Located at Shops on Don Mills at 1072 Don Mills Road in North York

On a Saturday afternoon, after my weekly foodie get-together with the “Roundies”, I drove out to Shops on Don Mills to have a second lunch at Chipotle Mexican Grill with a foodie instagramer and some of her blogger friends.

Long story short, the lunch get-together didn’t happen (some people need to have better manners and professionalism when it comes to cancelling events and informing others ahead of time out of courtesy) so I ended up trying Chipotle Mexican Grill on my own since I was already there.

Really clean and comfortable environment to dine with friends or alone

The lovely thing about this eatery is that you can definitely dine alone and not feel weird about it.  It was actually interesting that they decided to meet here for a foodie event since you just order your own food anyway.  Nevertheless, while I was waiting here, I observed how people order food and even checked out this handy wiki-how-to on ordering at Chipotle (XD).  Chipotle is a large franchise in the United States and has recently become more popular in Canada too with three locations in the GTA.  They focus on Mexican food that is fresh, local, and uses meat that is free of preservatives.

Fast and efficient fast food servers

I ended up ordering the Burrito Bowl with cilantro-lime brown rice, black beans, carnitas, sour cream, the works, and also a guacamole and chips on the side for an extra $3.50.

Fresh ingredients!

The person serving me at the counter was fast and experienced.  I felt like when he asked, “Would you like black or pinto beans?” he had said it hundreds of times before.  He was also kind and wished me to have a good day.  (Maybe since he had seen me waiting there for up to 30 minutes and no one coming to dine with me!  Lol).

It is self-serve so you can get your own bottle of green or red Tabasco sauce to drizzle on your food, salt and pepper, napkins, etc.  I liked how I was able to get free wifi from the next door Starbucks for my perusal while I ate.  Haha.  It was also such a nice rainy day to dine on some comfort food.

Carnitas Burrito Bowl. $8.95
-cilantro-lime brown rice, black beans, carnitas, sour cream, fresh tomato salsa

Close-up. So colourful! Just missing some green!

Yum!

I learned why Chipotle is so popular on this visit.  The burrito bowl was absolutely delicious!  It was covered with lots of fresh shredded cheese that was so soft and tasted like soft creamy noodles.   The black beans were soft and the carnitas were not too rough and slightly seasoned.  There was fresh tomato salsa too.   I was preoccupied with taking pictures when I was at the counter that I forgot to ask for some romaine lettuce in my bowl.  That was why every other person’s burrito bowl was covered with lettuce while mine lacked the greenness.  Oh well!  Each bite was so delicious and it was the epitome of comfort food to me. 🙂

Every bite was so comforting deliciousness ^_^

Chips & Guacamole. $3.30

I tried the chips and guacamole and liked how the guacamole was made with fresh hand-mashed avocados, a bit of salt, and lime juice.  You could really taste the freshness in it.  Also, the chips are fried fresh every day with a squeeze of real lime and kosher salt too.  You could taste it on the chips!  It was funny that it was just recently that I watched a trending video on YouTube that showed how Chipotle makes their fresh avocado.  What a coincidence though that I got to actually try the guacamole here so soon after seeing the video!

I used the chips not just for the guac but also for the burrito bowl. So delicious!

The burrito bowl was very substantial that I couldn’t finish it all so I took the rest of it home to enjoy (you can get a tin lid that fits right over the paper bowl — love their environmental-friendly practice).

Thus, after this visit, now I know why everyone likes Chipotle!  It’s so delicious!   The price is affordable too and you can take the rest home if you have a small appetite like me.  It’s actually quite ironic that today there are reports of E. Coli at more than 40 Chipotle locations though in the states…

Have you been to Chipotle before?  What did you think of it? 🙂

It went from busy to not busy to super busy during the span of time that I was there

Chipotle Mexican Grill is located at Shops on Don Mills near the big parking lot (so you don’t have to park in the parking building)