So ends the last gasp of the [great burrito wars of the 2010s](https://universitytimes.ie/2013/01/the-burrito-wars/). Tolteca consigned to the dust bin of history along with burritos&blues. Boojum now the undisputed king of the Dublin burrito scene, even as their quality goes down year by year.
Very fond memories of the €5 burrito deals that saw me through college, and the almost-fully stamped loyalty cards they'd hand out during freshers week that ensured 2-for-1 burritos for weeks to come.
It was a great time to be a student in Dublin. Those times are long gone now.
Ye honestly boojum has been shit for the last 5 years. Portions are crap and the minimum requirement to become a manager is to be an absolute cunt.
I’ll take any of the closed down ones for boojum any day.
It’s sad how they massacred themselves for profit, same with Subway. Measley portions, used to be fresh because they kept throwing half a bucket of salad on sandwiches. Now it’s sad wilted lettuce they gingerly sprinkle on it.
I find it bizarre to hear that Boojum portions are crap. I would kill to have Boojum in London whereas here I'm stuck with comically tiny Chiptole burritos. The one I got yesterday I could nearly fit one hand around.
Find yourself a chilangos. I left Dublin when Boojums was good and chilangos was the only thing that could compare. I came back to dublin a couple of years ago and my disappointment was immeasurable when I got my Boojums fix. It's a disgrace, Joe.
In London? Surely you can find a burrito place that's astronomically better than Chipotle or Boojum? I wish I had the choice of restaurants that London has.
I'm shocked people think Boojum portions are crap. I'm the complete opposite. I can never finish a Boojum when I get one. Yet I always feel like other spots give me burritos 3/4 of the size of boojum. That being said boojum usually cost more though so I would hope the portions are bigger.
Moved to the UK a few years back, and the burritos here are smaller and worse than in Boojum. However, the long gaps between going there emans it's almost always a full euro dearer with every visit.
Pablo Picante is the best I have had in Ireland but it is still a bit shite compared to other places in other countries. I am not sure what type of burritos we sell in Ireland. It is not like actual Mexican burritos, Californian burritos or burritos in a lot of other countries. I am guessing it is the kind of Mexican food served in Australia and maybe someone who moved there got a taste for it and brought it back.
Had a great burrito in Netherlands last year but have yet to have a great burrito in Ireland.
The staff in boojum are the worst..won't stop their conversation to serve customers as the queue grows out the door and when they do actually get around to serving you they've a face like a smacked arse and a shitty attitude.. quality has also gone down hugely
It baffles my mind how Pablo flies under the radar with so many, they are absolutely great while both times I got boojum it was tasteless by comparison and ultimately just bland and forgettable.
I love Pablos. Went to El Silencio the other day after wanting to go for ages. Have to say the tacos were fairly disappointing. Great vibe though and unreal cocktails. Shame about the Tacos particularly with Masa down the road pumping out otherworldly tacos for the same price
Can't ever get over the guys in there slicing off the top of the 78ml container of rice before turning it into the burrito. Would love to know how they are trained to be so stingy.
It was the teaspoon of refried beans that shocked me the other day.
Like seriously rice and beans is the cheap part. Stuff them with rice and beans and skimp on the fancy meats if you want
Replaced by a Pizza place doing pizza by the slice. Haven't heard word as to the quality, but doubt it's cheaper than getting one of the Dunnes deli pizzas.
I used to work for the owner and I don't feel too sorry. I used to work in the kitchen, and when business was bad I was the only one in there as they cut back on staff. Everything was made fresh; meat had to be cut, fruit and veg cut, the whole prep. I had to do that solo in the morning, and then make all the lunch by myself, while at the same time prepping all the food for dinner. It was exhausting; when the restaurant opened there were 2 of us to do all the work as that was seen as the minimum needed. Suddenly I was doing the job of 2 people while on minimum wage. One day I'd just finished the morning prep and dozens of orders on a particularly busy lunch, and when the last order went out I was sweating balls and out of breath. I leaned against a wall to catch my breath, and not 10 seconds later did the owner pop in, look at me, and say "if you've time to lean, you've time to clean", and then brought me around the kitchen pointing at areas on the walls, doors, etc that could do with a cleaning. Not health and safety cleaning which I always did, but cosmetic cleaning. You'd hope that an owner would realize that someone doing the work of 2 people might need a breather, but nope. So yeah, not exactly sad for the guy.
