First Look: The Food From the New Baja Fresh (Opening Today)
The day has finally arrived! The first Manhattan location of the popular West Coast chain Baja Fresh opens today on Lexington btw. 45+46th (in the old Zen Burger space.) Last week we gave away the chance to sample the place for free before they officially opened, and one of the winners sent in this report:
“I went [on Sunday] night. The place was roomy and reminded me of a bare-looking Qdoba. The food was fresh and good but nothing to write home about. My friend and I ordered a chicken breast baja burrito ($7.75), a mahi mahi diablo burrito ($9.23), guacamole/chips ($4.29) and churros ($2.58). Please note that each burrito order came with free corn tortilla chips.
“The grilled chicken breast baja burrito was the best thing we got. It was basically grilled chicken breast with guacamole and pico de gallo wrapped with a flour tortilla. The whole burrito is heated/toasted to look like taco bell’s grilled stuff burrito.”
And then things went south…
“The toasted flour tortilla skin was the worst thing about the burrito because it gave the whole burrito a dry feeling in my mouth. The mahi mahi burrito was just bad. Neil, one of the owners/managers, warned me after I ordered that the fish would not be good as a burrito…too bad. The guacamole was very plain; seemed to be just avocado, tomatoes, onions and salt. The corn chips were also very plain and not very crispy. However, they did have a salsa bar, which provided a wide range of salsas such as pico de gallo, salsa verde, mango/pineapple salsa, etc. The salsas however, could not save the chips.
The churros were the best thing I had. They were crispy and perfectly sweet.
Conclusion: The menu is extensive and the build-your-own burrito option allows for a lot of variety. The ingredients are also what they stand for, FRESH. Unfortunately, the food lacks character and nothing makes Baja Fresh stand out among the other food options in midtown. Simply if I wanted Mexican, I would rather go to Chipotle or even better, Maui Tacos.” -Lunch’er Peter
This report surprisingly doesn’t worry me too much. Not everybody is going to like Baja Fresh. In fact, I’m pretty sure a lot of you are going to hate it. I only order the Baja Chicken Burrito, so Peter’s report gives me hope that they didn’t screw it up. In fact, I actually like the Baja Chicken Burrito for all the reasons stated above… *because* it’s plain, and simple. No cilantro and lime rice. No over salted beans, mixed with over salted meat. Simple and clean food. I don’t go to Baja Fresh looking for Mexican food (for that, I’ll go to El Rey del Sabor.) I go when I feel like a burrito, made from fresh ingredients that won’t make you feel disgusting after eating it. (Something Qdoba and Chipotle haven’t quite mastered yet.) It’s my version of the Midtown salad… the thing I eat when I’ve had street meat one too many days in a row. Glad to hear they give you free chips (a huge plus) and that the salsa bar is in effect… although I’m a little wary of the mango/pineapple salsa. Don’t remember ever seeing that in SoCal. And $7.75 for a burrito is a bit more expensive than I was hoping, so it’s not all good news.
Can’t decide if I’m going to hit them up today, or give them a week to get things under control before I do it up Baja Chicken Burrito style. Early adopters I know you can’t wait. Feel free to report back in the comments below.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 8:30 am, May 26th, 2009 under Baja Fresh.
8 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
8 Comments
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Really? A fish burrito? What on earth were you thinking…Of course it sucked!
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I’m not sure how much value I want to put on a review that says, “The grilled chicken breast baja burrito was the best thing we got”, then a couple of lines later says, “The churros were the best thing I had.” Was it the burrito, or was it the churro, reviewer?
In any case, I agree with Zach on this one. He has only been touting the Baja Burrito, so it is pretty much your own fault for trying anything else — especially the seafood that the manager cautions.
Last point: The fact that the salsa bar and chips comes free with burrito purchase already elevates this establishment above the Chipotles of the city.
I’m going to try this place out, even though the inaccurately colored signage on the place weird me out (Anyone else notice that the word BAJA is in RED on the giant sign when it should be GREEN?)
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Two huge omissions from this report. First is the option to have your burrito “enchilado” style. They melt a bunch of cheese on top and basically ruin everything about it if you’re using Baja Fresh to replace a salad (seriously Zach?!?).
More importantly, something you can’t get at Chipotle that makes Baja Fresh the better option…Cholula!!
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Reading this just motivated me to get a real burrito (and maybe a torta) at Great Burrito, 23rd and 6th.
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Who else went? More reports please!
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Yeah Mama! If *I* were selected, my report and photos would have been submitted promptly!
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I’m actually pumped to try the churros
Especially if Mamacita will feed them to me
While whispering sweet spanish things in my ear
Ayyy papi
I’d have to say that Carnitas (pork) is the way to go at Baja in terms of meat. I find that their chicken is usually on the dry side.
I think that their salsa verde (green) is best, however, my wife won’t touch anything but the baja salsa.
Does this location make the torta sandwich? It’s chicken, so it can be dry, but the avacado gives some moisture. I’ve had it twice in Jersey and the first time it was great…the second time, it was just okay.
Their food quality is always random.