers, being hungry and seeing other customers being treated with higher priority when we had waited about 30 min! I decided to cancel, 10 min later our main dishes. Without my tacos. Salmon was good, carne asada was good. The spicy beans not so much. They lost at least $50 with the two appetizers and my tacos that didn’t come

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 3

I’m not the type of person to leave reviews, but I been giving this restaurant so many chances.I used to come here often and the service was always good, but over the past four months, it’s gotten worse every time. The new people they’ve hired are rude, unprofessional, and have made my family and me feel completely unwelcome.
One time, a short girl I think is the Host with blonde highlights ignored my mom when she tried to speak to her in Spanish pretending she didn’t understand when she has the Hispanic looks .But then she turned around and spoke Spanish to the table right next to us. It felt disrespectful and honestly, racist.

The last time I went, our server Rachel gave us terrible service she barely acknowledged us, took forever with everything, and seemed to purposely avoid us and would give us the wrong drinks and didn’t offer if we wanted a new one after we said it was wrong

I kept hoping things would get better, but they haven’t. If anything, the service keeps getting worse. It’s disappointing to feel mistreated at a place you used to enjoy. I won’t be returning unless there’s a serious change in staff and attitude