Review: “That Burrito Spot”

Lots of SouthsideCentral friends told me that I had to go to “That Burrito Spot” and do a review, because they knew I’d love the place. My SouthsideCentral friends didn’t let me down (and they never do). Once you find “That Burrito Spot” and give it a try, you’ll be coming back often.

“That Burrito Spot” is located at 3303-F North Main St. in Danville. That’s the Market Square Shopping Center, located diagonally across from the Squire Armory. The restaurant is beside the IRS office. It’s hard to see from the road, as they don’t have permanent signage yet. Let’s get to our dining experience that we had on Tuesday…

The restaurant takes basic and plain to a new level, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that because they just opened up in June. I’d rather have a new restaurant use their money on their food quality than on cheesy decorations. We walked in and were immediately greeted. We had stepped back and were looking at the relatively simple menu and after a minute, we were asked if we had any questions. After saying “not yet”, we got a friendly “Just ask anything” with a smile. That’s perfect, low-key and effective greeting for new customers.

The preparation area was totally open and spotless. Here’s a look at what you see…

Here’s the main prep table.

And here’s the ingredients prep table.

The menu is pretty simple. You can get a burrito, a burrito bowl, tacos, taco salad or a quesadilla. Your meat choices are ground beef, shredded beef, steak or chicken. All of the items are also made vegetarian if you want that.

I got a ground beef burrito and my dining companion went for the chicken quesadilla. You pick whatever ingredients that you want and you get big portions of whatever you choose. Everything is fresh. Seriously fresh. Amazingly fresh. By the time my burrito had lettuce, corn, black beans, cheese, sour cream and onions in it, the struggle was real to get it all folded up. My companion’s quesadilla was also stuffed with what she wanted and grilled to perfection. Since the quesadilla had to be grilled, they brought it out to our table instead of making us stand there. More bonus points for service there.

We got the fountain drink and started eating. If you were in a three-mile radius of the place, I’m betting you heard the “MMMMMM” from both of us as we took our first bites. My burrito amazingly held together for the entire meal even after being stuffed full. About 1/4 of the way through, I noticed a tray of at least 12 types of hot sauce, and I’m not talking ones that you find on the shelf of Food Lion. I picked up the chipotle sauce and it added even more flavor to my burrito. As for my companion’s quesadilla, she was able to eat 3/4 of it there before she filled up. The last 1/4 of her quesadilla will be my late-night snack tonight.

If you are concerned about prices, don’t be. My giant burrito and drink came to around $9.00 and was totally worth it. If I hadn’t been super hungry, the burrito would have been two good meals. You can see their menu and pricing on their Facebook page.

Let’s take a look at our food that we got…

Here’s my burrito.

And here’s my companion’s chicken quesadilla.

All righty… let’s get to the ratings.

Service: Perfect greeting when we walked in. The owner came out to talk to us at the end of our meal and asked how we liked the food. Fast preparation times and the meal’s prepared right in front of you. Score: 95 (A)

Food: Oh my. Super authentic burritos and quesadillas (and more things we didn’t try), stuffed with whatever ingredients you want. All portions are huge and one item could easily last for two meals. Fresh ingredients make for the perfect taste. I’m sorely tempted to give out the perfect 100 score on this one because there’s nothing like it in Danville (or a 30 mile radius). Ah, what the hell. Score: 100 (A+)

Atmosphere:  If I wanted to complain about something, I’d say that the place has no decorations and is as bland as a doctor’s exam room. There’s not much dining space in there, but then once that becomes a problem, there’s plenty of expansion space (or other places to move the business to). All of those complaints get completely wiped off the board by the superb cleanliness of the restaurant. The fresh ingredients just stare right back at your eyes and add enough color to the place on their own. No complaints here on the atmosphere because the owner is putting the money into the food quality so I’m keeping the rating score in the “A” range. Score: 93 (A)

Intangibles: The limited menu makes it easy to choose what you want quickly. I’ve mentioned the freshness of the ingredients and I can’t overstate that. The restaurant makes you concentrate of the delicious food to the point where everything else is secondary. The giant tray of different hot sauces that most people have never tried are some of the small things that make this place “fun” (?). I don’t know if “fun” is the right word, but we had a great time eating there. Score: 95 (A)

Overall: Find “That Burrito Spot” in the Market Square Shopping Center and give it a try. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help on what some of the ingredients are. We’re hooked on the place after one visit. The food quality and taste is perfect, and the prices are totally reasonable for what you get. The restaurant is locally owned and the owner is very friendly. I hope that they quickly outgrow this location and get a lot of space. With this high-quality food, they deserve a full house every day. “That Burrito Spot” gets SouthsideCentral’s highest recommendation.

Overall Grade:  97 (A)