The Burrito Bar, SOUTHBANK

The Burrito Bar has been a part of Southbank dining for a long time and remains popular with movie goers for a quick bite before or after their session. I’ve eaten here a couple of times years ago when they first opened up and found it to be quite average. They have since had a makeover and extended their menu so I decided to give it another go. Surely they were doing something right to still be standing even after the addition of new burrito joints in the area.

Their change in menu does sound more appealing with crowd pleasers such as slow cooked pulled pork that can be added to burritos, tacos, nachos and quesadillas.  Along with your standard tortilla based dishes, they offer items such as buffalo wings, chargrilled corn, ribs and chilli as well as a few unorthodox dishes such as nacho chips and Mexican burger. They certainly have a lot more to offer in terms of menu choices in comparison to their neighbouring competitors.

We placed our order with a very quiet, yet friendly girl at the counter then proceeded to find a table. The only clean table happened to be in front of the counter and board menus and we found it extremely uncomfortable. I felt like I was getting in customers way as they tried to order while at the same time having my personal dining space invaded. We ended up moving to a different table next to tacky uncovered pipes and chipped away poles where we had to clear away dirty plates ourselves.

Our pulled pork nachos were the first to arrive. I was surprised to see it come out on a real square dinner plate, even though it was chipped in the corners. Serving sizes for the nachos are much smaller than the competitors for the same price but offered a generous amount of sour cream at no additional charge. The pulled pork was good and salsa was fresh, however the downside to this dish was the overly salty and oily corn chips, otherwise it was a pretty-okay plate of nachos.

The 10-hour slow cooked Smokey BBQ beef burrito was out next. The beef was definitely soft and tender and had a nice flavour to it and was wrapped nicely in a decent sized soft tortilla. We shared the burrito and despite being quite hungry, I was unable to finish my half due the mound of uncooked rice inside it. I don’t mean slightly undercooked either, the rice was still crunchy and upon snapping a grain in half, revealed a chalky white uncooked centre.

We left hungry and disappointed that even after the change, our impression and experience at The Burrito Bar remained the same as our first few tries. The main clientele seemed to be made up of young teenagers out with their friends and making use of the food discount they receive along with their Cineplex movie ticket. Everyone older knows better and is willing to pay the extra few dollars and have gone down the road. It’s such a shame though because the pulled pork/beef was actually very nice, but that alone isn’t enough to make me come back any time soon.

Food:  3/10
Service:  4/10
Value:  4/10
Atmosphere:  3/10
Overall:  3.5/10

-wd