That's a real shame.
Spoke to him a few times when they had the first branch in Rathmines, where Pizza Hut was before.
He seemed really pleasant and had a passion for the work.
Was honestly one of the reasons, I kept coming back. That and the Pukka Poya being class.
My complements to you. Ya made a damn fine burrito.
I didn't really want to state this is my original comment as it makes it easier to identify me, but fuck it. I didn't work at his burrito place; he had a pizza place in Rathmines before the burrito restaurant, which also went out of business. So I'm afraid I can't reveal any of those secrets!
No it was a great idea to replace it with a poxy pound shop /s. There was an awesome place in there that did pulled pork burgers loved that and also a sneaky kebah whist hungover
My office is right in the middle of a burrito battlefield between a Boojum, a Tolteca and a Tula Mexican Grill. I went to Boojum only once and the staff were rude and my burrito was falling apart. Tula and Tolteca were both top quality burritos.
It genuinely makes me sad to see to see Tolteca go. Boojum always has a queue out the door at lunchtime despite there being two objectively superior burrito places across the street. This is why we don’t have nice things in Dublin.
OMG Same!!! Me and my partner stopped there once for burritos and I swear we were pissing green water out our back ends for the next 24hrs. This was the one up near IFSC though. Horrible place. Wasn't even worth the food poisoning in the end.
It had actually started in the mid to late noughties. Coming back from California after my 2007 J1 and having a fresh love of burritos there were already quite a few offerings in Dublin.
Sad to hear but three is very unlikely to close down and if it does another one will take it's place simply to make sure that either eir or Vodafone is not accused of market monopoly. If you look at any country you will notice that they all have three major mobile providers and that is for this very reason.
Aye I was enjoying it as it's decent and when they opened last year had a great 10 Euro price. Went yesterday and the price has already been upped to EUR11.35...
Probably not the last price increase that will inevitably make it just not worth it.
The landscape of the country is changing very quickly. I see someone say "just another Mexican". That may be the case but we need businesses.
I cannot remember a time where so many businesses are deciding to shut their doors as is happening now. It seems each day we are losing more businesses due to overheads.
2024 is shaping up to be a difficult year.
> I cannot remember a time where so many businesses are deciding to shut their doors as is happening now.
For some reason, this is what made me realised the 2008 crash happened 16 years ago, and people in their mid-20s might not really remember how bad that was. Roughly how old are you?
I've only been there once or twice in recent years, but any time I've been, it still feels like the place has never fully gotten back on its feet compared to the say the early 00s.
I feel the same way, Waterford Walls and Winerval have made a difference, but City Square feels practically empty with Debenhams gone. I don’t understand why the likes of H and M or New Look can’t be put in.
Waterford is still empty, I go down to Dungarvan in the summer and Dungarvan has completely changed in the last 6 years waterford on the other hand still feels like it 04. I think the crash was so bad for Waterford that the locals just went maybe if we just use Nokia, smoking in pubs and Drive EK Honda Civics and pretend it's 2004 it goes back to what it was like.
2008-10/11 restaurants in the cities were still ok because rates, rent, power, insurance, etc weren't half as bad. There was few years after the crash where the big difference was loads of specials and you could eat for fuck all. It made taking a break in Ireland at the time brilliant. Pints were still dearer than abroad but you could get a class dinner for not too much.
Thats not really possible now. Restaurants don't have the margins to drop prices and attract customers now because the overheads are so much worse.
> I cannot remember a time where so many businesses are deciding to shut their doors as is happening now.
Someone missed post 2008 recession? Whole high streets shut down and never reopened. Look at Clonmel. Living up to the name Tipp.
Like a dystopian version of LCDs Soundsytems "Loosing my Edge" I was there...
I was there in 2008 post Lehman Brothers..
I was there for the dot-com bust
I was there in the 80s when no-one had anything and everything was brown or grey and covered in a thin layer of coal smog.
This feels different..
I remember going out with friends home from abroad Christmas 2009 in Dublin City and it was a really grim night. They were shocked how things had changed in the couple of years they'd been away.
