Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Santa Maria

Worst restaurant experience that I think I've ever had. I took my grandson there to get a burrito after his football game. This was the final destination after the usual, "Where do you want to eat?" debate took place. I wanted the "tried and true" Chick-fil-A or Urbane Cafe, but since he won his game, he got to pick. My first thought as I'm walking into this place was how nasty it looked in there. Food on the floor. Excessive food was scattered in the food area. It wasn't like in other food businesses I've been in where they have somebody preparing and refilling the containers. Containers for the various ingredients were empty or close to it. So, we get in line. There was one other person in front of us. It seemed to take a long time to get served. There were, I believe, four employees. The guy that assembled my grandson's burrito did a decent job. It was very large and had plenty of stuff in it. I ordered a bowl and it was put together decently also. We sat down to eat our food. There wasn't a clean table in the place. There were no water cups. There were no straws. All of the napkin dispensers were empty. There was ice pilled up under the drink dispensers. Maybe they didn't have time to clean up. Possible but not likely. Sadly, while I was trying to enjoy my food, all I could focus on was how filthy this place is. The food was good, but it made me wonder that if the rest of this place was so visibly unsanitary-looking, God only knows what's going on behind the scenes. We finished our food and cleaned off our table, figuring that nobody else was going to. On the way out is when I noticed the trash cans overflowing. It was bad. I've been to various Chipotles before, but never have I seen any of them look like this one. It was appalling. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I doubt that this was just an oversight and that it was too busy to tend to. I just wonder how the local health department would have viewed this. With so much competition in the "semi-fast food" world and with the cost of eating out so unaffordable, I just can't imagine that the crew would not be on top of this sort of thing. I spent nearly twenty three dollars on a burrito, and a bowl of rice. Ultimately, it gets down to the management. I get it, the employees can only do what they are allowed or instructed to do. The management is just failing miserably, as far as I'm concerned. I was a construction supervisor for many years. You are responsible for your people and your product. Plain and simple. My wife, who loves to decorate, commented on how "stark and unwelcoming" this place looks. Chipotle has been around for a while, and I just can't believe I experienced this. It's very doubtful that I would spend another penny...

Glad I was finally able to cash out my rewards so I don't have to come back to this location. Not sure who owns this franchise but they're dropping the ball. Seems like every time I come in it's a toss up between leaving with something I wanted or a different order based on what's available.

Walked in tonight during dinner hours (5:30-6:00). Few tables were occupied and there was only one customer ahead of me. White rice bin was near empty and the person ahead ordered two bowls with white rice. That was the moment that the server called back to the kitchen to get more, and rather than wait to give her fresh rice she wound up with what were two half scoops.

I was hoping to get a bowl with white rice and brisket, however they were out of both at that point in time. Server asked what other components I wanted and began to put a burrito bowl together upside-down. Wanting to avoid fishing for guac and salsa at the bottom of the bowl, I caved and just got brown rice and chicken. Fortunately I was able to use my points so I didn't have to pay much out of pocket for this nonsense, not that they would have comped me anything for the inconvenience.

This place is always dirty, they're always out of everything, and they don't seem interested in making more. I feel bad for the kids who have to work in this nonexistent/broken system. Truly a shame that this is the only...

My online order was “promised” at 5:40pm. I arrived at 5.36pm. No orders were on the pickup shelf so I took a seat with full view of the prep station and the pickup shelf. No one else was waiting for pickup when I arrived. Over the next 10 minutes, two other pickup customers arrived and both waited for a few minutes before asking the register person about their order as no pickup orders had been placed on the to-go pickup shelf. The employee checked with the prep people (2 employees prepping) and a couple minutes later, brought their orders out. I patiently waited until 5:56pm and (losing patience) finally asked the same register person about my order. She walked back to the prep area and pulled my ready-to-go order from a visible shelf in the prep area (not the customer pickup shelf) and gave my order to me. No “thank you”, no “I’m sorry”.

I voiced the fact that I had been waiting since 5:36pm and my order had been sitting on a shelf in the prep area for how long? Her response was “we’re very backlogged sir”. They were NOT visibly backlogged as I sat and watched for 20 minutes. Unacceptable. Worst service ever. P.S. After immediately placing my order in an insulated bag which I purposely brought with me and walking 5 minutes home, the tacos were cold. Big...