Pancheros Mexican Grill

I entered rather late in the evening, greeted the girl working the counter, and was not greeted in return.
I ordered a tofu bowl, to which they began with a heaping portion of rice, then some beans, and then a paltry and tightly measured 1/​8-​cup scoop of tofu was added. I thought maybe that was because they were almost out of it, so I offered that they could complete it with chicken, but the girl who’d not greeted me just ignored me and shoved it to the guy next to her for my toppings. I asked him to top me off with some chicken so I’d have a decent portion of protein, and, although he complied, the guy shook the scoop back and forth until there was hardly anything in it before depositing it onto my bowl. He also seemed surprised that I asked for several different salsas and veggies, which were sorely needed to make it actually worth the price.
I think it was like $ 8 bucks with tax, all told. If I’d gotten that product without having to make a zillion «special» requests, the meal might have gotten three stars, but the employees were super stingy. They must get yelled at if they give out decent portions of protein and/​or vegetables.

Out of all the burrito places, this one has the best tortillas! A little disappointed there wasn’t more selection of fillings, my daughter got tacos and there wasn’t any lettuce.

We were visiting the neighboring hospital mate miry ward and tried this Pancheros on a few occasions. The staff is great and the food was good. The larges difference between here and Chipotle is that the tortillas are made fresh as you order them (warm, moist, and perfectly sealed) and the ingredients are mixed before everything is wrapped up (which avoids the mouth of rice and/​or guac bites). To top things off, each of our early evening visits the manage stopped by to he table to be hank customers and hand out some coupons for free drinks, chips, or a burrito.

Not a fan of this chain.

I have read the reviews below and disagree. I really like the burritos here!
Great place for vegetarians!
Grilled veggies, rice and beans make an excellent burrito choice along with some other salsa and guacamole options.
I enjoy every time we eat here!
Highly recommended!

First time trying this place (only bc I had a buy one get one free coupon), and this is comparable to hamburger helper grade of food. I can’t even believe they are still open.

Once my wife and I found out the area Chipotle is not very good, we decided to try a competitor, Pancheros. What a mistake!
One of the first indications on how good some place is would be how busy it was. We visited on lunchtime on a Monday. It was pretty empty.
To make an accurate comparison to Chipotle, my wife and I ordered our Chipotle usuals here. I got rice, black beans, chicken, and cheese. She got the same but adding corn and sour cream. We also got chips and queso.
The rice was underdone. Like pasta, rice can be cooked al-​dente. This rice had a crunch and was terribly seasoned. I didn’t want to eat it. The chicken had an odd sweet flavor which was very off-​putting. The beans, well, I couldn’t really taste them.
My wife hated her meal as well. The only saving grace was the blue corn chips and queso. They tasted fine. To say the least, both my wife and I felt ill after eating at Pancheros. We will not come back. Heck, we’ll go back to Chipotle before coming back here.

Have you ever seen a movie when you were a kid and absolutely love it, then when you’re an adult you watch it again and think it’s stupid? That was my experience at Pancheros.
Being from Iowa (Pancheros was my college go-​to place 8 years ago), I always thought of Pancheros as the Holy Grail of burritos. I moved to KC 5 years ago and haven’t had Pancheros since. Once they opened in Kansas City I was elated despite living in Lenexa. I finally made the 30 minute trek to this location (I was bored/​hungry) so excited to have Pancheros only to be let down.
I don’t know if they’ve changed their recipes, or I’ve gotten so used to eating Chipotle, but it was just not that good. The only thing that seems to taste the same is their tortilla, which is awesome. Everything else just had a very processed/​cheap taste to it.
It also seemed like they were trying to be ultra-​cheap by making sure they didn’t give you an extra chunk of chicken or too much rice. I had the chicken burrito and my lady had the veggie bowl. I was charged an extra $ 2 I think for an extra scoop of chicken, which is pretty standard but it seemed like the equivalent of 1 scoop at Chipotle.
So, short story long, I’ll save my gas money and stick with Chipotle since they figured out the big burrito formula of awesomeness. That or Pancheros just forgot what they were doing because they used to rock.

