Claudette M.
Yelp
This is where I ended up eating dinner for my birthday...not the original plan. I had reservations for a seafood restaurant called Ocean Prime in downtown Philly. As it had happened too many other times on this not-as-great-as-planned trip, I drove around for more than an hour and couldn't find any parking. I had a reservation but I missed that. I know that has nothing to do with Chipotle, but I figure I should mention it because I'm sure the disappointment of missing that reservation colours my experience after.
I have to plan all my restaurants because I'm gluten-free due to an auto-immune disease, so changing my plans on the fly is a big problem. I had to be at Pennhurst for a paranormal tour at a certain time, so I started to get nervous and think, Where am I going to get birthday dinner?
I'd never tried Chipoltle before and had always wanted to, so I thought...why not?
The restaurant was a tad busy (it was a Friday afternoon at about 5 PM) but all the tables, almost were dirty. I noticed when I came in because I was trying to scout a place to sit.
This is a line up and pick your stuff situation. I had another "Are you kidding me??" moment when I asked the first girl working behind the counter if they had any gluten-free wraps or all corn shells. She had NO idea what I was talking about. In Ontario, almost every Mexican restaurant here offers some GF wrap/shell option. The fact that employees serving food are not educated in what gluten is irks me to my core yet again. It's dangerous. I'm really tired of encountering employees not educated in food allergies in restaurants so many places I visit. It's not safe and it's not responsible.
I was going to give this place two stars, but just watching the people working in here and knowing they don't even make a living wage made me add a star. Even if you haven't been educated about food allergies...that's your employer's fault. You're still standing there making minimum wage probably trying to do the best you can.
Now, one thing I didn't like was the queso thing. I'm crazy for queso, love it! At Chipotle, you pay an extra $2.65 for queso sauce. I ordered it and she literally put HALF a little scoop on top. I almost said something...and regretted I didn't. That turned me off at that point.
I made it up to pay for my order - steak with veggies and stuff and of course, no wrap or shell. They didn't offer a drink at all and at that point, I was distracted by the queso thing and the time and didn't pay attention, so I had to eat dinner with no drink. That sucked.
The napkins and plasticware was around the corner with the soda fountain...which is when I realized I didn't have a drink and was just aggravated and disappointed.
I sat at one of the less dirty tables and wiped it with a napkin. Seats are hard as a rock and not comfortable. I won't lie. This was probably my least favourite birthday dinner ever (I'll make sure I never repeat an experience like this). The food was okay. Just okay. The steak had a couple of gristle-y pieces but the worst was that it wasn't hot. It was lukewarm at best. I'm one of those people who like their food piping hot. As you can see in the pictures, the cheese didn't even melt. Eating here on my birthday made me want to cry honestly. Nothing special about it at all.
With this being my first Chipotle experience, I don't feel the need to return to the chain. I usually avoid chains when eating out because of the high chance of subpar.
The music was good, as someone mentioned in another review. I was shocked to find yet another restaurant in Philly that put a lock code on the door. I don't like that dynamic and that is POOR customer service to lock your customers out of the washroom. This restaurant was just another reason I will NOT EVER visit Philadelphia again. There are so many other places that offer more value and treat you with respect. This wasn't one of them. I will say though, it was fabulous to be able to find a place to park.