Went to the Chipotle today. Bought 1 crunchy taco. Bastards charged me $3.00 for it. It is 75 grams and my Panzer Tacos are 90 grams. Better value for much less money.

Basicaly I kinda go to different places that sell tacos and sample them out so I can test them against my home-made tacos. I pretty much take a look at their ingredients, measures them, taste them and weight them out. So this place Chipotle, I knew right away when I stepped into it that something was not right: the patrons were faggoty-looking and the employees were also looking like your average preppy urban oddballs. I couldn't find the pricing for the tacos so I ordered one anyway. I asked for the crunchy taco and then told the assembly guy to put beef, lettuce and cheese on it. I picked the beef that looked as close as possible to the one that is from Taco Bell, in Chipotle it is called barbacoa. Their lettuce also was shredded in large pieces and their cheese did not looked right as well. I asked the assembly guy what kind of cheese it was and he did not know so he asked a manager and she said that it was a blend of mozzarella and white cheddar. To my surprise I was asked for $3.00 and asked if I wanted anything else (hell no!), so I put the taco in my bag and went to Macy's to see what was going on in there.

At Macy's I wanted to find out how much was the Zirh 3.4 oz Shave Gel. The black guy in a suit told me that it was $15.00 and with tax it would be like $17.20, I thanked him and walked away. I just wanted to know the price so I would know how much money I saved, because earlier today I bought the same product for $5.99 + 4.00(Shipping) on eBay. I also almost bumped into my old boss, so I quickly tried to evade him because he was talking with some vendor chick. I pretty much quit my job without telling him a word and went home.

Just came home and tried this fucking Chipotle taco. The meat tasted okay, the shell was soft but crunchy (they probably dipped it in the oil and then treated it), the lettuce was like lettuce but too big for a taco, and cheese was horrible: I took it off and threw it intoo garbage. Basically this taco is a piece of shit and waste of money.

Gia would fit right in this place, I can definitely see her and eating 12 corn kernels with 24 grains of rice while nibbling on a 1" x 1" piece of corn tortila.

This is the piece of shit that you get for $3.00:

Quote:

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I knew right away when I stepped into it that something was not right: the patrons were faggoty-looking and the employees were also looking like your average preppy urban oddballs. I couldn't find the pricing for the tacos so I ordered one anyway.

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Chipotle is just another in a long line of trendy, overpriced, bullshit chain restaurants. Those places are always filled with douchebags who thinks they're on the cutting edge because they eat there and assholes who think they're cool because they work there.

I call it the Starbucksification of the restaurant business. I'll bet they even have some made-up Spanish sounding word that they call their employees.

pendehos

Enjoyed eating a cow's head taco? web page

In Cali, the barbacoa is goat meat. I think the manager sized you up and made you a special gringo taco.

I heard that the major investment for Chipotle came from McDonald's. Really. It was an experiment in mid-level dining.

More info: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n8_v32/ai_20338335/

^ True story. Saw the Mickey D's truck making a delivery by the spot on Fairfax once.

I just sent the complaint to Chipotle:

On Wednesday 04/28/2010 at around 5:20 PM I went into Chipotle at 283 7th Avenue for a taco. Upon entering the restaurant and approaching the counter I observed the menu. The tacos were listed along with other menu items, but the menu board lacked the pricing information. When I approached cashier, I was asked to pay $3.00 for a 75 gram taco (I weighted it with precision digital scales). Anything that is sold in the City of New York and is over $1.00 should have pricing information available in plain sight according to the New York City Administrative Code: Consumer Protection Law: Truth-In-Pricing Law (§ 20–708 Display of total selling price by tag or sign). Please contact me in a timely manner about this issue because I am considering about contacting the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs and the Attorney General's Office.

^ I read this post in a room full of strangers and nearly fell out of my chair, laughing my ass off. How does one even begin to explain?

This place is one of a kind.

Just got a response on Friday:

"Alexander,
Thank you for writing us! And I am sorry for the confusion. Our standard order of tacos is three, and our menu boards and menus display the price for an entire order. Because we want our customers to eat what they want, we’ll of course depart from our standard menu in any reasonable way, like with single tacos or quesadillas or nachos or whatever you want really with the ingredients that we serve. But if we tried to display a price for every possible variation off the menu, unfortunately, we’d need a “price encyclopedia” in each restaurant, and we wouldn’t be able to find enough space on our walls to display all of the possible combinations of our foods.

