Red Burrito

I have drank water that is spicier than the food here. Completely underwhelming.

I’m on board with Kevin on his review about Red Burrito and it’s very important to stress what you are benchmarking this place against.
First of all, c’est campus food. I like to define it as «food to fill you up quickly and ding your wallet a bit so you can quickly go back whatever you are supposed to do.»
Therefore campus food is not known to taste good.
The food here is relatively healthy with few options to customize and priced okay. It’s got a happy hour special that you can get a combo or single item for ~$ 5 or something perfect to bring to your evening class
Cheerio!

I just tried a combined chicken and beef. Awesome food. Loved it.

Taco Bell tastes better/​more authentic than this place.

OK I’m just coming in to counterbalance this unfair 2.5 this place has. Look, I’ve been a hater of Red Burrito since I first noticed it on Commercial Dr. It summarized everything I didn’t like about this urban Mexican chain with a dumb concept: burritos served in tomato wraps, the gimmick is the name of the restaurant. Meh…
But I went to the one by UBC instead cos it was dead and I needed something quick and dumb for about six more hours of work on campus. I got a pork burrito in one of those dumb red wrap that the nice burrito ‘artists’ or w/​e filled with everything, not sparing or charging you for anything else. I guess the chain mentality is as such; we buy this crap in bulk, give it to the foolish customer, make them think they got a deal…
and damn it works. Tipped $ 2 on $ 7.25 bill cos they were really generous and nice. Also, good selections of Mexican beers like Sol, Pacifico, something called «Corona» and «Corona Lite» (idk) for the standard Vancouver exorbitant booze price. Went with the mild green chili sauce; not wise. Go with the hot cos it’s really something marketed to vanilla ppl who’ve never been south of Surrey, let’s be real. One on Commercial looks not charming, but the one by UBC is worth it IF you happen to be in the hood and not overwhelmed with the options.

Maybe everyone else went on an off day but my burrito was super tasty and huge. I aM a big eater but I couldn’t finish it.
The pork was moist and the corn and green salsa were mildly spicy, just the way I like it. I didn’t load the sauce on but it still tasted delicious.
Staff was very friendly and it was quiet for a ubc food place.

First impressions for this place are good, clean, great location good beers in the cooler, food /​toppings laid out in front of you, looks appetizing. Thats where it ends.
I ordered the enchilada platter .Meat was spicy but only lukewarm, the toppings are added, just like subway. The girl adding them was unfriendly, slopped them on your meal just like a truckstop. The toppings themselves were very watery, even the sour cream! Cheese is not melted on the enchilada. They serve it in a styrofoam container which does not help, somewhat cheapens the meal. I asked the girl if the green stuff she was about to splash on my meal was ‘sauce verde’ and she looked @ me like I was speaking another language.
Too bad because this would be a nice change. Its a nice place, need to improve staff and food quality.
Will not go back, rather go to Taco bell.

Edit: Upped to 5 stars from 4 because of the unfair reviews on here.
People giving this place bad reviews don’t know how to order Mexican food in Canada.
Being from Santa Fe, New Mexico I know Mexcian food *VERY* well (I am a food elitist jerk!), and this place is not that bad. I think it serves as a great alternative to the swarm of sushi/​chinese restaurants in the UBC area. I can say, however, that this is the only Mexican themed food in Vancouver that is rationally priced, places like Las Margaritas charge way too much.
On to the specifics!
What I usually get: Chicken Fajita Burrito with *EVERYTHING* except onions. By everything, I mean ALL 4 types of salsa, guacamole and cheese. You people keep saying this food is bland? You live in *CANADA*, look at the size of the ladle they’re using to put the salsa on your burrito; I can get more salsa on a tortilla chip! Ask for AT LEAST four scoops of that stuff– because it’s actually pretty damn good.
Why does this place get 4 stars? I WISH — I REALLY wish there was a 3.5 star rating allowed on Unilocal because Red Burrito doesn’t deserve the whole 4 stars, but I’m rounding up anyways for the other unfair reviews. Also– they serve Horchata which always reminds me of that New Mexico sunset.
Bottom line is this: They have all of the ingredients for a good burrito right there in front of them. If you get a bad burrito it’s YOUR FAULT for not knowing what to order. So ask for extra salsa, ask for extra lime, ask for less rice, WHATEVER! This is a build your own meal restaurant.

I will disclaim that this place is not good mexican food compared to mexican food in general, but for places to eat on campus, it’s top shelf.
It’s priced well, at $ 6ish for a burrito. Ingredients are always fresh, and overall pretty delish.

Don’t know about the others but I think this place is decent. Well to be fair I don’t really have much other Mexican restaurants to compare. Usually when I go to a restaurant I don’t order the burrito.
The food is decent, portion is NOT that stingy. It is pretty filling. However I might have to agree that the meat they give is not that many, they fill it up usually with beans and veggies. I’ve only ate their beef burrito, so yeah. I never tried the guacamole either. Service is fast. Price is around $ 7.
Well since this is kinda like a take out restaurant, I can’t really say more about this place, heheh.

