If you live in Manchester, you cannot fail to have been swept away in recent weeks by the hot topic de jour of the day. Namely: Which one of them two fast food places in town that specialises in burritos does the best burrito? I speak, of course, of Barburrito and Pancho’s and will now analyse the merits of each before arriving at a definitive answer.
Barburrito
This place opened a few years ago at the Piccadilly end of Piccadilly Gardens and is, to my view, a bit pricey for everyday fodder. Last week I went in there and had a chicken burrito and Diet Coke that cost £6.20. Your burritos in Barburrito are available with several extras, including guacamole at 50p, which I ordered but I can’t really say added much to the overall experience.
Although I’ve been in there several times, I always find the choice a bit intimidating and I have to clarify what’s included and what’s charged extra, which is a bit embarrassing. The salsa comes in four levels of hotness. I went for the hottest one, which has quite a daft Disneyland-ish name that I can’t remember.
Taste-wise, it was rich and delicious. Not mind-blowingly hot but certainly very tasty. I particularly enjoyed the beans and it was very thoroughly filled. The soft drink is £1.50 but for that you get unlimited free refills.
The ambience is quite pleasant, sort of like a posh KFC but with more tasteful fonts, some kind of wood and floortiles that nod towards the Mexican. Overall I would give it a rating of 7.5/10. The plasticky, chainstore-type ambience and excess of choice may annoy some but the burrito was delicious.
Pancho’s
Pancho’s is located in the unfashionable end of the Arndale Centre near where they sell crabs. What initially pleases about Pancho’s is that it is extremely unpretentious. In fact, it’s just a stall near a fishmonger on the Arndale Market. It’s run by what appears to be Mexican bloke and his girl assistant, who has an interesting hairstyle.
There’s not as much “confusion on entry” as at Barburrito. Various Mexican dishes are scrawled on a blackboard and priced at a reasonable £3.75 or less. They also stock a wide range of Mexican foodstuffs for home cooking purposes, which is a definite bonus if that’s your bag.
To keep things fair, I ordered exactly the same as at Barburrito – a chicken burrito in the hot style. Pancho’s only seems to offer “hot” or “mild” sauces and the hot one was a fair bit spicier than the Barburrito equivalent. Drinks are not bottomless. Instead I went for the closest equivalent, which was a single can of Diet Coke at 85p, taking the grand total to a wallet-friendly £4.60. I forgot to order guacamole but I checked and it would have been an extra 20p. So the total would have been £4.80, or £1.40 cheaper than Barburrito.
It tasted good. Slightly creamier than Barburrito, certainly spicier but not quite as rounded or rich tasting. The ambience, as I say, is a bit earthier than Barburrito but I found that quite charming. Overall I’d say 8/10, with bonus points for cheap price, simplicity and heat.
Verdict
There’s virtually nothing in it I’d say but Pancho’s nudges it on the basis of price and “realness”. At £6.20 Barburrito is overpriced compared with the same thing at Pancho’s for £4.80, although Barburrito has free refills. Taste-wise, there’s not much in it. I enjoyed the punch of the Pancho’s burrito but the Barburrito one had a more pleasing texture and was highly flavoursome.
If you disagree I don’t really care but feel free to add a comment.
The Conversation {6 comments}
I can’t eat Burritos owing to their wheat and sometime dairy content. But if i did this post would be very useful.
I appreciate your candour, but perhaps you are unfamiliar with Mexican cuisine. Barburrito is bland and lacks an ultimate freshness that Pancho’s has. As an ex-pat from the States, which has as many Mexican restaurants as Britain has curry houses, I have to say that there truly is no comparison. Barburrito offers grilled steak and chicken, sliced and sitting in a tin, Pancho’s is shredded (very authentic) and stewing in spices and peppers, he uses a variety of different chillies and scoops the avocado out of the rind as he makes your individual burrito. It just can’t be argued with. That being said, there are very few (by comparison) Indian restaurants in the US, and perhaps I wouldn’t know the difference between good Indian and bad Indian food so the difference would come down to a personal preference – but from someone who managed a Mexican restaurant and lived in “Little Mexico” – trust and believe that BarBurrito doesn’t hold a candle to Pancho’s.
I agree that there is not much in it but Barburrito does offer student discount and also runs a loyalty card scheme which definitely puts it just above Panchos
Panchos does now offer a student discount scheme and also a £4.99 meal deal for burrito, tortilla chips and soft drink.
i think it is a good review, although i do have barburrito at 9/10 and panchos at 8/10. My reasoning:
Barburrito meal deal, burrito, refill drink, and chips for £6 is competative. It is cheaper i believe in deansgate
Barburrito provides a much nicer environment to sit in
The variety of the salsa’s that barburrito offer is much broader and generally much more flavoursome.
Either way, both places are a welcome addition to dining in manchester
Seems people like Kyle on post #2 has got Barburrito all wrong. To me Barburrito is not selling itself as traditional Mexican food, which he seems to suggest that it isn’t, but it sells itself as ‘Tex Mex’, much like the Chipotle in America- a company so popular it’s even been mocked on South Park and we all know that’s quite an achievement. Hence I think Barburrito does brilliantly for what it tries to achieve- the food is tasty as anything, pretty healthy as well, the staff seem nice. The store on Deansgate in Manchester is very bright and colourful and even more worth a visit on Tuesdays as it’s £3 for any burrito- always a winner!
Leave Your Own Comment
You can follow any responses to this entry via its RSS comments feed. You can also leave a trackback if you want.