Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in San Diego

Chipotle attempts to produce "Mission-inspired" burritos, a style popularized by the delicious, foil-wrapped, steamed-tortilla burritos (further characterized by the addition of rice) one can find all over San Francisco's Mission district.

What Chipotle gets wrong starts with ingredients. The pinto beans and black beans are soggy and soapy, like those you'd find from a can. Where a traditional Mission burrito would feature a version of the venerable "Mexican-style" rice made with appropriate flavorings and color (e.g. caldo de tomate), Chipotle offers the choice between boring, steamed, flavorless white rice and brown rice. I'd comment on the the meat, but I couldn't taste the carnitas I asked for in my burrito during my visit -- there was so little meat and so much other "fillings" piled onto the tortilla that the meat may as well not have been there. Unlike a proper Mission burrito, Chipotle's cheese is raw and shredded rather than melted in the tortilla. The worst component, however, is the disgusting hot sauce/salsa, which had distinct notes reminding me more of Frank's Red Hot than the Salsa Roja Picante they are seemingly trying to achieve (and arguably they have, but in texture-only). The hot sauce is a nightmare of modern chain-food engineering and further devolved the whole thing into a wet, sloppy mess.

The next thing Chipotle gets wrong is the rolling process. Burritos are dead simple to roll. Yet every Chipotle I've been to has merely heaped their substandard ingredients into the middle of the tortilla and then FOLDED the burrito rather than wrapping it. Not only does this result in uneven distribution of ingredients, but it also creates a mutant-like burrito that is shaped like a square, oversized dumpling. Where a foil-wrapped burrito is supposed to be eaten vertically, it is nearly impossible to do so with a Chipotle burrito without rice spilling everywhere.

I'm trying to figure out how Chipotle keeps their doors open. The cost of my Chipotle Carnitas Burrito ($7.75) was actually MORE expensive than a Carnitas Burrito at nearly any independently-owned San Diego burrito shop. So unlike say... going to In-N-Out and grabbing a $4 double cheeseburger, you can't make the argument that Chipotle is more affordable than clearly superior options.

In summary: I'm not sure why this place exists in San Diego. And I'm confused why San Diegans are eating here instead of cheaper, better...

I had a really disappointing experience at this Chipotle tonight. My family placed a mobile order and the app told us that there was a delay. We waited inside for almost 15 minutes with no update before we asked about our food, since there was no line. The employees brought it out from behind the counter (it was not on the rack), told us they ran out of chips, and asked if we wanted something else to replace our side of chips & guac, which we didn’t. They had already put a bunch of mandarins in the bag to replace our kids’ sides without telling us.

When I opened my children’s meals, I noticed that there was a single burrito tortilla instead of 2 crunchy shells, like we had ordered. We asked about this and were told they also ran out of crunchy shells and again, had replaced them without telling us.

Aside from this, there was only one garbage bin out and it was full to the brim. It was a blue recycling bin, and it was full of all sorts of trash because the other ones were taken away.

Some time before 10 pm, an employee came over and told me that they were closing in 10 minutes. We packed up and left, but we noticed that the door said they close at 11 pm. Other people continued to go in and be served. The employees were very rude and seemed unhappy that there were people in the store. This was the first time I have ever been to this Chipotle location and it will be the last. I will go out of my way to go back to my usual location...

I’ve been a loyal Chipotle customer for years, but this recent experience completely changed how I view the brand. From the moment we walked in, the service was rushed and careless. We specifically asked for a couple of vinaigrettes with our order, and not only did they forget them — they refused to give them to us when we asked again. One of the employees simply said “no” with zero explanation, as if we were asking for something unreasonable. That alone was frustrating enough.

To make matters worse, one of the bowls came with spinach instead of lettuce — which we clearly didn’t order. When we politely went back to get it corrected, the staff gave us major attitude, like it was somehow our fault for their mistake. They remade the bowl, but did so with such rudeness that it completely killed the experience. There’s no excuse for that kind of behavior in customer service.

And just when we thought it couldn’t get worse, I opened my bowl to find an actual leaf inside — not lettuce, not spinach, but an actual non-food leaf. That’s completely unacceptable and honestly kind of gross. It makes me question the cleanliness and attention to detail in the kitchen.

I don’t normally write reviews, but this visit was disappointing on every level. Poor service, bad attitude, wrong orders, and questionable food handling — I expected so much better...