Herndon, VA 20170
(703) 796-1101
http://www.qdoba.com/
Visited: April 19, 2009
As some of you know, even the most discerning food lover will eventually give into the need for a quick fast-food fix. Sometimes the fix leaves one satisfied, other times you feel like you needed something more. My first and most recent visit to Qdoba left me with the latter.
After hearing praises and accolades from friends about Qdoba's chicken burritos, I had to try it out for myself. I'm the rare freak that likes to get one single item (mine being a chicken burrito) and compare said item to various establishments. I've tried the chicken burritos from Chipotle, Baha Fresh and Guapo's. Curiosity, hunger and an obsessive need to compare chicken burritos drove me to try Qdoba's.
Walking into Qdoba, it appeared to be a distant cousin of Chipotle as the layout of the restaurant and the "burrito" line was very similar. I had to give Qdoba credit as their menu and selection of food offered more variety and choices. But for this simple minded man, I already knew what I wanted to order and proceed to have the kind lady build my chicken burrito.
The building of the burrito began with rice, black bean and chicken before being handed off to another lady who took over the task of adding salsa, lettuce, guac and all other topping goodness. As I paid for the food, my mouth watered at the anticipation of tasting my chicken burrito. I sat down, tore into the chicken burrito and came up with a mouth full of rice and beans. Okay, not too bad... Next bite, same thing. For my third bite I rotated the burrito trying to calculate the place where all the chicken hid.
Eureka! I hit the chicken and tasted poultry goodness. By this time my wife had already started on her steak burrito and our two baby boys looked like hungry little birds as they whined for a taste. Sharing some of the chicken with our boys, I did notice that the chicken was well cooked but still quite tender. I did my best to share with my twin boys but continued on the path of destruction as I devoured my chicken burrito.
Sadly, when it was all gone I had the following simple thought about my experience, "Eh...it's okay". I wasn't disappointed, but wasn't blown away. If we had to give letter grades to Qdoba I would give then a C+. The only thing stopping me from giving them a B would've been not enough flavors in the rice and beans and chicken simply tasted "okay". There was something lacking in the overall taste of the ingredients that left me unimpressed and wanting more.
I actually was a bit bummed as Guapo's was just down the street and they make a mean chicken burrito using rotisserie chicken. I mentally computed Qdoba's spot amongst my chicken burrito list and came up with the following ranking:
1. Guapo's
2. Chipotle
3. Qdoba
Hey, a bronze metals isn't bad in the world of chicken burrito Olympics. Overall I give Qdoba 3 stars as I'd like to go back but will try something else off of their menu that's not a chicken burrito.
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