Center Deli & General Store

Big Sur is largely a price gouging trap. The burrito bar serves burritos for about $ 8.50. This is much more reasonable than the $ 10.50 for a grilled cheese next door at the restaurant. I ordered the Carne Asada burrito and my Wife ordered a chicken burrito. After tasting both chicken is the way to go. The burritos were just a little bland and they didn’t have pop of freshness. They did let us take two cups of ice (for free) so at least we didn’t have to pay for drinks.

We stopped here to grab a lunch for hiking in a park. The pre-​made turkey and ham sandwich was huge and only $ 6! It definitely hit the spot after our hike.
I was a bit disappointed by the small cold drink selection other than beer and wine.
Good stop for a lunch in the midst of the PCH.

It’s where all the locals go when they need something, from a fresh made sandwich, to a hot burrito, to a bottle of wine or beer. There are few shopping options in the 90 miles of Big Sur coastline so make sure to stop by here, for a snack, soda or coffee. Keep in mind that options will be limited and perhaps if you really are looking for a superb mocha chia latte, you should wait until you hit Starbucks in Carmel, 30 miles north. I order here all the time and LOVE the grande meat burrito!

First — it’s incredible you can get burritos in a place like big sur (and so this review is skewed one star for a contextual calibration)
For three days, while in the big sur wilderness, I and my crew talked/​dreamed/​fantasized about the glory of burritos. When we descended the mountain the burritos would be awaiting us at the general store. (Burritos, after all, are the light at the end of a tunnel filled with creamy chicken ramen, gorp, and power bars.)
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend the general store’s carne asada burrito. The meat came in huge chunks, which took forever to chew. Each bite was a chewy reminder of the meat’s poor-​poor quality. The carne asada marinade reminded me of grandma’s gravy, but water downed. Grandma was not mexican.

Wow, if there’s one thing I don’t need when I’m going for a weekend getaway it’s attitude!
Actually, this place has some good looking things in their deli and they stock a lot of camping trip staples. We were looking for marshmallows when we heard the whir of an espresso machine. Could it be true? I love camping, but I miss a good coffee. So it’s $ 4. whatever! I order a soy mocha and my boyfriend orders a regular mocha.
We get them, go outside, and they taste like CRAP. Like, not just substandard, but maybe like someone took instant coffee and loosely packed it in the espresso machine to see what would happen. I thought maybe it was that my soy milk was off, but my boyfriend’s tasted equally wretched. $ 8 down the drain… I feel like I should tell them and they couldn’t possibly know what they were serving and I thought as a small business they might be interested because eventually someone is gonna get PISSED for paying $ 4 for this hellwater.
I go in really sweetly, say that I’m not trying to be a brat, just thought they should know that something is weird with the coffee and I’m just met with a sea of attitude and told maybe that I don’t like soy milk or that I should just add some sugar and that they’ve had the coffee a million times and find it to be delicious. Sugar doesn’t cut it baby! So whatever, I just put it in the trash and left.
There’s lots of little stores around Highway 1… support someone else!