Qdoba Mexican Grill

SEE YA!
I got the email for the closing of this store. And then I read Crains and find out that Qdoba is closing all their Manhattan locations as a part of their corporate restructuring. At least the Queens and Staten Island locations will still be open.
I’ll miss Qdoba for two reasons:
(1) they had a menu that was unique from all the other «mex» restaurants, but they never advertised that fact
(2) it saved me from standing in the line at Chipotle which always averages 800 people.

Mmmmm… street tacos, burritos and quesadillas. Basically, it’s a fast food bastardized version of Mexican food in a city that is notorious for faux Mexican.
Oh, why can’t there be better cheap alternatives to this slop McMexican food around here?
Sure this location can be a madhouse during peak lunch hours, but if you go after 2PM as I did yesterday it is not bad at all, and kinda empty. I usually just go for a burrito here and play it safe. White rice, pinto beans, guac, chicken, pico, a little cheese, and some lettuce. Everything is packed into the middle of a tortilla that is put on a grill and toasted for a few minutes and then wrapped in tin foil. Freakin’ problem is that this thing is so stuffed if falls apart half way through and the damn tortilla is glued stuck to the tin foil. Yup, I end up eating it with a fork looking like a burrito noob.
Still, the flavor is not bad, and one burrito will easily fill you up. Along with a small soda it’s only about $ 10 in total, and no one says anything if you go up for refills at the soda counter. Not much seating here, but if you grab a spot up front it offers prime people watching along 23^rd street. Pretty clean looking place too with decently friendly counter staff. Food is made and served up quickly.
Also, for the love of God, I wish there were no calorie counts listed on the menu next to each item. Did I just really eat over 1,000 calories? What — that diet Coke didn’t cancel them out?