Baja Fresh vs. La Salsa

This is the week - five days of intense comparisons! Realizing that some of the other quick serve Mexican restaurants have fans too, I wanted to put them all to the test to see how they really stack up against my beloved Baja Fresh.

So this week I'm doing lunch at one place and then a comparable dinner at Baja Fresh the same day to compare full meals without any sleep or other non-sense in between. First up was La Salsa...

I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about going to a Baja competitor, but as soon as I entered the restaurant, I immediately felt welcomed by a surprisingly pleasant La Salsa atmosphere. The staff was friendly too (solid service for sure) and I ordered the recommended Mexico City Tacos - one with steak, one with chicken and one with carnitas.

Comparing this to dinner at Baja later proved to be a bit tricky, but I was able to order three Original Baja Tacos with the same three meat types and just add cheese. At La Salsa, they actually serve those tacos with what on the huge poster looks like some kind of cheese-coated tortillas, but that pre-melted cheese thing turned out to be a dramatic disappointment. So on the cheese alone, Baja definitely had a leg up on La Salsa. Another disappointment at La Salsa was the chicken, but the carnitas taco was amazing. Baja matched it though, and with better chicken and more flavorful steak, they won all-around in terms of food quality.

But the biggest La Salsa disappointment was a part of their name - their darn salsa! How do you brag about eight different kinds of salsa when they all suck? Ok, that's not true - let me back up. Their avocado salsa is surprisingly tasty and their habanero salsa is decent, but the rest are just weak and sad. And on the pet peeve side, what's up with those tiny salsa ramekins?

Guys, I could really go on and on here, but the conclusion is simply that Baja Fresh was better than La Salsa - today and probably everyday. Baja was tastier and it also gave me more of that buzz (although admittedly the La Salsa lunch that was still in my system could have added to the Baja buzz in this case)...

Next up is Qdoba!

BB2