The Flying Burrito Brothers Wellington — Restaurant in North Island

Very disappointing experience. Used to love this place.

Several years ago, we used to enjoy dining at Flying Burrito Brothers, but our circumstances changed, and we haven't visited for around five years. On the positive side, the serving staff were attentive and knowledgeable, and the drinks were very good. My chicken chimichanga was also pretty good. Unfortunately, my wife's vegan enchiladas however were very disappointing; three soggy enchiladas smothered in salsa roja. No cheese, no sour cream, no guacamole. No variety of flavour, no texture.

Making Mexican food suitable for vegans is very easy: swap out the cheese for vegan cheese, and the sour cream for coconut yoghurt, and offer pulled jackfruit or a vegan mince chilli. The beans, the salsa, the guacamole, the rice are probably already vegan.

My local cafe offers a vegan Mexican food option which wipes the floor with Flying Burrito Brothers. My wife said she actually preferred the vegan burrito at Taco Bell. If ever there was a damning indictment, that's it.

Flying Burrito Brothers is the sort of establishment which "satisfies" dietary requirements by removing offending ingredients and failing to replace them. This just doesn't cut it in 2024, and probably explains why the restaurant was almost completely empty on a bustling Friday night public holiday. Our seats offered us a view of Kisa over the road which was full from 5pm. Flying Burrito Brothers had maybe 15-20 people in a restaurant which could seat 150. If Flying Burrito Brothers doesn't change drastically it will fail. Its owners will probably blame everybody but themselves, but it's on them. Wellington's food offerings have left them behind. They just need to make an effort.

One final thing - there was a 15% public holiday surcharge. Supermarkets and Dairies don't have them. Cinemas don't have them. There's no good reason for public holiday surcharges in restaurants - only inept budgetary planning or fleecing your customers. You can lose another...

I don't often leave average feedback but our experience this time at Flying Burrito Brothers was, very average. Came with family and a table of 5. We were shown our table quickly and the restaurant wasn't busy as it was a Sunday night. So off to a good start but unfortunately didn't continue that way. We ordered drinks and then starters, but got our starters before the drinks and after a longer than expected wait. My Corona beer came with no lime so I asked the waiter for some, he said he would go get some but never did. Starters were good, not large, but tasty. We finished and waited for our server but took a while for him to come and he seemed a little disinterested. Ordered mains which again took a while but were again a bit smaller than expected but still tasty other than the chicken salad which was larger than expected. I was disappointed with the salad as it was past it's best and not fresh, I picked around the bad bits though. At this stage I was feeling like we were being ignored and had to wave out to get the servers attention so we could get a second drink. Later I had to go and get menus myself to look at the deserts as the server proved hard to get service from he looked more interested in packing up for the night at 8:15pm. We decided not to get desert as it was becoming too much of a hassle. I then went into the toilet but there was no toilet paper, which I mentioned to the cashier when paying he was great and thanked me for letting him know. So overall meals were tasty but not large for the price, salads not fresh. Service left a lot to be desired. Hopefully this will be taken as constructive criticism and will help to up their game as it has been better in the...

Where to start?! The road kill evidence on the wall, the clearly understaffed waiters, or the sticky tables. You name it, first impressions don’t matter here.

The torn, stained, and deformed menus take your mind away from the abrupt and difficult waiters. Once you’ve navigated what’s left of the menu, you get the chance to survey the food options: all of which generally look like the same base ingredients, with little variation.

Once some guacamole arrives at the table, for $16.50, you wonder out loud whether the guacamole was supposed to be gold plated, or otherwise involved using the last avocados in New Zealand!

If you’ve ever ordered a jug of margarita for $25, you assume that you will receive at least 850ml, or more… not just a thimble of margarita (500ml only) to be shared between a whole table…

Clearly menus are in short supply (maybe it’s the outdated printer paper or ink which has run out), as even though we wanted to keep a menu to keep for the duration of the meal (which felt like a last supper), there were too few menus to keep one for the duration.

Once the food arrived, it was reminiscent of what is assumed to be left over after the fry cook strains his apron from the evening before…

Overall, if you’re looking for a dinner and a comedy show, you’re in luck. If you’re looking for affordable, tasty, healthy, clean, authentic, or vibrant Mexican, best to avoid, and find another...