Chipotle Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Waycross

Went here today, was the only one there at 1:00pm. First time at a Chipotle so wasn't sure what to expect - though I did not expect an empty restaurant.

The decor is nothing to write home about, modernized fast food joint, open and bright though empty - lots of windows. Food is the "Scoop n' serve" type of food - so I couldn't help but feel like I was back in the high school cafeteria.

Wasn't sure how ordering is done here, so I hovered near the counter for a few seconds while looking up at the menu, and that's when I spotted the food. None of it looked very fresh, and most items were almost gone. Guess I missed the lunch rush.

Was greeted by a nice guy a few minutes later, he was happy to explain how ordering worked, what each item I asked about was, etc. 10/10 on service and friendliness.

On to the food. He recommended I get a bowl instead of the burrito so I went with that. Typically the servers of a place know best. Though the food did not look fresh, I decided to try anyway - as I usually expect this at a fast food joint anyway. I ordered the brown herb rice, topped with pinto beans, chicken pastor (spicy shredded chicken), Picco de gallo, and finished the toppings with some sort of shredded white cheese - didn't say what kind it was but ah well.

Was it good? Kinda. I took my food outside to their umbrella'd tables (liked the outside option as it's a windy cool day) and dug in. At first, it was bland and boring. Straight up. The individual ingredients could be tasted, nothing melded together, the cold items and cheese were a weird temperature compared to everything else and made it awkward on the palate.

Which was weird, I have some culinary experience - and what I chose SHOULD have worked together. So I decided to put the top back on the dish and let the warm items bring the cold items to temperature and let all of the food sort of marinate together a while. About ten minutes. I reopened, tried that. MUCH better. You definitely, 100% need to mix it coarsely together and let the foods work into eachother for a few minutes before consuming. Honestly, the only thing I couldn't fix this way - was that the rice was quite mushy. No excuse and no fix for mushy rice.

All in all, good service, clean place to eat, would have preferred the food be more fresh - but every restaurant has their "best time to visit" and I think I just missed it.

Do not go here and expect your food to taste as you expect immediately - give the ingredients some time to mesh together. This is definitely a "Order now, eat later"...

Where do I begin? First of all, the parking lot itself is WAY TOO small! If there is ever a line to the drive thru, forget about getting into the parking lot! When you first walk in, it looks just like your regular Chipotle, but as you get in, the lay out is not convenient at all. The fountain machines are hidden and the bathroom gets blocked by the crowd of people standing in line. Also, the place is so loud that you really can't hear each other talking without having to darn near yell, even standing so close. Now, on to the service. It was decent, but they could have done better with listening and communication. When telling them what we wanted, we were very clear, and because of it being so loud, they were messing our entire order up and we had to correct them numerous times, and eventually ended up just getting whatever they thought they were hearing we were saying. At checkout, the ladies were NOT clear that there was a fountain machine and other options to drink than what was in front of you at the cooler. So, we ended up paying almost $4 for a small bottled coke that we could have gotten elsewhere for a quarter of the price. All in all, poor service, hands down! Lastly, the food. What can I say other than it was edible. They over stuffed the burrito to where one bite made it completely fall apart. The chips were WAY over salted! Also, for just opening, they were running low on a lot of stuff. So, honestly, they were poorly prepared for opening day.

All in all, go there if you want poor service, only just edible food, a loud environment, and a parking lot that you might end up rear ending people in.

I don't see this place lasting long at all!...

I have been to this chipotle 5 times since they opened. The first 4 times were ok. 2 of those times they didn't have any steak, which is what I usually get in my burrito bowl. 1 of those times I went at 9:02pm. That is the time I was at the door. But they had already closed the restaurant. The operating times state they close at 10pm, however they closed an hour early for nothing.

My previous times getting the burrito bowl, when they actually had the steak prepared, were good. They gave me plenty of steak and it was a nice portion for the price. However the last time I visited it was a disaster. I ordered my usual, a burrito bowl with steak. They put SO LITTLE steak on the bowl I thought it was a joke or something. I told the girl to please put a little more meat on there for me. She complied, then I proceeded to go pay. The price was $18.**. That's almost $20 for a burrito bowl. I said to the cashier, the burrito bowl is only $13. To which she replied "you got extra steak". WHAT!?!?!? UNBELIEVABLE!!! I honestly wish you could have seen the amount of steak originally put on my bowl. It truly was a joke!

In the end, no one cares! No one is concerned with the fact that I feel I got ripped off. No one cares what kind of service they give or if you are really happy or not. People will just continue to pay the ridiculous prices and not force change by simply no longer going there. But if you really want these places to do something. You have to stop giving them your business when they treat you like this. As the wallet is the only place that, in the end, affects change for...