Chipotle's is a one-trick pony, but they do a good job on letting you put together a decent burrito. All of their ingredients are top-notch. As others have indicated, they also are made for sharing. I'd also just note that I don't think burritos are supposed to be lo-cal food anyway!

Used to love Rubio's fish tacos!

Similarly, if DH gets a breakfast burrito somewhere, or even a burrito at a Mexican restaurant, he often eats the contents and leaves the tortilla ^Which is what we primarily do ;)
Good to know :)They aren't. But we were just being informed diners by looking at the calories of our occasional take out meals....Used to? :confused: I like them for lunch sometimes....maybe have them twice a month.

Rubio's used to be better..better quality fish, shrimp, etc. It's definitely lost its luster a bit. I remember 10-15 years ago it was so awesome but now it's just above average.

The burrito I get at Chipotle doesn't contain any meat, cheese or sour cream and is still over 1000 calories. I don't even like it enough to justify it most of the time!

La Salsa is my favorite. The salsa bar is the best, they actually have some hot salsas.

Baja Fresh has good nachos, but also, horrible for you.

What do you put in it?? :)

The tortilla itself is well over 300 calories (I was too scared to check the carb and sodium count). For a company that touts the happiness of its sourced meat, and the healthy benefits of free-range/drug free animals, one would expect they might invest some cash into developing tasty low-cal/low-carb tortillas, or at least offer them as an option. I can buy such items at the supermarket, so I know they exist...

Rice, black beans, corn salsa, regular salsa, lettuce, guac and hot sauce! Oh yeah and the sodium content is way into the thousands as well.

Wow, I'm a little surprised at those calorie counts without meat, cheese or sour cream. Guacamole can be a calorie killer...I'm also surprised those tortillas have that much calories. One way to shave calories at Subway is to switch from bread to the tortilla wrap, which makes me wonder why the Chipotle tortillas have so many calories.

I've only eaten once at a Chipotle and thought it was okay. Liked that you could customize it, though I remember it being kind of a large portion. I probably liked Baja Fresh better, and I think both are a significant step forward over Taco Bell.

I like Chipolte. The portions are huge, so my DH & I usually split a burrito. We always have the carnitas with rice & black beans, no sour cream. Just to make sure to hit the top mark, calorie wise, we usually order a couple of Negra Modelos!! Yumm.....now I'm hungry and thirsty!

Of the three places mentioned I would have to put Chipoltes at the bottom of the list. But I would hit your local taquerias before any of the three. There has to be at least 100 of them in the Lagina niguel,Mission viejo area.

I personally love chipotle, it always depends on what you like as well. Chipotle does a great job with something simple and if you want lo cal, do something atkins-eque with it and strip out the tortilla and rice. I love Wahoo's as someone had mentioned but had no idea they were anywhere but DEN. Baja Fresh and Rubios are also good, but I usually only like their fajitas.

As others have said, the big obvious difference between Chipotle and Baja fresh is a much narrower menu at Chipotle.

That said, I find the quality of the food at Chipotle to be head and shoulders above the bland, greasy fare at my local Baja Fresh. The soft tacos aren't very authentic, but the steak is good quality (if a bit over-spiced) and the chicken is really good.

Portion sizes are too large at both, and a down side with tacos is they don't keep very well - burritos don't get soggy in the same way, and my wife generally gets two meals out of her burrito there.

Portions sizes too big? You people kidding me? I can down two of those Chipotle burritos!

I LOVE Wahoo's fish enchilada's w/ red sauce. The tacos are good.

Chipotle is always tasty but it's so disappointing that it's so bad for you. I try to eat it sparingly these days.

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Chipotle is just another overhyped wannabe for folks who really don't know what Mexican food should be. Stick with Baja.

I'm with you 100% on the Chipotle's not being authentic Mexican food, but I don't think most people go there for that reason. But I would say the exact same thing about Baja Fresh; no way that is authentic.