Neato Burrito — Restaurant in Hampden Township

TLDNR: The BEST food AND the best people make this small chain a win!

Can we talk about heroes for a moment? Also... do you like burritos? Like most families with toddlers, and nearly all families with a kiddo on the spectrum, we struggle with finding something everyone in our family can and will eat. Thankfully, Neato makes EVERYONE happy!

About once a week we stock up on vegetarian chili from Neato Burrito. If you haven't tried it, it's amazing, mouth watering, veggie goodness. And for my omnivorous friends (I'm the only meat eater in my family), it's easy to add super tender and delicious cow or pig. They also happen to just be the kind of business you want to buy from- they give back to the community generously and quietly, donating each year to the Humane Society of the Harrisburg Area's silent auction for just one small example that I can personally speak to and they are openly and vocally LGBTQ friendly.

I'd like to give you a little background on what they mean to my family in particular. They were one of the very first businesses in our area to shut their doors because of COVID-19, putting the safety and well-being of their employees over their pockets. Surely a hard-hitting decision for this small, locally owned, 7 store business. But the RIGHT thing to do. This was really hard for one of my children in particular, who already has so few protein choices. Anyway, I reached out to Shayne, the owner, and explained our situation... and how important preferred foods were to neurodiverse families.

He hooked us up with the chili recipe. He didn't expect anything in return. He just wanted to keep his community happy. He just wanted an incredible little boy not to have one more thing to stress about and struggle with. He just wanted a little boy who had lost most of his supports and resources and people and routines overnight not lose his favorite food too .

I grew up in a restaurant family. I know what a secret recipe means and I know it isn't something you just give to a stranger by email. The secret of my great-grandmother's ginger-bread-cookies died with her.

Now that they are back in business (with, I must add, some of the BEST safety precautions our there!) I've retired my copy of the recipe and am back to my weekly visits. But a thank you is in order. And a celebration. Because while COVID has surely brought out the worst in many, there are beautiful examples like this of the best shining through.

Anyway, that was a lot of words...

Great burritos and burrito bowls. Simple menu allows you to build your own or pick from precreated concoctions! Husband got the cowboy crunch on multuple recommendations from coworkers and I had the carnitas. Ingredients were fresh with 3 rice options, 3 bean options, and a variety of proteins. Also have a childrens menu, daughter got the burrito and loved it (also had quesadilla option). They have multiple options for tortilla for your burrito including chipotle chili and jalapeno cheese! They have thick corn nacho chips which are salted and lightly seasoned and are delish! You can get sides of various salsas including a jalapeno feta which was amazing! We got a side of chips and chili which was good in flavor, but we would recommend asking for cheese in it. There sadly is no queso here, but portions were GINORMOUS and it made 2 meals for each of us. They also have an icee machine. All flavors were lemonade and you could all a flavor on a freestyle type machine. My daughter had the blue raspberry lemonade and enjoyed it. They do have craft sodas in their fountain with flavors like watermelon, black cherry, and your basic flavors. All were really good, def recommend this place for lunch! It was clean, staff was helpful (our cashier even helped our daughter with her icee!), you need to try this place if...

Neato Burrito won. My mum’s always tried to convince me to go there, now my boyfriend’s tried to convince me to go there, finally I let him take me. I’m a picky eater with strange and distinct taste, so I usually end up going to a place and getting limited ingredients, and it’s a 50-50 chance that whatever I get is bland because I don’t like what they have and the things I do like, aren’t super tasteful, if that makes sense? I got a quesadilla and was just gonna get chicken and cheese in if, but I audibly gasped upon seeing that they had Cajun chicken, one of my favorites. Food was made fast, tasted great. They also had their own black cherry soda, which is another favorite of mine. I saw the chips and anticipated that they were nothing special, they looked pretty usual of tortilla chips, but even they had their own unique flavor that I enjoyed. Didn’t catch the servers’ names, but they were also kind and walked me through my...