El Garage

Was doing business in old town Manassas and just happen to run into this place, there were only couple other customers in the restaurant at 12:30 so I was trying to decide to go to other place or stay here. I was very glad we stayed. The food was delicious, the portion was very large and it was prepared fresh.

GOD bless this restaurant and the family who owns it. My family and I had dinner here recently and we were pleasantly surprised. Although we were greeted by a boy no older than 15, it didn’t bother me like a previous review I read. It’s obvious this is a family owned establishment. Our expirence with both the boy and server were wonderful! They were kind and extremely humble. I think anyone can appreciate that.
Although the ambiance is not the greatest, the food was AMAZING!!! Cheap with generous portions! My husband ordered the plato mixto (steak, chicken and shrimp) I ordered the chicken enchiladas and the kids had steak quesadillas. All of the food was an explosion of flavors. Hands down, I would recommend this restaurant to anyone!

I will say that this place is in a sketchy rundown looking plaza BUT if you get over that, this place is so worth it. I revisited this place with my mom, grandma, and aunt. We stopped in Sunday evening around 530ish or so and pre-​ordered (by calling ahead) carne asada (grilled steak) tacos, sopes sencillos (fried thick corn tortillas with the edges pressed in, filled with refried beans, crema, and queso fresco), and consommé de chivo (a spicy goat soup with rice and garbanzo beans). to drink we had agua fresca (fresh made water) de jamaica (hibiscus) and tamarindo (tamarind). everything was so flavorful and delicious! the meat for the tacos was so juicy and tender; so much better than I remember it. My second visit here definitely made me a bigger fan of this place.

First time here and I’m writing between rounds. First round (that I duplicated for my second round) was a carnitas and a lamb taco. Sooooo good!!! Corn taco was freshly made and came stuffed with filling that was big time tasty. Loved them! I will surely return to explore more of their menu.

Just came back from having dinner here while visiting my girlfriend in Manassas.
Not what I expected. At all. Maybe I should have read the reviews here a little more closely, but definitely a dissapointment. Granted, I was going in with high hopes of a nice establishment with good service; what we got was a restaurant that was lacking, both in atmosphere and professionalism.
1) Food — Being it a Mexican-​American restaurant, I expected chips and salsa, but those are a no go. I’ll admit, I was disappointed by this, but decided a restaurant shouldnt be determined by something so frivolous. After reading a review of how good their Lamb Tacos were, I decided to order one along with the Steak entre. The taco was brought first, which looked delicious; a hearty pile of shredded lamb on a fresh tortilla, served with a small selection of freshly chopped condiments. I happily took a bite, without any additions, to gauge the quality of my taco. Bitterly disappointing. The lamb, while tender, had ABSOLUTELY no seasoning, not even salt. The taste resembled that of a two-​day old pot roast. Being dissapointed, I still held out hope that my Mexicana Steak entre would rectify my decision about this establishment. They brought my plate, and while the portion was more than plenty, the taste of everything was mediocre at best, with a decent amount of my steak being inedible fat.
2) Service — At first we were pleasently greeted with a smile by a nice woman, telling us to find a seat and that we’ll be served shortly. Next, out came our waiter, a kid, no older than 15, who had trouble keeping eye contact and seemed like he didnt want to be there. Their menus were not bilingual, which wasnt a surprise, but was highly annoying. While both of us had ordered, there was only one set of silverware brought out, and one napkin to share between the two of us. Drinks are served in cans (should have left upon seeing the refrigerator by the door).
3) Atmosphere — While, yes, this is a hole-​in-​the-​wall place in a Latino neighborhood, I wouldnt recommend dining-​in unless you’re prepared to be mean-​mugged by what I can only assume are the local patrons. The building itself is okay, but with its mismatched chairs and tables one would expect from a greasy spoon, the place gives a vibe that is as vibrant as its food; mediocre and bland.
Tl; dr — Go here for cheap food, not anything special

A very modest restaurant setup which looked family owned (all the owners and employees kids seemed to be hanging out there after school. They were well behaved and not disruptive to the patrons as far as I can see). The owners were working hard to fill the food orders. Some take out and some sit down customers. I tried this place after having a craving for some good Mexican food and found some good reviews on Unilocal for this place. My husband and I were not disappointed. The food was very authentic and well seasoned. It tasted fresh and delicious and nothing like what you would get at a chain Mexican restaurant. The portions were generous and reasonably priced. We definitely recommend this place for the food and price. Also, it’s nice to support a local small family owned business where you know your money is going to the deserving hard working people, not the big companies to pay for its commercials. We will definitely come back! The tongue taco and sausage taco were fantastic, as well as the fried quesadilla with carne asada. Will probably try other items on menu next time.

