My dining companion and I liked the loaded waffle fries a little more than the beef quesadilla. The food seems healthier than Taco Bell, although the portions are generous, so it’s a filling meal with.a lot of calories.
I haven’t been to BarBurrito yet. I haven’t been to. Chipotle in over 5 years. It’s been 15 ywadaa since my last visit to Burrito Boyz, which was before they became a franchise.
Harters
(Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? DEMAND ANSWERS)
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Love the name. “FB” is the nickname I often give myself when I write about food and it isnt going to appear in public. If I uploaded a photo, you’d see why.
Our population is growing really quickly, with new neighborhood urban sprawl and a lot of strip malls.
These franchises are relatively cheap for franchisees to buy.
Quite a few of the chains offer halal options and there’s a big demand for that. Most Fried Chicken chains in Canada are also halal these days, so I think that, and their relatively low cost is helping the fast casual and fast food boom.
I admit I almost always get quesadillas, bowls, or loaded fries (potato nachos) instead of burritos because I usually don’t like what passes for a burrito in most parts of Canada!
The fillings here are okay but usually kind of blah.
I think also, I have this memory of a really good Mission burrito in San Francisco in 2010, at Cancun. I think it was an Al Pastor burrito. I’ll never find that here, so I don’t try to chase the dragon.
I’m also chunky and the burritos tend to be more food than I want at lunch.
Cancun use to be my go to favorite in SF. If there was a parking spot at 4 pm I’d stop even if it wasn’t dinner time. The al pastor was excellent . Unfortunately it has gone down hill. Might have been the pandemic but my sister confirmed. I think there was an ownership change. I live over the bridge now, so I’m rarely over there…and more than enough places in the East Bay and Oakland.
In California, the vast number of taquerias and trucks run by mom n pops, with great quality and usually better prices, mean chains have a more difficult time existing. Chinese restaurants are similar, hard to replicate the quality. Hence there’s a few chains, and only one huge fast chain, Panda Express. And PF Changs for sit down.
The interesting thing right now in Ontario, Canada, is that the mom + pop, or other indie Mexican restaurants catering to the Mexican population (that has grown, with people who have immigrated from Mexico to Canada, so the food tends to be Mexico Mexican), have been booming at the same time as these non- Mexican chains are booming.
This Fat Bastard burrito place isn’t competing against Mexican restaurants as much as it’s competing against chain Shawarma, chain subs, chain salad and McD’s. The main reason I tried it yesterday was that the drive thru at our twinned Taco Bell and KFC had 20 cars lined up. I drove to another suburb, parked outside Fat Bastard Burrito, walked inside, and the sole employee made my meal as soon as I ordered it.
The indie Mexican restaurants and chain burrtio places have very different client bases. The indie Mexican spots tend to be cash-only, might sell birria pr menudo, have lower tech websites (but often will sell and deliver through UberEats and competitors on Toronto). The chains tend to have loyalty programmes and online ordering.
With respect to Chinese food, there are a couple suburban chains such as Wok Box, but they are less common than independent Chinese restaurants in most places.