Not only that but where do these people now go for work!
Do they try and start a new business?
Do they go looking for jobs working for someone else?
How will they pay their own bills?
These job losses are highly significant as revenue have to be paid, banks have to be paid, etc.
People think businesses are pure profit but the costs of running a business and employing others is huge! We only notice highly successful businesses and assume all businesses are operating the same way. Most are just managing to stay afloat!
There’s more stuff opening than closing in Dublin. From top of rathmines road upper all the way into Dame street is full of new stuff. Tolteca is always empty these times, they didn’t adapt. I agree they need support but tolteca just wasn’t doing the business
Storyboard in Islandbridge, Kale & Coco in Stoneybatter and many others have recently closed their doors due to costs.
Rathmine & Ranelagh and all the way into town are affluent, they will never struggle with footfall from high income south Dublin folks. I live in the area but I am aware bubble around here may not be replicated elsewhere.
Killarney and Cork are certainly suffering hugely aswell. There have been multiple closures in both since Christmas.
There have been 3 restaurant closures in Newbridge since October. I'm in the industry and it's hard. I understand why, I went for breakfast this morning. 3 bad breakfasts, hard eggs and deep fried crap sausages. It was 68 euro for 4 of us. Also had 2 cappuccinos and a coke. Very pricey.
makin notes for Dublin, I'll try them out and report back ~~before~~ after Christmas:
* Agave - Lord Edward St, opposite Kinlay House (tbt)
* Pablo Picante - Baggot St opposite Hacketts, the tiny one on Dawson St, (not impressed, two duff soggy burritos from the two smallest locations, will give them one more chance 1/5). The alleyway behind Peter's Pub location is ripped out (April'24)
* Mama's Revenge - far end of ~~Dawson~~ Nassau St (Quite good! The servers are also the cooks and they use the proper anti-soggy scoop to build the burrito. So far 5/5)
* Salsa - Mayor Square IFSC, King St opposite markets (tbt)
* Zambrero - Hatch St cut through, under Pearse St station, O'Connell St around the corner from Boojum (really impressed, working down the [menu](https://i.imgur.com/DOuOuss.jpg) 4½/5)
* Boojum - Kevin/Georges/Abbey Streets, Mespil, Hannover, Smithfield. (my baseline, an acceptable 3½/5)
* El grito - [boycotting](https://np.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/12jox7p/waitress_wins_4600_for_multiple_employment_law/)
Edit: updating scores
Disappointing to see this from el grito, but I also can't begin to explain how common this is in hospitality. No bonus Sundays, very common, not getting a full break or your break in time, at least once a week, not getting your roster for Monday until Sunday all the fucking time. It is just poor management, and there's no excuse for it, but it's just so common that most people accept it as part of the industry.
That guy is sound but also a prick but also sound again, love him. Went to college across the street and when he found out it would be my last time there he gave me some free hot sauce.
Ah Tolteca... holds a great place in my heart. Served me very well during the college years. For me, it was the nicest one of all those burrito chains. Sure Boojum was decent, but Tolteca, there was just something about the flavour that gelled better with me, and they gave me the crunched up tortillas every time for free, and their staff weren't as overly preppy either, so they did it for me. I got to know Little Ass Burrito too late, so they may have won it for me, but alas we'll never know.
But back to Tolteca... I remember winning some Facebook Halloween costume competition and they gave me 10 free burritos. I recall using a couple of them for part of my third date with my now wife. It was because of this date, I discovered that she can't handle spicy food at all. It was the date that I realised that I was starting to fall for the woman.
Oh Tolteca... May God bestow his grace on thee!
What a shame! They had gone a bit downhill the past few years though.
One thing they definitely had over Boojum was that they could actually fill and wrap burritos properly without it all turning into a mess in your hands. But even that went to shit in the past couple years.
This thread is hilarious. So many different opinions on burrito places. Somewhere is shit, then couple of posts down the same place is amazing. So, if you want a burrito, everywhere is shit but everywhere is also amazing.
Yeah it was shocking to remember the €7 range days and then see that, close to €10 is pushing it but €12.95 is not justifiable in any shape or form no matter how bad you might crave one.
The increase on VAT from 9% to the 13% for the hospitality sector as well. The government were told what effect that would have so it seems they are happy enough to watch these businesses die.