Service was great really nice.
food– had chicken fajitas and thy were really authentic! Beans and rice were great. The tortillas are made hot and fresh!

After working in Manassas for almost five years I finally found some authentic Mexican restaurants. The entire strip center that this place is in is like a little Mexico. It’s awesome, complete with not one but TWO food trucks dueling in the parking lot!
We stopped for dinner at El Garage last weekend and it was delicious, authentic, and cheap. Checked all the boxes, gets five stars from me. Run down? yes. A bit grubby? yes. So what? The food was good. Hubby had the enchiladas verdes, the order comes with four or them! Crazy. The beans are borracho style pintos, not refried. Of course I tried his and they were, indeed, delicious.
I had a couple of gorditas, one lamb and one carnitas. The flavor of the lamb was better than the carnitas I thought. Both were fresh and hot. Kiddo had a plain cheese quesadilla and enjoyed it.
They had Mexican Coke of course and other bottled drinks. It looks like the do quite a bit of take out business. There was a TV on the wall showing a soccer match. I’ll be going back for a plate of the tacos soon.

Fresh, delicious, food with some nice spice. Their salsa has some kick (which I found delightful) and they have some dishes you won’t find in other places. The Sopes have a very nice balance of meat, beans, lettuce and cheese. Their tortillas are homemade and wonderful. Not fancy– this is a place to go for the good food, not the décor.

Fresh, delicious food, family-​owned, inexpensive, and with a salsa bar that did not leave me wanting for heat. If you like Mexican food, go here!

Went for dinner, I had the beef enchiladas with red sauce my wife had the chicken enchiladas with green sauce, and we shared a lamb taco. The food is absolutely 6 stars. The enchiladas are outstanding, the beef amazingly seasoned and tender. I wish we’d ordered 20 of the lamb tacos, they are that good. Simple food, the taco was meat and home made tortilla, but the way they cooked the lamb, wow, tender, delicately seasoned, just really exceptional. The red sauce is outstanding fresh and authentic. The only reason they get 4 stars is the service, it was just lacking, not horrid, but not very good. But if you want the flavor, then this is a must go when you are In manasas.

Five beautiful words: ¡Tortillas a mano recién hechas! Fresh handmade corn tortillas!
There are places nearby in Manassas that have the delicious feather light and thin machine made fresh tortillas, which are great. But the tortillas at El Garage are hand made (flattened with a tortilla press) and deliciously soft. Each one is beautifully round but very slightly different because of being handmade. No contest between these and the machine made ones. And no need to double-​up two tortillas like with the machine-​made ones (which break from the moisture if not doubled) because these soft delights are always a bit thicker than those.
Our table had tacos made with these gorgeous tortillas, and I had a huarache, so soft and fresh.
More beautiful words: ¡Barbacoa de borrego estilo DF! Slow cooked Mexico City style lamb (called barbacoa/​lamb on the menu). This stuff is really gorgeous, seasoned just right, tender and unctuous from slow cooking, and very slightly saucy from the red chile infused juices of the meat (not especially chile-​hot, though, just perfect). I tried it as the meat for my huarache.
I also had the beef tongue (in a taco), which was perfectly cooked to a tender and soft perfection.
When you enter the restaurant, you see a buffet server displaying the various slow cooked meats for sale by the pound. By the pound it comes with fresh tortillas and salsas. Why not get some lamb barbacoa and go have a picnic?
A co-​diner had a carne asada taco. The meat was well browned on the flat grill. It was also tender.
My other co-​diner had a quesadilla de queso: Fresh masa cooked with the cheese folded inside so the cheese came out melting and oozing, and then covered with toppings. You can get these with any filling you desire. Highly recommended.
The salsas were good. One was chile de árbol, and the other was a type of salsa verde which tasted like it was just made of fresh green chiles and not the typical tomate verde/​tomatillo one… not sure about that, though.
FYI if you are vegetarian or have a friend/​partner who is and want to try this place out together, they do not use lard in their beans and they have options like mushroom, and nopalitos (cactus paddle, it tastes kind of like tender green beans, hard to explain but they are good!) so you could eat plenty of stuff here without eating meat.
They also have tortas, and breakfast items like chilaquiles. Awesome place. Unfortunately, they don’t have any desserts. The menu is pretty extensive, actually. Lots more to explore. I’d like to try the tinga de pollo next time.
For three people, our meal came out to $ 17 total.
Someone below complained that the TV was blasting annoying religious programming when they went. For our visit, El Chavo de Ocho was on TV, and it was loud, but when I saw El Chavo’s face on the screen in the restaurant, I just got that comforting feeling that the food would impress me.

