Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

This review is for the Chipotle in Crystal Lake, IL. We usually eat at the same Chipotle at least once a week for years. Not sure if management changed or the company decided to further cut costs while changing more but overall service has been going down. Portions and ingredients are not consistent, depends on the kid doing it, the bag of chips more often has considerable less chips (we stated ordering the large chips instead of complaining and last time the large size had pretty much what the regular used to have) but probably what really made me submit this review was that going there once a week, in the past three months about half the time the location was “out of ice” and you would only find out after paying $3 for a fountain soda and drink it warm. First, how a fast food place runs out of ice every other week, second why not inform people before they order drinks and finally, in none of the multiple times we asked for ice, the team apologized for the inconvenience, they not even looked at you and responded “out of ice today”. Paying almost $40 for two and having this level of service, although the food is better than most fast foods, at this price point I expect minimum service. After years of being a Chipotle customer, not going back at this location and given the other location is further away, probably will go less and find...

This is not a review of the food. Most of you know what to expect from the food here. I personally love it.

This review is for the service - both as a corporation and this location. We have food allergy needs for a member of the family and this chain has the best procedures. We simply say "We have an allergy order" and most of the time, they know exactly what to do. Even if the server is a new hire, someone on staff almost always knows the procedure and they listen very well to my requests. It's not always easy to do these extra things but they are able to do it AND keep their line moving.

They wash their hands and put on fresh gloves. The person who does this does not hand the order off, they see it through all they way to closing it up and place it at the register. They will change spoons to clean ones as needed and use fresh ingredients that haven't been out in the serving area.

The attention to the needs of a food allergic order is really awesome at this establishment and it's been consistent with every store we visit, from the stores in Chicagoland to the locations in different states while traveling. It's clear this is an important part of their corporate training and we really appreciate it. While we always watch how the order is built, we feel safe eating...

Have had several issues here...prefer the Algonquin location. The latest was my mobile order included a bowl with double steak. But when we got it home, we discovered there was no steak. The label was correct...just no steak. Tried to call so it would be ready when we arrived back again. No luck. You can only talk to a robo order taker. Tried to resolve online...got a coupon for s regular free entree...which was nice...but didn't cover the cost of the missing double steak bowl. Drove back to the restaurant and waited at the empty counter for several minutes with the incorrect order in my hands.

The gentleman who was handing folks their mobile orders stepped in since no one else was helping me-which I appreciated. He took the lid so he would know how to make the order and told me we could keep what we were originally given if we wanted since they had to throw it away anyway. He made the proper new bowl really fast, covered it, gave it to me quickly. I thanked him. He went to the back of the kitchen as I realized I had no lid for the original order, no bag, couldn't get anyone's attention, so I left with one covered and one uncovered entree. Bizarre..but it was...