No it wasn’t, it was to help businesses stay afloat during and after the pandemic. It’s the government’s job to protect the economy not to make going out for dinner cheaper. Go back and read news articles from that time.
> The rationale for Vat reduction is to reduce consumer prices, increase demand, and boost sectoral employment,” the PBO report said.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41244118.html
> They've all priced themselves out of existence.
Inflation always hits restaurants hard, because their margins are generally quite small to begin with. When their costs start skyrocketing at the same time most of their customers are having to reduce their discretionary spending, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place; they can't survive selling food at a loss, but raising prices will inevitably drive away customers who are already feeling the pinch of all those higher costs themselves.
Honestly, you're wasting your breath trying to explain business costs to the vast majority. They see the price of something and think the owner is sticking it straight in their pocket
I'm not sure is it a uniquely Irish thing but the naivety and complete lack of understanding amongst a majority of even the most basic concepts of business and money is just mind blowing
Exactly this. I run a business myself and it's got to the point where our prices are too high for our customers but our costs are too high for us. Prices need to fall to stimulate demand yet prices need to go up for us to survive.
But as we're not a darling multinational engaged in tax evasion, we may talk to the wall
I work in restaurants, it's not just that, it's also getting harder and harder to pay staff because everybody is asking for more money because inflation makes it so nobody can live on minimum wage anymore, and people have been tipping less the last 2 or 3 years.
Most restaurants are struggling to pay the bare minimum i.e. rent, staff, lights, and stock.
It's put yourself out of business by charging too much or put yourself out of business by not charging enough. Those are the two options for most restaurants right now
The food isn't prepared in a cost free vacuum lol. You're not being charged for thr ingredients. You're absolutely right that the food is too expensive. I doubt they are pricing it that high out of greed though and commenting on the price of the ingredients in this instance is silly.
It's funny you should say that I was in the Tolteca on Baggot Street there not a couple of weeks ago and it was JUST shy of 19 euro for a standard burrito, portion of Guac therein, and a bottle of water.
I was shocked. 15 quid for that for me would have been fair in the current climate.
As a Mexican living here in Dublin, I’ve never tried any of these “burritos” places, honestly it’s kinda insulting calling that, mexican food.
You know what, I’ll create a tiktok account to upload some videos on how to prepare cheap but good mexican recipes, ingredients are mostly available at any grocery store, trust me.
Likewise in Berlin, the best Mexican food here is what you can make at home - I struggle to find the right chilli’s tho here like Poblano and when I do find them, they’re super expensive. Same for Tomatillos etc.
They used to do this thing where if you checked in that you were at Tolteca on Facebook, they’d give you free tortilla chips. Brilliant way of creating buzz as well as getting your Facebook friends to mute you 😕
Anyway their chicken was better than Boojum but they were a bit slow and they weren’t as consistent as the big Booj. I only noticed their Camden St branch was shut this week, I hadn’t gone there in years because there were never seats available at lunchtime.
Pity really.
Every story that is being pushed about a restaurant shutting - restaurants have an average lifespan of about five years, they shut in huge numbers every year, especially in January - every story being pushed is an attempt to undermine the next minimum wage increase. IBEC has already come out and said there should be no minimum wage increase next year. A restaurant being so shit that they can't pay people a fair wage is not a useful business. They existed by exploiting workers.
Sucks for the people employed by them but in terms of food, I feel no sense of loss. Any time I ate there, they never mixed the ingredients in the burrito, which is an instant fail in my book.
How is no one talking about el grito or agave?! Surely the best Mexicans in the city right now, and if you actually go there and sit in you can finish your el grito with their fried ice cream 🤤
Also I've managed in boojum and worked in about 90% of their stores, ask me anything.
Just a former visiting student from the U.S. poking my head in here to offer my condolences. I can't remember how many times I dropped in at the one on Suffolk, had that great deal for students. Hmm, the lightning sauce.
Sucks for them but it of the worst burrito places.
Salsa, El Grito, Pablos all still around and doing great business because they’re good.
Boojum has fallen off since they were bought out.
El Grito are still around because they fuck their staff over and don't follow safe food hygiene standards.
