Sometimes I find myself in need of a burrito the way that a person with a crippling drug addiction…read moreneeds a fix, but I'd rather not go to some fancy sit-down restaurant where I feel obligated to leave a tip and I'm not provided with as much complimentary chips and salsa as I require.
Certainly, I'd rather not go to a Chipotle, where you risk gastrointestinal distress in exchange for less food than they used to give you, for even more money; or Taco Bell, which actually costs more than Chipotle now, despite still being Taco Bell.
Enter Abelardo's Mexican Fresh, which somehow (ostensibly) combines the quality of a fancy sit-down restaurant with the convenience of a fast-food restaurant. Not only do you not have to go inside to get your food, you couldn't go inside if you wanted to. There's probably an alarm that would trigger if you tried. There's all kinds of signs and stickers on the building's exterior warning of alarm systems and the restaurant's right to refuse service to anyone for any reason, Title IX notwithstanding.
There's a little window where you can get out of your car and order, if you just have to. You don't have to worry, if you're wearing pajamas. It's not the kind of neighborhood where you're going to be judged for that sort of thing.
The menu is entirely too extensive. But you get the sense that, as is the case with the aforementioned Taco Bell, it's all 1001 different combinations of the same few ingredients. You probably couldn't go wrong with just throwing a dart at the thing and seeing where it lands, unless you're Stevie Wonder, in which case you might put someone's eye out. I wanted to get a combination that had both a taco and a burrito, so I could try both items, but the only one I saw had ground beef in both. So I went with one that came with two carne asada burritos, refried beans and rice. I suppose I could have just ordered à la carte, but I wasn't feeling up to it emotionally.
I noticed the bag, when they handed it to me, was surprisingly heavy, like they accidentally gave me someone else's order. I wasn't about to complain. This is a proper Mexican establishment, so there was no risk of there being anything gluten free or otherwise inappropriate for an adult male. But no, this was my order. It's just a lot of food. The two-burrito combination plate seems like it would be two small burritos instead of one large burrito (which seems stupid), but it's really two fairly large burritos. At $15 and some change, it might be the single most expensive thing on the menu, but it's not expensive in an absolute sense, by 2025 standards. This place packs great value.
The carne asada wasn't the most high quality beef in the world, and it's a little bit dry, which I attribute both to how thoroughly it's cooked and how it's served. There's nothing in the burrito but meat, a few peppers and maybe a little pico. Presumably, this is a more authentic version of the dish, like a chili with no beans in it. It benefits from the hot sauce they give you with it, which is legitimately hot and redolent of actual peppers. The tortillas were similarly high quality and, if taste is any indication, not good for you. The refried beans were lacking in salt compared to the kind that come in a can, which are amongst my favorite things in the world, but that's probably more a testament to the utter savagery in which I was raised than anything else.
Sitting in the drive thru, I was reminded of the Oreo cookie shakes I would get from the Jack in the Box that used to be here. If they could somehow put that on the menu, this would be the GOAT restaurant. As it is, it's not half bad.
