Cantina Verde

I’m horrified it took me so long to update my lukewarm review. The issues have been resolved and this place is now far superior to Chipotle, at least for my purposes. A few points:
1) They actually know how to cook and season beans correctly.
2) They selection of veggies you can add to your order is really not something I’ve seen anywhere else. It’s almost a cross between Chipotle and Mixt Greens in that regard.
3) Fresh avocado slices!
4) The habanero sauce… oh my god, so hot; so good. And if you ask them, they will smother your meal in it.
5) Everything just seems fresher than Chipotle… it’s really hard to put your finger on, but it’s the case.
I love this place.

Great place to eat salads for lunch. I recommend getting a verde house salad and it gets you really full.

The price point makes them a winner when compared to Chipotle. I went with the bowl but the salad looked big when compared to their competitors
Fresh ingredients and a couple more add on choices like fresh jalapeños and mushrooms. I think they had some sauteed fries looking potatoes? too. The fresca was good
Definitely has potential.
Will go back again

I had gone by this place a million times, but never gone in because the line is always insanely long — so I made a mental not «must be good, gotta try». The issue was when… Then yesterday I had a very late lunch so I walked over to Cantina Verde and there was no line. Score!
Just like others have said this is Chipotle with more options — and so far no ecoli ;-)
You start with what you want (taco or burrito or whatever), then move on to what you want on it ans you move through the station. I had the carne asada taco (3). They were fresh and yummy.
Will be back for a late lunch soon.

I am a bit of a breakfast burrito fanatic. I used to get my fix at Un Dos Tacos until I found a long, thick black hair in my burrito a couple of weeks ago. I have tried Caramba and Rico Mex since then. They were okay, but nothing to write home about.
Then today I decided to get off BART at Embarcadero because I was restless after a stop and go ride and remembered that I had read that Cantina Verde was open for breakfast. The overall reviews I read were mixed, but the ones about the breakfast burritos seemed mostly positive.
I am SO glad that I decided to try Cantina Verde this morning. I have now found my go to breakfast burrito place. It was a bit more expensive than the ones closer to my office, but a lot bigger and SO MUCH tastier. Rather than nickel and dime you for each add on, they charge a flat $ 5.95 plus tax for all the fixings you want (other than avocado or guacamole). You get eggs or egg whites, choice of meat (carne asada, chorizo, sausage, or bacon), choice of beans (black or pinto), choice of salsas (you can get as many and as much salsa as you want — green, red, or pico de gallo), plus you can add grilled peppers and/​or onions, and/​or mushrooms, potatoes, as well as cheese and/​or sour cream.
I went with eggs, chorizo, black beans, green and red salsa, grilled peppers, potatoes, and cheese. It was one of the best tasting breakfast burritos I’ve ever had, and I was full for over five hours. It was more brunch than breakfast.

The carne needs more time in the asadafier.
They’ll give you real jalapenos, so that puts it ahead of a lot of the crap food around here.

This house salad is becoming addictive! I’m about to brave the rain and head back to my office… but not without this yummy salad. It’s the only thing I consistently get here as I find «down home» Mexican goodness at competitive restaurants closer to Mission, but as far as salads go, I’m sold!

Fresh and better flavor a than Chipotle. I think they have more options as well and the price is really reasonable. The staff has always been nice the times I have gone in there.

Worse ingredients, worse food, Cantina Verde.
Chipotle me-​too restaurant with little flavor.
I had the Steak (beef) Burrito on a whole wheat tortilla.
— Tortilla was unsteamed; Beef actually ok.
Included was pinto beans, cheese, guac, fresca and hot salsas.
— Plain, needed salt and spice. Clearly corporate culture voiding all flavor.
Would go to Chipotle as an alternative.
Would go to Tlaloc by choice.

This is one of my usual lunch spots. People are complaining that this is a Chipotle knock off and its not authentic but what do you expect when you order a burrito or a salad. It is similar to Chipotle but there are some notable flavor differences, in my opinion better.
I usually order a burrito with chipotle chicken, white rice, black beans, bell peppers, cotija cheese (a salty cheese which maybe why I love this place so much) and chipotle salsa.
Sometimes, the lady sprinkles cheese and salsa which is a little annoying. The guy at the front is very nice and friendly. He is saving grace of the customer service

Yes it is similar to Chipotale style but few different choices.
For example, you have mushroom/​zucchini –squash along with bell papers. They offer chunks of tofu plus choice of wheat tortillas. Avocados are considered as prime item and can cost extra $ 1 here.
I have tried tofu burrito/​bowl with 3 free vegetables few times. I liked the variation and found it very nice.
While ordering pay attention to ‘No Charge items’ and avoid using word ‘extra’ ;)
If you stick to defaults, then it cost you 6.95 $ with good portion to eat. Some servers do inform you about extra charge if you choose unconventional path. They also offer signature salad at 7.95 $. Salad seems to more popular here and will try some time.

