The Flying Burrito Brothers

My favourite place for mexican but it is a bit pricer. Generally pretty good but rice tastes undercooked.

Best pulled pork tacos (tacos al pastor) in Auckland by a mile. Two for $ 16 is a great deal and totally sufficient for dinner. Add the spicy fried chicken and, although you’ll barely be able to move, you’ll be happy! Yummy, quick, good value and filling.

Apparently the Wellington store is off the hook and jam packed constantly. I can’t say it was quite the situation at Newmarket. Even on Friday nights the restaurant is mainly empty.
The steak on the first few visits was great. It was the dish that made us revisit. The fish ceviche is incredibly spicy. The fried chicken is the best thing on the menu. There is a lot on the menu but nothing much stands out and I feel like they are using the spice to cover up the average food quality.
Say no to dessert, even if the churros are calling out to you.
In terms of drinks, the virgin margarita was delicious and a decent size. They have margaritas of the day which are usually very nice and refreshing. But the apple and berry frozen margarita was about the worst margarita I’ve ever had.
Service wise, they always seem to be in a hurry to clear your plates even if you are clearly not finished yet and the staff are not particularly friendly.

Five of us went last night to what was a tasty meal in the Californian style but very expensive. Three to four times more expensive than California and this was using a voucher. Just a small bowl of corn chips and salsa costs $ 12 on top of the $ 25 or so for main. Now good Mexican cooking takes skill, and this was good Mexican, but expensive.

I saw a Grabone deal last week for this new restaurant (The Flying Burrito Brothers) that had just recently opened up in Newmarket. It looked really interesting and had read good reviews about their Albany branch on Unilocal.
My sister and I went here for dinner on Wednesday night and arrived quite late, around 8pm (Broadway movies just around the corner), but thankfully I called the restaurant earlier just to confirm their kitchen would still be open then — yes and we didn’t have to book — they said there would be plenty of seating!
First thing that caught my eye was definitely the décor/​design of the place! I LOVE skulls and they were everywhere, from skull heads on tequila bottles to art on the wall, so I was in absolute heaven! The restaurant also had hanging lights, colourful outdoor seating, a full bar complete with frozen margarita machines and a range of Mexican hot sauces on each table!
Another cool aspect was the menus. The ‘Comida’ (food) menu was broken down into different categories — small bites, tacos, tortilla dishes, fajitas, big bites, desserts and kids meals. This was great because it was easier to decide and all the meal descriptions were really clear. Also, at the back of each menu, there is a ‘Glossary’, so if you’re unsure about something on the menu, you will find it here. I have never seen this on a restaurant menu, so thought it was awesome!
For mains, we ordered the ‘Macho Nachos’ ($ 16, with their homemade chilli con carne, braised beef, black beans, jalapeño chilli, cheese and served with corn chips) and the ‘Pollo Chimichanga Mexicana’ ($ 25, with a flour tortilla filled with cheese, chicken, rice and served with a slaw). Firstly, the nachos. Usually when you order nachos, it’s the corn chips on the bottom and the fillings on top. However, the fillings were served separately to the corn chips, which we thought was odd. The Mexican chicken tortilla was interesting as well. Just reading the menu now, I think they got my order wrong — this was meant to come with rice and slaw, but I didn’t receive any rice, just black beans. So confusing!
We both agreed that the food didn’t taste fresh. My sister’s corn chips were stale, my burrito base too tough to cut into and the chicken mixture not fresh. I had read a review about this restaurant on another site and the reviewer had asked to have one of the burrito fillings changed, but the waitress replied saying they prepare all the items and fillings in the morning — so this might be the reason (food sitting around for 8 hours!)
Having said that, both meals were tasty and had a really good spicy kick to it!
Overall, it’s a pretty cool concept — tasty Mexican food and nice surroundings. I don’t know if I would come back for dinner, but I would definitely bring my friends and have a tequila night — they have so many to choose from!