On today’s journey in Bison Bites, the crew takes a trip to Chipotle, one of the most customizable restaurants out there. 

Most readers are familiar with the restaurant’s make-your-own-style burrito bar where you can add your choice of protein, cheese and veggies, to a burrito, bowl or taco. 

Everything at Chipotle is customizable, which  means that every customer is free to choose their favorite ingredients. This makes Chipotle a very versatile restaurant for student athletes. 

As in our previous review, we will focus on four categories: quality, price, efficiency and speed of service.

We will begin with efficiency. We went to the Chipotle off of Chagrin road near Trader Joe’s and McDonalds. The drive takes about  eight  minutes, given an average amount of traffic. With such a short ride, Chipotle makes for a very efficient restaurant to stop by before practice, and so Chipotle will be getting a high rating in the efficiency category: 8.5/10. 

The next category we will be reviewing is speed of service. Overall, Chipotle always has pretty quick service, especially for a restaurant that lets customers select their own ingredients. While we did not exactly time it, our  group of around seven to eight people were able to get our food in under ten minutes. 

Doing the math, that means that each burrito (which are fairly portioned in size) took a little over a minute to make. This includes the customer choosing what protein, veggies and type of meal they are going to have and communicating that to restaurant staff, which really does show how fast this system goes. With such an efficient system, especially for large groups, Chipotle gets a hard-earned 9/10. The only reason we did not give a 10/10 would be for how tedious the order process is with a large group of people. 

Our second category left to review is price. While Chipotle used to be a bit cheaper, inflation has impacted their prices along with most businesses. On our trip, the price per meal ranged from around $10 to $14. 

Of course, price depends on protein and extras selected with meal and drinks, which means that if you are on a budget you can select more frugal options.

It is important  to remember that while the burritos and bowls may be $10 to $11 pre-tax, the portions are massive. Almost half our group was unable to finish our meals because they were so stuffed. 

It is also important to acknowledge that since our visit, Chipotle has recently announced a price increase, according to AP News. The company also promised to retrain workers in some stores in order to ensure consistent portion sizes after some customers complained on social media of diminishing portions. 

In our experience, the sheer amount of food and heavy carbs and protein found in Chipotle lead to extremely filling food for hungry athletes and other hungry students. From the portion sizes to the price, Chipotle gets an 8/10 in this category. 

Last but not least, we will consider quality, which is potentially the most important factor to consider when getting food. Quality is what makes or breaks a meal; people would rather wait 30 minutes for an amazing meal than 15 for a poor one. 

The quality of Chipotle’s food is consistently really good, just like the day we got it. The veggies are always fresh. We especially like the pico de gallo and guacamole because those seem to be made the most often. 

The protein is always freshly cooked and  is almost always warm when you go into the restaurant. While we were ordering,  they were cooking a bunch of chicken in the back. 

From this, it is easily seen that the food Chipotle uses is fresh. Additionally, in our experience the food always tastes amazing. The seasonings on the protein are always very prominent and delicious and the guac and rice balance it out. The cheese and veggies add to the mixture to create an orchestra of beautiful sensational tastes in your mouth. In summary, the quality of Chipotle gets an easy 7.8/10 in our category. 

Overall, Chipotle has had many highs and very few, almost no lows. This will probably be one of the better reviews Bison Bites does due to how pleasant a visit to Chipotle always is. Chipotle outscores McDonalds with an overall score of  8.3/10.