Had dinner at this place with my parents and my son.
Service…horrible.
The waitress took our order of drinks and completely forgot about it. It wasn’t until 15 minutes later that I asked again about out drinks. Which were two coffees and one Horchata. The good came out about 40 minutes later,
With a infant it’s a bit stressful to wait that long for a simple order.
We ordered mix of fajitas, which included shrimp, beef, and chicken.
3 tacos of carne asada.
The food was extremely greasy, to the point that it was undesirable after a couple of bites.
This place is family owned and it they are proud Christians.
They have a 64inch tv that has a Christian sermon BLASTING.
It was a bit uncomfortable trying to eat while a man lectures about the importance of sex in a marriage, why men and woman are having sex before marriage… etc.
I don’t think we will ever be coming back.
There are definitely better Mexican places

After returning to El Garage for dinner tonight, we’re adding a star. Halfway through the meal, we realized that there is nowhere else that we’d rather get Mexican food, and shouldn’t that be the standard for a five-​star review?
In addition to the gorditas, which were only slightly less amazing than last time we visited, tonight we had a quesadilla con carne asada and two tostadas con carnitas. The carnitas at El Garage melt in your mouth with their succulence. The carne asada was again delicious and we thought the quesadilla was a better vehicle than the tacos we enjoyed last time. The gorditas, which were our favorite item last time, were actually our least favorite this time. That just speaks to how good the carnitas and quesadilla were.
Pro tip: on the weekends, there’s a buffet-​style condiment bar instead of the condiment tray brought to the table. We recommend loading up on the diced habanero-​onion-​cilantro blend.
El Garage appears to be family owned and operated, and everyone we’ve encountered there has been delightful and welcoming. It can take a little while for the food to come out, but we think that’s because everything is made fresh. It might also just seem like a long time because we are dying to face plant in the food. The wait isn’t too long, though. Plus it gives you a chance to make out before your dinner arrives.
After paying $ 54 for a bland tex-​mex meal last night, it was refreshing to stuff our faces with authentic Mexican cuisine for $ 18 plus tip. El Garage would be five stars at a much higher price point, but it’s worth noting the great value.

I stumbled upon this place after attending a birthday party for a friend that lives in Manassas. I’d originally planned to head over to my good olé standby (Tortilleria El Molino) but it was a gray, rainy day and I was craving enchiladas, which my good olé standby doesn’t serve. Hence, my quest for another option. Thanks to my fellow Unilocalers, I was led to explore the fare at El Garage.
The reviews are right in saying that El Garage is nothing fancy. ‘Course, that’s not a bad thing in my book. The strip mall that it’s located in is home to a couple of Taqueria trucks — which I’ll have to check out another time — as well as other Mexican-​themed establishments.
When I entered, I was greeted warmly and asked if I wanted to be seated. After confirming that I was getting my order ‘to go’ I was promptly given a menu. I ordered Fajitas Mixta (w/​steak, chicken & shrimp) for $ 12.95, Cheese Enchiladas for $ 8.95 and 2 tacos (steak and chicken) for $ 2 each. Ok, don’t judge me. I was hungry… Both the Fajitas and Enchiladas were served with rice & beans.
I waited @ 15 — 20 mins, though I’m not complaining since my food was cooked to order and came out piping hot and fresh! Sadly, I was served chicken enchiladas, instead of cheese, but I’ll live… As others have commented, the freshly made tortillas that came with my Fajitas were somewhat thick. I prefer mine thinner, but again, not complaining too much. As for the food itself, it was pretty tasty, though a little under-​seasoned — nothing a quick dash of salt couldn’t fix.
All-​in-​all, I have to say that this place definitely earns its current 4 star Unilocal rating and will be added to my list of local faves. Though still not up to my beloved SoCal standards, I was happy to enjoy a tasty, generously portioned, reasonably priced meal.

great enchiladas! For $ 9 you get four enchiladas plus rice and beans. A bottled water is $ 1. Really fresh food as well as a lazy Susan of toppings and chips.

I had some dental work done and wanted some chicken soup.
Unfortunately they don’t have chicken soup but they do have Sopa De Mariscos.
It includes shrimp, tomatoes, potatoes and onions in a spicy broth… excellent.
Not fancy but authentic mexican.

El garage is totally authentic, made to order Mexican. Handmade tortillas and fresh made everything. Numerous dishes that are uncommon that I have never had before. One with bean inside a tortilla with meat on top, lettuce and cheese crumbles, which is my standard. One of these for $ 3 can fill you. Two is enough for a meal. A (Mexican) friend turned me on to this place. It has become our favorite location for real good homestyle Mexican. It is not fancy. It is located in a strip mall «on the other side of the tracks.» The name is funny. They used to cook in their garage and sell food. Hence, the name. They are very polite and welcoming. the only other place that I have found locally that also prepares everything fresh, tortillas, etc, and a favorite is the TexMex, La Mexicana Bakery (10 394 portsmouth road, Manassas).