Blue Burrito Grille

Airport pseudo Mexican food.

Why bother reviewing? To warn my fellow Unilocalers of course.
It was bland and unfortunately there is such a thing as a tasteless burrito. The salsa was boring as it was all heat and no flavor. The blue corn tortilla wrap they use tastes like recycled cardboard and the price was an added insult.
This was clearly a mistake in the culinary pantheon of airport layover meals.
Stay away. You may find more authentic Mexican at Chipotle.

With a quick layover in Phoenix, I did some research and found there was a vegan-​friendly Mexican eatery right in the airport. Blue Burrito Grille is its name and lard-​free beans are its game.
It offered a limited menu in the airport that included breakfast, burritos, favorites, and salads. I went with the vegetarian burrito with no-​lard black beans, grilled peppers & onions, lettuce, and guacamole. I added the guacamole and asked them to hold the cheese. With it, they gave me some of the Tappato «hot» sauce.
The burrito really wasn’t that good, but I was happy to have a real meal. The beans and veggies were pretty flavorless and the hot sauce wasn’t that great either. And there was so little guacamole that it didn’t add much to the meal. That said, if I’m ever in this airport again, I’d eat here again because the options are limited and this sure was better than nothing.

Blue Burrito Grille in all its Southwestern, Arizona chain glory, is a shell of its self in the airport version. It is instead a haven for hungry travelers, all willing to pay the marked up prices while expecting a lackluster burrito. It is true when the food is neither life changing nor cheap, but this BBG will do when the pickins are as slim as Sky Harbor Airport.
More likely to be a coincidence of my flights, I seem to be around whenever there is a decent sized line of folks. Contemplating on ordering a burrito while your departing flight is boarding? Aim for the plane — BBG workers aren’t going to assemble a burrito and dress it in the time that you need. Service isn’t exactly bustling here and knowing the burrito is going to be subpar is going to make one why you bothered to pay $ 9 – 11 for it in the first place.
Instead of ordering the usual asada burritos, my secret weapon is to try to score one of their breakfast burritos during the morning. They’re cheaper, the same size, and often more fresh than others since they have to be cooked on the spot. People who aren’t fans of burritos can take their chances with a taco salad, which sits inside of a shell bowl, but is largely unappealing. Finally, the quesadillas are a popular option, but they cost nearly as much as the burritos with significantly less portion.
The sad part is the other options in the terminal aren’t much better. It might be better to sneak out of the airport entirely for some tortilla action at Carolina’s (
). Your tastebuds and wallet will thank you for it.

Great? No. A decent, reasonably priced burrito for an airport, and fast? Yes. There’s not that much to say about a place like this, other than if I was hungry in this airport terminal again, I’d probably be back.
The staff was both fast and friendly, given that they were busy.
They sell decent (non-​alcoholic) drinks, including Naked Juice.
Probably the best thing on the menu is the Blue Burrito Super Burrito.

Good burrito.
A bit overpriced for what they offered, but airport food is always a bit more expensive.
Regardless of the price, I thought it was a good breakfast burrito. And they had it out pretty fast.

Mediocre at best. I know that this place is located in the airport, but airport food can be great — this was NOT!
This was my second time visiting the Blue Burrito Grille in the Phoenix airport. The first time I tried a chicken and rice bowl. The whole thing was very bland, and needed tons of hot sauce. I understand that a rice bowl doesn’t always scream flavor, so I decided to give them another shot while in transit back home to San Diego.
I asked the girl at the register how the Blue Corn Soft Tacos were like, and if they were any good. She replied «I don’t know, haven’t had it.» Ok, maybe she’s new. I ordered in anyway and got it with chicken. Once again, BLAND and tasteless. The lettuce was soggy, the cheese was stringy and the chicken had no flavor, not a fan. Even the side order of chips were stale and tasteless.
Not a fan, I won’t be back.

I’m a big fan of burritos, especially the «garbage» variety of mixed meat, rice, beans, sauce and salsa that I remember from living in Los Angeles and Southern California. They were super big and super tasty.
Not so at Blue Burrito. My burrito was barely edible. A Taco Bell Cantina Chicken Bowl is better tasting than this and it’s a far cry from a burrito at Chipotle. The service was pretty quick but for some reason they were out of chicken, so thanks, no thanks I’ll skip Blue Burrito next time.
Would have been slightly better if I could have gotten the sauce packets opened. Maybe it wouldn’t have tasted too salty and on the bland side. There must have been a thimbleful of guacamole on my burrito as I couldn’t taste it at all. The flavors never mixed or fused into anything enjoyable.
What was imagined as a healthier alternative to airport food was pretty disappointing and resulting in my drinking a lot on the plane to get the salty taste out of my mouth.

I tried this place at the Phoenix airport. I ordered the chicken fajita rice bowl. The server was nice but he was frazzled since there was a long line. I didn’t like how the price on the menu was around $ 6 but my bowl rang up as $ 7.99. By the time I noticed, it was too late. They really need to work on the discrepancy and either update their menu pricing or stop overcharging customers. The chicken bowl was a decent size but the chicken was WAY too salty. The rice and veggies were good and had tons a flavor. Overall, a semi-​decent place to grab food before a flight.

Decent vegi burrito. Not mind blowing, but not bad either. Service was friendly and they got me my burrito quickly.
One of the better and quicker options for vegi folks in the airport.

