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| - 9 times out of 10, when faced with a choice of restuarants, I prefer locally owned joints over chains. This place is a good reminder of why that is.
We ended up going here because someone had given us a gift certificate. So, we stopped in for a late lunch - we arrived well after the "busy" time. We thought we'd have quick, attentive service, but that was not quite the case. Our server was friendly, but rather slow in getting drinks out to us & taking our order.
I decided to go simple and have a chicken burrito with rice & beans. The food tasted ok but was not what I would consider to be particularly good. It was just meh. I can definitely make better chicken burritos with beans & rice at home.
But the worst part was about an hour after eating here, I started to feel yucky. I was not "sick-sick" but felt as if I had eaten too much of something that I am senstive to - like too much MSG .
I think that most fast food and big corporate chains use some MSG in their food but I try to avoid the ones that use way too much of it. (The problem is that it doesn't always show up in an ingredient list as MSG - sometimes it is just labled as "natural flavorings" or something to that effect). While a little bit of this stuff is not generally problematic for me, I do find that when places use too much, that's when I notice the icky feeling.
Places like Applebees, Chilis, On The Border, etc often use chicken (and other ingredients) that have been seasoned at a central plant, then frozen, and shipped out to the individual locations... these flavorings that are mass-produced are more likely to have too much stuff like MSG in it to try & make it taste better when it is ultimately cooked up & served to the consumer.
Honestly, there are way too many other good places to eat in this area for me to choose to go back here. If I end up getting another gift card for here in the future, I think I'll re-gift it to some one who would better appreciate it. Next time I have a craving for Mexican when I am close to home, I'll head over to Maria Bonita (Rea/Colony Rd), Senor Tequila (Piper Glen), or Cabo's (Carmel/51).
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