Steak Burrito UIC Student Lunch Special from Lalo's

Item Purchased: Steak Burrito UIC Student Lunch Special from Lalo's
Location Purchased: Lalo's / 733 W. Maxwell St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $4.50 + tax

Review: The achievement I am most proud of from my short stint in college is the paper I wrote on Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill for an honors philosophy class. I waited until the night before it was due to begin the paper and what I turned in the next morning was much like a blog post: A first draft run through a spellcheck. When I got the paper back a few weeks later, I had aced it and the professor (who specialized in moral philosophy and Kant) said that I had given him something new to think about. Some of my friends congratulated me while others accused me of cheating the system.

Today at Lalo's, I must have looked as studious as I once was, because while I was glancing at the menu, the woman working at the counter pointed out that I might want to take advantage of the student lunch special. The special applied for carry out orders only (maybe she just wanted to get rid of me) and included one burrito, one small soft drink and a side of tortilla chips with salsa for only $4.50. Since Lalo's is expensive, I took her up on her offer. She never asked me for a student ID (though, telling people that I am a student of the world has worked in the past) and I even got a basket of chips to munch on while I waited for my order. Bonus!

Fortunately for me, I only had to pay $4.50 for this sorry excuse that Lalo's calls a burrito. I have had better burritos at Chipotle! The steak in this burrito tasted as if it was scraped off of the charcoal in the bottom of a grill that had been sitting outside with the cover off during the last few days of Chicago rain. The rest of the filler, which included lettuce, tomato and rice could have been space food for all I know, because it was flavor-less. Is this really how Lalo's wants to turn college students into regular customers? Are they just selling the worst ingredients to the students because they know college kids will eat anything that is cheap? Is Lalo's unable to pay for a bit of spice to add flavor to their burritos because of the extravagance of the restaurant's interior? Do they secretly hope that everyone who walks through the doors buys a few margaritas (Lalo's claims they are famous for them... never seen that one before) prior to ordering food?

Let's switch philosophers, shall we?

This is not a burrito.

And neither is that thing I ate for lunch today. La Pasadita has three locations within throwing distance of each other. Why can't they move one of them closer to my workplace?

I really hate to slam a place that has such friendly and attentive employees, but I have to. At least the chips and salsa were tasty.

Rating: 0.5 / 5