A while back Qdoba offered me 2 free Mango Salads to try if I’d blog about it…never one to turn down such an offer – I had me some salad!
Qdoba is one of the “Chipotle-esque” “mexican” places where you can get burritos, tacos, salads, etc… Pick your shell, pick your meat, pick your toppings – voila!
I don’t tend to go there – strictly because of location. They have 3 in the area: Blue Ash, Florence and Mason. Because of the free salads – we sought one out and chose Blue Ash.
The Mango Chicken Salad has a mango salsa on top of chicken & romaine lettuce with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette. It costs around $6 from what I can remember. I added salsa, sour cream and cheese.
I have to say – it’s really good. I’m not a salad-orderer but I would DEFINITELY order this again. I’m really glad I got to try these because I never would have ordered it and I know Larry wouldn’t either. But we both really liked it! The shell was light and crispy, the chicken was good and most of all – the dressing was really great. Needless to say – I was a bit shocked. I fully expected to be craving a burrito after – but we were both full and happy.
Nutritionally – my order is around 900 calories most of which is consumed in the tortilla bowl. They have a great nutritional calculator on their site and I figured up that my normal burrito order would be about 1200 calories (good lord). That said – it’s not the healthiest salad I’ve ever eaten but it tasted great!
Why Should You Go? Well if I was faced with Chipotle or Qdoba – I’ll still probably pick Chipotle but I really did enjoy the salad and if I get a job in Blue Ash (I’m interviewing for a couple) then I’ll definitely be ordering this again! Thanks Qdoba!
Linn says
There's one in Florence and a new one out in Colerain too.
It's funny– I actually hate Chipotle! Their ingredients never taste as fresh or flavorful to me as Qdoba.
Cincinnati Bites says
I really like Qdoba, which is pretty much on par with Chipotle with some variations.
We were bummed when they discontinued their mole sauce in favor of the similar-but-different "Ancho Chili BBQ" sauce. Really good extra hot habenero salsa (though I still think Chipotle's hot sauce is spicier)!
Anonymous says
Forget the calories, that "salad" has almost 20 grams of fat and an astounding 1540 grams of sodium.
Anonymous says
I hate Qdoba. The one on Florence Mall Road is awful. The beans are undercooked. The meat is chewy and tastes boiled. The veggies are stringy and limp. It sucks. And it is extremely overpriced for the food quality. I like Chipotle much more. But if you eat Chipoltle, eat at the one on Mall Road, not the one on Dream Street. The Dream Street one always has something gross going on. I've gotten raw meat there before. Not rare, raw. But the Mall Road Chipolte is always taste and flavorful.
Anonymous says
I love both but Chipotle in Tulsa…no queso and Qdoba has queso! However, my gripe about Qdoba…they charge extra .69 cents for a mere 4 slivers of cooked bell peppers…really? seriously…I don't get it…AND the people aren't trained to DRAIN the juice off the beans and pico before slopping them on my order. Okay, thanks for letting me vent (I mean give my opinion) 🙂
Anonymous says
Qdoba for the win! So much more variety than chipotle, and it tastes a hundred times fresher in my opinion. The one in Rookwood is the best. Also everything seems much less salty than chipotle. I can hardly stand the meat its so salty. I am a Q through and through!