Even with all his reviews of this place, i think Zach was a little off his game in the sense that he was too much of a Baja Fresh Pro… the first-times (aka, “morons” like myself) need to be warned about a few simple thing:

1) Be prepared for ordering off the menu. I didn’t realize how used to the prison cafeteria style ordering (like at Chipolte) I’ve become… i needed someone to hold my hand and walk me through each ingredient. I was lost at the actual concept of order a food item by name and {bam} being given that food item. And hey, the concept actually works (or should i say STILL works)

2) Salsa bar is awesome. Heck, probably loaded up on over $10 of salsa alone between all the varieties (that mango salsa could be a meal in itself.. tell that guy who did the Free Samples/Garbage Picking review for lunch). As a first-timer I naturally wanted to view all they had first, once i got down the bar to the mango, I began my fill-up there.. YIKES.. bad move… as now i could not go in the other direction to retrieve the first few salsa styles. I had to get back on the salsa line which was piling up and my order number just got called.. so now i had my hands full.. too late to return to the line… arrrrggg!! So know what you want, and take it the minute you see it.. heck, take it even if you don’t want it. (by the way, they could use more serving spoons… just one in each salsa bowl is a handicap)

3) Free Chips as a bad thing. Naturally fantastic that they include chips (reminds me of our dearly departed BurritoVille… RIP) but just be careful if you do take-out.. they have just enough grease to cut through the thin paper bag (umm, if you see any of my chips laying around Lex ave, like a trail of breadcrumbs, please return them to me, I’m the good looking guy with the mango salso all over his face)

One last thing to note (not so much a warning) don’t miss the free lime wedges. More and more Chipoltes have not been displaying limes (i’ve needed to ask and they seem relectant to even give me). Is there a lime shortage? are they that expensive? Limes really are a necessity these days.. nothing else balances out the chemical pollutants of a Diet Coke better than sweet, fresh lime juice. And blanace is key people.

Sunset Park is definitely worth checking out for tacos and burritos, though, and people do seem to rave about the Red Hook ballfields.

90% of the food that passes for “Mexican” in Manhattan, would be considered garbage in L.A. (which is where I moved here from.) I guess what I was trying to say (and what most people will agree with) is that in NYC, the percentage of terrible Mexican food to good Mexican food is much higher here than on the West coast.

This is the best news I’ve received all week. I am damn excited for that salsa bar!!