Chipotle is my biggest weakness. I love the place and I spend too much money there. I go at least once a week. There are Qdobas around but I’ve never gone because I just assume I won’t/can’t like it as much as I love Chipotle.
There used to be a Tequila’s in Taos, but the bastards closed it. Their camarones a la diabla and fried ice cream were (are?) a treat.
When travelling for work, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve often chosen my hotel based on proximity to Chipotle. On one trip to Jefferson City, MO, when I was especially hungry, I invented MegaBowl. (One burrito bowl with meat, one veggie bowl with guac, dump them both into a medium-sized mixing bowl; mix until guac has thoroughly infiltrated the bowl. Shovel into your face with a spoon while repeating “MegaBowl.”)
I’ve never heard of either of them.
Qdoba is around here, but it’s gluey-tasting and generic (although better than, say, Burger King.). Chipotle’s cilantro-lime rice is excellent, their beans are fresh; actually all their sides and toppings appear to be fresh. It’s not mom and pop South-of-the-Border, but it’s very good.
I thought Qdoba also had cilantro lime rice. It’s been a while since I went there, but that’s the one thing that stands out in my memory.
Also, what are fresh beans? Aren’t they all dried? I swear I’m not trying to be snarky here. I agree that they put out a good product, but they just don’t seem any different than most others, to me.
That’s the usual joke but it’s not true. The chalupas and gorditas and breakfast items and cinnamon things — they’re awful.
Oh, I know. I just get tacos myself, and really, those are just delivery medium for Hot sauce anyways (I use like 4-5 packets each; it gets pretty messy). 
Since you’re DCinDC, I’m sure you know about District Taco, but do you know about Lesley Restaurant in Falls Church?
You pretty much summed up my stance on this issue. If I want a burrito (which is rare, I prefer tacos, but whatever), I would much rather go to a taqueria and get a better product and for a lower price than I would at Chipotle. As you mentioned, I live in California where you can get really good mexican food from independent places.
If presented with Chipotle and Qdoba and nothing else, I probably choose Chipotle a large percentage of the time.
I am not familiar with Lesley. Went to a new place on H street a few weeks ago called SOL, not bad.
I’m not a fan of either one. Qdoba seems like fancy Taco Bell to me, and Chipotle serves soggy burritos with unmelted cheese.
I wish I could find mom-and-pop Mexican restaurants! DC is notoriously lacking.
I am Mexican, but the faux-ness of Chipotle and Qdoba does not in and of itself bother me. I just don’t like either of them enough to eat there, and if they are the only ‘Mexican’ option around, I’ll probably eat other food.
Pupusas! And other Central American food.
Not. The. Same.
A betrayal I live day after day is finding a Mexican restaurant, only to find that dread word on the end of the menu: Pupusas. Salvadorian food is delicious, but Salvadorians cooking Mexicanish stuff when they’d clearly rather be cooking Salvadorian food always disappoints.
While we are ranting- California Tortilla, why? Whyyyyyyy? This is the most popular ctaqueria in the area, and it’s disgusting. Liquid cheese everywhere, the food tastes burnt and waterlogged at the same time, the rice is like pebbles and the tortillas like glue…everything about it is just bad. There are other chains that are marginally better (Baja Fresh isn’t completely terrible) and frankly a taqueria really shouldn’t be that hard to get right. Why has such an objectively ungood restaurant managed to corner the market here?
Come to Bladensburg/Hyattsville/Riverdale. They’re everywhere here.
Here are the Mexican restaurants in this area that I would recommend:
Taqueria La Placita
Hyattsville, MD
La Sirenita
Hyattsville, MD
El Tapatio
Bladensburg, MD
La Fondita
Edmonston, MD
And a little further trip is this:
R & R Tacqueria
Elkridge, MD
This is the strangest location for a good restaurant. You drive to the address listed and you see a gas station. You drive around the gas station and you see a little convenience store. You drive around the store and you see a little diner with a few seats, but it’s mostly a take-out place. Many people say it’s the best reasonable cheap Mexican place in the Baltimore-Washington area. There are some more expensive places that are better, but you supposedly can’t beat it for the price.
A good pupusa is better than a half-assed burrito, haha. You’re not going to find good burritos east of Chicago anyway, sadly. Might as well go to one of those Indian wrap places with names that are a pun on ‘naan.’ I think there’s one near Dupont Circle called Naansense or Naanstop or something like that.
I seem to have blocked California Tortilla from my memory. Problem with burrito places is that every ingredient has to be able to stand on its own and construction really matters. When you mess any of this up, it just becomes slop. But lots of people like slop.
And, incidentally, the best chain Mexican restaurant is the Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, with locations on 7th and 14th Streets NW, which has great salsa bars.
Y’know I go past La Fondita a lot and I’m very curious; it’s kind of a random place that looks like someone just turned their house into a restaurant and I’m a little intimidated.
My experience with the local places is you need a Spanish speaker with you to really get the most out of the experience (but just pointing at the menu will usually get the job done).