On the Richmond Burrito Trail: 23rd Street’s cantina burrito

On the Richmond Burrito Trail: 23rd Street’s cantina burrito
The Richmond Burrito Trail stops for Cantina Chicken Burrito on 23rd Street. Photos/Soren Hemmila

The Richmond Burrito Trail is back on 23rd Street, exploring a fast-food staple serving Mexican-inspired food. We’ve long been curious how this outpost of the multinational restaurant chain survives in a food mecca populated with authentic Mexican food.

With our preconceived opinions firmly in check and our taste buds neutral, we embark on this week’s stop on the Richmond Burrito Trail, which has Grandview checking out this restaurant's new Cantina Chicken Menu.

Burrito Number One was a Chicken Burrito ordered off this establishment's Cantina Menu. The Cantina Chicken Menu offers the cheesy, saucy, spicy, crunchy you love combined with "elevated ingredients."

Can Taco Bell hold its own among Richmond’s culinary titans?

We loaded up the Cantina Chicken Burrito with seasoned rice, beans, and guacamole. The burrito comes with purple cabbage, which we excluded in an effort to match our expectations of what a burrito should be.

This was a mistake.

Weighing a paltry 406 grams, the Cantina Chicken Burrito included rice, beans, sour cream, “guacamole sauce,” and some hard-to-find chicken. The tortilla was gummy, and the overall burrito had a liquid-smoke taste. We found the “natural smoke flavor” listed in Creamy Chipotle Sauce ingredients online. We did enjoy the Avocado Verde Salsa Sauce Packet. Perhaps we just like sauces.

The Cantina Chicken Burrito was the smallest burrito on the Richmond Burrito Trail—that is until we hit Burrito number Two. 

The next burrito was a Supreme. We tricked this burrito out with seasoned rice, guacamole, and steak. This is the smallest burrito yet, weighing in at just 287 grams. This really beanie burrito included little rectangles of easy-to-miss steak and unmelted orange cheese. 

Taco Bell's tiny Supreme burrito weighed 287 grams.

The other burritos we've written about range from complex slab masterpieces to hearty and familiar home-cooked styles that are warm and wholesome.

According to its website, Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! It offers tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, and a variety of value menu items focused on "culture-centric, Mexican-inspired food with bold flavors.”

Oh, good. 

Taco Bell's burritos didn’t taste bad; they just weren’t all that good, like they were designed to be inoffensive. The total price for two burritos was $17.43.

"Live Mas," indeed.

Let us know where to eat next, and check back next week for another stop on the Richmond Burrito trail.

The Grandview Independent has been embarking on a culinary adventure to explore every taqueria, food truck, and restaurant in Richmond. This initiative dubbed the “Richmond Burrito Trail,” aims to showcase our city’s diverse and delectable burritos.


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