If you think $3 for your taco wasn’t a fair value, then by all means, please let me send you a coupon that’s good for a full order of tacos for free. What’s your mailing address? With regard to future menu board innovations, our restaurants are ultimately transitioning to a new menu board that actually has the single taco listed. We may also incorporate other non-menu items too, but that remains to be seen."

I replied:

"Couple blocks from the 283 7th Avenue Chipotle there is a place that is called Taco Express. For $1.60 they make 105-gram taco that includes hard/crunchy tortilla, seasoned beef, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and they also throw in a 30-mL dixie cup with cap of salsa. I don't know about the quality of their ingredients but I do know that their tacos tasted great and that they make everything on site: tortilla machine was making tortillas, there was some stuff cooking in the cauldron and the kitchen was well-stocked. Overall I think that at the Taco Express they offer great value for the money, the food tastes great and from the number of people that were in line when I was there I think that they have good business. The Chipotle taco was decent, but nothing more. My biggest concern was the white cheese and I asked the prep guy about it and the manager told me that it was a mixture of mozzarella and white cheddar. Anything other than yellow cheddar does not belong on the taco; I had to remove the Chipotle cheese and throw it out: it did not smell, feel or taste right. I went to Chipotle so I could get a sense of it and the end result is that I did not like it, and that is fine for me because I learned something from this experience. I will have to decline your offer for a full order of tacos just out of the principal because I experienced the Chipotle and learned a lesson.

I would like to suggest that Chipotle would use the portion control utensils so the food would be uniform, the customers would not feel cheated and that the store would know how much goes into every product. There are lots of different quality portion control utensils such as spoodles, dishers and Fifo bottles. From my online research on Chipotle I found out that a lot of customers complaint that there is not enough of ingredients in their orders and that they often request for more ingredients. With portion control utensils everyone would get the same amount of ingredients. In my case when I ordered the taco, the prep guy used a metal tong to scoop and place the meat and for the rest (lettuce and cheese) the other prep guy just used his hands, this is definitely not a portion control and I can see how people would complaint about not getting a fair amount of ingredients since the prep person can decide who gets what amount and there can be issues with favoritism for preferred customers.

There are several menu boards at the 283 7th Avenue Chipotle location, and the rightmost menu board is missing the pricing for all the items (including taco). I've been dealing with these kinds of issues for over 2 years and a good example would be a Papa Johns location that is just 2 blocks away from this Chipotle: they have this $0.99 slice of pizza special that they advertise on a street corner, but the price goes up to $2.50 after 6:00 PM and they did not have the pricing posted for the slice of pizza, only for the whole pies. I contacted Papa Johns and pointed this out to them, they told that they will fix it, a couple of weeks passed with no progress so I let the DCA of NYC know about this issue, a week later the Papa Johns location got fined and received citation, 2 days later the pricing was up on the menu board. Another issue was with Taco Bell in Brooklyn, they had 12 out of 26 items that were missing the pricing, I let the store manager know about this and that he should fix it, a week passed with no progress so I called the DCA and pointed this out. Couple of days later Taco Bell got fined and cited and their franchisee manager called me and told how regretful he was. Next day some items were masked out with black tape and the pricing was added. Basically the DCA sends in the inspector to the designated location and he checks if the complaint is valid, if the restaurant is at fault than they get fined and also get a citation. I don't expect Chipotle to change their all menu board, but just those ones who are in NYC and are missing the pricing on the menu items offered. The only products that are exempt from this law in NYC are medical products and cosmetics.

Here is the law description that I copied straight from the government website:

" § 20–707 Definitions. (a) "Consumer commodity" shall be defined as any article, good, merchandise, product or commodity of any kind or class produced, distributed or offered for retail sale for consumption by individuals, or for personal, household or family purposes. For the purposes of this subchapter, drugs, medicines and cosmetics shall not be considered consumer commodities.
(b) "Price per measure" shall be defined as the retail price of a consumer commodity expressed in terms of the retail price of such commodity per such unit of weight, standard measure or standard number of units as the commissioner shall designate by regulation."

