I don't get out much, so it should come as no surprise that I've never been to a Qdoba before today. One opened up nearby last month, and we were overdue to check it out. I was starving, and I was getting super excited about a big burrito.
There were a lot of people there, but the line was going fast. This turned out to be part of the problem. I looked over the menu and decided to order a queso burrito with grilled chicken. It listed a bunch of ingredients and sounded pretty awesome. It was our turn and I told them my order. I got to choose which kind of beans I wanted... and I thought I was done. But that is when the chaos started. Our food was moving down the line faster than we were. There was a big group of people who were jamming up the works. They had my burrito at the toppings station, but I wasn't there yet.
The guy behind the counter motioned to my burrito and looked across the patrons. I nodded my head. Then he said something, but it was loud and I couldn't understand him. "What", I said. Again... I had no clue. "Sorry, I didn't hear you." My wife said he wants to know what you want on it. At this point I made an assumption. Since I had ordered a pre-determined item off the menu I assumed they would put on my burrito what the description said. I thought he was asking me what additional toppings I wanted on it (additional meaning in addition to the advertised delicious-sounding ingredients). I didn't know. I had no clue even what my options were. I thought, no the stuff it comes with should be fine. I will just get some salsa and I will be good.
Before I knew it he was rolling up my burrito with nothing besides white rice, black beans, and a few pieces of chicken. We were paying. We were walking away. I headed to the condiment bar to get some salsa. There was none. There wasn't even a condiment bar. My wife informed that I had to ask for it. But I didn't want salsa IN my burrito, I wanted salsa on the side. Well this stinks. I felt like an idiot. I got swept up in the whirlwind of the Qdoba line and things got out of control. There were so many people in line and it was so loud in there. There was no time for a training session. I came unprepared. I felt like a freshman in the high school lunch-line on the first day of school.
I decided to move on past the moment. I was starving, and I now had food in my possession. Not all bad. I opened up my scantily accessorized burrito and took a bite. I basically had white rice in a flour tortilla with a piece of chicken here and there. There was SO MUCH rice. Between the rice and tortilla I would say my lunch was made up of 95% tasteless carbohydrates. It was the most unsatisfying $7 burrito I have ever eaten. I'm sure if I made another trip to Qdoba it would go better, but I might be fine with going to Taco Bell from now on.
