Cinco

Cinco is my favorite go-​to joint in Downtown Columbus. The food is always hot and tasty, the service is great, and the prices are good. My favorites are their spicy chorizo, and habenero pork served in a variety of bowls, burritos, salads, tacos or with chips. Is it perfect? Well, no. Bottom of my list is their buffalo chicken — thankfully they only offer it one day per week! When the place is packed, the seating is a little awkward. Still 5-​stars in my book. There’s usually an upscale crowd from the surrounding banks and Capitol Square, and the music from the 80s is a nice touch!

I really like this place. Is everything perfect? No. But I give it five stars anyway because the same group of nice guys seems to have worked here for years, it’s locally owned, Who’s Johnny is on the sound system (80’and 90’s fare is always playing — I’m transported to high school every time), and they have kale.
I can eat healthy here and also be satisfied because it’s tasty.
I would like to see brown rice and maybe some fresh herbs as toppings. But it’s pretty good as is.
I get the Spanish rice because the plain white is a bit over seasoned for me with lime juice or something tart. With pinto and black beans, mushrooms, kale, hot or green salsa, lettuce, and guacamole, it’s a very good lunch. For meat and cheese eaters, the offerings look great, too. (But don’t eat those because I want you to live s long time.)

This place is the type of place you think of in «meh» reviews. I was not overly impressed, but thought it would be worth trying again. They really are the local version of Chipotle. It needs some better décor, because it seems lifeless in there. The atmosphere was like that of an office building, which it’s in. My burrito was not too horrible. This place will receive another shot because it’s pretty good value.

First and foremost the service is always excellent. Even when there is a long line it keeps moving and the employees are always pleasant.
My favorites are the buffalo chicken and habanero chicken in any form (burrito, burrito in a box, tacos etc.). The quesadillas are also fantastic!
The standard menu is fine and always satisfying in terms of the amount of food. The chicken could use a little more flavor but a little hot sauce does the trick. Overall if you need a quick bite and are really hungry I would recommend a stop.

I have never been disappointed when I have gone to Cinco because I always get the Burrito mixed with Cinco Chicken and Spicy Chorizo. The employee and the owner are very wonderful people. Also, Cinco is the only quick Mexican joint that has Chorizo. They serve breakfast with Breakfast Tacos. You can get a burrito, tacos, or salad. They are delicious. It is a fun atmosphere.

I work in a building on the same block and was craving a burrito for lunch. Since there is inexplicably no Chipotle downtown, I checked out Cinco. Meh, it was fine. It is the poor man’s Chipotle in that the general setup is nearly the same and the finished product looks fairly similar (although it does not taste the same). My burrito was adequate, and at least it was filling, but it wasn’t especially good. The hot salsa was not especially hot. The guacamole was not especially good and it looked fairly gross. The chicken was fine, but not especially flavorful. It really was just a bad Chipotle facsimile.
The space is kind of gross. It seemed dim and a little dirty. There’s a bit of a bottleneck to get in/​out where your ingress blocks the egress of the exiting customers, which is kind of a problem at the lunch rush. The tables and chairs look like they’re left over from the 80s. The place could use a makeover.
The service was very friendly. I’ll give them that.
Overall, I’d go back if I really wanted a burrito for lunch because there aren’t many options in the area, but I wouldn’t go unless having a burrito was my most important goal of the day (which it sometimes is).

Even though I frequently find myself downtown at lunch time, I probably eat at Cinquo about once a year. Which is just often enough to forget why I don’t do so more often.
An obvious Chipotle knockoff, it misses the key element: food that tastes good and is appealing. Restaurants of this style are often described as «the Chipotle of_​_​_​_​.» In this case, Cinquo would be best described as the Chipotle of blandness.
Although they often two types of rice, neither has much flavor and is frequently undercooked. The same goes for the black beans. The chicken looks seasoned, but looks can be deceiving. And here they are. In addition to lacking in the taste department, the chicken as always been fairly dry and seemingly overcooked.
There’s not much saving grace in the salsa options either. They too end up being fairly indistinct. The best that can be said is that the option for jalapeños provides a chance to spice things up a bit.
I’m not one to usually give strongly worded negative reviews, but I’m hoping that this one will serve as a warning to me when I consider going again 12 or so months from now.

Just ate a burrito here and they charged me $ 1.50 for regular lettuce instead of shredded lettuce (aka difference between a burrito «box» and salad). As usual the quality was terrible and slightly offended me considering how expensive it was. If you are looking for a homeless mans chipotle go here. Actually it was a mistake to even mention them in the same sentence. Just don’t.

I come to Cinco regularly. Food is served fast by a friendly staff that doesn’t turn over a whole lot. It also tastes good! A great value for the money.

