Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Hamden

Today marks the last day that I visit this Chipotle location because, unfortunately, the staff there is careless, unprofessional, and inconsiderate. Today, there was beef mixed in with the sofritas, which is supposedly a vegetarian option (you can read more about it below). Previously, I had an incident where the server did not close the foil lid properly and liquid from the food leaked into my car. In yet another bad experience, I came to pick up my order at the time that my order was supposed to be ready, and my order was not ready despite the place having only 2 customers. I even had to ask the cashier twice about my order. There’s also been multiple times where they ran out of food items very early in the day. One time they even ran out of bowls! There have also been many times where the portions are significantly smaller than in other locations. I’m quite disappointed, as Chipotle is my guilty pleasure and I stop by this location weekly to get a sofrita or veggie bowl. However, because of the accrued bad experiences, this location has lost a frequent customer.

Today I stopped by to get a sofrita bowl. As the server puts the sofrita scoop on my bowl, I notice that there’s beef mixed in with the sofritas. I tell him that there’s beef and that I’m vegetarian, so he takes the piece of meat out and asks me what else I want. I repeat again that I’m vegetarian and don’t eat meat, and he asks me if I would like my bowl replaced. I say yes, and ask him if there’s a batch of sofritas that does not have meat, as the batch that he was using still had a couple other pieces of beef. He looks at me confused and gets a server working with him involved. I explain to her the situation, and she says that they can make me another bowl. I agree to this, but again explain that I would like sofritas that don’t have meat. They remove more of the meat pieces in the sofrita batch, as if taking out the meat mixed with the sofritas meant that it was now acceptable for a vegetarian to eat, which is not the case. They are unwilling to get another batch of sofritas, despite the one with beef being practically empty. Since I am very hungry, I decide to just get a bowl of rice and beans (veggie bowl). I ask for guacamole on the side, which has always been given at no additional cost if getting a veggie bowl, but the cashier tries to charge me extra for it. I explain to him that the guacamole should be included in the veggie bowl price, but he says that I have to pay extra because the guacamole is on the side and not in the bowl. I explain to him that I’ve never been charged that way, and he disagrees. So then I tell them to go ahead and put the guacamole in the bowl since apparently they magically made this new rule that the guacamole must be in the bowl in order to be included in the veggie bowl option. I also note that I originally wanted sofritas, but they weren’t giving me that option. After me having to go through such an uncomfortable experience, he decides to...

While I like the offerings from Chipotle, I wouldn't recommend this store. I have been a few times at different hours of the day, and the place is always dirty...overflowing trash in the receptacles, unoccupied tables are dirty, the drink area is a mess, floors covered with debris...can't the staff operate a broom? We went there in the early evening and most of the toppings for our bowls were unavailable. There was no guacamole, and the person making my bowl was asked if they had any more, she answered, "No. We no (sic) make more." She wasn't very nice about it, either. The meat offerings were poor, with only the barbacoa being full, the rest looked old and very little meat left in the container. I had to ask for more meat twice to get the usual amount. It seemed like they were trying to make it last, as my wife had to ask for more (as did the customers behind her) to get the usual amount. There were only a few customers in the place, yet there were several staff in the kitchen area (maybe put someone in the dining area to clean up??) joking around. When I went to pay, the person who rang me up and took my cash was wearing gloves. He then went back to making food. Disgusting. The background music was so loud we had problems giving our order and had to shout. The loud joking around amongst employees didn't help, either. With so many employees working, there is no excuse for the overall condition of this store. Where was the manager? With so many other options for Mexican food, and fast food in general in the area, I cannot justify going back here until they clean up this place. Perhaps a call to the Quinnipiac Health District is in order. I have been to other Chipotle's besides this one and I am happy to say I've always enjoyed the experience. Not this one, though. I have never seen a Chipotle's so ready for an overhaul of the management and staff. This store is a disgrace to the chain. BTW, you're employees are tapping the register. It's pretty obvious and anyone who ever was in charge of register procedures can...

I rarely ever post reviews, let alone negative reviews, but this Chipotle was so horrible I’m still thinking about the experience the next day and have to post. First of all, we get there and the line is almost out the door. The restaurant is nuts. All the tables are dirty, and it’s freezing cold inside. Halfway through us standing in line they holler out that there’s no more white rice. Now to the meal prep. They just slopped our food in the bowls. I asked for a little sour cream and the guy literally gave me a LADLE FULL!!!! then proceeded to put the cover on my food without letting me add any more items like cheese or lettuce! Then when we go to pay, they charge us for the hot sauce that we requested on the side. When asked why we were being charged for it they said because we asked for it on the side, and when we do that they double the amount and ring it as a side item. When we said we were never told about this the lady literally looked at me and repeated the order total without two fudges. Whatever. Collect our food. Outside to eat. Notice one of our tortilla wraps is missing. My boyfriend goes inside to get it AND THEY CHARGE HIM FOR IT AFTER WE HAD ALREADY BEEN CHARGED FOR IT AND THEY FORGOT TO PUT IT IN OUR BAG!!!!! I will never be going back to this chipotle and we even turned people away from the store as they were coming inside commenting on the horrible service. Do better Hamden Chipotle. (And just so you can see how amazing the service is, here’s the cashier on her phone with a restaurant full of people!

Edit to add: the “owner” commented the below response asking for me to reach out. The link is to reach out to corporate chipotle. Not an actual person. And of course, what would you guess, when I reached out…..zero...