Published October 23, 2025 at 3:21PM
California Tortilla will close its Gaithersburg location at 12211 Darnestown Road on November 2, a store representative confirmed today. The fast-casual Mexican restaurant, located in the Quince Orchard Marketplace shopping center, across from Quince Orchard High School, has been a local favorite for years but will soon serve its final burritos, bowls, and tacos.
The closure marks the second Gaithersburg California Tortilla location to shut down within the past year. The company’s restaurant at 255 Spectrum Avenue in Gaithersburg’s Spectrum Town Center closed in November 2024. With both locations now closing, the prominent brand will no longer have a presence in Gaithersburg. We are awaiting confirmation on what’s next for the space.
California Tortilla was founded on August 4, 1995, when business partners Pam Felix and Alan Cohen opened their first restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland. Both Felix and Cohen were involved with the DC Improv comedy club prior to launching the restaurant and saw an opportunity in Montgomery County for fresh, West Coast-inspired Mexican food. They built the concept around scratch-made ingredients, preparing salsas, guacamole, queso, and sauces daily without the use of freezers.
From the start, California Tortilla set itself apart in the fast-casual dining world by emphasizing freshness and creativity. Its fun, irreverent tone and trademark “Wall of Flame,” a display featuring more than 75 varieties of hot sauce, helped it stand out in an increasingly crowded restaurant scene. The restaurant began franchising in 2003 and expanded beyond its Montgomery County roots to dozens of locations along the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic.