Moe's Southwest Grill — Restaurant in Lake City

I decided on a late Monday lunch, but my true motive was to compare Moe's Southwest Grill (abbreviated to "MSG"!) against another fast casual chain. Thus, I placed an identical order as I would over at Chipotle: "steak burrito with cilantro lime rice, no beans, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, and sour cream," chips, queso blanco, and a soda. This brand gave out free salsas, which I helped myself to the green and both spicy reds. Only sporadic other customers were present during my visit.

The issues started even before I'd stepped inside. Advanced ordering through the app spat errors at me like it was on life support. Miraculously, I received an email confirmation! Feeling relieved, and already hangry, I hurried to pick up the food that'd surely be waiting for me, not realizing how wrong I was about to be.

Somehow, the app emailed me a receipt yet didn't forward the order to the restaurant. It took almost an hour until my hands actually touched any food. During that wait, I contacted my credit card company—which assured that things were fine on my end—and the restaurant manager contacted corporate(?) to figure out their situation. Finally, an employee went ahead and made food for me anyway (after which, my original order finally arrived through their system).

I hung around all that damn time only to taste a glaringly cheap (i.e., substandard) version of Chipotle's. The steak was soggy—per overdone adobo sauce—while the rest of ingredients in that burrito felt heavily processed. The chips were generally stale and tough. The queso blanco had an unpleasant concentrated flavor, same as leftovers sitting out too long. I'd describe all three salsas as insipid, runny, and good that they were free, because paying a single dime for them would be the greatest insult of all.

Even the magical Coca-Cola Freestyle screwed up, by concocting a flat/fizzled Vanilla Coke largely absent of its namesake scent.

My conclusion from this "n = 1" test is Chipotle has nothing to worry about, for MSG is a bad joke of a competition. If Chipotle possessed a master degree, MSG would still be learning basic concepts in the first grade.

In the end, those restaurant employees (two who serviced me) were the only good throughout...

We stopped at this location while traveling back towards Orlando on Saturday 18-March 2023 at 7pm. There are 5 of us, 3 being kids. We started the kids ordering first and “Jose” was great in making sure he knew what each kid wanted (crunchy tacos, nachos, and first nacho looked so good the third one changed to nachos too!) and then made sure to ask about each individual topping to be sure they didn’t miss out on the rice, beans, meat and that they knew what the options were that they could have! He was great and we thanked him personally for being so great and patient with the kids. My husband and I got salads with tofu as our topping and we really enjoy how it was cooked with the southwest vinaigrette. It gave it a bit of flavor and it was not something the Moes did when we stopped off hwy 475 at the beginning of our trip a week before (that entire locations experience is an entirely different rating!!) This location is a great stop for a good meal and if you’re lucky enough that Jose is working your visit will definitely be more pleasant then when he isn’t there! The food was great, chips were cooked almost 100% perfectly, the salsa bar was clean and the spicy salsa was on point, the return bins for trash/trays weren’t gross or overflowing, tables were clean and no messes in booths or under tables. Thank you for helping us have happy bellies on our last leg of our trip. If you’re local and have written it off on the past, give them another shot! Price was just over $64 for 5 of us which included a $10 tip. For the price, quality of food, and that it can fill you up and is a lot better for you that so many other places it gets an A+ from...

I went here for my first Moe's experience, my family was excited to see some different items than other burrito places. But my experience went south real quick when I ate a long hair that was in my burrito. I was passing through and was eating it in the car. I turned around on the highway and came back to quietly let her know. I showed the server, Nicole, the burrito with the hair still inside the burrito and she asked if I wanted her to make another...I told her no thank you and my family and I gave back all the food we purchased, minus the drinks. She seemed upset that we didnt want new food, but I didnt want anything else from there not knowing which section it came from. Also my daughter works at Qdoba and if by chance they find a hair they have to throw away the entire line and make fresh food as well as give a refund and free food vouchers for a future visit. All I wanted was a refund but Nicole gave my attitude. She kept asking why we didnt want the queso or the chips and I politely explained that I didnt want anything from there. She was rocking her neck back and forth and giving me an attitude because I wanted a refund and when I told her I didnt appreciate it she ignored me and kept her head down as to not care. HOW DISRESPECTFUL! I was pissed and she needs to learn that you don't treat people that way and if that is how Moe's employees are allowed to behave then that is my first and last experience. Her attitude ruined my day and appetite and I hope she gets better training...