Benito’s Hat

Went to Benito’s Hat on a very damp summers evening. This restaurant is uncomfortable to eat in and on the evening I went it was a bit cold.
We tried the pork burrito and the pork didn’t have any spice and the grilled chicken did not have any flavour. The corn chips were ok but the salsa lacked flavour. I have tasted better burrito and would go to another branch for better service and burrito. The servers in this branch were all like robots.

NOTE. THIS REVIEW CONTAINS A RETRACTION
THE ORIGINAL REVIEW
Really enjoyed a late night burrito snack from this colourful Mexican café/​restaurant.
Very casual/​artsy/​bright kind-​of vibe and the staff were really friendly (some of the prices weren’t on the drinks and they really went out of their way to find it out for me and I had a lovely chat with the woman at the till about the necessity of customers paying in change)
Queue can be long, but it tends to be fast-​moving as they have a conveyor belt system which gets people past pretty quickly.
Perfect for a snack or meal if you’re in the area, pretty reasonable pricing, especially for bang-​slap in the middle of Kings Cross.
I recommend the actual burrito, rather than the naked burrito, as its a little more tasty with it all together and much more fiddly with it deconstructed on the plate!
And the special glass-​bottled juice drinks? yummy and fruity loveliness.
So don a sombrero, grab a little change (about 8 quid for burrito + drink), sit and look across Kings Cross station (surprisingly beautiful especially in summer!) chomping on a yummy burrito.
AREEBA!
RETRACTION.
I awoke at seven this morning with food poisoning– we know it’s not a bug as my partner who DID not eat is fine, and it was the only thing I ate yesterday.
Please be careful when ordering meat, especially with children as food poisoning can very quickly become serious. I would hate for anyone else to go through this based upon my review. Right. Back to dying with my head in a bucket.

After having Benito’s Hat a few times at this King’s Cross location, I’ve deduced that it is just «meh»
The burrito is made quite quickly, with your choice of beans, rice, meat, hot sauce, and veggies (of course you can get guac for a pound more). They also sprinkle some tortilla chips into the bag at the end, just for good measure.
However, its just an average burrito by all means, nothing super distinct and unique about it. For 6.95, you’d feel like you’re getting a relatively special burrito. Unfortunately, not so.

I had a delicious burrito there and a very refreshing and original guava drink. Service was good and atmosphere was good too. Would definately go again!

I had a great lunch here. The staff were really friendly and I was able to speak to them in Spanish which is always nice for me. Although I wouldn’t consider this to be a typical sit down meal with friends as burritos (as I’m sure we all know all too well) are really messy. But there are napkins coming out of your ears and I didn’t find being messy to be a problem.
The food is great. Unfortunately the charge you for guacamole, but this seems to be the case wherever you go nowadays :(
Good choices of fillings and some tortilla chips to go with the meal makes for the perfect combination.
If you want something really quick and also tasty, look no further.
Enjoy.

I’ve literally never seen someone make a burrito so fast in my entire life. Wow. It was s good price and even came with a bunch of nacho’s but the burrito itself was average. Nothing to write home about.

Came here in an emergency with a more than slight hangover and needed food. But in the mornings… they only had breakfast burritos.
But in my desire to have a bean burrito from taco bell… and taco bells are non existent in the UK, I decided to give it a go and had a breakfast burrito.
I was pleasently suprised by the flavour. I asked for the ultra hot sause. It wasn’t hot enough for me tho they recomended to me that the super hot was too hot. But i’m certain that Europeans have different taste buds to us yanks. Super hot is just never hot enough. If i’m not breaking a sweat while eating… it’s just not hot enough. I want hotter.
I came back here a few days later cause I wanted to try a chicken burrito. They give an option for black beans… my favourite bean!
I don’t understand the bad reviews for this restaurant. The staff were super friendly, the burritos were fresh and they offer black beans. The only downside is the hot sauce could have been hotter. But I have a supersonic tongue.
Not 5 years ago in the UK… you couldn’t find a mexican restaurant anywhere let along a chain of fast food mexican. Now these types of restaurants are dotted across the capital. It’s about time!

This place has a bad rep. The food isn’t horrible and neither is the service, it’s main problem is that it’s just consistently average yet a pinch more expensive than places like Tortilla (M:£5/L:£6). If you’re at kx and would like some mexican, sure, why not, but this certainly isn’t worth a trip.
In my experience, the grilled steak has been pretty dry, as was the grilled chicken. Their braised chicken is a pretty good though, tastier too. I don’t really know what else to say! It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a place that fits so perfectly in the region of so-​so, alright and yeah, sure. The portion sizes are okay, not the most bang for your buck (especially the salads), the rice is sometimes a little soft, the tomatoes could do with a bit more oomph, the guac isn’t bad but you’ve gotta pay for it, the tortilla chips are kind of like Sainsbury’s basics. Yeah, pretty darn average. But hey, 2 for 1 drinks everyday from 5−7pm, and I hear their margaritas are smashing.

I felt Benito’s needed an update because things have changed for the better there and I’ve returned as a happy customer. Ingredients taste fresh again and the smiling faces behind the counter have returned. Good to have you back, Benito’s!