-Alex

They replied:

"Alexander,

It’s actually Monterey Jack and white cheddar, not Mozzarella and white cheddar. We’re sorry you don’t like our style of cheese. We do definitely practice portioning when our customers are not around, and our people are typically very good and fair at what they do. If you feel like we shorted you on your taco, then I apologize, since it was not intentional. We don’t use utensils or scoops with lettuce or cheese, as we don’t wish to bruise the lettuce or clump the cheese. And tongs we feel are necessary for our barbacoa beef, carnitas (pork), and fajita vegetables. True – there can be some small variability in portions from time to time, but it is very rare that it’s noticeable from burrito to burrito (this would not be conducive to good business if everyone thought that everyone else was getting more or less than they were, therefore our people practice how to do these things often).

I was not aware that our menu board was missing our normal menu prices at our 283 7th location, and we’ll make sure to get that fixed, as it definitely is not intentional.

In any case, we appreciate your in-depth concern, and if you change your mind about visiting us again, we’d be happy to have you back, and my coupon offer still stands (I understand your reasoning for not accepting a coupon however). In the meantime, we wish you an excellent weekend."

The owner replied:

"Good Afternoon Alex,

I am the Restaurateur in charge of the Chipotle at 283 7th Ave. I would like to
thank you for the feedback on your visit to Chipotle. We are always striving to
get better and we can't do that unless we know where our opportunities for
improvement are.

I understand your concerns with regard to the portion control and I have taken
them up with the staff at the restaurant. The serving of cheese and lettuce is
done by hand because those items are delicate and we are trying not to bruise
them. I will work with the crew to make sure they are giving the correct
portions to every customer. It is also part of our customer service philosophy
to personalize the Chipotle experience and give every customer what they want.
This does mean that some customers get more ingredients such as cheese or
lettuce, but we are happy to do the same for anyone upon request.

Our prices are posted on the menu boards. They are on the board that lists the
different meats and veggie options. This is because the price is the same for a
burrito, order of tacos, or salad. The determining factor in price is which of
the meats is chosen or if it is vegetarian. I apologize if this was explained
clearly when you visited."

I replied to the owner:

"As a paying customer I do not agree with the policy of asking for more. I think that if the customer does not want more ingredients then he should tell it to the prep person, because people naturally want more, especially if they pay prices that are higher than in other establishments. I can definitely see how the restaurant saves ingredients by using less of them and thus making more profits. I think that if you use this policy then you should make it available so when the customer is ordering his food at the counter then he would be familiar with the policy on asking for more and would know his/hers rights. If I knew this policy while I ordered the taco then I would asked for more ingredients, but since there was no way for me to see this policy and no one from the staff did not told me about it, then I had no choice to accept whatever the prep person made for me.

I also do not agree about the portion control. The bruising of lettuce and cheese is really an obscure answer. If the prep person uses NSF-rated utensils and handles them the right way then there should not be any problems. I have the Professional Chef textbook and I just checked it and could not find any information or precautions on bruising. The only way that I see cheese and lettuce getting bruised if it is done intentionally by the prep person.

If the taco costs the same as the burrito then there should be a disclaimer on the menu. A return customer may be familiar with this pricing but a regular/first time customer may not know this, and the NYC fair-pricing law is based on the average person's knowledge. The meats and vegetables may be shared by taco and burrito, but the tortilla shell is not, and this makes it a totally different item from burrito.

I will not let go the issue of missing pricing for the taco and if there will be no change on the menu board by Friday then I will file a formal complaint with DCA and Attorney General's Office. I may also file a complaint about your company's practice of preparing the food for end-consumer consumption that lacks portion uniform. I view this practice as unfair and deceptive to customers. I might as well notify FOX-5 or Help Me Howard about this unfair pricing so the people would know what they are getting if they patronize Chipotle."

-Alex

For the past 65 years we've been inundated with bullshit about "why, oh why, did the holocaust happen to us poor little Jews?"

The answer to that question is clearly outlined throughout the exchange between Panzer and this place.

I think the entire exchange is Panzer leading up to selling them his "portion control" scoops he is hoarding.

Now we know why pogroms were so popular back in the old country.

Throw the Jew down the well.