Hands down better than Chipotle! You can taste the freshness in their ingredients and they have better sides. I love how they have mushrooms, different cheeses, and jalapenos. The portions aren’t huge like Chipotle but it’s cheaper so you’re still getting a bang for your buck. The line is always long, but it moves fairly quickly.

Total Chipotle ripoff but clearly not as good hence no lines which is about the only good thing it has going.
The setup is exactly like chipotle — choose a protein, toppings, and add ons.
I got a steak salad — portions a pretty big but the steak pieces were chewy/​tough and totally lacked flavor.
The rice was bland, the sauteed peppers/​onion topping was mushy and somewhat bitter. The dressing looked like jar thousand island — so I passed. The salsa was odd — not light and refreshing but rather thick like a marinara sauce… the sour cream was watered down… you get the idea
The whole salad was odd and not one of my better lunches. Just go to chipotle — heck of a lot better.

Seems like Chiptole clone, but with more options for fillings. Doesn’t compare to what you can get from a joint in the Mission or even a sketchy looking taco truck. The burritos feel haphazardly thrown together with novice wrapping techniques.
After I paid, I noticed I got charged 50¢ for chips, which I didn’t ordered. When I asked about this, the person at the cashier said it was because I got extra dairy; extra dairy being sour cream *and* cheese. I pointed out the «No Charge» section of the menu where dairy resided and the cashier admitted that the sign needed to be updated since many customers have complained about the charge. Having created a bit of a backup, I was refunded that 50¢ probably due to exasperation. The whole overcharging under the guise of «No Charge» rubbed me the wrong way. And to boot, the food quality didn’t make up for that snafu.
Carnitas Burrito: The carnitas were tender, but they lacked any crispy ends that more authentic carnitas typically have. The burrito wrap was loose, resembling a blob rather than a tightly rolled cylinder. This made it sloppy… well more sloppy than a typical burrito. The choose you own tortilla, rice and beans made it quite a heavy meal which would probably satisfy those focused on quantity at a reasonable price. There were so many options, it felt like Subway. But the risk of mass customization is that clients may not choose the best flavor profile. It would have been nice if someone with a culinary degree curated a few themed burritos with well thought out ingredient pairings.

It was 12:45pm today and I had a hankering for a quesadilla! I’ve had quesadillas there before and they are pretty good. I waited in line for almost 15 minutes and it was finally my turn… I was so excited because I was starving at that point. I get to the front, and the man who is always the first guy in the line, asks what I would like. I politely asked for a quesadilla. He huffed and puffed and said, «it’s too busy to make a quesadilla. We don’t make them between 12 and 2.» WTH!!! I waited in line for 15 minutes for that answer?! Nowhere does it state that in the place! If I had known, I wouldn’t have wasted my time waiting in line. I was astonished and just left. Chipotle has much longer lines, and they are never «too busy» to make me a quesadilla. I will never go back there. In the amount of time the guy huffed and puffed, he could have made me a quesadilla!
They forever lost my business to Chipotle. I can always count on Chipotle.

It’s pretty telling that in the two times I’ve tried this place, several months apart, there was a long lunch line, mostly suits, yet no one sitting at any of the tables. What’s that about? I mean even at Chipotle, its obvious inspiration, there is always somebody who wants to sit under those weird faux-​Mayan wall hangings and wolf down a burrito. But not at Cantina Verde, a rather generic place from a décor perspective, and I guess people just don’t want to stick around. I sure haven’t been tempted. It’s not ugly or unclean, it’s just, well, dull. Speaking of which, can anybody remember what their menu is (photo:
)? That’s probably because it’s fairly identical to Chipotle’s except they claim to be fresher and healthier.
Maybe. But it’s also a whole lot blander like senior-​center bland. I ordered the same thing both times, the $ 7.95 Verde House Salad (photo:
). BTW, it actually went up by 45-​cents between visits. The salad consists of a plastic bin full of Romaine lettuce (locally sourced, of course), grilled chipotle chicken, black beans, sweet corn, tortilla chips, cherry tomatoes, hard-​boiled egg, chili-​dusted jicama, cotija cheese and avocado, all of it doused in a chipotle dressing. The term ‘avocado’ is emboldened and underlined in the menu to separate it from all the make-​your-​own salads that don’t offer it. All of it sounded just fine, and frankly it tasted just fine. It just made me feel like the nurse was about to wheel me back to my room after bingo.
FOOD — 3 stars… bland Mexican food just seems wrong no matter how fresh it may be
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… clean but apparently nobody likes to sit here
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… automated with minimal eye contact
TOTAL — 3 stars… hey, I’m not that much of a Chipotle fan either so what do I know?

