Current Events > Chipotle has quietly become the best fast food restaurant

(+) Yeah! (+)

All other fast food is basically like $12 for a combo now while Chipotle bowls sit at $8-9 assuming no guac

Better ingredients, better sides, super customizable

Easily a top 3 FF place now based on value

The one by me is super disgusting

I've never been to a Chipotle.

I find it sort of unremarkable. It doesn't help that the first time I went it took an hour to get my web order. Also Cafe Rio is just across the street from me, so there's that.

Probably not in the top 10000 once you factor in non-chains.

small portions

ellis123 posted...

Probably not in the top 10000 once you factor in non-chains.

I guess this raises a question for me: does fast food automatically == chain?

I think local restaurants that are as fast I still wouldn't refer to as fast food, but I'm not sure what other people think about this.

Anteaterking posted...

I guess this raises a question for me: does fast food automatically == chain?

I think local restaurants that are as fast I still wouldn't refer to as fast food, but I'm not sure what other people think about this.

No. It is a style of restaurant and has nothing to do with it requiring the thing in question to be a chain. Like, McDonalds was always a fast food place even when it was just the singular place (and it the label was given to it on creation as it wasn't the first fast food place + the name was the marketing gimmick from the get-go). The same thing holds true with quality: being a fast food place has utterly nothing to do with it being crappy food. It's just that people have a really negative feeling towards the term because American chains are just generically so bad that it has lodged itself in peoples' collective minds (hence why "Fast Casual" is a thing: it's marketing trying to act like their restaurant is somehow better than the alternatives). In that vein having a drive through largely doesn't matter as most people, correctly, recognize pizza places as fast food (Pizza Hut et al) and those are commonly picked up/delivered to you + not all fast food locations have the ability to even have a drive through (it is trivial to just look up a McDonalds without a drive through).

Fast food is exclusively about its quickly produced status and everything else is just grasping at justifications for why *insert place here* isn't one more than it is actually is realistic/an accurate take on what makes a fast food restaurant a fast food restaurant.

I stopped going to Chipotle around a decade or so ago (in favor of patronizing a smaller, more localized chain of burrito-focused restaurants), when there was a big scandal involving a salmonella outbreak connected to their food. Did they ever correct the problem, or just let it fade out of the public eye over time and sweep it under the rug?

Its full of shitty rice filler though

snd if you ask no rice they chinse on the protein

SpawnShadow posted...

I stopped going to Chipotle around a decade or so ago (in favor of patronizing a smaller, more localized chain of burrito-focused restaurants), when there was a big scandal involving a salmonella outbreak connected to their food. Did they ever correct the problem, or just let it fade out of the public eye over time and sweep it under the rug?

Somewhat the latter. It was mostly just a "there was a bad batch" more than anything that they could fix (same with the E. Coli at the same time) other than actually giving a crap about their quality, which absolutely wasn't going to happen. Hence why they had another E. Coli outbreak, a norovirus outbreak, and a clostridiumoutbreak immediately following the salmonella. Like, they *really* did not want to buy stuff that wasn't heavily discounted.

ellis123 posted...

Somewhat the latter. It was mostly just a "there was a bad batch" more than anything that they could fix (same with the E. Coli at the same time) other than actually giving a crap about their quality, which absolutely wasn't going to happen. Hence why they had another E. Coli outbreak, a norovirus outbreak, and a clostridiumoutbreak immediately following the salmonella. Like, they *really* did not want to buy stuff that wasn't heavily discounted.

Sounds like I made the right call in not eating their food anymore, then.

You're missing out if you think that Chipotle is the only good value still out there.

Taco Bell has the Cravings Box Bundle (must order online) for $5.99
El Pollo Loco has the $5 Pollo Bowls or the Fire Grilled Combos for $5.99
Little Caesars has the $6 for Hot N Ready or Deep Dish Lunch Combo
Wendy's has the $5 Biggie Bags or the 4 for $4
Arby's has the $6 Mix & Match deal
Dairy Queen has a $7 Cheeseburger meal
Panera has a $7 Soup and Sandwich combo

And I think you get the point. Deals are out there, go get some

Habit is doing (double?) burger w/fries + medium drink + gummi thing.

Lukewarm meat covered in cold vegetables, and wrapped up in a way where you can't get a bite of both together.

They are also open until 11 here, so I can eat there after my Jiu-Jitsu class or rock climbing.

They are my go-to now.

Last time I went they were out of white rice, corn, and guacamole. When you're charging the same for a chicken burrito and a "veggie" burrito but the only thing that doesn't come on the chicken burrito is guacamole, it feels like I just paid for dinner and got a snack. My spouse wanted white rice and corn on the burrito and a side of chips and corn, but at least we didn't pay for the side they couldn't provide. The brown rice was tough, possibly undercooked.

I'm still stuck on McDonald's buy one get one free QPCs. Two burgers for less than $6 is about the best you'll get price wise for fast food. Even those gross ones in vending machines are $4 each now.

Panda Express easily has Chipotle beat

DeadSite posted...

super customizable

Do you want your rice and beans and a few salsas that all taste the same in a bowl or a burrito wrap?

I completely agree with your topic tho.

Man I used to go wild on those bowls when I lived in Seattle. Both kinds of beans, that vegetarian meat substitute, all the veggies, spicy salsa, guac. So good.