El Balazo (18th & Mission)

El Balazo - 2187 Mission St.
Visited: 3/31/09

Ordered: Chile Relleno (Super)
Cost:$6 and change

Overall Description: Somehow I had not noticed this big yellow building near 18th st. before. A little research tells me this is the most recent addition to the El Balazo chain which exists in N California. For such a high profile location, it seems a little unnoticed....

I had a chile relleno super burrito - misunderstanding the menu that every burrito available could be upgraded to a super. My friend had a al pastor burrito (non-super, if I remember correctly). We'd had two beers at this point, leading me to decide if potential intoxification will be factored into my rating scale. The Answer: Nope (although certain taquerias may need to be revisited).

Composition: (out of 5) 3 - this thing was HUGE, but that meant it was a little cumbersome to handle. I was holding mine by the edge of the paper bag before transferring it to my backpack - and the weight of the burrito broke the bag, making it fall out of my hands. My buddy's al pastor split open after the first few bites. There was also lettuce (which I don't like) but it wasn't too noticeable. The chile relleno was chopped up a lot as well and the cheese was cut into square cubes, instead of being melted and gooey.

Ingredients: (out of 5) 3 - The mexican rice it was naturally served with was fine, although a little dry. My Black beans were fine - nothing extraordinary, but had a bit of their own flavor. It seemed that there was a LOT of sour cream too. Everything else was not especially noteable.

Size: (out of 3) 3 - HUGE! HUGE! Probably the biggest burrito I have ever looked at. After eating half of it, it still sort of felt like a shotput in my hand. Both of us ate half of it with the intention of getting an additional meal out of it.

Taste: (out of 10) 5 - Slightly better then passable, but this did not have the satisfying "Ahh" feeling as I bit into that big wrapped bomb to my tastebuds. The burrito was more then adequate, but not stellar, and I couldn't justify a rating above 6 here. Let's put it this way: I easily put it down halfway through without being tempted to continue. In retrospect, I may have wanted to try the actual veggie burrito (I think I need to revisit the guidelines and try to stick to a veggie burrito whenever one is offered). *NOTE* When I went back to the second half of this burrito the next day, it was actually a little on the gross side. I've dropped the score down from a 6 to a 5 because of this.

Value: (out of 5) 4 - If you are starving, you can get a regular veg burrito (beans rice cheese) that is likely enormous for under 4 dollars. I would have given this place a 5 on value, but my $4.50 burrito turned into 7 w/ tip after making it super. Not bad, but not a complete steal. I'm also factoring in taste with value. Although, this place may very well warrant another trip sometime.

Total Score: (out of 28) 18 As I review more burritos, we'll see where this falls in with the rest of them. This burrito tried, and it's size was impressive, but not even a contender in terms of being "the Best"

Additional Comments:The Chips were kind of stale, we didn't grab salsa as we were on the go. Woman behind the counter seemed very nice, and the decor was a little sloppy, but nice.