Mesquite Fresh Street Mex — Restaurant in Phoenix

I came in around 7:30 on a Saturday morning and was greeted with the sight and scent of several hunks of steak being grilled up. The dining area was a very clean, “corporately boring in design” space, with lots of room between tables. I was very impressed with watching the crew of 3 work so efficiently and I still felt very well taken care of -one person helping me, one grilling, and another doing other tasks. Immediately after being greeted, I instantly got the feeling of being transported to a Chipotle where everything is pretty similar right down to the tortilla press / warmer.

The service was attentive, sincere, and everything was explained to me since I made it known I was a first-timer. After I saw the pricing, I wasn’t sure what to think of the size of the breakfast burritos but I will say that they should be called brunch burritos due to the large size! (Again, think Chipotle size) Meat options are $5.99 while no meat is $4.99. Grilled onions and peppers, which I thought was a must have item on these, was an extra cost. Overall, 3 burritos, 2 with meat, 1 without, all with vegetables was a little over $20. A steal since we all probably won’t need lunch. 3 of these burritos can easily feed 4 people.

I have read a few reviews that mention that the food was bland, and under seasoned, but I feel this to be mostly untrue. What you have here is an operation run in a corporate style setting which aims to make their food palatable for everyone, not just a handful of people. All that being said, the saltiness level was near perfect and the char on the steak really shines trough. The burritos that I had made all were the same: meat, egg, potatoes, grilled vegetables, cheese, and the red sauce. The red sauce is wonderful and has a very nice spice level to it. If they sold this on it’s own, I’d buy it!

The steak burrito was definitely a 5/5 while the chorizo wasn’t as good as I thought it could’ve been after having the steak but will still give it 3.5-4/5 stars. This was definitely more on the bland level, especially for a chorizo which is expected to have more spices and seasonings. Overall, everything was better than I expected, and I was surprised how good the steak was, meaning I’ll have to come back for lunch or dinner to see how everything else is. I can only imagine it being just as good, if not better! Just a reminder, this review is based off of...

We got the family meal to go (pickup) with chicken, guac sauce, cabbage, spanish rice, and half flour, half corn tortillas, and both red and green salsa.

The chicken was okay, too much char for our liking, as it leaves a bitter flavor on your palate.

The Spanish rice was okay after adding salt and pepper, however it tasted very sweet and had an aftertaste of chicken bouillon.

The guac sauce is basically avocado puree. Not bad, but not amazing.

The cabbage is fresh and tasted great.

The flour tortillas are tasty, no issue there.

The corn tortillas left a VERY bitter taste on your tongue. Not sure if we just had a bad batch or what but man that was an unwelcome surprise.

The green sauce (mild salsa) was good, very flavorful.

The red sauce (spicy salsa) was very tasty. It wasn't overwhelming and was a good addition to the taco.

For the price ($30 after tax) I think this was a great deal. We will get about 3 meals (for two adults and one toddler) from this meal.

Overall, we'd come here again and try some other items from their menu

–----------- Update: 07/05/2024

Got the steak Street tacos this time. They're alright if you're looking for a quick Mexican American street Taco.

Their horchata is one of the better ones for the area though!

The corn tortillas are not as bitter as they were, but the chicken was still a little tough and overcooked.

For 6 Street tacos and a drink, we paid...

This location closes at 10pm. I was really looking forward to eating here & stopped in at 8ish last night. The establishment did not appear to be very clean overall, & nearly every table was dirty. When we walked in to order, the staff seemed to be closing up for the night - they had actually turned the flat top off, so nothing we ordered would be grilled “fresh.” It does seem self-explanatory but the toppings available and whatnot were not offered to us. I just kind of had to guess and figure out from what I was seeing what I could ask for. Ordered quesadillas which were “cooked” on a tortilla press and took an exceptionally long time to make. Fajita veggies were flavorful, but soggy. Guac sauce was bland. Grilled serranos were literally cold. My friend had chicken in hers & could not eat a lot of it as it was fatty/chewy. The horchata in the Crathco machine was super coagulated and looked very unappetizing. Trash cans are not very visible/accessible to customers. The staff member who helped us specifically was very friendly but no other staff members greeted us. They ran out of rice for the customer behind us & it sounded like no one there knew how to make more. Really...