Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Staunton

Heed the warnings and don't even attempt this place. I've never seen so many one star reviews for a brand new chain restaurant. As a Staunton local I am quite disappointed...we've been waiting for a Chipotle for years. But then you have to remember, it took them way too long to build this place and that should have been the first warning sign.

I have been there 5 times since it opened and sadly, today was my 5th and last time, I am never going back to this location. The first time was the first week they opened. Yes the lines were long but when you get up to order you realize why. These poor staff have been so poorly trained they move with the slowest sense of urgency, I can't help but to blame their lack of training. That first time it took almost two hours to get through the line. They were running out of food (this was a Friday night, first week of opening, should have been prepared, right)? The portions were so small and the food was cold. Again, train the staff how to proper portions. The person at the cash register seemed needed a lot of help that night and the drive through was closed.

The second night was about a week later. Again a Friday night around 6pm. Line was out the door, and it was nearly a 90 minute wait. Not because they're slammed but because in the week since I had been there they had still not trained staff appropriately. There was no manager in sight. Out of sour cream and chips, so we had to buy some at the store on our way home. Drive through was closed. I swore I would never return, but we've waited so long for a Chipotle in Staunton, so I gave it another try.

The third time was a couple of weeks after that. They were out of cheese, vegetables, and guac. It was around lunchtime on a weekday. NEVER go here during a mealtime, you will wait way too long. The person at the register was still struggling. Apparently receiving no additional training since they opened. The wait was a little bit shorter this time so I was like, yeah, I'll come back.

The fourth time they were out of burritos. Let me say that again, Chipotle was out of burritos. There's a Chick Fli A across the street and it would be like going in there and they're out of the chicken sandwich. They were also out of vegetables that day. They were running out of rice and I had to remind the line person they needed more rice. I have observed this place operate (from standing in line for hours) a few times now and I notice that there's either no manager or the manager is so poorly trained that they don't know how to properly train the staff. If you're running out of something on the line, prepare to replace it, right? They act surprised each time they run out of a food item on the line. Register still struggling. This time was about a 45 minute wait and there was a sign on the door that they would be closing early.

The fifth and final time was today. I went at lunch time which was a big mistake based on my past experiences. Got there and customers are sitting around on their phones, no food, and no food on the line. A kind customer told me they are doing online orders only. That would have been good to know. I downloaded the app, ordered a chicken bowl and waited. The app said it would be ready in ten minutes, but using past experience to predict future experience, I knew this wouldn't be the case. There were maybe five people in font of me. Waited a half hour and then cancelled my online order and walked out, never to return. The only positive about this experience is the chat bot on the app was able to refund my order pretty quickly.

I am certain this place won't be open for 12 months. They'll be lucky to make it 6 months. Most of Staunton and the surrounding area knows how terrible the wait times and unpredictability of the store are, and if anyone coming in off the highway reads reviews or Yelp, they might think twice about coming here. It's truly a disappointment since just about every other Chipotle I've been to across the US operates more efficiently...

Eat here if you want a SHARP JAGGED HARD FOREIGN OBJECT embedded in your chicken that could send you to the hospital!!! It was not visible- it was embedded into the meat chunk that is impossible to see until after taking a bite. It appeared to be a hard plastic piece that was sharp on the edges- no, definitely was not chicken cartilage or anything like that. I pulled it apart after spitting it out.

I tried to contact them to get a refund since I didn’t feel safe to finish my food (I’d only taken ONE BITE and this happened and spit it out) but they do not even reply on the app contact chat- it simply says “thanks for your feedback” from an automated thing when you select “order issues”/type into the comment box (does not let you get a live person) and doesn’t acknowledge what kind of feedback this is or give any refund. I tried to CALL the Staunton store and you literally cannot get through on the phone to talk to a manager. This is not a “my food was cold” situation- this is a “I could’ve pierced my esophagus and been in emergency surgery had I not spit that out or chewed thoroughly enough” situation but they do not care. They make it impossible to get help. Maybe if they get a lawsuit from someone eventually then they’ll start to care.

Prior to this, my order was missing part of it- which I noticed upon pickup and turned around to tell them this. Their reply was “we’re out of that”- if you’re out of something (that I paid for), then either don’t offer it on the app for ordering and block that item; or if it was already offered/ordered, then tell the customer that and offer a refund or alternate items. Don’t hand the order over without saying anything at all letting them go on their way and make the customer have to say more to ask for something else in place of it (if I hadn’t opened the bag, I wouldn’t have known til I got home). Unfortunately this is the second time I’ve had this exact thing happen- the prior time was the literal prior time I went a few months ago, so this is twice in a row.

In addition we’ve had other issues between the Staunton and Waynesboro locations anytime we’ve bothered to give them another chance. We do not go there often (only for to go pickup)- once every couple months and it seems like there’s always something wrong and lazy employees- missing items, wrong items, plastic piece this time in the chicken, cold food, etc

So I am done with Chipotle after this- forever. The app has...

i don’t normally post reviews, but this place is ridiculous and after seeing other reviews i am not shocked whatsoever. i placed an order through the mobile app for two burritos and a bag of chips and queso. after arriving WELL after my order was supposed to be due, i had to wait way longer than i should’ve to be helped at the drive thru window, and was helped by a lady who hardly speaked english (bless her heart because she seemed to be the only employee actually working as everyone else was chatting in the back and being lazy for customers to see). i pulled off and got home only to realize they not only forgot my chips (but gave me the queso still?) and wrapped both of my burritos that were the size of a donut WITHOUT labels so we had to open and pick apart the burritos to figure out which had what toppings. and it’s crazy because we managed to actually wrap them up better than the employees did!! they also put guacamole on my burrito which literally costs extra and i didn’t ask/pay for and hardly gave any protein in my boyfriend’s burrito. after calling the store to speak to a manager on shift i was directed by an AI robot who said to go to my email and figure out their crappy service bot (that sucks by the way) while, and i quote, “the crew focuses on working in store to continue making burritos and bowls”???? what kind of crappy customer service wont even allow unsatisfied customers to communicate with the store, and clearly someone needs to get in contact with corporate and shut this location down or completely re-staff the entire building because the employees that were supposedly “focusing on making burritos and bowls” were chit-chatting behind the counter with no regard whatsoever. completely ridiculous and i’m so surprised this location is still in business. if any management sees my review (which i doubt because it seems they are only concerned with reviews that involve legal issues such as food poisoning or whatnot), i’d appreciate a response or some action taken to resolve the poor service and quality...