Baja Fresh — Restaurant in Coalinga

I have never eaten at baja fresh. There's a baja fresh right down the street, from where I live in vancouver, washington. It's been there a long time, and still I've never eaten at a baja fresh. Today, the stars all lined up on the right side of the road. I was hungry and I had to use the bathroom. And at this particular gas station, there is a baja fresh. I ordered the barbecue chicken baja bowl. Mainly, because the pictures of the burritos and tacos that were on display, don't look overly appetizing. It came with diced up barbecued chicken cooked on a flat top grill in front of me. Pinto beans, spanish rice, red and green sautéed bell peppers. Red onion, pickled onion, cheese, limes, and sliced avocado. Before taking my order to go, I visited their salsa bar and loaded up on fresh pico de gallo, and hot salsa. This baja bowl tasted......okay. The bowl itself was kind of bland and flavorless, but all the toppings that I added gave a little bit of kick. Very little. Not enough to justify the price I paid. Nor coming back to eat at a baja fresh. No matter what the location. I think that this is a healthy option. Like under 1100 calorie meal. Except for salt, and the barbecue sauce that was mixed with my chicken. I don't really taste any spices at all. PS. I could have sworn that I saw something on the menu about Tortilla chips, (strips) with this bowl. But there were none with my order. The employees were friendly. And rhe restaurant looked like it was just opening...

I don’t want to talk about the bathrooms or anything but omg. There is a grill inside here with Mexican food. Baja Fresh. BEST.BURRITO.EVER. I pulled in here while traveling thinking I would just grab subway bc I’m hungry but was wishing I had enough time to get “real food.” Saw the Mexican food grill and decided not to judge it by its surroundings (the grill itself is really clean, and the lady was even wearing a hair net). Anyway, I got the ultimo burrito with pork carnitas. They grilled it for me right then and there- carnitas vegetables and rice a popped it in a tortilla and grilled the outside. SO GOOD. Vegetables cooked just right. Carnitas tasted like it was slow roasted and then marinated. Seasoned perfectly. It was huge but so delicious I ate the whole thing and haven’t even thrown away the wrapping yet - needed to write this review first, it...

So, I have a couple of bones to pick here... 1st of all, the oil in your fryer is SERIOUSLY old. Like, Creepy, Hole-in-the-Wall diner kind of old... the chips were literally inedible.

2nd of all, (to all of the other paying customers out there)... pictured is the size of the Queso dip. Is that, plus a chip bag the size of 2 taco bell chip bags, worth $10?? I'm going to go out on a limb and say most of you would agree that that size of container is probably worth $5 at best.

Anyway, I was so disappointed-- and if I thought the employees would have cared at all, I would have said something to them, but they just looked like they were trying to survive...

Anyway, best thing I can say is it's been a little while since we ate, good news, no sign of food...