Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Houston

I used to love Chipotle. My gf and I would eat there all the time, until the E. Coli fiasco. then free birds was my new favorite. Both delicious, but both different. Last weekend I was in the atlanta airport and had a serious craving for Chipotle! I was appalled and ashamed because for the past year I've made a huge deal about Chipotle. I vowed to never eat there again, yet there I was... Craving for it. Knowing all too well that eventually I'd eat it. I figured it'd be the defining moment, depending on how good the food was would determine if I'd be willing to take that first step into a cold pool. I had it and it was amazing! Everything I imagined, not to mention I found out the meat was being freshly cut as I got up there! My timing was perfect :)! So after that amazing experience, I was craving for more. Yesterday (10/21/16) I went to my local Chipotle. Normally I'm not one to wait in a long line, but they were moving fast, and I figured this many people wouldn't be waiting if this franchise was a bad one. The people were friendly, accurate, and very polite! They got people through fast, and they seemed to have a great system in place! All of which made me excited! My gf and I got a bag of chips with our double steak bowls and went home. As soon as we got home we started wolfing it down, immediately noticing a couple things. 1. The rice was undercooked. Nothing major, but still disappointing. 2 the chips were stale, and not just a little like they'd been sitting out all day. More so like they'd been 2/3 days old! So that very disheartening. 3. It seemed they had a lot of pieces with fat on them, maybe I got 2 bad scoops, but my gf seemed too agree. Plus we both thought the meat was a little tough. Then last but not least 4. Half way through my food I bit down on something semi hard. It was small, wasn't hard enough to be bone, wasn't soft enough to be fat. It almost had a plastic like feel to it as I squished it between my teeth. I proceeded to spit it out and then throw my food away. At that point, when everything was added up, I was done. The service was great! The people were friendly!! I may go back on another day to give it a second go. Maybe I had some bad luck and it was a fluke. But when my first experience was so amazing and I was just getting back into eating Chipotle, I was hoping for something more. Something amazing... Anyways, take what you wish from my review :) they seemed friendly and organized. Maybe this was just one bad apple. I'll be going back in a couple weeks and decide how I feel about this franchise.But for now, I'm off to free birds to get a...

Why does this spot always close before 9:50? I was here yesterday and they had the doors locked by 9:48 PM. If it closes before 10 PM then change your business hours!! This isn't a restaurant where I have to make an order and wait for something to be prepared/cooked for me, this is simply a cafeteria line ordering system. All you have to do is scoop some food into bowls or burritos, is it really that difficult that you guys have to close over 10 minutes early?? No other spot does this: I'm talking about the locations at TMC, Pearland, Friendswood, and Kirby Drive. I used to go to the Pearland and Friendswood one and they would NEVER close that early, maybe around 9:57 PM they close in Pearland.

Also how do you guys keep running out of every item? I once came in at around 9:50 and they said they ran out of ALL meats (which we both know isn't true) and then when I told them I'm getting a veggie bowl, they said they ran out of both rice. Like you guys are consistently lying about running out of items! Two days ago I came in at 9:45 PM and I took the last of the white rice from a container. The line worker told them there was no more white rice for the night when she even saw the fresh batch of white rice being poured from the big bowls into the regular rectangular containers used for the line. She even saw the container of white rice being pushed out from the chef to behind her. There was a whole container of fresh white rice waiting right behind her while she was telling the customers we're out of White rice for the night and then proceeds to tell another employee to close the doors around 9:50. There were at least 5 customers left, they would've had enough rice for them and every employee working that shift.

I thought the Pearland location was bad but at least they're more fair. This Main St. spot takes the new champion for worst customer service.

Edit: I'm a regular Chipotle customer, I usually order a bowl once a day at night. I used to go to the Pearland location everyday for 2 years and then went to the Friendswood location for 3 months. After moving back into Houston around May, I've been trying to go to this Main St. location every day (but they're closed half the time I get there or...

I've no complaints about the food here that affect the general population (CELIAC/WHEAT ALLERGY SUFFERERS SEE BELOW). It is what it is -- Chipotle, and it's hard to screw that up unless you're at the Chipotle on Spring Cypress​ Road (yes, I'm going to pile on the hate for that location in every Chipotle review). The staff is friendly, the food tasted good, and the line was short at 11:30 a.m. Line was backed up to the door by noon, however, so know that you're going to spend ten to fifteen minutes in line if you pop in from noon to 1 p.m.

My chief complaint from a normal diner's perspective is that the seating area in this location is small. Claustrophobic even, it's totally inadequate for the area the restaurant serves. I chose to sit at one of the few small tables as I was dining alone, but it was next to a tall table with permanently fixed stools, and even though I didn't mind looking at the toned, firm bottom in Lululemon yoga pants as it sat down next to me, I don't really want someone's butt in my face whilst I'm trying to eat.

Probably just best to get your food to go at this location during a workday lunch as seating is limited and your lunch break will probably be half over by the time you get your food. Serving line staff isn't slow, mind you -- this location is just that busy.

CELIAC/WHEAT ALLERGY SUFFERERS -- I can't recommend this location. I've had bad reactions thrice now from this location, and I'm not so sensitive that I react from the servers not changing gloves. I get the same order every time, and that includes ordering cheese. The cheese is the most likely culprit for cross-contamination, but the reaction has been consistent enough for me to assume that there's something they do here that is consistently contaminating the ingredients with wheat/gluten. I'm avoiding this location from now on, a first for me and Chipotle. I advise you to do so, as well. The Taqueria Arandas just down the street has never made me sick, if you need a suggestion. The five street taco meal there is a safe bet. Nothing but meat, corn tortillas, and...