Freebirds World Burrito — Restaurant in Austin

Great food, but parking mishap and unhelpful corporate response cost us $100.

My wife and I are huge fans of Freebirds, and we regularly visit for their delicious burritos. My personal favorite is the monster burrito with chicken and cauliflower rice, which sets them apart from competitors like Chipotle.

However, our recent experience at the South Congress location was ruined by a frustrating parking situation and an unhelpful corporate response. After enjoying a great meal, we took a short walk down the street for ice cream (my wife being 8 months pregnant explains both cravings!). Upon returning, we found a boot on our car and a $100 ticket, leaving us quite confused. Frustratingly, there was no signage near our parking spot explaining that leaving the premises was so strictly forbidden. While the Freebirds manager was kind and pointed out a sign (albeit one not visible from where we parked), the general manager, Tony, couldn't solve the issue, or really help in any way.

Our complaint to the corporate email, unfortunately, resulted in a generic email defending the property owner and essentially blaming us, the customer. This felt particularly disheartening considering Freebirds' stated value of "INTEGRITY - always doing the right thing!", which didn't seem to be upheld in this scenario.

Despite the parking hassle and corporate disappointment, we still love the food and have visited other locations since. However, if you go to this South Congress location, be extra cautious about poorly signed parking regulations with draconian enforcement, lest your burrito to cost...

I am not giving a one star review based on the food, or the service. Amazing fresh food and employees are very helpful. However I am not pleased with this establishment because they call themselves free birds but they are not free. They are caged birds. I recently walked into a free birds and was rudely told that I needed to cover my face with a mask. I informed the employee that I had gone in to that same free birds a week earlier and no body asked me to wear a mask. He told me that they should have told me then too. So I put on a mask, but I couldn't help but feel that perhaps that employee was just telling me to do so not because it is the company policy, but because he felt that since he worked there that he had the authority to do so and did so solely based on his own beliefs. I then got to the cashier and proceeded to pay for my food and I couldn't help but notice that they changed the name of there signature brownies to "monster brownies" instead of the traditional pot brownies. Could this be because of too many complaints from snowflake parents? Whatever the reason, free birds are not living up to there name. I come to eat there so that I can eat good food and be a free American. Not to be told what to do by liberal snowflakes, seems the whole company lives in fear. But I mean what can you expect from mini California austin? Hardly respectable....

Ever find yourself craving a burrito and not sure where to go because many of the BYO places are similar? If so, I highly suggest y'all consider Freebird's as your go-to.

I've tried them years ago, but I tried them again recently and I can't believe I slept on them!

Allow me to explain why I believe they're better:

Sizes: aside from the industry standard sized burritos you can get, they have smaller ones for small appetites or even BIGGER ones if you're extra hungry!

Tortilla: they have a spicy cayenne one that is a must get over the regular one!

Rice: they have Spanish rice!! I prefer this over white or brown rice any day.

Beans: they have refried beans!! Way better than regular pinto or black beans in my opinion. Such a simple change, yet a drastic improvement.

Fillings: they have more variety of fillings as well. For example, they have potatoes, tortilla strips, and roasted garlic!

Sauces: last, but not least: the sauce variety. They have 9 sauces to choose from, my favorite being achiote chili!

Overall, I was highly satisfied with my visit and will def be back!! I give them a solid 5/5 for...