Fresh And Natural Mexican Eatery — Restaurant in Eugene

I was introduced to Fresh & Natural by my coworkers. I saw them having food delivered almost every day from the same place and had to ask them where it was from. They were totally surprised I hadn’t heard of Fresh & Natural. They explained it was a family owned and operated small business they have been frequenting for years.

The first item I selected to try was a breakfast burrito (even if it was for lunch, who doesn’t love breakfast for lunch of dinner?). Now, I’m used to ordering a breakfast burrito and getting a huge tortilla filled with far more food than I could eat in one sitting. I was pleasantly surprised when I was handed a normal-sized burrito, but thought it looked a little on the small side. After finishing the burrito, I was surprised how nicely full I was, but not overfilled. The content and quality of everything was great and perfectly filled me for the rest of the work day.

Next up was a simple bean and cheese burrito. I’ve found that over the years there are two types of bean and cheese burritos, whole pinto bean and refried. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out they used whole pinto beans, as I find them more flavorful and far less greasy. I did make the mistake of ordering a regular (I only order the small size now) sized the first time, and it was enormous. It was incredibly flavorful, the cheese was melted perfectly and once gain, everything tasted fresh and filling. Unless you want enough food for a couple of meals, go for the small the first time at least!

The final item I frequently order is the chicken quesadilla. This is definitely my favorite most of the time. I find it to be the perfect amount of food for a lunch when I’m on the more hungry side. The quesadilla comes with some nicely seasoned chicken, melted cheese on a grilled tortilla. It is cut into multiple pieces and comes with guac, sour cream and salsa. If I’m not really hungry, it may be too much for lunch, but a leftover quesadilla is never a bad thing!

We joke at work that all the food tastes so “fresh and natural” as we don’t feel “gut bombed” no matter how much we eat of there food. I think that is a testament to high quality ingredients combined with talented and trained staff who obviously know how to cook.

If you haven’t tried Fresh & Natural, put it...

I want to like this place because it seems to be a small family and they promote "fresh and natural" as their basis of foods. However, one of the items I ordered was a green juice off of their Juice menu, "the power mint." It showed up an unusually vibrant green and tasted artificially sweetened. I asked them if they had added sugar or sweetener to their power mint juice, and the lady said "No, we don't add any sweeteners or sugar." I then asked if they used all real fruit?" "She replied, "The green apple is a liquid." I asked to see the bottle and read the ingredients. They were nice enough to get the bottle for me to look at and it was a green flavored apple syrup that includes sugar. The kind used often for shaved ice stands or coffee shops. I find this very misleading as they say they are fresh and natural and additionally use real ingredients. Nowhere on the menu did they specify that they use syrups or add sugar.

This makes it hard and not safe for me to purchase items from them because I can't trust what's in their ingredients. I hope they fix this discrepancy/false advertisement so that they can succeed and do better in the future with their business and trust...

My husband and I came here for the first time in late February when it snowed. Almost everything was closed, but this place wasn't. They actually planned on staying open until 5 pm that day which I thought was really generous of them. I didn't think to ask if they were the owners, but the people who made and served the food were really friendly. They talked to us about the food and told us how they make real mole instead of the stuff you find at most Americanized Mexican restaurants. The food here is affordable and the portions are generous. I've been here twice and tried chicken soft tacos and a vegetarian wet burrito with mole. Both were delicious. They also have a huge variety of smoothies. I had the Berry Breeze and it was so good that I actually wish I'd gotten a larger size. The Eugene location is a bit small, so you may want to show up at a slower time if you want to sit inside. If not, it's worth getting...