I’m secretly in love with this branch of Benito’s Hat.
To be honest the food is nothing special. It’s slightly average. But when you’re drunk and on your way home, a burrita is always a welcome sight.
I tried this one night instead of my usual pasty. It wasn’t great, but it really hit the spot. The meat and rice were a bit meh, but I did enjoy the hot salsa. Then I went back to my usual pasty. Something just seemed wrong. Maybe the pasty shop isn’t as good.
The next time I got it, I decided to do a sober round. We needed a bit to eat before heading up to Scotland for the weekend, so we went here for a burrito. This time I got the braised chicken. Which I think is the smart decision. It’s not dry, and the braising liquid really added something. Also, no rice. It’s just filler anyway, right? Got the hot salsa, and this time I went for the jalapenos!
WHAM. It was just the right bit of everything. Maybe I got lucky, but I really enjoyed the quick burrito lunch. Then I basically got the same thing when I was drunk. And it wasn’t as good, but still really hit the spot.
I think the problem can be the time of day and who is making your food. If the meat sits out too long, it is likely to get a bit dry. (But that’s fixed with the braised chicken). Also, I need to be more diligent about the salsa and make sure there is enough put on it. Lunch time seems to be a good time with a good turnaround, but late at night might be another story.
Anyway, I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here, but if I’m at King’s Cross waiting for a train (which I am far too often), why not?

burritos are alright here, a burrita (smaller version of burrito) could actually be quite filling. they only serve white flour tortilla, boo hoo!
vegetarian burritos come with guacamole, which is fair, but you would have to add extra for some guaca if you’re ordering a meat burrito. black beans or refried beans to choose from, rice was leaning a bit on the dryer side, cheese was meh– did not really melt in my burrito…
all the ‘meals’ comes with a little bit of tortilla chips, which are quite deep fried and lacks texture. when i asked for salsa for my chips, the lady just squeezed out a sauce -‘salsa’ and called that a day. what!!? and you call this mexican salsa? never the less, it was quite spicy and i can’t complain about the flavor– just not authentic.
£1 for a bag of tortilla chips on its own, meh, not bad i guess.
they serve an assortment of beers and a few ‘Mexican’ drinks. oh! and they weirdly serve a tortilla ‘dessert’, which is cinnamon sugar sprinkled on a pile of tortilla chips? strange.
Overall, it’s not that bad for the convenient location, place looks clean and decent, not the cheapest but well, you can’t get anything better around the area.

I hate to say it, but this was the single most disappointing burrito I’ve had in London thus far, bar none.
I was scanning the food options at KGX on my Unilocal app and thought to myself, ‘Self, I need some lunch before getting on a very long train ride — what’s likely to be fast and filling? Oh, I’ve heard good things about Benito’s Hat. Odd — what’s with the horrible overall rating? Surely it can’t be –that– bad…’ That’s what I get for being a maverick Unilocaler (and I have the badge to prove it)…
Considering the appearance of having been braised for ages and falling-​apart tender, the pork was shockingly tasteless. I asked for my typical combination of mild and hot salsas, but was unable to detect any noticeable spiciness when I sat down to consume my wrap. And somehow, my request for ‘no cheese, no sour cream, but add guac’ somehow got translated as ‘please add cheese and guac for an extra charge’. Considering my time constraints and the English language ability of the server, I couldn’t be bothered to correct her and have them make me a new burrito.
Also, some of the other reviews referenced getting free salsa and crisps with their order. I did get a scattering of some decent crisps with my meal, but ended up just leaving them, considering that they weren’t terribly interesting on their own, and I definitely wasn’t provided any dips to have with them. I probably should have ordered something to bolster the anaemic burrito…
The lesson learned here is that if you’re at KGX, you’re better off grabbing a bite from virtually anywhere else rather than this location of Benito’s Hat. I have to imagine that their other venues offer superior products, given the higher ratings there, but based on my one experience, I don’t foresee giving it another try.

i’ve been here a few times, but every time i’m disappointed. the meat is always dry and lacking flavor * and the staff always seem like they’d rather be doing anything rather than pleasantly making my burrito. if you’re in kings cross waiting for a train, this place is okay, but not great. i wouldn’t recommend traveling farther than 10 feet to get here, because it’s always a let down
* however i do like that they give you a bit of crisps and salsa with your burrito
** the tacos are better than the burritos, which makes no sense since it’s basically the same thing, but that’s my hypothesis

I missed my 22:00 train meaning it would be an hour and a half to the next one… I remember Work BFF saying that the new part of Kings Cross was open and they had a Benito’s Hat now! Score. Single girl and online dating adventure didn’t go so well, so a burrito, reading my book, and waiting for my train seemed like a dream ;). The shop is nice, on the next floor up, where you can find plenty of seating area and keep an eye on the departures boards.
I opted for a burrito, with the braised pork and a can of diet coke for just over £7.00. I found a seat (I opted for takeaway, which meant at one of the tables further away from the shop…) and tucked in. I haven’t experienced this any where else, but when I bit into the burrito, it had a metallic flavour to it. Not sure if it was the tortilla itself or if it was the foil used, but it kind of put me off. I did eat about a third of the burrito, but the pork was really dry, with some hard bits (think about the pork drying out to the point of getting hard), and apparently I got all of the hard, white bits of lettuce. Honestly, I was so disappointed and couldn’t understand how it was such a different experience from the Goodge Street Location… where I have never had a disappointing burrito.
Also… there are no rubbish bins anywhere, so you leave your rubbish on the table… or in my case you take it onto the train and put it in the litter bin there.