I was not impressed. For the same price, I received about ½ of the quantity of food I was expecting based on similar chains (Chipotle or Freebirds). It seems you can get extra or sides of all the toppings for an extra charge, but who wants to pay $ 10+ for just the burrito?
The staff was super friendly, and some of the toppings were tasty, but I didn’t like the rice at all. The fresh pressed tortillas are cool, and the blue corn chips and guacamole were great, although a little lemon juice may keep it looking fresher longer.
I might go back if I am in the area, but it wouldn’t be my top choice.

One Star is way too generous! For the same $ 9+, I can have an entire pizza from Pappa Murphy’s or if I’m still in the mood for a burrito, I should just keep on walkin’ over to Chipotle. This restaurant tries sooooo hard to be Chipotle, but when you are dealing with Taco Bell quality lettuce and meats, there is only so much you can do.
I found the rice to be completely void of texture, unless you count minute (par cooked) rice as a food. The steak and chicken were bland and hard to chew. The beans, well… there might have been a bean or two on my bowl, but there weren’t enough to actually taste them.
Top that off with wilted brown shredded iceberg lettuce, and you have disappointment waiting for you!
I give the one star for the blue chips and the mild salsa. That was good.
This was my one and only trip to Pancheros. I’m so glad I didn’t drag my besties out there with me!
For the same price, I’m gonna go Chipotle all the way… top quality meats, dairy and veggies.
I, too, was not impressed with the ¼ cup serving spoons. Way to shake off that extra piece of cheese!

So, I finally remember to try Pancheros. I was so happy when it moved in the area but would always forget about them.
Well, today I spent the day the hospital next door with no food! while there all I could think of was Pancheros. I left the hospital & ran as fast as my car could to pancheros.
When I arrived there was no line. Yay me, I thought. As I was ordering, 2 bowls, & 1 burrito, queso & chips, I noticed the amount of food they were placing in my bowls. Smh. they have a little scooper that they use & if it is above the line they will drop it back. So if you like protein then you have to get a double serving which is really a serving & a half. I was told that since the double serving was $ 1 then it was only half a scoop. Really. Double? I think not. But I got it any way.
I arrived home with our very light weighted food compared to their competitors. The taste of the food is laughable. The rice taste like rice boiled in chicken broth. The chicken has very little flavor. The steak taste like the chicken.& the pork well taste like the chicken. you know what they it’s taste like chicken so I guess that’s what this place is going for.
My daughter said the corn salsa was greasy.
The best thing was the queso & chips.
The servers didn’t have on hair nets and one had dreadlocks.
I will not go back there.

Ucky. Not fresh, certainly not Chipotle, which it is modeled on. The lettuce looked like it had been chopped up four days ago. Just go north a little way, find the Chipotle, and eat there instead.

Defiantly experienced better than this. The other day the husband and I were up North to get some framing work done and decided to try out Pancheros. It should be said that we are both very big Chipotle fans and both love a good burrito!
When we first walked into Pancheros I actually laughed to myself about how it pretty much was exactly like Chipotle. Practically the same menu, everything. Then I thought to myself that all of these places are the same so… When we placed our order the tortilla was made right in front of us, that was a really cool and great point of difference in this cookie cutter «Mexican» place. The lady helping us was very friendly and set a good tone for customer service. Then again she slopped the ingredients onto the fresh tortilla with the finesse of a finger painting polar bear. When she was done slinging my lunch she did something that was another great point of difference, in fact I wish all of the these places did it; she stirred the ingredients together. Amazing, a well mixed and distributed burrito, they do exist. Sadly though, Pancheros burritos where 20% liquid and just fell right apart. Even more sad, it lacked any flavor what so ever! The only reason I knew that I was eating meat was because I eyeballed it before forking it into my mouth. Bleh! Overall I don’t believe it’s really any cheaper, even though the product is. I guess you pay for a fresh tortilla and a quick stir here, not a flavorful and moist (not liquid) burrito.

