Don Churro Cafe

The food here is absolutely delicious! Love this place!

Don Churro provides a variety of South American and Spanish dishes. As far as I can tell, they’re the only restaurant specializing in Ecuadorian food in the DC area.
The menu is labeled with flags to indicate which country inspired each dish. I say «inspired» because some of the dishes are a fusion of multiple cuisines.
The ceviche de camaron is my favorite dish here. My only suggestion would be to serve it with chifles (a.k.a mariquitas… a.k.a chipilos… a.k.a plantain chips) in addition to popcorn.
They also offer ceviche peruano, if that’s more what you’re looking for.
On more than one visit, we ordered gambas al ajillo for an appetizer. Kind of a small portion, but the flavor and temperature were perfect. The dish was also served with tasty garlic bread.
The sandwiches are another great option. My favorite is the Peruvian-​inspired sanduche de pollo saltado. The sanduche de churrasco palta comes in a close second among the sandwiches.
They have a happy hour, and we love their mojito de maracuya, pisco sour, and pisco sour con maracuya. Don Churro also offers sangria and a good wine selection.
The churros are great for sharing with friends if you save room.
Last, but not least, they have a projector and screen for South American futbol/​soccer games.

Food was decent, but I think they were clearly understaffed for a busy Sunday afternoon. It took us 40 minutes to get our checks, it should not take this long with the checks or even the food that took forever. Sorry, you guys have great staff, but the service was terrible.

I love this place! I gave it 4 stars because I have only been there once. Great food, great happy hour, perfect empanadas. Will definitely be visiting again soon.

My favorite restaurant in the area — love this place. You really can’t go wrong with just about anything on the menu — drinks included. My husband’s family is Ecuadorian so whenever they come to town, we take them here. Really whenever anyone comes to visit we take them here. Great place.
Favorites: arroz chaufa de mariscos, pabellon criollo, paella, hornado con llapingachos.

I purchased a Groupon for Don Churro café since it was very near our hotel and the menu online looked like we could both find something we would like. I’ve had some bad groupon experiences but fortunately this was a good one.
This is not a restaurant that we would choose to try normally but we were very happy we did and we have never had authentic South American food, just good old Americanized Mexican. It is set in a strip mall so parking was easy to find and when we got there around 6 there were only two other tables with people. Our server was very friendly. I had the latin america style chicken with fries and also came with a salad, I don’t like spicy food so I was a little concerned but I shouldn’t have been… the chicken was very juicy with a good seasoning on it (not spicy at all) and the portion was huge, the salad definitely had cilantro in it and was just simple lettuce, tomato & onion. My boyfriend got the peruvian fried rice with shrimp & seafood which he said he also really enjoyed. After my $ 25 groupon which I paid $ 12 for, our bill was $ 3.69 which was not bad for the huge portions that we had. We were too full to try any of the desserts but they looked delicious.
Great find! I’m really happy we decided to give it a try!

I went there this past weekend and they definitely did not disappoint. The atmosphere was great, the server was friendly and very helpful explaining some of the dishes to myself and the people I came with, the mixed drinks were some of the best I’ve ever had (and at a great price), and the best food I’ve had at any restaurant in the area. Honestly, I could not ask for anything else out of a restaurant and I will 100% be returning to Don Churro again.
I’m not one to write reviews on places or products (be it good or bad), but I really was blown away by every aspect of Don Churro and felt that they really deserve a 5 star review and people in the area should know about this great establishment.