I had a lay-​over at Phoenix, AZ on my way to San Diego, CA (wierd lay-​over right?!) and this joint caught my eyes.
I chose their Signature Big Blue Burrito with carne asada. Of course, since this place is inside the airport, pricing wise was expensive ($ 8). I think I was just really hungry when I landed so it tasted pretty good to me. It came with guacamole, sour cream, rice, beans, and cheese.
Overall, I think I had better burrito in the Bay Area for cheaper price.

It takes very little in a burrito to satisfy me. Mainly, it’s fresh ingredients. In a pinch, I can even enjoy Taco Bell.
I threw my veggie burrito away uneaten. It was just bad. Stale, tasteless, and soggy. Finally decided on CPK for my second dinner, but Burger King would have still been way better than Blue Burrito Grill.

Decent airport food.
I usually am here in the AM, so I do breakfast.
The pork carnitas burrito is awesome (for the airport). Its made to order so you can substitute as you like it. (For me no cheese and sub black beans instead of potatoes)
Also they give A LOT of food (I usually can’t quite finish the whole burrito by myself) so you get a bang for your buck (um, FINALLY an airport restaurant that doesn’t follow the code of «shitty and overpriced»)
Also the coffee has a nice flavor (not the normal burnt black that I actually LOVE), and it comes in one of those taller glass mugs (I would prefer a regular mug, but I guess it makes it look nicer?)
Overall one of the cozier places I’ve hit up in the airport.

Its a burrito stand in an airport. Come on people, what do you expect. However, their chorizo breakfast burrito is pretty damn good. I’ve been known to schedule my eastbound flights to allow enough layover to have a breakfast burrito.
BUT! They recently went from a good salsa in a small plastic cup to packets of Tapatio. BOOO! Nothing against Tapatio, but the salsa was what made their chorizo burritos worthwhile. Bummer.

After a lot of great food in Scottsdale, I grabbed a couple of chicken tacos here prior to a Delta flight. The service was good and the food came quickly. However, the chicken was seriously overcooked. (In retrospect, this beats the alternative). I read a lot of good reviews, so maybe I hit this place on a really bad day of holiday travel.
Dried chicken taco’s = yuck! I’m starving, so I ate these anyhow. Next time I’ll try the burrito!

With delta agent not knowing when we are leaving, I took chance and ordered take out here.
Not expecting much from airport food, yet to my surprise the blue burrito was quite edible. In fact I actually liked it very much. I’m sure my next seats didn’t appreciate my sneaky deadly hello from rear end…

The best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had. My mouth is still tingling with delight and heat as I type this. Really just happened to be waiting for my flight and did not quite want a breakfast I could get back at home… aka a Wendys breakfast.
The Blue Burrito Grill was right across the way.
I had their «works» breakfast burrito which features freshly seared chorizo, scrambled eggs, and potatoes. It came with a small plastic container of hot sauce which went perfectly with the burrito.
This is a quick stop and run type place without any seating. They do have a bar height table to stand at and stuff your face.

For some reason, I pictured that when ordering a ‘Blue Burrito’ it would come in a blue corn tortilla. But it didn’t. (Maybe it used to but Godzilla-​sized crows have decimated the blue corn supply? An upset in the food supply as blue corn farmers switch to growing the oh-​so-​popular quinoa?)
I had the signature Blue Burrito made without meat and without cheese (on that veggie kick again) and it was pretty marginal. Just your usual black bean, rice, salsa affair that was unfortunately tasteless. The guacamole tasted exceptionally over-​mayoed. Being from Southern California, I always have high expectations for Mexican fare and am routinely disappointed when I’m not dining in my hometown. Also, I had a little heartache over the fact this puppy set me back $ 9.39. Not a great way to begin a 2-​hour layover.

You know whats really fucked up about this place? Its consistency. For instance, if you eat in the dining room you get a burrito so damn big that you cant finish it! Seriously, this thing was humongous and pretty much full on burrito madness. It tasted alright, very in line with Chipotle or any other shitty corporate burrito joint, nothing special I assure you except for its girth.
So on our return trip to there airport we deiced to get a burrito but this time ordered it from the counter instead and had it to go. We deiced that we would only order 1 since they are so damn big. I’m not sure if in the 2 days that we gone and came back they had some serious changes or what? This burrito was so chicken shit and terribly small we wondered if there was a problem, kids size maybe? Anyways of course I asked and was told that was the normal to-​go size.
That’s pretty much bullshit anyway you cut it. If you’re going to sell a burrito, sell the same one whether you dine in or take out. So if you’re in a pinch like we were, order your food in the dining room from a waiter, NOT to-​go.

BLAH is really all I can think of. Blah, Blah, Blah.
Everything tasted the same. Everything! I got an open chicken burrito which is basically a burrito in a bowl, opened. It had chicken, rice, cheese, peppers, onions and the shell.
I ate a piece of chicken, tasted like the grill. I ate some rice, tasted like the **Burnt** grill. I ate an onion, tasted like the grill. I are a pepper, tasted like the grill. I ate the cheese, tasted like a burnt grill with cheese on top.
YUCK! I ate about 4 forks full and was so disgusted I had to chuck it.
Fail of an airport dinner to the max!