Chipotle Mexican Grill (Portage)
5964 S. Westnedge AvenueI have written many, many blog posts about my love for tacos. Like, actual tacos. Not the stuff you get at fast casual chain restaurants.
This is also going to be a blog about tacos. The stuff you get from fast casual chain restaurants. Not the authentic tacos.
It was time for another fundraiser for my kids’ synchronized skating team. We’ve done Blaze Pizza and Panera already this season. This month it was Chipotle.
There are two Chipotle Mexican Grill’s in the Kalamazoo area. One of them is near my house and near Wings West in Oshtemo Township. The other is in Portage. That was the one we had to order from to get the money for skating.
The Portage location of Chipotle Mexican Grill is on South Westnedge Avenue just north of Milham. The restaurant takes up northern most spot in the building that also houses the McAlister’s Deli in front of the old Bed Bath & Beyond store. The restaurant has been there since 2017 when it took the place of Complete Nutrition.
We had a code that we needed to use when we put in the order so I decided to make it easy on myself (I thought) and ordered online. The problem I ran in to is that I also had a couple of gift cards that I wanted to use. Chipotle makes it hard to use a gift card online. You have to create an account on Chiptole.com so you can connect the gift card…and then you can only use one gift card at a time. I had two with not enough to cover my total bill but I was only able to use one….which pissed me off….and things didn’t get much better fro there.
I got the store about five minutes after the Internet said it’d be ready.
I walked in to find a pretty empty store. Chipotle is set up like any other fast casual Mexican place. The ordering is done near the back. All of the food is laid out in front of you and you have to talk over the sneeze guard to the people putting it together for you. I always hated ordering at these places so I’m ecstatic places like this have online ordering……even if they make using a gift card hard.
The rest of the space is the dining room. There is a lot of natural light that comes in through the floor to ceiling windows on two sides. Chipotle, like many fast casual chains, uses a combination of chairs and benches that are comfortable just long enough to eat a burrito then they start to hurt your back.
I headed to the back counter where there is a rack for to-go orders right next to the women’s restroom. There was one bag on the rack but it wasn’t mine. I told the cashier my name and he started looking at orders….then proceeded to start making orders that I knew weren’t mine. I thought maybe they were behind so I didn’t say anything. I stood there another ten minutes when a different employee noticed me still standing there and asked for my name. He started looking at bags and order slips to find my order. He finally noticed a bag kind of off to the side of the to-go prep station. He picked it up, saw my name on it, checked the bag to make sure everything was in it, then handed it to me. It had been sitting there finished the whole time.
I was just going to bring my dinner back to the rink and eat there but I don’t really like doing that. I feel guilty about bringing food in to Wings West…even though everyone does it…when Burdick’s is right there.
Instead, I went to the patio where they had some metal tables and chairs set up that weren’t being used. I just decided to quickly eat there before heading over to watch the kids skate.
I’m not a burrito person and I know that’s what Chipotle is kind of known for so I’m sure that really skews my opinion of the place.
I ordered the three tacos instead because I like tacos. The shell options are soft flour or hard shell corn. I’m a soft corn tortilla person and I don’t really like flour at all, so I ordered the hard shell corn tortilla like I’m ordering from Taco Bell. I went with the steak and topped it with fresh tomato salsa, cheese, and lettuce. The three tacos were really simple and not awful, but could be better. The corn tortilla shell was bland, the meat actually had quite a bit of delicious flavor and the pico was really fresh tasting. The tacos were fine and they’re on par with Qdoba but places like this really aren’t my favorite place to get tacos from.
I also got a side of chips and tomatillo-red chili salsa. The chips, again, were kind of stale and really nothing special. The salsa had a great peppery kick to it and was the only reason I kept eating the chips. Once it was gone, I tossed the rest of the bag.
The cost for my meal was right around $20 after tip.
I know a lot of people love Chiptole and that’s great for them but it’s really not my favorite place to pick up dinner. You would never hear me suggest getting Chipotle but if J wants something, I’m good with ordering a few tacos. I’m really, really annoyed with having to create an account with them to use a gift card and that probably tainted my opinion just a bit.
SW Michigan Dining 