I was quite disappointed with the food from restaurant… The service was great– super friendly and pretty attentive.
We ordered Locro de papas (potato soup with queso fresco), the empanada sampler and the
Carne asada con Menestra de fréjol (steak dish).
The potato soup came out lukewarm, as if it had been sitting in the fridge until it got microwaved. This was the worst part of my meal.
Now on to the empanada sampler. We got a mixture of empanadas ranging from a cheese one to a beef one. The cheese one was pretty good, chicken was extremely dry, and beef was dry as well. Not impressed.
Lastly, the steak dish… Normally, these steaks are pretty thin (which was no different from this entrée). The waitress asked how we would like it done. Surprised by the question, we continued to answer, «medium rare», just like any other times I would order a steak dish anywhere. It came out well done. Again, normally these dishes are pretty thin and I know during the cooking process, ⁹⁄₁₀ times it will be well-​done. But just that the waitress asked to offer something that she could not execute was not a plus in my book.
Maybe I should have tried something else, but this probably will be my last time for I was not impressed.

I came here alone one evening after work. I saw some gentlemen finishing their lunch/​dinner on the outside patio and traditional music was being played by the restaurant. The environment was welcoming and made me decide to eat on the patio as well since the weather was beautiful that day.
I ordered papa rellena (⁵⁄₅) as my appetizer and bandeja paisa (4.5÷5) as my entrée. It happened to be happy hour and they offered ½ price bottles of wine that you can take home if you don’t finish, but I stuck with water.
The food was so good. Papa rellena really hit the spot because I wanted comfort food and it fulfilled that need, then the bandeja paisa was good as well, but I didn’t get to finish it because you get so much food with that meal! I was so stuffed. My server was also super sweet, and I kept the receipt to reference her name but I am a receipt hoarder so I don’t even know why I thought I would find it.
I really like this place. I’ll be back again.

My friend from Ecuador suggested I try some Ecuadorean food. Colada morada, Locro de papas and Llapingachos. And of course the churros!
All dishes were very good! Will come back and try other items on the menu!

Didnt like service, owner is not interested to respect there customers.
Taste is not good. Too much greasy food, and sause was just all over the plate.
Old man owner he is not jnterested to let customers know the variety they have, as this is our first south american cuisine want to ask before we order. He is least bothered.
Nvr going back.

I am such a big fan of their lunch menu. Their portion size is excellent for one person. Their food has always been fresh and till date I don’t have a single complaint. I love how it is located centrally with ample parking too.

A bit difficult to find in the maze of strip shopping centers that help define American suburbia. I liked the Locro de Papas soup, Churros Rellenos, and Mora con Leche. I wasn’t so impressed with the Llapingachos and Lomo Saltado South American Lunch Bowl. Staff were friendly and kind.
— Llapingachos: I thought these two potato cakes were really small for the price of $ 5.99. No peanut sauce. Also the 2 slices of avocado could have been higher quality… they were very veiny with some black areas.
— Locro de Papas: Extremely bright yellow soup and also quite oily. Delicious though with the avocado and cheese on top. Very filling with lots of potato. Perfect for a winter day. Recommended!
— Lomo Saltado South American Lunch Bowl: Great seasoning and flavor of the steak, onions, and tomatoes, but the steak was way overcooked. I think Chipotle is better.
— Churros Rellenos: WOW. Really good and HUGE! Never saw such big churros before. Soft and crunchy and filled with either Nutella or Dulce de Leche. Huge portion so good for sharing. You can try one of each with the single order costing $ 4.50. Highly recommended!
— Mora con Leche: Yes! They have it! Drinking this reminded me of days in South America. Highly recommended!

I hate to give only 2 stars, and while I may be just a tad biased (I’m colombian), I probably wont go back. I will start by saying that the owner/​manager is extremely friendly & he genuinely seemed interested in getting to know the customers.
We arrived on a Saturday evening & the dining area was half full. Our server was friendly enough. We ordered the:
empanadas — they were decent but I’ll never crave them again.
peruvian chicken — the portion I received was dry & it really had no flavor. Not what I expect from «peruvian» style chicken.
churros filled with nutella & dulce de leche — Did I arrive late? Had they fried these earlier & just reheated them? They were stale & chewy.
This is my personal opinion. I wasnt impressed & wont go back. I wish them the best.

