Thursday, October 16, 2008

Celia's Mexican Restaurant

Sorry I've been so lazy. I have been very, very lazy. So lazy that the only burrito I have to report about is two blocks away from my own dwelling place. Obviously, it's in Berkeley, so, accordingly, it sucks. A hopeful friend and a hopeful me went here after a walk, only to find that it was a sit-down Mexican food place. You know what that means. Knife and fork burritos. I was excited, but I knew in the back of my mind that Celia's was bound to Berkeley law and was only allowed to serve shitty burritos.

Quality of meat (1-10) : 7.7
Yes, the meat is good. The carne asada at least is high-quality and somewhat flavorful, but not completely outstanding. It's not worth the cost of the burrito, though (wait for it...)

Quality of house salsa (1-10) : 7.2
My friend put it very well: the salsa is bland. There is nothing wrong with the flavor, in fact, it's decent salsa, but it too fails to be exceptional in any way.

Quality of guacamole (1-10) : 6.6
Celia's is at least generous with the guacamole. They spread a thin layer over my burrito. But it too wasn't really flavorful. I could taste the guacamole when I tried to, and it tasted enough like avocados to be somewhat legitimate, but it was runny and contained no onions, tomatoes, or anything of the sort unless they were powdered and mixed in with that thin green paste I ate.

Quality of chips (1-5) : 2.5
Finally, something that made an impression! The chips were just bland enough to be noticeably sub-par. Great job.

Size/diversity of menu (1-5) : 4.2
Really great job. So this is something Celia's did well. I walked in knowing I wanted a carne asada burrito and I had to look at the menu for ten minutes before I finally figured out what I was going to order. They didn't really have a lot of fully original stuff like Cancun Taqueria, whose size/diversity of menu score I will increase to 4.1, since they do offer a lot of pretty original stuff. http://www.themenupage.com/celiasmenu.html

Size of burrito (1-5) : 4.0
My stomach must be getting smaller.

Approximate price (for a standard burrito) : $10 (?!!)

Locally owned? : Probably

Satisfaction factor (1-10) : 6.7

Overall taste (1-10) : 6.0

Celia's burrito was definitely underwhelming. The ingredients were fine, but they didn't form a great burrito. My burrito came smothered in Mexican red sauce, which sucked, please note. The burrito overall was certainly way better than La Burrita and its ilk, but really, ten dollars? Shut up. This place will be out of business within one year.

Celia's Mexican Restaurant
1841 Euclid Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94709