Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Mission Viejo

I really dislike giving bad reviews, and it takes something truly bad to make me give less than 3 stars. Chipotle managed it.

I walked into the restaurant, where food is in the open, to be greeted by a dog. He was a good dog. I liked him. I have two rescue dogs, a rescue bird (a story all it's own) and a rescue cat. They figure they rescued me, and who am I to argue? My mom, 85 years old, has two Aussie cattle dogs. Take a wild guess as to who's dogs they really are. My point being I love dogs and can't imagine life without them. None of them go into restaurants, grocery stores or pharmacies. These all places I've recently seen dogs. Maybe it's just me, but I find a dog lifting his leg and marking the cereal boxes distressing.

I ordered two carnitas burritos and as soon as I saw the soupy liquid it was in I worried. I was right to worry. I love carnitas burritos. I love Chile Verde burritos. Chipotle will not be a favorite. Go to Golondrias. Excellent carnitas.

Next were the toppings. I have to take the blame for this. I didn't realize the toppings were extra and how it drove the price up. As I said, my bad. I should have looked closer.

I wanted to try their beef since it was my first visit. I ordered a taco. I thought I clearly said "and a beef taco." I must have stuttered because the guy behind the counter heard "and three beef tacos." I didn't notice until he was getting set to wrap them up. I guess I could have gone all Ken on him, hollered, told him I wanted all 3 for the price of one, asked for the manager. I'm far to lazy and tired for all that drama, so all I managed was a raised eyebrow. He got the point. I have a very expressive eyebrow.

$36 later I got out the door. The dogs were happy. " A bag! Dad's got a bag! Pleeeease tell us what's in the bag! It's something for us, right? You're gonna share, right? Please please please tell us what's in the bag!" Those of you with dogs know what I'm talking about. They might have just sat there, tails going furiously and taking sneaky sniffs, but I know what was going on in their devious doggy minds.

I got home and set up dinner. The taco was ok. The beef was cut into cubes and maybe heated on a grill. Alberto's or Golondrinas are the places to go. The Albertos on Mission in Carlsbad has the best beef ever. I think they've just been adding beef to the pot since 1985 and it's excellent. I always get 3, one for now (ok, maybe one and a half) and one for later. Yes, they're that good.

The carnitas at Chipotle was, to me, inedible. Kind of fatty and loose, overpowered by the toppings, it didn't have the right texture. I chose the toppings, so my bad.

We decided we wouldn't be going back. I'm sure there are other people that love Chipotles and it's their go to place the way Golondrinas is mine. I certainly won't dispute your choice. If you haven't been, decide for yourself. Give it a try and see what you think. Hey, I get a hard time from some people (reading this, wife?) because I refuse to eat things that have tentacles. I tried them more than once at more than one place. Nope. I tried. I don't like any part of anything with tentacles.

As I said, I rarely give less than 3 stars and never lightly. I understand the impact negative reviews can have. I always encourage people to give the place a try unless it's a place I walk into and immediately walk out again. That's happened a couple of times.

Chipotle was clean, plenty of parking and is handicapped friendly. Still, I wish I had gone to The Habit burger place next door. I should have listened to the dog...

Not a simple review for this store. I believe there is lack of training by upper management, that caused my visit not so pleasant! I visited the restaurant with 2 other friends and we all ordered the same food, however, one of the orders got noticeably less meat than the other 2 orders. I have to mention that the amount of meet on the order seemed very little even if there was no comparison with the other 2 orders lined up next to each other. So after we mentioned the amount of meet was too little, we were told by the employee that they’re only supposed to give so much meat by weight, which is understandable, but the issue was there was no scales to be seen anywhere, so I’m not sure how she measured the weight! When we insisted to compare to the other 2 orders, we were rudely ignored and told to buy extra meat for that one order if we wanted to! So we did and then she put SO MUCH meat on the order that seemed so ridiculous. I told her that’s crazy, and that seems a bit over the board how she refused to add a small amount of meat to the order to make it the same as the other two, but then she loaded the order by so much extra meat when we said okay to buy extra meat. Of course she just straight up rudely ignored everything we said!! So I spoke to a manager in charge, and she was nice and apologetic, and at least listened to what we had to say. No offers or gestures for a refund for extra meat or discounts for future visits were made, but we didn’t expect any and didn’t ask. 3 stars because the manager was nice (she mentioned she was a new manager and had just started working there recently) or I would have given 1 star. I would not re-visit...

I had an absolutely terrible experience at this Chipotle location. The service was horrendous, and the staff was downright rude. When I mentioned that my food was messy and my plate was covered in juice of the beans and meat, (the both looked at each other and made a face), they just gave me a look like I was being a nuisance. The guacamole is black not green as well the other ingredients looked old and not fresh, the whole experience felt like I was being a burden for even coming to eat there. Workers SHOULD NOT serve a plate like that all messy. It was my first time to have the guacamole and my plate so gross.

I’ve always loved Chipotle and never had an issue before, but this place had the worst customer service I’ve ever encountered. It felt like the staff didn’t care at all, and if they don’t enjoy working there, they should seriously consider finding a different job. From what I can tell based on other reviews, I'm not the only one who thinks the customer service here is awful. I won't be coming back to this location again. I’m adding the photos of how they gave me my food. This looks disgusting. People should care a little bit more. If I was the person in charge I would seriously think about talking with...