Matt Fact: If I am eating a delicious burrito and find myself getting full, I would rather unbutton my pants than leave it unfinished. The fact that I threw away half of my Panchero’s burrito should really be all you need to know. It’s a sad, disappointing impersonation of Chipotle that I won’t be revisiting.
There are a couple of good points. First, they make the tortilla fresh, which if not any tastier, is at least fun. Second, they mix everything up so that each bite has a little bit of everything.
Unfortunately, they just don’t taste good, bland bland bland. They are WAY too liquidy and fall apart. I mean, I don’t know what else there is to say? They’re simply not a good burrito, and ain’t nobody got time for that.
Nobody tried to punch me whilst I was visiting, so I guess 2 stars seems fair.

I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed Panchero’s sooner. I tried it right after it opened and described it as a low end Chipotle. I didn’t think I’d be back again. When I was doing laundry nearby, I walked down and decided to try it again. Again, it reminded me of Chipotle. You stand in line and tell them what you want in your burrito. I think it’s a bit cheaper but not noticeably — that’s why I’m not certain. All the ingredients were fresh but there was nothing special about my burrito at all. It reminded me of something I would have made at home and that’s not a good thing as I’m a lousy cook.
It’s as if someone figured they could do the same as Chipotle (but not as well). Since I count calories I was shocked to discover that my burrito was over a thousand calories with just the lettuce, tomato, beans, rice, chicken and tortilla. Yet it wasn’t really satisfying that I wasn’t hungry right afterwards for frozen yogurt. Okay so it’s slow burning calories or whatever but it still doesn’t qualify as a meal. Either drive around to Chipotle or better yet skip the burritos altogether. There’s always Taco Bell across the parking lot.

I tried the salad option with chicken. I had multiple salsas added, but don’t recall which specific ones. Even with 2 or 3 different salsas, it was BLAND BLAND BLAND, lacked acidity, yet had a little spice. I was perplexed by tasting the heat, but no flavor. I suffered through and ate the whole salad because I’m cheap and didn’t want to throw away a $ 6 meal.
The only reason I gave it two stars was for the customer service. The employees were friendly and I saw them helping some elderly customers carry their food and drinks to their table which was very considerate.

Because their tortillas are fresh and made in front of you… It’s just that much better. Personally I like the burritos and actually like eating the ends where there’s a lot of tortilla since it’s softer rather than tough and chewy. I also add on grilled veggies and extra guacamole and sour crème. For the price of the food here you def the bang for your buck… I dont think you can even fathom the idea of how big my burrito is (it’s on the verge of breaking apart). yum!
Service here is also good. They’re always very friendly and dont make you feel bad when you ask for extra stuff

Panchero’s is a welcome addition to the Northland. They put Chipolte to shame. The fresh tortillas are the best, never under a steamer. Also, when you order the BURRITO, it is mixed together and not just thrown in the bowl or tortilla as the other places.
Also, the Queso and Chips are the best I have had.

I got my hopes up for no reason. I think Panchero’s Mexican Grill opened up recently, but it wasn’t that busy around 1pm when I went. This was pretty similar to Chipotle and Freebirds in terms of the assembly line for making your food. I ordered a steak burrito ($ 6.25) and a small soda which totaled $ 8.48. The one thing that’s different was how everything was mixed together before the burrito was rolled up.
The burrito was slightly bigger than Freebirds’ burrito but still a little smaller than Chipotle’s burrito. It was served on a warm metal plate which I would hope it was thoroughly cleaned. The steak in the burrito was pretty bland and maybe it was just me but that’s what it tasted like to me. Maybe it was just a bad batch?
One guy came up to me and gave me his stamp card (get 10 stamps for a free burrito) because he «didn’t care for the food» and «wouldn’t come back». It was also his first time here.
It would be better if the meat’s flavor wasn’t bland then it would be comparable to Chipotle and Freebirds.
Give this place a try though as they opened recently which might be why there were kinks probably being worked out.

It’s a darned good burrito, and I’ll definitely be back. On par with Chipotle for the most part, and definitely better than Freebirds.