Spec Ops Burritos

I… just don’t know, man.
This is a tough one, because at least on the surface, they’re quote-​unquote «supporting the troops!». Who doesn’t love the troops? I mean, I do, for sure. And I don’t believe that that’s offered by them as anything other than in earnest. And I also don’t believe that that sentiment is anything less than noble on its face.
The food is less than great, though. And I’ll just leave that there for whatever that means to whoever may be reading. Their ingredients are not what I’d personally consider passable quality, and the experience is pretty weird on a few fronts, not the least of which is a trash bin for your «PC comments». I realize it’s a joke for the Duck Dynasty crowd, and I try not to read between the lines when it’s not necessary, but I also don’t think anything approaching a sideways political statement is necessary when I’m trying to just eat my dang lunch and eventually go back to where everyone else probably hates me and my dumb opinions too.
Graphics throughout were likely lifted from a 1-​inch by 1-​inch charity website thumbnail and compu-​stretched onto a 4’x4’ table, interior design was otherwise probably done in some fashion by one or more visits to Cabela’s, and… I just don’t know, man.
Hot sauce is dang good though, There’s some citrus or mango or something unique and mysterious in there. Hoo-​rah.

Nothing too wrong with it but definitely a step down from the other burrito places like Qdoba or Chipotle. The food is not as good and is more expensive.

The quantities were meager. 9 pieces of steak, 12 shreds of cheddar cheese, 5 tomato cubes, 3 small pieces of onion, a tablespoon full, maybe, of pico de gallo. For 8 dollars I expected a bigger quantity of toppings than this. I understand portion control but come on.

After trying this place out, you will rather prefer having a frozen Mexican dinner.

I’ve had an internal struggle these last couple of days on whether to post this review or not. You see, I really want this place to succeed. The owners and employees seem like genuinely good people. I also work in downtown Fort Worth and we desperately need a quick burrito place, and I love that it’s not just another chain. I was hoping for an improvement on the mediocre establishment it replaced (SOB is in the same location that previously housed a Qdoba), but was instead met with disappointment.
The ordering process is nearly identical to the one Chipotle uses, except that everything has a military themed name attached to it. The biggest issue is that the food simply lacks flavor. The «cilantro lime rice» tasted just like the white rice that Uncle Ben makes. The chicken looked and tasted like it had been boiled or baked. I liked seeing that they offered refried beans as an option, but they tasted like they had come straight from a can. The salsa was bland, and even though the hot sauce added some kick, it failed to add any flavor.
Again, the food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. As a benchmark, I’d give Chipotle a solid 4 stars. I enjoy their food but realize they are not the gold standard. SOBs is a couple of notches below them in almost every aspect.
I’ll give them a couple of weeks to figure things out and try them again. I hope they up the quality, because I really want them to be successful. Without changes to the basic ingredients, though, I just don’t see that happening.

This place is just like a Chipotle type burrito place with pretty decent food but it took way to long to get my order in. The staff seemed like they never used a ladle before and the portions were very small. Overall the taste was not bad if you liked refried beans out of a can and small meat portions. I hope they get comfortable with the service and get better as the business stays open. I will try one more time and update my review then.

Really cool concept but the taste and quality isn’t there. Had a steak grunt burrito. Put a thimble full of meat on the burrito. Didn’t even taste good. Charged me a buck extra to put a squirt of queso on the burrito. The queso wasn’t even good, it reminded me of ballpark nacho cheese. I got the fire in the hole sauce, it tasted exactly like franks hot sauce. I want you guys to succeed, I really do. Please rework the sauces, queso, and meat seasoning. I will come back in a few weeks to try again.

I visited Spec Ops Burritos a couple of days ago during my lunch hour and it just so happened that it was the first day of Spec Ops’ soft opening. Walking in the door of the former Qdoba I wondered if this place wasn’t just a rebranded version of the mediocre restaurant that occupied the same space only a few months prior. Alas, this was not the case and I reset my expectations as I waited in the forever long line.
Finally making it to the burrito artisans, weak from malnourishment, I noticed the staff fumbling around with spoons full of beans and looking generally awkward wielding utensils. This, as I later found out was because these were the owners and their relatives. Awkwardness aside, I ordered my chicken burrito in a plain flour tortilla (there are other options) and proceeded to walk them through the build process. Much to my dismay, I was informed that queso and sour cream would each be an extra charge. Now, I used to believe that the «burrito builders» at places like chipotle didn’t possess any special skills or talents; that it was as simple as filling up a spoon and dumping it into a tortilla. This is wholly untrue. Apparently the ratio of meat, to beans, to rice, to cheese, etc. is very important to the finished product because whatever I was eating had this ratio entirely out of whack. There was way too much rice, not enough beans, skimpy on the cheese… the ratio was just wrong. The chicken is another thing that I wasn’t a fan of. It just seemed… low-​quality, I don’t really know a better way to put it than that.
Already having formed my negative opinion before my friend sat down, I waited to see what he though. He had ordered chips with his meal and, as he sat down, I watched as he peered excitedly into the brown paper bag of chips only to watch him groan with disappointment and pull out a round, store-​bought corn chip… this was the moment I decided I would not be returning to Spec Ops.
Even a nice visit with one of the stores employees, a relative of the owner, couldn’t save this place. I did come to find out that 20% of profits are planned to be donated to Wounded Warriors, and this is about the only reason that Spec Ops’s is receiving two stars.

This just opened up this week and I came here on a Thursday for my lunch hour. Line was wrapped a good 20 – 25 people deep when I got in the door.
I ordered a grunt steak burrito with spinach tortilla with pico, corn, mixed veggies, cilantro rice and black beans. The burrito was good but not great. For some reason I just wasn’t wowed. Felt like there could have been more flavor somewhere. I got a small cup of the hot sauce and put some on every bite of my burrito.
Felt like I didn’t get much steak out of the dinky scooper they used. The customer service was beyond excellent but the food was just ok from my experience.