FB Isla Vista — Restaurant in Isla Vista

Watching the employees dip their barren hands into a vat of cheese almost made me gag. In short: Freebirds does not require employees wear gloves. Ew.

Freebirds is one of dozens of places you can eat in IV, but it is in a nice location so people frequent it. It is a shame because they have good ingredients and are almost better than a Chipotle, but their lack of sanitary conditions is downright disgusting. I think what made me even more disgusted was not the fact that they admitted to serving people bare handed, but actually attempting to claim it is cleaner. The fact that they have to print out cards saying why they refuse to wear gloves speaks leagues. Take a look at the photo for yourself, even if you do not read further. Gloves have almost been required by the health department. Just because the DoH does not babysit you, does not make it sanitary. Gloves are not a "false sense of security". Every fast food chain requires them because they know it works. I have never eaten somewhere that so brazenly believes gloves are ineffective. Gloves are used by everyone from chefs to medical professionals. This part particularly annoys me. Freebirds is not a research agency. To claim gloves are actually countereffective honestly just leaves me speechless. It is straight up wrong. This is a flat lie. Gloves for food handlers are designed specifically to inhibit bacteria growth. This is common knowledge. Ultimately, the reason they decided to stop wearing gloves is not because of our health and safety, but because it is not comfortable for them. I find it more irritating that what they claim in their card had absolutely no thought or research put into it, and was done at a whim risking the wellness of unsuspecting students. Many more people should be made aware of the shoddy standards in place at Freebirds...

Okay so, it is with great great reluctance that I give a Freebirds a 2 star review.

Freebirds is like a Chipotle but Texas based. Over all I would give every Freebirds a 5 star and every Chipotle a 3 star.

This specific Freebirds was such a huge disappointment for me because I drove very much out of my way for the Freebirds experience. The hallmark of freebirds for me is the queso, I know we are in California not Texas but not having it was a huge disappointment. This Freebirds is at the end of Frat row and designed to be a college fast-food stop so the quality is much lower than you see at any of the Texas based restaurants. The layout is even honed toward the college customer base and the options are much more limited.

If I was the owner of this Freebirds I would be upset that the store has lost touch with being the best burrito shop in town and then I would take a flight down to Houston, or Austin and try out a Freebirds there and figure out how to fix this place. Anyone that ever comes to this restaurant expecting to get Freebirds is going to be disappointed that your store even calls itself that.

While the food itself was good and I would have probably rated you a 4 of 5 if you were named anything else I expected so much more because you're pretending to be something you're not. Why own a Franchise and not be a real Franchise in terms of quality and experience?

If you ever do fix this location ill be back but honestly its cheaper for me to fly to Texas than to drive to you and I know that I would be happier flying there for the real experience than...

I have been eating at Freebirds for more than 30 years. I have tried everything on the menu and have no complaints. The entire menu it is all very good. Freebirds uses high quality ingredients to prepare their food. A good friend of mine works for a restaurant food distributor and he delivers some of Freebirds orders he told me that their kitchen and back area is immaculate he said "Freebirds has the cleanest kitchen out of all the restaurants I deliver to". If I had to complain about anything I would say it is in my opinion hard to order multiple orders by yourself, depending on how many people your getting food for you can have one order at the end of the assembly line and the other one at the beginning, you'll be stuck trying to tell three or four different people what you want on each order all at once? I would like to add the assembly line is quick and efficient if everybody shows up to order their own meal. They can also be a little stingy...