I have long passed by this Tex-mex fast food restaurant on my way to and from home. And have long wondered what the food inside was like, and today was the day I would find out.
Admittedly I didn’t think much of the fast food chain, simply judging this book by its cover and solely on the fact it is cookie cutter from all its sister locations. However, I was pleasantly surprised and ultimately saw it as the Mexican version of Subway, where you get to build tacos, burritos, and rice or salad bowls your way.
During the time of my visit they had just launched a Maple Chipotle menu for summer. This was a spicy maple syrup that they used to marinade chicken and said chicken could be chosen as your protein for any of the above vessels. They also had it on the side as a dip or sauce to self apply. I preferred it as the latter.
In a bowl, the sogginess of the sauce drench chicken made our would be rice bowl into soup. This wasn’t all that appetizing as a mix of rice, refried or black beans, guacamole for extra, your choice of salsa by heat level, tomato, corn, red onion, lettuce, cilantro, diced jalapeños, shredded cheese, pickled onions; and the final choice of what cream based sauces you wanted drizzled over all of it.
Each taco, burrito, and bowl is essentially built the same. I got everything, but you have the ability to refuse what you didn’t want and add on extra of what you did.
In the end we returned the maple chipotle chicken soup to the staff who reassured us that they made it like how they are instructed to, and it is suppose to be that way. However they still remade us a new bowl without the water logged chicken, which we were grateful for and enjoyed as a beef bowl.
I did try the maple chipotle again in a burrito, which faired better. Not soggy, but the flavour was so dominant and too sweet for my tastes. Whereas I prefer my food savoury with bold umami. I didn’t get that here and usually order ground beef for that reason.
I got my ground beef fix in my crunch wrap. This was a familiar sight that I have had from the likes of Taco Bell. It is a burrito wrap built with a hard taco at its centre. And instead of being rolled the sides of the tortilla are folded in and over the hard taco, forming a hexagon shape. The result is the burrito you want, but with some unexpected crunch. This was probably my favourite item from off of their menu.
I also tried their hard tacos in pork al pastor. The shredded pork was only okay, I felt its shredded texture but missed its taste and could have had it more seasoned. Here is where the sweet and spicy heat of the maple chipotle sauce came in handy. It complimented the pork well like sweet apple sauce to pork chops.
I also liked their cup of corn for a side, as a way to add freshness to each bite like an after note. This is the same corn used to build your wraps and tacos above, but topped with green herbs and a drizzle of mayo based sauce to finish. There were four different options for each of the available sauces.
In short, they are a decent option for a quick and fresh Mexican inspired, but made for an American in mind meal.
Quesada Burrito & Tacos
4297 Hastings St, Burnaby, BC V5C 0K9
(604) 291-9996
quesada.ca
