Ohio City Burrito

1844 W. 25^th Street
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 664-0908

Review by Joel Kirk

The Atmosphere

Ohio City Burrito is a fun and festive place with brightly colored walls and salsa music played overhead (usually). The day we were there, a Katy Perry song was playing…for some reason, didn’t quite seem to fit. Ohio City Burrito is going after the “Burrito Cafeteria” style dining experience some national chains have seen success with. Parking is a little tricky on West 25^th, we were lucky to find a spot at a meter pretty close to the place. There is a parking lot behind the Garage bar (ironically) that seems to be open to the public and that’s across the street.

Ohio City Burrito is a small place you walk into, order at a food line and can take it with you or eat it there. Fresh smells of spices and meat come from the kitchen enticing your taste buds.

It was started and is owned by two Cleveland siblings, Jeff and Michelle Pizzuli. It’s always nice to have a locally owned place started by locals to go and grab a bite to eat at. I spoke with Jeff briefly as he was making my burrito. Seems like a guy committed to his business and making things work. Everyone inside of Ohio City Burrito that was working was friendly and eager to answer questions about the menu, etc. Patrons of the place all were smiling and in good moods. I think many of us, like having a place to go support that’s not a national chain but gives us something we all like…Stuffed to the Brim burritos that fill our bellies.

The Menu

Ohio City Burrito has a pretty simple menu. This is to be expected with this type of place. The menu consists of Brother’s Burrito, Talia’s Tacos, a Taco Salad and Nachos. Each of these can be either veggie or you can go with your choice of Shredded Chicken, Shredded Beef Barbacoa or Pulled Pork Carnitas. They also have sides of Rice and Beans, Chips and Salsa/Guacamole and even a Baby Burrito (soft taco shell rolled up with beans, cheese and salsa). All the meat burritos with are $6.15, the veggie falls in at $5.85. Affordable, quick and local. That’s what I liked about Ohio City Burrito.

The FOOD

I had the Chips and Guacamole (I’m a huge Guacamole lover as I’ve mentioned before) as well as the Carnitas Burrito. First things first, the Guacamole seemed a little “salty” to me. It just didn’t quite taste how I feel Guacamole should taste. The chips were good and crispy though, definitely not stale like you sometimes get at places.

The Carnitas burritos was STUFFED with veggies, black beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsas.

The innocent bystanders that went with me had the Veggie Burrito and the other one had a Shredded Chicken Burrito.

Both bystanders agreed while the veggies and everything was good…the meat could use a little “peppering” up. Something that makes it kick. It did seem a little bland. You can spice up the burrito with hotter salsa if you wanted to but that doesn’t necessarily help with the flavors the way you want. Might make it hotter but not fuller. I’m looking for a bit more of a fuller flavor of the meats. It’s not bad by any means…just nothing special…if that makes sense.

Departing

I’ll definitely try Ohio City burrito again. I really like having an alternative to the national chains when I want a big old burrito. I think with a couple tweaks, this can really be a favorite place of mine. I love Mexican, I love local, I love large portions of food. They’ve got a lot of things going for them here. It’s a good cheap lunch but I think it can be a Great cheap lunch with a few things changed. It may have been an off day. Go and try them out yourself and let me know what you think. I’m interested in hearing your opinions.

Comments

Add New

Find Lunch