Poll of the Day > Chipotle or Smash Burger

(+) Yeah! (+)

For me it's a toss up depending on how I'm feeling. I'd go Chipotle.

Chipotle is the subway sandwiches of Mexican

Mid-level burrito versus mid-level burger.

I might have said Chipotle in the past, but they have struggled staffing their stores so badly in the past couple years I say Smashburger. Smashburger probably has staffing issues also, but they aren't nearly as dependent on an assembly line to provide timely/good service.

both kinda suck. shake shack has a great smash burger though

BADoglick posted...

Chipotle is the subway sandwiches of Mexican

Please don't insult Mexican food like that.

It's just cheap food put into a big tortilla.

I think Chipotle is pretty good but they're pretty crazy for charging ten bucks for something that's like 60% rice and beans, aka the cheapest food in existence.

Fast food really sucks now. It was always shitty but the promise was that you could get some cheap stuff and have a comfort level knowing it's quick and pretty consistent wherever you get it. Now they just overcharge for it and are perpetually understaffed and I can't blame people when despite all the price increases it's the same shit pay for them

Also in turn, instead of feeling like "oh it's great you can get this almost anywhere" my outlook now is more like "oh great, this shopping center also has the same exact shit that's choked out local restaurants near me"

never heard of smash burger

pedro45 posted...

Please don't insult Mexican food like that.

It's just cheap food put into a big tortilla.

burritos are mexican

Krazy_Kirby posted...

burritos are mexican

If you had a legit burro or burrito, you'd understand.
Birria is so delicious from an actual Mexican restaurant.

pedro45 posted...

If you had a legit burro or burrito, you'd understand.
Birria is so delicious from an actual Mexican restaurant.

I mean, its still Mexican food. Even if its not as good as food from an actual Mexican restaurant, it would still be considered Mexican. Or maybe Tex mex Thats like saying a burger place isnt a burger place because other places make better burger Or something like that

I don't wanna assume where anyone is from, but I think I'm gonna trust a guy named Pedro over a guy named LinkPizza on this one

dud posted...

I don't wanna assume where anyone is from, but I think I'm gonna trust a guy named Pedro over a guy named LinkPizza on this one

Trust about what? Im not saying anything about which food is better or anything. Im just saying that Chipotle would be considered either Mexican or Tex mex. Unless youre saying that its not If thats the case, what would you call it?

dud posted...

I don't wanna assume where anyone is from, but I think I'm gonna trust a guy named Pedro over a guy named LinkPizza on this one

I guess I'm kinda kidding. Just saying Chipotle is an insult to Mexican food, pretty similar to Taco Bell.

LinkPizza posted...

I mean, its still Mexican food. Even if its not as good as food from an actual Mexican restaurant, it would still be considered Mexican. Or maybe Tex mex Thats like saying a burger place isnt a burger place because other places make better burger Or something like that

Yeah, you're right.

pedro45 posted...

I guess I'm kinda kidding. Just saying Chipotle is an insult to Mexican food, pretty similar to Taco Bell.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah. Id probably put them in the same category

dud posted...

I think Chipotle is pretty good but they're pretty crazy for charging ten bucks for something that's like 60% rice and beans, aka the cheapest food in existence.

Fast food really sucks now. It was always shitty but the promise was that you could get some cheap stuff and have a comfort level knowing it's quick and pretty consistent wherever you get it. Now they just overcharge for it and are perpetually understaffed and I can't blame people when despite all the price increases it's the same shit pay for them

Also in turn, instead of feeling like "oh it's great you can get this almost anywhere" my outlook now is more like "oh great, this shopping center also has the same exact shit that's choked out local restaurants near me"

Making their menu is pretty labor intensive to keep up with the demand, doesn't matter how 'EZ' it looks from the outside

Yes I know. The convenience model that they've relied on is collapsing under a lack of staff. It sucks for customers and it also sucks that these places have underpaid people for ages.

dud posted...

Yes I know. The convenience model that they've relied on is collapsing under a lack of staff. It sucks for customers and it also sucks that these places have underpaid people for ages.

The thing I noticed the last few times I've gone they prioritized online orders before customers in store. I waited 5+ minutes while they filled online orders while I stood there then the guy in front of me ordered a crap ton of meals. By the time I got up to order they were out of everything. The best part is none of the online orders picked up their food while I was there. The worst part was the guy behind me started talking to me because it was taking so long lol.

Taco Bell > Chipotle

FreeBird, QDoba > Chipotle
Five Guys, Freddy's, Shake Shack > Smash Burger

Yopster posted...

The thing I noticed the last few times I've gone they prioritized online orders before customers in store. I waited 5+ minutes while they filled online orders while I stood there then the guy in front of me ordered a crap ton of meals. By the time I got up to order they were out of everything. The best part is none of the online orders picked up their food while I was there. The worst part was the guy behind me started talking to me because it was taking so long lol.

I've griped about this before: they're overwhelmed with online (and everything else). In my case it has been the opposite. I ordered online a couple times and had to wait 10 minutes past the promise time. Annoying, but not the end of the world. Then came the time I learned from the above and went in a full 10-15 minutes past the promise time. I watched the guy I walked in with wait through line, get his burrito, and leave. And then someone else do the same thing. There were 20+ people standing around waiting for online orders.

For just about the only time in my time I walked to the register and complained.
"Look, these people are 30 minutes past the promise time: you need to fill these orders."
"I'm sorry sir there's nothing I can do"
"Are you the manager on duty?"
"Yes"
"Then there is: you can tell the assembly line to stop making burritos for people who just walked in and instead fill our orders"
"I'm sorry sir there's nothing I can do"
*incredulous stare*

They were decently staffed that day, also. Shitty job, I'm sure, and I can't fault employees beyond the (I'm sure inexperienced) manager...but Chipotle seems broken beyond repair these days.

Oh yes, I despise Uber Eats, Postmates, etc. Well now every big chain has their own online ordering system, but I largely blame those companies for starting the trend - plus a lot of the online orders are still made to fulfill those delivery systems in the end. Sucks when you walk/drive into a restaurant seeing there are no lines but you never really know if it's actually going to be a short visit since they might be stacked with online orders. And then there's the online orderer side of things, where half the time they still make you go through the drive thru to pick it up, which is like, what's the point if you're going to sit in the same huge ass line

Any restaurant relying heavily on online orders needs to take orders (or at least numbers) for walk-ups at the door such that everyone can see right where they slot in line. Ideally the person taking/entering orders would be the cashier also. Then everyone could just wait for their food to come up. People might have to get called up in a place like Chipotle, but methinks that can be done.

Waiting 10 minutes while feeling you're getting screwed over is a million times worse than waiting 10 minutes in an orderly fashion.

It's shocking to me that conversion isn't happening faster at big chains.