It’s a standard build your own burrito place with a few different choices versus the national chains. I’d say the food is pretty good but only the hot salsa has any flavor to it. Not a bad lunch spot if you’re in Downtown.

If Qdoba had a baby with a soup kitchen, they’d be the not-​so-​proud parents of Cinco. Food here was worse than my mom’s sad attempts at preparing Mexican food when I was growing up. Pass.

I eat here a couple of times a month. It’s very much like a «Chipotle» clone, but has a little different spin on things. They make it in an assembly line fashion, and everything seems to cost extra, but in the end it’s a decent value for a meal in this area. Great location for people watching as well.
After lunch, take a walk down on the riverfront to walk off some of those calories and get some sun, it’s a nice lunch…

Always enjoy my lunch when I go here. Good and fresh food. Good portions. Always a good and filling lunch! Friendly staff makes it right.

Way better than any wanna-​be chipotle style restaurant. I got the habanero chicken– it was amazing. The food is perfectly seasoned (not salty like chipotle or bland like hotheads), I do like this place better than Moe’s, but Moe’s is definitely a close second.
Service was good– will go back!

Complete Chipotle knockoff. I had a chicken burrito which was good.
The others I went to lunch had deconstructed nachos which I will get next time.

Had I known this was going to be like another fast-​burrito place, I may have kept walking. But for a quick lunch pick up, it was good. I got a salad with chicken and like the burrito experience, I was able to select things to add to the salad. For lunch is was good, fast, and inexpensive. The wait was not long.

Okay let’s be honest: Cinco is an alt-​Chipotle style restaurant. I tell people it is the ‘hipster Chipotle’. The first time I came here, the employees were all tatted up and I thought ‘whoa…not what I was expecting.’
I enjoy eating Cinco on those days I crave Mexican for lunch. Great for meeting people for lunch and catching up. I get a Burrito Box with all the fixings and do enjoy it.
WARNING: Lunch time is madness! I would suggest getting there a little before Noon on a weekday, or else you will be awkwardly stuck in line.
I will keep eating here and no one is going stop me!

I decided to give this place a try today as I was serving my civic duty and needed some lunchtime grub. Why did I choose this place? $ 6.35 for Burrito in a box with a relatively healthy option.
The burrito in a box is basically a bowl. I chose Spanish Rice, black Beans, Poblano Kale ($.50 extra, but they decided not to charge me and I forgot about the upcharge as well), poblano pork, black beans, mild and hot salsa, cheese, corn salsa, lettuce, onions with one green pepper slice. I would compare this place to Chipotle and felt like it was a decent option, plus it is not a chain.
The one large negative is the box they give you. I wandered back to the commons and realized that the hot salsa and soaked through the carton. Kind of nasty and I think they need better quality as I would not want to sit this on my desk or car seat. I also like the various options with nachos, quessadilla, and the option to get queso on your burrito. The breakfast burritoes looked more tempting than anything else but they quit serving those at 10:30.

I’m going to steal friend and fellow Unilocaler Caroline C’s ranking system for burrito joints (
). As Mrs. C notes, assembly line burrito joints are ranked from 1 to Chipotle, with 1 being the least like Chipotle, and 10 being the most like Chipotle (not necessarily better or worse).
Cinco is a 7 or 8.
Ways Cinco is like a Chipotle: almost identical. Similar offerings («burrito in a box», burrito, tacos, salad). Similar toppings/​innards. Clean, efficient interior.
Ways Cinco is NOT like a Chipotle: rotating meat specials depending on the days of the week, and BREAKFAST BURRITOS! Genius. (Though I haven’t tried it for breakfast yet.) Also, not a chain. The regular beef option is shredded, not cubed. The meat tasted less salty to me. The tomato mild salsa is chunkier. The sour cream looked really liquidy (I didn’t get any).
In the end, though, it’s still just a burrito-​assembly place. Don’t go out of your way unless you’re already downtown looking for a quick lunch option that isn’t a straight-​up-​sandwhich. Its virtues are mostly rooted in it’s convenience for the downtown crowd.
A good option if you’re doing low/​slow carb, or gluten-​free (skipping the tortilla and/​or rice, of course, as desired).

I have been wanting to go here forever, just that they close at 4pm and I don’t work close to downtown. Finally I made it there and loved it! Sure it is similar to Chipotle or Qdoba, but it is local and not a chain and I have to say I like it better! You get more for your money, it is fresher and the guys working there are great. I had the veggie taco salad and tried both the honey balsamic and sundried tomato dressing and loved both! It was a huge salad and i enjoyed every bite. My husband had a burrito with beef and one with pork and liked the pork better but agreed with it being better than Chipotle, fresher and more filling! I wish they would open up more locations and stay open later so more people can enjoy their food. We will have to go back for breakfast which is only served till 10.30 since my husband is dying to try their breakfast burritos.