California Tortilla

1836 Ridge Pike (Court at Upper Providence), Royersford, PA 19468

http://www.californiatortilla.com/

One of the tragedies of moving out east was the sudden lack of good, quick Mexican food. Delaware had for an instant a place called Maui Tacos that largely sufficed, C’ville has Tortuga’s which is overpriced and odd (though did have Cornados, which were like crack–fried corn fries with melted cheese on top. Seriously, how could one possibly resist?), and there are taquerias in Norristown that I haven’t quite gotten to yet. Also, we’ve had a bunch of chains pop up within 20 minutes of us–Baja Fresh and Qdoba (no Chipotle yet, and their insane tortilla chips), but they’re a bit far for that quick, what the hell are we having for dinner moment. Of course, all I really want is for El Pavo to be built next door to my house. Please make this happen.

Anyway, I was very excited that, in addition to us getting a shiny new Target near us, we were getting something called California Tortilla. Turns out it’s a mid-Atlantic chain (suspect, of course) with sites in MD and VA. I was curious and excited.

Well, we’re there weekly, and I think everyone else is too as it’s always crowded. I mean, it’s not going to revolutionize Mexican food, but what they do, they do it well. My favorite at this point is the Thai Chicken burrito (photo, sadly, came out fuzzy) because I can’t get enough peanut sauce in my life. Rick typically gets a burrito bowl, alternating with the limey Havana and the Spicy Sunset options.

Really, everything we have had has been good. They also have this wall o’ hot sauce which is sort of fun to experiment with, and really enables you to customize the already customizable burritos to your liking.

The portions are also quite good: we have always ordered the regular size burritos and have always left full. The value is also good–we typically have a $15 tab between the two of us for two burritos, my side of chips and queso (um, I simply cannot turn down melted cheese), and two drinks. My only complaints are the crowds (yeah, you can’t save tables, you rat bastards) and the over-chipperness of the staff and concept (cf. ), but I’d rather have that then rudeness or dankness I suppose.

So, if you’re in the western burbs and need Mexican with good quality and quickness, California Tortilla will do you right.