I like this place because it has so many more options than its rival, Chipotle. The price is decent… or should I say the BASE price is decent. They really nickle and dime you for the ingredients that blatantly say «NO CHARGE» on the menu… First of all, they are REALLY stingy with their toppings, so when I asked for a little extra cheese on my burrito bowl, I was then charged 50 cents for «Extra Dairy» (as the employee wrote on top of my lid). I was so confused as to why I was being charged extra for «No Charge» toppings… Makes no sense at all. Not to mention the mean scowl the woman gave me when I asked for a little more. Yes, lady, you are an inadequate scooper and I like more than 6 strands of cheese… deal with it.
It honestly put a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended) after I left, that I’m not sure I feel like coming back. Which is a shame because I came here often and this is a new development in recent weeks. I realize it’s /​only/​50 cents, but it’s more about the principle.
No charge should mean no charge. If that isn’t the case, update your menu to reflect the correct prices.

Hmm, I a bit undecided on where to rate Cantina Verde, so I’ll do 3 stars and update this if something bumps things up a bit to 4 stars. I’m rating this a 3.5.
I’m going to base my rating on a comparison to Chipotle. I would rate Chipotle 3 stars as well.
The food at Cantina Verde tastes better. I like the meat (carnitas in particular) better here. I also like the flavors of the salsas better and I like the grilled peppers much better. They also have a bit more variety here, but the menu is a little confusing and it is hard to figure out what is included and what costs extra and they don’t really do a great job explaining it.
6.95 is your base cost for tacos, a burrito, a bowl etc.
Unlike Chipotle, you only get cheese or sour cream. If you get a bowl, you can’t get a tortilla or taco shells on the side, that is also extra.
They also don’t fill the bowls up as much as Chipotle.
The guacamole is less expensive here and I did not have the chips. A co-​worker said that they did not like the chips very much.
Cantina Verde does have more options of things you can put in your burrito, but they all cost extra for the most part. Make sure you check before you add something unless you are ballin and don’t care. If that is the case, add whatever your heart desires.
They also have agua fresca available, but I haven’t tried them.
They have Dr. Pepper as a fountain soda option, thumbs up for that one.
From the reviews I read, they recently raised their prices up from 6.45 to 6.95. It still isn’t bad at 6.95, but 6.45 is better. :)
From what I’ve read the breakfast burritos are pretty good, so maybe I’ll have to check that out one of these days.

Sometimes the financial district of San Francisco reminds me of cable tv. All these channels I flip through on my remote, and there’s nothing I’m interested in watching. That’s how I feel as I aimlessly walk down each street in the financial district. Sure there are places to eat but nothing that I’m interested in eating at the moment. There’s only so many Subway sandwiches, Lee’s deli, and McMuffins I can eat before I want something new or different.
Cantina Verde provides a niche that is a refreshing change from the usual. The other day I passed by Verde and decided to try them out. They have regular burritos for lunch but I arrived around 7am. So the only option of course is a breakfast burrito.
So the friendly lady that makes the burrito asked me which wrap I preferred, wheat or flour tortilla. Then I got one choice of meat, vegetable, eggs, salsa, and sour cream which they actually charge an extra 50 cents for which is kind of nickel n’ dime’ing in my opinion.
Overall I thought the burrito was a tasty, good-​sized breakfast for $ 6.47 total. Would I go back again? Absolutely. It’s a good option in a area filled with options I don’t want. Now where’s my remote?

This place is an amazing gem.
Their lunch menu is pretty typical of an establishment like this and has many similarities with that of Chipotle, except you have a few more choices in meat and can top off additionally here without ridiculous pricing.
What I really want to emphasize here and place in focus is their breakfast menu. I am a big fan of their breakfast burritos here. The staff they have in the morning is extremely chipper and they brighten up my day. Along with the most humongous burrito for $ 5.99 with my choice of meat and either regular eggs or egg whites.
I have not been able to finish a breakfast burrito here. I usually split it and have half for breakfast and half for lunch.
If you’re on a budget in the FIDI but need a power breakfast to carry you on through the evening this is the spot. It’s a no fail because the combination of great service with a smile and awesome food make it a seller!