The Flying Burrito Brothers Review

The first time I went to The Flying Burrito Brothers at the corner of Armagh Street and New Regent Street I was not impressed. I assume they spilled salt in my margarita because it was so salty it was almost undrinkable (but I never waste alcohol so I managed to get it down) and it wasn’t even the flavour I ordered. The rest of the meal was all downhill from there. It probably didn’t help that after living in Louisiana, which is way closer to Mexico than Christchurch, I have unreasonably high expectations of the quality and price of Mexican food. I was slightly apprehensive when I discovered that our work dinner was going to be at The Flying Burrito Brothers. I decided to go anyway because heaps of people said that it was really good, and throughout the week Lee kept mentioning chile con queso (cheese dip) so I ended up developing a healthy Mexican craving.

The first thing we ordered at the restaurant was a pitcher of regular unfrozen margarita. It was $10 off thanks to a vouchermate.co.nz coupon. It was delicious… nice and tart and enough tequila so you could taste it but not be blown away by it. We also ordered a couple of plates of chile con queso (cheese dip in case you forgot) to share. It was pretty bland and needed more spice, more real cheese and less cream cheese but we were all starving and corn chips are addictive so it kind of hit the spot. And plus we still had margarita to distract ourselves with.

Time for the main course. I didn’t feel like making a decision so I ordered “un poquito de todo” (a little bit of everything) which consisted of a fish taco, a chicken enchilada and a cheese quesadilla accompanied by guacamole, sour cream, rice and black beans. The meal was huge but I managed to get my money’s worth by eating it all. The chicken enchilada was best. The mole sauce had an interesting combination of flavours that complemented the chicken nicely. I was also surprised that I enjoyed the fish taco. The worst part of the dish was definitely the black beans. They had no flavour and needed a lot of hot sauce and little salt to be added to make them edible. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals. The fajitas on the sizzling plate were particularly impressive. The second pitcher of margarita was just as good as the first.

By the time we left, the restaurant was really busy and had a lively, energetic atmosphere. Overall, the food had some good and bad aspects so I would give it an average rating; above average if I include the margarita. The Flying Burrito Brothers is a good place to go with a group for a bit of fun and a large meal. We split the costs evenly (because it was easy) and it came out at $32 each.