QDOBA Mexican Eats — Restaurant in Virginia

TLDR: Food taste and quality is awesome, the people are nice and friendly, prices are reasonable, and it's pretty clean.

Long version: A lot of people have called this an "off brand Chipotle," but there are a few differences that are noticeable enough to make you think differently when you're finished.

Pros:

For starters, it's about 2$ more for a bowl/burrito/whatever. In exchange, there are practically no limits as to what you want put on your food. Extra meat, or extra anything (besides other meat)for that matter, is no upcharge. This includes their delicious guacamole, and they aren't stingy with it either. They gave me a very hefty sized scoop on my chicken bowl.

Secondly, their menu is much simpler and easy to follow than Chipotle's. I won't type out a paragraph explaining it, you need to see it for yourself, it's just better.

While Chipotle has 3 sauces/salsas, QDOBA has 4.

Fourthly, their queso is better. It just is.

Cons:

Fans of Chipotle's Chipotle Tobasco hot sauce will be disappointed, as they do not offer it here. They do have the popular Cholula Mexican hot sauce that is a staple of several other Mexican restaurants, along with with the green jalapano Tobasco sauce.

Their hottest sauce is not near as hot as Chipotle's, even with the extra Tobasco I put on it. Still, they are all quite tasty.

Their sour cream is a bit thin and tastes low-fat, which for some, may even be a positive factor.

Looks like that's it for now! I could have covered many more details but I...

So I love this Qdoba - food is always so fresh tasting. I had the weirdest experience today. I went to cash out and the system wanted me to tip. I couldn't figure out how to do that because the instructions are black on dark gray and I left my glasses in the car. So the cashier pushed the button for me to get out of that section. What I didn't know is she tipped herself 2 dollars! I looked at the receipt and said to her I didn't authorize that and the manager came up. And I told her what happened. She said, "well we don't do refunds." What? I went on to say I wouldn't have tipped 2 dollars, I'm not being served. It was just a salad. Anyway not a good experience. Now I wonder how many times I've unknowingly tipped and never looked at my receipt. Bad system. Easily...

I’ve given this Qdoba location multiple chances — and each time, I’ve left more disappointed than the last. The biggest issue is the inconsistency in food quality. One visit might be passable, and the next, the food is cold, undercooked, or just poorly prepared. You never know what you’re going to get, which is frustrating when you’re spending money expecting a certain standard.

What makes it worse is the lackluster service. The staff often seem uninterested, inattentive, and at times outright dismissive. Orders are rushed, items are missed, and there’s little effort put into basic customer interaction.

Qdoba as a brand has potential, but this location is not living up to it. I would not recommend this store unless some major improvements are made in both food prep and...