El Carbonero

Great food, great service, we will be recommending our friends check this place out. Always good to find a new place and have it be a hit right away. Get the fajitas, they are great!

I NEVER review restaurants but omg this place deserves ZERO stars, waited almost 40 minutes on my order while I saw everyone after me get attended. This place is so so so unprofessional and the food is nasty, this place looks so dirty and the food seems as if it were left overs. Never coming here again, please don’t bother coming!!! WASTE OF MONEY/​TIME

Don’t bother with this place. We’ve ordered twice from them once for delivery and once for take-​out and they got our order wrong both times. They don’t even give you any chips or salsa for free. Go to El Paso in Springfield or Jacalito Grill for takeout if you want better Mexican. There is a reason that this restaurant is always empty!

Best Tex-​Mex in the area. Service was very good, food was very good and made locally. Looking for an excellent Tex-​Mex or Mexican? Try El Carbonero.

We ordered delivery from here tonight and the food was impressive! The dishes don’t sound like a lot in the menu so we ended up over ordering. We got 2 chicken pupusas, 1 pork pupusa, combination #3 (tamales and cheese stuffed pepper), flautas, and chicken fajitas.
The food was delivered within 45 minutes, just like they told us. Each dish was seasoned perfectly and the portions are quite large. The tamales and flautas were my favorite! The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because they forgot to bring the tortillas to go with my friend’s fajitas. Luckily, we had some tortillas at home so he was still able to enjoy his dinner.
Oh we got the rice pudding too, but we were all too full to try it.

A little nervous when I pulled into the parking lot. A little more nervous when there was only four people inside. Food was awesome! Staff was really polite. Will return!

I was getting my windshield replaced next door and decided to get breakfast here. I’m always picky when it comes to southwest or Mexican food because I live in Arizona and New Mexico. Fortunately, I was encouraged when I walked in… the place looked like a dive. There were tires and rims laying up against the front door and the dining area was peppered with random eclectic items. I was greeted by a warm and kind Hispanic man (Miguel), who I believe was the owner. Just so you know, these are all key indicators of great authentic Hispanic food. I ordered chorizo con Huevo, for you gringos chorizo & scrambled eggs with rice and retried beans. It was awesome, Miguel also gave me some of their home made hot sauce… it was hot and flavorful! I recommend this place for great Salvadorian and Mexican food.

Came here for dinner recently, after seeing it on Unilocal,and we definitely were not disappointed. Being from the West, we’ve been looking for good, down-​home Tex-​Mex style food since moving to Northern VA, and it’s usually hard to find, but we found it here. My wife and I came on a Saturday evening and although we were the only customers, the staff was friendly, the service was very good, and the place is pleasant. We had the carne asada quesadilla and the camarones entomatados (shrimp in tomato sauce), along with chips and guac and nuegados for dessert – all of it very tasty, and easy on the pocketbook as well. I ordered a horchata to drink, and at many places this drink is pretty watery, but here it had just the right amount of cinnamon and was really flavorful. We’d like to come back and try more of the Salvadoran specialties as well, including the pupusas. This restaurant, even though it’s on Telegraph Rd, is kind of easy to miss if you are just driving by (it’s surrounded by various auto repair places and similar types of businesses), but it’s definitely worth looking for and making a stop at. Nice people and good food — I hope that they get more of the business that they really deserve!

I’ve been here several more times since the original review, and am upgrading my review to the WOOHOO level! Everything I’ve had has been delicious, and two of us can eat a LOT for not much $ — and still have leftovers for a meal at home. The friendly family who run El Carbonero are dedicated to making real food from quality ingredients, and they’re doing it right. The plantain empanadas filled with vanilla pudding… oh my… Try this place, please!

Awesome. Great food i love it i can believe. I leave too close and i never been here before know. I will come frequently they have a big menu a big family ambient pupusas are more better then las colinas

The food was delicious. I had the tortilla grilled chicken dish. Excellent and they brought out fresh guacamole. Great service and very nice staff.

Went out for lunch with two of my co-​workers. Nice and cozy on the inside and they have a TV. I got the Lomo Saltado, which was good — just not what I expected or am used to. Seemed like some ingredients were missing, but again it wasn’t bad. One of my co-​workers got the tilapia — it was the whole fish! For the price (under $ 15, I think), not bad! It looked very… interesting. He ate it all so!!! LOL Didn’t like that the water turned out to be the $ 2.00 bottled water on the menu, so me and another co-​worker ordered sweet teas instead. However, one co-​worker kept their water and they didn’t charge them for it… so that was cool.