This is a very clean restaurant and the staff if super nice and friendly. I just had their red burrito with spicy beef filling. The portion was huge, if I could only take more than one bite of this stuff. I know the standards for Mexican food in Vancouver is low but this place is just awful.
The burrito was flavorless and basically just plain disgusting. I also had a side dish of chips with guacamole and that was flavorless too. I think their food is overpriced for what it is ($ 6.35 for a beef burrito and $ 2.00 for chips and guacamole).
The only good thing about this place is cleanness and I guess friendly staff. Will not be going back to this place– EVER.

This review is comparing this place to options at UBC … not to Mexican food in general. In general, there is no Mexican food worth discussing in Vancouver (someone, please tell me I’m wrong and where to go!!). In specific, Red Burrito is a terrible Mexican place.
BUT … in the UBC world all the parameters change.
The food is reasonably priced and the people are super friendly. You can get $ 3 tequilla shots, coronas, tamales (spicy beef or chicken), soft tacos, burritos, or a burrito bowl (uh?).
Very confusing to me is the policy on side items. They have quite a collection (cilantro, corn, tomato salsa, tomatillo sauce, onions, cream cheese, etc.) When you buy certain things, like soft tacos, you are allowed to have anything you want — even guacamole — but no cheese. When you buy tamales, you are allowed to have none of the sides, except for salsa. Sometimes I have to sweet talk them into letting me have a little lettuce … need a little fiber after all …
Anyway, it’s convenient and easy and the price is decent (again, for the area). Fills me up for at least 4 – 5 hours!

Bleh. I don’t have high standards for Mexican food in Vancouver, but Red Burrito is really bad, even considering all that. My burrito in a bowl today was flavourless and boring, and you get tiny amounts of each ingredient. For the price it’s totally not worth it.
Normally Mexican food is fine for folks eating gluten-​free so long as your avoid the flour tortillas, but I should have read Roanna’s review of a different Red Burrito location before going there today:
The fact that the meats contain flour would explain why my stomach is now hurting.
They don’t take credit cards and there is a $ 0.25 fee for debit transactions, so I got charged another $ 0.25 for the privilege of paying for my crappy food. There’s really just nothing redeeming about this place.

The restaurant was clean and the staff were polite.
The food though. was terrible. Ingredients from cans with very little passion involved in the preparation or presentation. I recommend looking elsewhere for a burrito.
I once thought it was difficult to get a standard burrito so wrong — but they manage in spectacular fashion.

The chicken mole burrito filled my hollow tummy the other day, but did nothing to make me smile.
«I’ve experienced better» sums it up perfectly.

Come to Red Burrito and discover a whole new world of mediocrity. It’s abysmal, even by Vancouver’s admittedly low standards for Mexican food.
The food was so flavorless that I almost forgot I was eating food — the only sense was one of excessive oiliness and grease.

I ordered a chicken burrito and I ended getting 3 pieces of chicken the size of a pea and size of the burrito was very small. I couldn’t believe there was so little chicken and the burrito didn’t taste good too. With the name burrito, Mexican inspired decorations, and Mexican staff, you’d expect a better burrito!
Just a note: Red burrito serves FREE burritos on your birthday. Unfortunately, I always miss the opportunity to get a free burrito, but with my bad experience, I wouldn’t even bother.

Good enough for a quick lunch near the office. I go for the fajita burrito in a bowl, change rice for beans, add guac and picante salsa. Tasty and healthy, fits with Crossfit diet basics «meats & veggies, nuts & seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar».
Unbonus: even for eating in, they only offer single-​use plastic bowls and utensils, and styrofoam cups for water. In other words, they’re enviro-​ignorant.

I am a fan because I, unlike some others who seem to have tried this place, have lowered my standards for Canadian Mexican food. I thought it was well known that Vancouver’s Mex/​tex-​mex food scene was sub par compared to those south of the border. Do read Marc D.‘s review:
he does a good job explaining mexican food expectations here.
I am a fan because it’s a decent place to go on campus for some decent priced eats and good flavour (I mean how much fast food Chinese can we eat in a week anyway?).
I’m a fan because I tried their Tortilla Soup today and it was decent and filled my tummy.
I’m a fan because they have tamales on the menu, both Chicken AND Beef.
I’m a fan because I CAN have bubble tea and mexican food in the same sitting (Pearl Fever’s next doorish)!!

Red Burrito continues to spread throughout Metro Vancouver like a delicious plague. It’s a fairly standard build your own burrito place like the kind you find on every street corner in the States. They’re a rarity here in Vancouver, though. Red Burrito stands up pretty well against their southerly cousins, but probably wouldn’t be anything special if there was more competition. That said, the ingredients are always fresh and the tamales are quite good. The burritos are pretty unique too. They also sell horchata that, while not outstanding, is certainly passable (especially with the amount of cinnamon they put in it).
Overall, decent burritos but a tamale plate is much more worthwhile. I really wish the guacamole wasn’t a dollar extra.