Anna's Taqueria — Restaurant in Newton

After many years I have officially decided to never step foot in an Anna's Taqueria again. Their food is mediocre (I only used to go because it was one of the few places that my kids all agree on.) There has ALWAYS been issues with portion consistency and pricing transparency. I once was told that they'd have to charge me extra if I wanted more rice, mind you I was getting a burrito for my youngest child consisting of ONLY rice & beans. On several occasions they were grossly underfilled & he was biting off pieces of gummy tortilla & spitting them out. That's unacceptable for over $9! Often at the Brookline location the employees upcharge for things you don't actually get on your burritos & then act surprised & like they have no idea how to refund you, or why you even have the audacity to not want to pay for something that you didn't order! I stopped going to that location long ago. Fast forward to earlier this week when I ordered my daughter a super, super rice & bean burrito at her request for her birthday. Anna's charges $19.90 for this burrito that is essentially twice the size of the super burrito that costs $9.95. Technically you save no money. A super rice & bean burrito costs $8.75. The burrito that I ordered only had rice, beans, pico & guacamole. I'd assume it would cost $17.50 (plus the $1.50 upcharge for guacamole) but no! The cashier charged me $19.90 plus $1.50..a grand total of $21.40. When I asked why it was not less because it had no meat, she looked annoyed & went & got another employee who said that the price is correct. I politely asked if they could just charge me for 2 super rice & bean burritos and the FOUR employees told me thatnit would cost more because they'd have to charge me for guacamole twice! $8.75x2 = 17.50 + $1.50x2 = 3...$17.50+$3 = 20.50...they were trying to charge $19.90+$1.50 = $21.40. Yes! It may be only a 90 cent difference but it's the principal and the fact that out of the four employees who watched the long line get backed up as I tried to plead my case about being overcharged not one of them recognized the actual discrepancy & they continued to argue that I'd be paying more if I was charged for what I was asking them to charge me. Due to the built up frustration of them always charging wrong, hit or miss food quality/portions & horrible employee attitudes (I've never encountered people who seem to hate their job more than Anna's employees..& that rings true for all locations) I left my entire $60 order that was already made & went elsewhere. I also promised myself to NEVER go to Anna's again. Will be trying new places where owners are present & care about what goes on in their stores...as I said this has been an...

Food is good. Let's make that clear but the rest of the restaurant experience is horrendous.

First time I ordered, I bought a bowl and the food seeped through the bowl and wet everything.

No biggie ... I decided to order again, but it wasn't until after speaking with a manger named Maria that I felt obligated to write a review.

I placed an order for chips, extra salsa and guac. I even called about the order to make sure it was ordered right. They said there wasn't enough chips with order but they would add extra and it would cost me more, I agreed with it and okayed adding the extra charge. When I received order, what they promised was missing. My plan was to ask about it or to see if I could place another order for my office and just have them add what they promised to next order.

When I called back, upon just hearing me introduce myself, the woman I originally spoke with automatically told me to hold. I overheard her tell the manager in Spanish a random story (I didn't even say why I called yet), and told the that manager that I was upset. That's when I felt that maybe restaurant knew they messed up and didn't want to get in trouble with manager...

Reason for review was not the bad order, but because when I called back regarding the misunderstanding, manager Maria told me that my conversation never happened with restaurant employee and that if I wanted anything, I would have to talk to Door Dash. I also heard conversations in Spanish that was not appropriate, and when I started speaking to them in Spanish, they got very defensive not taking the time to 1. Hear why I was calling and 2. Make things right.

Bad customer service. Bad food packaging. No accountability. And no willingness to allow customer to work with them to resolve an issue but instead blame the customer right away leaving no resolution. I also felt that it was wrong for manager to escalate issue that wasn't that big of a problem to begin with.

I did do what manager told me to do in regards to contacting doordash and I am happy that door dash assisted me. I just hope that this was just a manager and staff issue, and that it could be resolved or changed by restaurant owner.

I see other bad reviews not about food but about staff.

I never want to experience that type of interaction with...

Anna's has been my favorite cheap place to eat in Boston for over 20 years.

Initially, my favorite thing about Anna's burritos? The beautiful, tasty juices that'd drip from the tortilla into the foil that I'd then slurp out when no one was looking. Now my favorite part? The steamed flour tortillas, a trick stolen by both Anna's and Boca Grande from the celebrated taquerias of the San Francisco Mission. The steaming process helps make the tortilla edges sticky enough to bind and seal everything in, so that the burrito can be eaten vertically, and that the mixture of hot sauce, vegetable juices, melted cheese, and meat fat mingle and combine.

My burrito of choice is a Super Burrito with Carnitas, Pinto Beans, Rice, Cheese, Salsa (Cilantro, Onion, Tomato), all wrapped in a flour tortilla..

This Anna's location in Newton is just minutes off of highway 128, which makes it more convenient for me in many ways than any of their other locations. Initially, they had quality problems. After one such unsatisfactory visit, I called into the store manager and she patiently listened as I complained to her for a half hour about the hold times for the carnitas, that her employees weren't steaming the tortillas long enough, that I didn't believe her employees should ask people if they want lettuce because the original Anna's never did, that lettuce on burritos is revolting, that only cretins put lettuce on their burritos, and so on. She most surely thought I was nuts, but one thing she couldn't doubt was the passion I had for their product, so she listened. Personnel and training were the reasons given to me for the issues. Gradually, changes were made. The store improved. And now I'm comfortable saying this is one of Anna's best locations.

There are many places in and around Boston where the food is cheap and good, but there is no such place I'd rather eat than here. I live in San Diego, a city known for its burritos, and I can't enjoy them because they're all both objectively and subjectively inferior to Anna's. In this way, Anna's has ruined...