Disappointment in Baja

Baja Fresh, I've always been a big fan. I loved how your menu was large and had lots of choices. I loved mixing and matching tacos. I loved that every order came with free chips and salsa (and unlimited salsa if you ate there). I loved that if I ordered delivery at work, I could get small tubs of pico de gallo for cheap because it would mean eating something healthy. But tonight I was really disappointed.

I got an assortment of items and started with a chicken taco baja style (onions and cilantro topping) ($3).


The taco was fine. The chicken was a little dry and it wasn't as flavorful as some of the tacos I've gotten there in the past, but it wasn't bad.

I ordered sides of guacamole ($3) and pico de gallo ($2). I didn't get the side orders with the chips, so I thought it would be just the two small sides with the bag of free chips that comes with the regular order. Strangely, I got a small bag of free chips plus a giant bag full of more chips.


Next to all those chips, the containers of pico de gallo and guacamole looked really tiny.

I was confused because I remembered that the last time I ordered salsas from the side order menu, I got containers that were at least twice as large. I went back and found proof (who says there's no value to photographing all your meals, even the ordinary ones?), so my memory was not wrong.

Last year's guacamole size
The guacamole container then was so much larger. In tonight's order, the small salsa container (the brown one) that comes complimentary with the free chips is only slightly smaller than the side orders. The last time I ordered it like this, both of the free salsa containers could fit inside the guacamole container. I couldn't believe that little container of guacamole cost $3. I think it's smaller than the Chipotle side of guacamole (which, by the way, was what I was really craving tonight but could not get since they're not on Seamless), and that one is cheaper, and has more red onions and cilantro. This version was just avocado and tomato and kind of boring.

Last, I got the skinny chicken bowl ($8.50). I had tried the "fully loaded" chicken bowl one day for lunch but decided to try to be healthy this time.


The skinny chicken bowl, according to the menu description, has achiote marinated fire-grilled chicken (good that it was grilled chicken, nice marinade, but overdone and dry), black beans (thank goodness these were watery to offset the dry chicken), green chili tomatillo rice (good), and topped with calabasitas squash (very juicy), achiote onions (also good) and new tomatillo salsa fresca (similar to the pico de gallo). Generally, the bowl was good but the weakest part was the chicken (not for the flavor, but because of how dry it was). Maybe the fully loaded was better because the cheese kept the chicken from feeling so dry.

I think Baja Fresh still beats Chipotle for menu variety, but right now (and I can comfortably say this, as I have been to Chipotle a lot recently), Chipotle wins hands-down for flavor. I still have a craving for Chipotle guacamole. Maybe next time I go there I'll get a veggie bowl to fulfill my craving.