Burrito Bar — Restaurant in Portland

I needed to catch at train out of union station and I only had about 10 minutes. I had read the review saying she waited 3.5 hours for her food, so I was uneasy. I popped my head in and asked the guy behind the counter if I could get a burrito and get out in 5 minutes (I wanted to leave just a bit of wiggle room), and he said yep, and exactly 5 minutes later I was walking out of there with a hot, tasty burrito in my hand, transaction completed! I have no idea what that other reviewer could have done that she waited 3.5 hours - it's a bar you walk along and tell them what you want as you go (like Qdoba or Chipotle ), so your burrito is ready when you reach the end of the counter. Either she's the slowest walker in the history of forever, or they've changed their business model from a sit-and-order to get-your-food-and-then-sit. Regardless, I don't think you have to worry about slow service here, unless it takes you 3.5 hours to walk 10 ft. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that my burrito was delicious! Unique and flavorful, and just the right amount of spicy (I got the medium salsa - very tasty). I accidentally ordered ground beef (I was in a hurry, as I said, and I just panicked when there was an option I hadn't anticipated. As you do.). I don't usually like ground beef, but this was really tasty! It tasted like nice meat, not the dry crappy ground beef I generally expect at cheap restaurants. So that's cool. All in all, I'm delighted to have found a tasty, fast, cheap food option just a few minutes' walk from Union station. I'll probably get a burrito every time I catch the evening train from now on! Thanks, burrito...

This is my third time here. Here's a good metric that I should have paid attention to: if you can't smell a taqueria from outside, keep walking.

It's not that it's bad. It's just not good in ANY way. I got two carnitas tacos, a grilled chicken taco and a side of chips and guacamole.

The meat was 100% bland. Like, white people would even struggle to make meat this bland. Both the carnitas and the chicken. It's supposed to be grilled chicken, but there's no char, no smokey flavor. How is it possible to fail this badly on grilled chicken when all you have to do is put some spice...any spice on it?

They didn't have cilantro. Okay, sometimes orders and supplies get messed up. But there is a grocery store a short distance away. Unless there is a massive shortage in cilantro, eat the few dollars in extra costs and go buy some cilantro.

Chips - I'm not expecting homemade tortilla chips or anything, but my Safeway $1.99 bag of tortilla chips is better than this.

And the guacamole - again, completely flavorless. My own mother, who is scared rosemary might "be too much" can make guacamole better than this.

I ate most of one carnitas tacos, half of the chicken taco and threw the rest away.

Do yourself a favor and go to Papi Chulo's a few...

Food: 4.5 stars Delicious burrito; a little light on filling (lots of extra burrito wrapped up on itself.

Order ahead / pickup experience: 0 stars I ordered online, but they prioritize the walk-in customers over online so don’t waste your time ordering online. They didn’t make my food until after I arrived and I had asked about where to pickup online orders. There’s no signage for online order pickup so I had to stand around until I could get someone’s attention. I may as well have queued up with everyone else since even the people who walked in the door after me had their food in hand before I did. Their limited hours (9-3) make it difficult to eat here. Also, in their haste to get caught up, they made me three 10” burritos instead two 10” and a 13” and I didn’t know until I got home. I lost $1.50 on that. I could complain about it but given how infrequently I’m able to go there (see previous comment about the hours) I don’t think it’s worth the effort. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional; it’s just disappointing.

Would I eat the food again? Absolutely. Will I actually order lunch here again? Maybe, but unlikely. If I ever have a day off during the work week and I can dine in to make sure they get my order...