Monday, July 22, 2013

Big City Burrito


                                                                BIG CITY BURRITO

blog by Matt Kostel
 

A local favorite here in Kearney Nebraska known as “Big City Burrito” is just the location that I have decided to partake upon for my restaurant blog and review. Big City Burrito is a local restaurant similar to Qdoba or Chipotle being part of the large burrito restaurant theme, but with a slightly more home-style flavor that you won’t find in the chain restaurants, they are known for their potato burrito which is truly one of a kind.  BCB is a fairly affordable quick bite on the go burrito shack with a touch of ambiance. BCB has recently changed locations to a more accessible location, now being located across the street from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.


I believe we can all agree on what it is that makes a good restaurant good, or not so good, first of all you must have a good product the food must be great, a customer is willing to overlook small issues if the food can make up for it. You must also have a well-trained and friendly staff that also covers customer service which is a must. The establishment must be clean, and the décor must be interesting. The presentation of the food itself must look as good as the food tastes, and a restaurant should have a variety of foods with at least a consideration for those that are trying to eat healthy, and the price must be reasonable, and yet again first and last you must have a good product being a restaurant the food is the main focus.


Let’s start with the importance of a well-trained and friendly staff as well as overall cleanliness of a restaurant. The staff and how they treat the customers is the first impression that patrons will experience when visiting any restaurant, the staff is the face of the establishment it is imperative that they give the consumer a positive impression right from the get go, and until the customer leaves. Cleanliness is also a major aspect of presentation and overall atmosphere, if an establishment is not clean people won’t stay for dinner, so to speak. BCB is not the type of restaurant that you sit down and order and are waited on, instead you order what you want at the front of the restaurant, and go down the line pointing to what you do and don’t want on your burrito, similar to “Subway”. When you first walk into BCB a staff member is usually waiting behind the counter to take your order. They are friendly and generally greet you with a hello and what can I get you. So they are friendly but are they well trained? If you become a regular to BCB like I have you will become familiar with all the employees. They are all very well trained and competent. It is that one time like my last experience when someone new was behind the counter, and that is when trouble can arise, this poor kid had no idea what he was doing, clearly he had not been given the proper training, well at least he was friendly, and believe it or not there is a craft to preparing and rolling one of these giant burritos. Nine out of ten times BCB nails it on a friendly well trained staff. The cleanliness of BCB is also nearly impeccable, the main dining area is always clean and the kitchen also appears to be well taken care of, the only place I can say that has room for improvement would be the bathrooms, but honestly they are no worse than what you would see in most restaurants.  Overall I give BCB 8 out of 10 for a well-trained friendly staff and cleanliness.
 



Décor and the ambiance really set the mood and feeling of a restaurant. When a customer opens a door to a restaurant it is that split second when they first experience the interior and are immediately given an emotion based upon the décor. The experience can be one of bliss and delight or utter disgust and loathing. In the case of BCB the new location is much more soothing on the eyes than the old location. With hand blown glass light fixtures above each table and beautiful tile and matching carpet, and a cohesive color theme of warm reds and oranges with soft earth tones on the tile and carpet, BCB is very relaxing and inviting, it is nicer than most sit down restaurants. I give BCB 8 out of 10 for décor and ambiance.     
 


 
The presentation of food should look as good as it tastes, and also a restaurant should have a wide variety of choices on the menu, and some of those choices should put healthy eating into consideration. Also the pricing for the food should be appropriate for what you are getting.  At BCB there are no frills of any kind simply a burrito wrapped in tin foil, a very larger burrito, for me it is all about the size of the burrito compared to the cost. I give BCB 6 out of 10 for presentation. BCB has a very limited menu, burritos, nachos, tacos with a combination of meats, beans, and salsas, as well as a handful of variations of breakfast burritos, and a wide array of fun and different hot sauces, but in the case of this mid-sized menu I feel that less is more, sometimes you go to restaurant and they hand you a menu that looks more like an encyclopedia than a food menu, you get confused and don’t know what to order. What BCB has on the menu may be simple but it is simple done right. I give BCB 8 out of 10 for menu variety. BCB can also be very healthy; you basically build your own burrito so you can leave out the cheese the sour cream, and create a low fat high protein meal with some amount of vegetables. I give BCB 8 out of 10 for healthy meal choices. The price of a burrito at BCB is very competitive with other big burrito chain restaurants, depending on the size you order the price is around five to eight dollars, but look out for those extras like meat on the potato burrito, or sour cream and guacamole, the price can go well above twelve dollars if you are not carful with the add-ons. I give BCB 6 out of 10 for the price of their food.

 
Now the most important feature of them all, how does the food taste. This is the one factor that will keep people coming back for more or will reject the consumer to not even want to think of your product ever again, and only mentions the food when telling others how horrible the meal was. So when it comes to BCB taste is there number one asset, they are not perfect on all other marks but I am willing to overlook those flaws because the foods is so great. BCB has more of a home style flavor than the commercial burrito chains, they also have a variety of tortillas which is lacking in the major burrito chains, the flavors of the fresh ingredients always leaves me wanting just one more bite, it is this standard of a quality product that keeps me coming back for more. They also offer a punch card system that allows you to get your 10th burrito free I love it when places do this. May I suggest to you if you ever get the chance to try BCB that you get the potato burrito with chicken mole on a jalapeno cheddar tortilla it is my personal favorite. So for flavor and quality I give BCB 9 out of 10.
 
In closing I can say yes that BCB has indeed met my expectations of what I consider a good restaurant. It is not a super classy sit down establishment, but instead a no nonsense hole in the wall that serves good food. The staff is well trained and friendly, the presentation and variety are not spectacular, but what is inside that foil wrapping is, and the food is indeed fairly healthy if you properly order. The décor and cleanliness are also very inviting, and the prices are also not too outrageous, and last but certainly not least the taste and the quality of the foods is always consistent, as I write this I can imagine the melting cheese, the crunch of the potato, the snap of the fresh salsas, and the rich creaminess of the sour cream. Yes I will certainly be going back to BCB in the near future, and I suggest that if you are ever are in Kearny that you should do the same.      


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