Details: All three restaurants have multiple locations. Official websites are as follows: https://chipotle.com/, https://www.dostoros.com/, and https://www.qdoba.com/
I’ve eaten Chipotle so much that I figured I might as well write something about it. Although it needs little explanation, Chipotle is a chain of Mexican (sort of) restaurants that serve burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and chips. You generally pick your rice, a meat and then some toppings (cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, hot sauce, peppers and onions). Oh, and they have guacamole which costs around $2.50 for a freaking scoop. It’s simple but pretty good. The Chipotle company generally advertises itself as a healthy to eat option, but recently they’ve had an E. coli scare and the price of their stock has dropped. With that said, every time I got by a Chipotle in New York City, they do not seem short on business.
To me, Chipotle is just fuel. It’s a balanced bunch of food groups that solves the problem of hunger. It’s not exactly the healthiest thing to eat, but healthier than fast food (McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.). Plus, it’s relatively fast and convenient, perfect for your lunch break if you ignore the ridiculous lines Chipotle has.
Dos Toros is essentially the same as Chipotle except with some small difference. The primary difference is that its slightly more expensive. Chipotle is about $9.00 for a chicken burrito bowl without guacamole, Dos Toros is around $10.00. They also crush and sprinkle chips in your burrito bowl if you want it. As for taste, Chipotle tastes slightly better.
Of the three Mexican fast casual restaurants in the title, Qdoba is easily my favorite. The primary reason for this is because they have a melted cheese sauce. I can’t count the number of times I walked into a Chipotle wishing they had some sort of nacho cheese sauce, but they don’t and neither does Dos Toros. Furthermore, Qdoba is slightly cheaper and tastes slightly better than the other two in my opinion. Unfortunately, there are no Qdoba’s in Manhattan so if you want to try it, you need to get out of the city.
Qdoba Score: 6.3/10 The winner of Mexican fast casual, but fewer locations than Chipotle and no locations in Manhattan.
Chipotle Score: 6/10 Second place.
Dos Toros Score: 5.8/10 Last place.
Muse Bank 