Freebirds World Burrito — Restaurant in Richardson

It just happened to be “Burrito Day” when we decided to order from Freebirds & also redeem my birthday offer before it expired. It was@9pm when we arrived and the restaurant was packed with a very long in-store line and a long “to-go” order line. We literally waited in line for an hour before we could order & we were the last customers to be served that night.

During that hour, I had the opportunity to make many observations & I have to say that Freebirds crew is/was Amazing! They worked diligently & efficiently—hustling trying to make sure that the food options stayed replenished & making sure that every customer was served & their order was correct- despite the Burrito Day chaos & crowd and considerable wait. The lady handling the To Go orders even made sure to give constant updates to the customers waiting in that line.

I appreciated how the employees communicated with each other (team work) & especially how they changed their gloves after handling other items to prevent cross contamination. That is SO rare at “fast food” restaurants these days! That alone is the main reason I will continue to order from Freebirds & I will definitely return to this location.

The employees were cool, calm & collected the entire time despite it being a super busy night & eventually after closing. A few of the guys on the preparation line & the cashier still smiled & made quick small talk with customers —all under the stress of serving so many customers. I was thoroughly impressed & don’t know that I could have maintained that same “cool, calm, collected” demeanor (with a genuine smile) in the midst of the “organized chaos” and with at least 50 customers waiting-many with unpleasant faces, understandably.

All in all, I think the employees handled that night like Champs & I wanted to make sure to give them their Kudos for a Job Well...

I'm going to rate Freebirds a two star because of the rules between the monster and regular bowl. I ordered the monster bowl thinking eating some now and saving some for tomorrow. As I go down the line to get what I want on mines and get to the register and was like this isn't filling the bowl. So I address it and was given the option to get beans or more lettuce or corn. I don't like the beans so no didn't want beans. I got what I wanted on it and to ME I felt the bowl should have been filled with what I wanted. You are paying for the size of the bowl in my eyes. That's when I was informed for monster bowl you get 3 scoops of rice and meat vs 2 scoops in the regular bowl. I didn't know that and told them to dump mines in a regular bowl he didn't want to mess the bowl up and I told him it doesn't matter I'm going to mix it up anyway then he said well you have 2 scoops of meat and rice. I started to say take a scoop out or even that I don't want the bowl at all and go back in the line and re-order a regular or go elsewhere. He compromised took $2 off and a complimentary drink. But I know next time. I am writing this review for those who don't know the difference between the two so with monster you need to fill your bowl up with everything they have pretty much in order for the bowl to be a monster NOT with only the things that you like because if you do, you will end up with a regular size bowl in a monster and paying for the monster. Freebirds really need to change this because apparently they have to explain this all the time to customers according to the manager. Again, there was nothing wrong with the service or food, but HOW they determine a monster vs regular. You're not getting what you pay for only if you get a lot of options (which you could be allergic to or simply just...

It's hard to write this review. Freebirds was my favorite burrito restaurant and one of my top 5 favorite restaurants of all time for years. Their queso and chips were second to none. Their Burritos were flavorful and unique. And the experience of being inside of one was just...greatness.

And here, at the Richardson location, was by far my favorite of the bunch. It got me through COVID, I was ordering from them a couple times a week when everything shut down!

And then, in January of 2021, they completely changed their ingredients and so many of their recipes. Their queso is watery and flavorless. Their chips are burnt tasting, often stale, and disgusting. Their burritos are not good and most of their sauces and other items have lost so much of that flavor that made them great.

I've spent the last few years trying them again and again every couple of months and it just getting worse. This isn't a Richardson specific problem, this is a Freebirds problem. All of their restaurants have the same bland / not good food. And it's a shame, because they were far and away the best of the best and now they're mediocre and behind just about every other burrito place out there.

Even the atmosphere has changed. It's corporate (not that corporate is a bad thing, but at Freebirds there was always this feeling that the employees had ownership, were well compensated, and enjoyed their work, that feeling disappeared over COVID and hasn't come back).

So this is my goodbye to Freebirds. May you find what once made you so good and go back to it before...