How about Qdoba's?

I saw one of their commercials on tv the other night, and they are on the verge of convincing me. Has anybody been? Are they worth say...a twenty mile drive? I should add that in our neck of the woods mexican restaurants are nothing to brag about.

Keep in mind that I had authentic Mexicans with delicious food, cheap prices and 4 or 5 words of English...

I've never personally been to one, I've been to a faux-Qdobas and I was full but not really impressed. My friends who frequented the same authentic Mexican restaurant, who HAVE been to Qdobas said it was expensice and not worth driving across town for.

If you're even in southern-central Illinois, stop in Centralia for Tequilas Mexican Restaurant.

quote:

Originally posted by skylar0ne


Has anybody been? Are they worth say...a twenty mile drive?

Absolutely not. They're a very pleasant fast-food alternative - there is one quite near my home, which borders a big university campus, and I've been known to choose them for a cheap fast dinner as a change from the usual. And I do wish that the one in the mall food court across the street from where I used to work had opened about 10 years ago, because I used to get wicked cravings for a burrito lunch, and there was nothing in that neighborhood. But even with uninspiring local Mexican choices, I don't think they're worth a special trip.

We have one in a strip-mall (recently opened) It is doing a lot of lunch business. The Burritos seem to be heavy on the rice and light on the meat....but the tacos are good (shredded Beef) if a bit pricey..3 for $7. It is a 20 mile drive each way for me, so I won't bother even considering it unless I am running errands in that direction. There are other places around that would get my attention before returning there.
HOWEVER they have a Graetner's Ice Cream parlor next door...and that does draw my attention more often than it should.

I've tried them a couple times. Nothing bad, food seemed fresh. It's sort of an assembly line you follow down, they start off by steaming the shell, and you follow it telling what kind of meat, beans, etc. you want on it. As mentioned above, nice alternative to the other fast food out there. Just one word of caution, they try to load it up with rice as a filler... You tell them no and they make it up with the other toppings!

We were out for a Sunday drive yesterday and wound up in a university town, the mom & pops are closed on a Sunday and there is a huge representation of the major chains but we wanted something different. I had heard fairly positive things about Qdoba so we thought we would try that over the mundane other offerings. I had a queso steak burrito served naked (without wrap)which meant I got a big glop of rice, a glob of black beans, some steak cubes, a big spoon of cheesy stuff topped by some sour cream. My SO got the vegetarian burrito, naked, and was served a bigger glop of rice and beans and some guacomole. The bill for the two plus 2 small ice teas was $16! The counter person had to keep asking the "manager" what went in to my meal, had to go to the back room twice for various parts of it and had to brew the ice tea from scratch even though it was a half hour past their posted open time. We each ate a little bit of our meals and the rest went into the garbage, way too bland, steak had no taste and some of the cubes were cold, beans and rice were cooked to death and had no flavor, the only positive thing was at least the ice tea was fresh. I won't go back to this place again. I am sure there are some authentic taquerias in this town because there were several Mexican groceries but alas, all were closed on a Sunday.

quote:

Originally posted by skylar0ne

I saw one of their commercials on tv the other night, and they are on the verge of convincing me. Has anybody been? Are they worth say...a twenty mile drive? I should add that in our neck of the woods mexican restaurants are nothing to brag about.

As far as driving distances are concerned, I wouldn't be the guy to ask. It's nearly 20 miles for me just to get to the closest Mc Donalds.

Qdoba is all right, but I wouldn't drive that far out of my way unless I had no other burrito options. There's a Qdoba about five blocks from my house, and I only eat there when I don't feel like walking the extra few blocks to the burrito place I like better.

There is a qdoba near the Multnomah County Courthouse. I ate there while I was on jury duty last month. Okay but nothing special. Would not go out of my way to eat there but it is edible and seems reasonably healthy.

I haven't been impressed. Typical food court fare. Kind of like the Sbarros of Mexican, overpriced and inoffensive, but not particularly good.

But then, we have some Mission-style burrito places in the Boston area that are both good (in fact, very good) and cheap.