My wife and I had seen this restaurant recommended on Unilocal.
Service was extraordinary friendly and accommodating. The restaurant is very nicely decorated. We ate in, so I have no opinion on carryout.
Our appetizer was a Pupusa Loroco Con Queso. Loroco is a Central American flower used in pupusas from that area. It was the best I’ve ever tasted. As is traditional, the dish came with a slightly spicy vinegary shredded cabbage, served in a separate dish.
We also shared a Combination #3: a Mexican tamale, an enchilada, and a cheese-​stuffed poblano pepper. The enchilada is supposed to be chicken or beef, but they accommodated us by serving a cheese enchilada. All three items were very well prepared, served hot, and very tasty. The refried beans were not thick, and it was a nice change from the belly-​busting ones I’ve had elsewhere. The Spanish rice was good, but unremarkable.
We definitely will return to try other items on the menu. I’d like to try some of the Central American beverages; and we’ll try to pop in for a nice breakfast. (They open Mon.-Fri. at 7:00 a.m., ans Sat.-Sun. at 9:00 a.m.)

Nice place for lunch. Fresh food. very good service. Authentic. Reasonably priced. Sensitive to food allergies. Will definitely be back!

Stopped in at 730a on a Tuesday morning. They were hardly opened, but that’s fine, I was the only one there.
Before I entered though, I sat in my car for longer than one should need to determine if there was any hint of life inside. The restaurant really doesn’t do much for showing if they are open or not, and the exterior is so dim/​tinted, it looks closed.
I interacted with one of the Salvadoran owners — a meek, considerate businessman.
My food:
* Tamal Elote — nicely steamed. moist, and not overly sweet, large portion, good price.
* Atol de Elote — very creamy, verrrrrry soothing, better than others I have had elsewhere, large portion, a meal in itself.
* Nuegados — They were ok… actually quite bland. The corn syrup took away more from the flavor than add.
* Curtido — AMAZING. I bought a container of it to take home. If I eat too much at one time, it makes my eyes water — I love it!!! (and I have a decent spicy tolerance, I’m Korean after all!). I’ve been trying to devise some excuse to need to drive down that way again just to stock up on their curtido once again.
Overall, price point was a bit higher than expected. I would really only return for the curtido and atol. I asked (in Spanish) the owner if he could just serve me what his best dishes were, but the response implied that their intention for the restaurant is to cater to as many tastes as possible versus maintaining their own specialties.
For awesome Mexican tacos served just like in Mexico but without the plastic… go to Taco Jalisco down the street. I’m still searching for a favorite Salvadoran spot in this Lorton/​Mt Vernon area.

So delicious and great hospitality with the service. They even deliver (with a $ 20 minimum). We will definitely come back.

Do not get the Lomo Saltado. They have no clue what goes in it and no clue how to prepare it. Wrong cut of meat, wrong fries, dry, no red onions, etc.
The flautas were burned a bit, but decent.
Rice was okay, Guac was very good.
Prices not the best, but okay for this kind of food.
Going to give it another chance because I want neighborhood places to do well.

I had seen this place under construction for a couple of weeks and finally noticed the open sign turned on. I decided to try it out for lunch today, ordered three cheese pupusas. They were Yummy, I am Happy that Lorton added another restaurant to diversify food selection. Price was fair in my opinion so I was happy.
I grabbed a menu to try out some other items in the near future. Great New spot!

Great new Lorton restaurant! The fresh guacamole was delicious. I had the fajitas and my husband enjoyed one of the combo platters. Both were very good.

I live about two blocks from here and saw that this place was open, so me and a friend figured we’d give it a try.
I ordered the 2 Enchiladas de Pollo o Carne which came with beans and rice. This dish was pretty good. I liked the flavors. Would have been nice to get a bit more sauce with my enchiladas though.
My friend ordered the Flautas de Pollo o Carne, chicken, also with a side of beans and rice. I tried his Flautas and they were pretty good, a bit spicy but I liked that.
I’m interested to see what else they have on their menu.