So frickin good. Great service, and I love the owner! We try to make it out here from Alexandria, and it’s hard… but worth it. The chat time I was here I was a mess, and they were so patient with me. I dragged my husband or her from Alexandria and Captain Pickypants loved it. I’ve had bypass surgery, so I eat side items (like the awesome chorizo), but he ordered this platter that he la-​la-​la-​loved.
Oh. And strong margaritas. Yes.

Not mind blowing not authentic but the perfect place for a home cooked tasty meal.
Service is super friendly. I liked their arroz con pollo.

Let me start off by saying the servers are unproffessional. She made it seem like she was ordering and tried to force feed me the natural juices. Finally when I ordered my rice she insisted I try the pallea, and listed all the reasons why. Said no, in a nice way cause i was having a great day.
I will say, the owner is a very nice. As far as the food my rice dish was good but I didnt really like the flavor of the clams/​muscle. My gf loved the beef arepas, and said the cheese and chicken ones were below par.
I really wanted to like the place, the owner was great but it doesn’t change the fact that the food was not worth the price.
I will mention churros are very good.

Delicioso! My mom always raves about this place so my sister and I decided to try it out with a groupon. Our server, Edgardo was great. We had my crazy little 1 year old and 3 year nephew and niece who of course were crying and crawling all over the place, but he was very patient and helpful. He even held my niece for a little bit and she loved him! The manger also came by to greet and welcome us which is always very nice. I don’t know the last time I went to a restaurant and saw the manager actively walking around to greet his guests. So definitely won brownie points for that.
Food is much cheaper compared to other Latin American/​Mexican restaurants, and I actually thought the food was much better tasting too. They have awesome lunch specials with a bunch of items 7 – 10 bucks. I recommend the South American bowl or the Latin American roasted chicken. Bursting with flavor… and the hot sauces… Mmmmmm!!!
Only con is no complimentary tortilla chips… although that’s probably a good thing for my diet anyway ;)
Try this place out. You’ll love it!

Well mixed reviews here– decent service and like the fact that it’s not a chain establishment food was very flavorful– I had the shrimp in a coconut sauce and the hubby had yellow rice with seafood. To drink I had a yummy passion fruit mojito and he ordered the margarita but the drinks took
forever to get to the table it felt like… My main qualm was that after reading the website and it had on the front page– Celebrating International Women’s Day with drink specials, 50% apps, and a free churro for ladies and our server never honored any of that!!!

I love the fact that there is a South American restaurant in the area. This was the second time my boyfriend and I have been to Don Churros. We were happy with our food the first time, which was Churrassco and the carne asada. Our most recent visit was for Valentine’s Day. They had a special Valentine’s Day dinner menu as well as live music, which was nice but it was way too loud. It wasn’t crowed, but it took awhile for us to get service when we were already seated.
I ordered off the Valentine’s menu, because they ran out of Churrassco (which is my favorite thing on that menu). The appetizer consisted of shrimp and some seafood cream inside a crispy nest shaped pastry. My entrée was a NY strip wrapped in turkey bacon and a creamy mushroom sauce. The appetizer was very pretty and elegant looking, it was very yummy. The entrée had a great presentation, however the steak was a little bland and over cooked. The sauce was very tasty though.
Will definitely go back to try more South American cuisine!

This place actually really surprised me. I had a living social coupon that was about to expire so I finally decided to check it out. We ordered the de pescado peruano (ceviche), arepas de queso, Llapingachos, gambas al ajillo, and patacon con todo. The ceviche was a bit of a let down and I don’t think I would get that again, the arepas were decent but my wife’s family is from Colombia so I’ve had the real thing, the Llapingachos were awesome and I may get 2 orders next time — these are mashed potatoes stuff with cheese & served with avocado, the shrimp were decent and the patacon con todo was quite nice. It took some time for our server to get to us but once she did she did a good job. The place was busseling and the crowd was lively. The décor… well let’s just say that not why you go here. The food is a bit heavy so not a place I would go to all the time but I would definitely go back.