Craft 2

There are 3 main players in the Mexican fast casual restaurant market these days - Chipotle, Baja Fresh and Qdoba. With my love of tacos (and pico de gallo and salsa), it's probably not a surprise that I'm a regular customer of these chains. We venture over to Chipotle most often, but that's not shocking since (i) there's one down the block from us, (ii) there are so many more Chipotle outlets than the other 2 in Manhattan and (iii) we would like to make regular visits to the test kitchen one (although once so far isn't really a "regular" visit schedule... we're working on it).

One thing I like about Qdoba is that their menu is more expansive than Chipotle. Instead of the simple walk down the line, they have some other options including soups. This time I decided to go for the Craft 2 menu they were advertising on the door. I guess this has been around for a bit, but I didn't notice it before. I'm a big fan of pairing two items in one meal for a variety of flavors, but instead of just being a regular combo, this is designed to be healthier by offering smaller portions of each item. Kind of like the Wendy's Pair 2 that I like.


I got the chicken quesadilla and naked chicken taco salad. I think I've gotten both separately off the menu, but was interested to see how they would be in the Craft 2. Since I forgot to add something else to the picture to show size, each item (the salad bowl and the tortilla for the quesadilla) is about the size of my hand. When they initially talked about smaller portions at the store, I thought they might be tiny, but it was a good filling size.

I really liked the salad:


It was romaine lettuce, a black bean salad and then the add-ons they have you choose. I went with chicken, pico de gallo, corn salsa and cheese. It's then topped with their picante ranch salad dressing. In the interests of full disclosure, the day I got this it was 88 degrees, sunny, humid with a "feels like" temperature around 94. I was on my way for Indian food from a truck but it was just so hot. When it gets like that, all I ever seem to want is pico de gallo. So there was no way I wasn't going to like the salad when I ate it. But I think I would have liked it even without the weather issue.

The other item in the Craft 2 was the chicken quesadilla:


This was nothing extraordinary but it was a solid quesadilla. I haven't had one in awhile, so it worked for me. Also, it didn't fall apart when eating like some quesadillas do, so that was good.

All in all, a good meal and one I would gladly repeat (the Craft 2 generally and also the individual items). When taking the survey at home later, I did learn they have a rewards program which I didn't know about when in the store, so I think I will have to check that out next time. I wish I had started it this time so my Craft 2 would count. If you're heading over for a Craft 2 (or anything else), ask about the free rewards card!