Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Algonquin

[Update 7/17/2024] Spoke with one of the employees who was exceptionally nice which I highly appreciated. That person said they "start" closing at 9pm and do frequently after this time run out of popular items. I didn't ask what they do if they run out of something at 8:50 pm. In any case, FYI, if you plan to go after 9:00.

[Original] One of my biggest peeves ....restaurants that disrespect their customers by not operating within their posted hours. This Chipotle location is such a place.

The SHORT: Don't go after 7:15 PM or better yet, if you really want Chipotle, go to one of the higher rated locations such as the one 10 mins north in Crystal Lake or the one 10 mins south on Route 31 in West Dundee (which also has a much nicer space).

The MID: This location was "technically" open till 10PM (ish). They were just silently closing LONG before then and out of a lot of items. Worse, they blame it on their customers for coming in later instead of acknowledging they messed up.

The LONG: So what time should customers assume you'll have the items you advertise? Proven not 9:30PM. 8PM? ....or are we supposed to call ahead? What if ordered through the app? Will it know? (apparently not based on another's review) Or are we supposed to be psychic and able to deduce when you might actually have food.

I unfortunately spent 12 hours at the hospital caring for a dying family member. After the hospital, to make room for hospital equipment arriving tomorrow, I had to move furniture so I rented a truck which had to be returned by 10PM. If I returned the truck and then went to Chipotle, I would have at best arrived 5-10 mins before close and maybe after. Instead, I sent someone knowing they would arrive by 9:30 PM. They did. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones who didn't get the memo on the silent closing and there was a line. Twenty minutes later... finally able to order: sorry no carnitas....sorry no hard shell tacos (the ONLY reason I go). Though there actually was no "sorry" as I just wrote ...or any other condolence or consideration whatsoever for not being able to provide the services advertised and wasting their customer's time. Instead, it was blame: "you came in 10 minutes before we close" which not only wasn't true but they also didn't just run out of hard shell tacos or carnitas. They had actually been out for a while... definitely before 9:30 PM and I'm guessing quite some time before then. And here's the real truth: IT DOESN'T MATTER. If a customer comes in during your advertised hours and you've run out of an item they want -barring maybe a supply shortage beyond your control- you've messed up, not the customer. You! Now you might have a reasonable reason such a difficulty in predicting but it's still you. And in this case know there are countless taco places who have somehow solved the so-insurmountable-to-this-Chipotle-location-challenge-of-having-hard-shell-tacos-that-they-blame-it-on-their-customers. Taco Bell up the road for example and they are even somehow open to 2AM everyday. Not a Taco Bell fan? Feel Chipotle is better quality? OK, then try North of the Border on Huntley Road in Carpentersville. It does close at 9:45PM but they will likely have everything up to the real close from my experience and is better than Chipotle, definitely more authentic and the customer service BLOWS this Chipotle away.

They did at least have the guac and chips I wanted but alas these were slightly off. Not quite the usual lime bite and ever so slightly burnt in flavor....probably not going back to...

I live close by and have been going to this Chipotle for 20 years give or take.

Well, more like 10 years of actually visiting.

Back in the early 2000's I would eat here about 4 or 5 days a week, twice a day often as well.

Because back then, it was the most delicious food in the world to me.

Then about 10 years ago the food became absolutely disgusting to the point I started gagging and couldn't finish more than half a burrito and just gave up.

All of a sudden the steak and chicken became revolting to the point I would gag on it.

And the burrito tortilla wraps became partly brittle and stale almost all the time, where as before it was extremely rare.

I don't know if the Chipotle company is trying to maximize profits by not refreshing the food as often, if they got stingy with their sourcing and ingredients, or if the staff just doesn't care enough to prepare food properly and often enough.

But I missed the delicious days so much I spent the next 10 years visiting just once a year or so to see if things got better.

Only to once again throw out half my burrito and walk out thinking, "Man, I miss when this place was so amazing I would eat here twice a day."

Then a year or so ago I was finally shocked to find the meat tasted good again.

But I wouldn't say quite as good or consistently good.

Half the time it seems like it's been sitting out forever.

And the burrito tortilla wraps are still almost always partly brittle and stale.

And like many others have mentioned, the place is just disgusting to look at with the garbage all over the place, overflowing garbage cans, nasty washrooms, etc.

Also the Sprite is flat very often.

Once there was a streak of about 5 or so visits in a row I had to dump my Sprite in the fountain drain, ask for a new cup, and get a Fanta Orange instead.

But I completely understand to a point the issue and this will sound like a bit of racial profiling, but hey it's true.

Back in the early 2000's it was all Mexicans working there that always seemed to be in a good mood, kept the place beautiful, etc.

But I don't blame the revolving door of teenagers I've seen come and go that work there these days.

With how busy that place is (God knows why anymore) now a days, the long lines and online orders on top of that, the defeated and depressed look on their faces, it's just a nightmare.

You couldn't pay me enough to work there, let alone work there for the close to minimum wage pennies you get for trying to work in that hell hole.

But I've seen kids with the attention span of a fly who insist on asking what kind of rice, beans, and meat you want when you try to wait and just say I'll have a burrito with white rice, knowing they would be better off just starting there and waiting for me to tell them no beans, half chicken half steak, because they are just going to have to ask again after 5 seconds of pressing the tortilla wrap.

And always having to ask for a cup of hot sauce at the end of the order twice.

The place has gotten so stingy with the rice and meat too.

Like another person mentioned, now they try to give you a taco's worth of fill in a burrito forcing you to say, can I get a little more rice and meat.

Paying $16 for a drink and a burrito and they think I'm going to accept a tea spoon of meat and a sprinkle of rice is ridiculous.

It's really a shame what happened to this place. I can't understand how it's still so busy.

Now I just look at it from the outside and shake my head on the way to Bubs Subs or MOD Pizza reminiscing about the...

My husband waited an hour after we placed a pickup order and ended up leaving because we never got our food at all. He attempted to ask an employee for information, but no one would respond when he tried to flag them down. I also attempted to call the store, and the phone rang for two solid minutes with no answer.

He said there were probably 15 other people all gathered around the pickup shelf waiting for their orders, and only a couple of them got their orders during the 45 minutes he waited. He also told me that there was a huge board of incoming pickup orders that was being ignored in favor of serving the people in line. We ended up just leaving, as I was waiting in the car and we had other things to do, and now we wouldn't have time to get dinner at all.

I want to add - I was then and still am sick with the flu, and Chipotle was the only food that sounded good that day, so not getting my tacos after waiting sick for 45 minutes in the car was a TERRIBLE experience. This location is always slow (we actually usually don't go between about 4 - 7 PM because their service is so bad that it takes usually at least 20 extra minutes to get our food and the portions are VERY small during this timeframe), but this was an incredibly disappointing experience to the point where I'm not sure we'll return to this location.

Someone needs to do something about this location. They are unprofessional, slow, and the portion sizes are getting smaller and smaller because the employees clearly just don't care at all.

Go to the Chipotle on Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake. The difference in quality is astounding.

EDIT TO ADD: After emailing back and forth with corporate and the manager, I've been refunded my money and my rewards points, but the other reward I was promised as an apology I have not gotten, and no one seems to understand how that works. I guess I'm just out a completely miserable hour of my time. Thanks guys. Definitely won't be...