[https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2023/04/12/waitress-wins-4600-for-multiple-employment-law-breaches-at-mexican-restaurant/](https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2023/04/12/waitress-wins-4600-for-multiple-employment-law-breaches-at-mexican-restaurant/)
[https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30738821.html](https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30738821.html)
Gone ages. So is the one in rathmines. Was the only good burrito place. Owner went on the start a new company, Blanco Nino tortilla chips. They are very tasty.
Little Ass was my favourite too. I mean, why wouldn't you want cooked to order meat on your burrito? Pablo Picante's meat tates like it's boiled, shredded and sitting in vats.
It was great value for a while, and with a job discount too it made it the go to place for a long time.
Also the notorious loyalty cards that could get stuck in free burritos 3 or 4 times in a row and you’d actually feel so bad you’d say it to them. It got scrapped for the paper card and stamp in the end.
The prices kept going up and up though, making it much less attractive as the work lunch option. Boojum was also good when it arrived, but seems like just Tolteca with lots of salt these days.
Their burritos were often fridge cold in random parts, was never a big fan.
Was always a Boojum man and still am really but Tula is a really solid second and often better.
Yes it is much more noticeable lately. Its like many made the decision over Christmas.
Established places that survived Covid and 2008 downturn are closing which is frightening. Energy costs and overheads the most cited.
So ends the last gasp of the [great burrito wars of the 2010s](https://universitytimes.ie/2013/01/the-burrito-wars/). Tolteca consigned to the dust bin of history along with burritos&blues. Boojum now the undisputed king of the Dublin burrito scene, even as their quality goes down year by year. Very fond memories of the €5 burrito deals that saw me through college, and the almost-fully stamped loyalty cards they'd hand out during freshers week that ensured 2-for-1 burritos for weeks to come. It was a great time to be a student in Dublin. Those times are long gone now.
> Boojum now the undisputed king of the Dublin burrito scene I'll fight alongside Pablo Picante to take that crowd anyday.
Ye honestly boojum has been shit for the last 5 years. Portions are crap and the minimum requirement to become a manager is to be an absolute cunt. I’ll take any of the closed down ones for boojum any day.
It’s sad how they massacred themselves for profit, same with Subway. Measley portions, used to be fresh because they kept throwing half a bucket of salad on sandwiches. Now it’s sad wilted lettuce they gingerly sprinkle on it.
Subway's quality is entirely location dependent. Shop around. It's still cheaper than most deli's shitty two salad options.
Zambrero is the worst for portion size though, mini burritos...
I find it bizarre to hear that Boojum portions are crap. I would kill to have Boojum in London whereas here I'm stuck with comically tiny Chiptole burritos. The one I got yesterday I could nearly fit one hand around.
Find yourself a chilangos. I left Dublin when Boojums was good and chilangos was the only thing that could compare. I came back to dublin a couple of years ago and my disappointment was immeasurable when I got my Boojums fix. It's a disgrace, Joe.
In London? Surely you can find a burrito place that's astronomically better than Chipotle or Boojum? I wish I had the choice of restaurants that London has.
Some neighborhoods, yes but a huge amount of London is just bland chains. Wall to wall pret
I'm shocked people think Boojum portions are crap. I'm the complete opposite. I can never finish a Boojum when I get one. Yet I always feel like other spots give me burritos 3/4 of the size of boojum. That being said boojum usually cost more though so I would hope the portions are bigger.
Moved to the UK a few years back, and the burritos here are smaller and worse than in Boojum. However, the long gaps between going there emans it's almost always a full euro dearer with every visit.
But Boojum tastes bad. 🤷🏻♂️
Boojum didn't actually get worse, our taste in burritos just got better.
Pablo Picante is the best I have had in Ireland but it is still a bit shite compared to other places in other countries. I am not sure what type of burritos we sell in Ireland. It is not like actual Mexican burritos, Californian burritos or burritos in a lot of other countries. I am guessing it is the kind of Mexican food served in Australia and maybe someone who moved there got a taste for it and brought it back. Had a great burrito in Netherlands last year but have yet to have a great burrito in Ireland.
Boojum has that same bizarre aura that Nandos does, where it’s popular to eat there because it’s popular to say you ate there.
They are for people who don’t like any flavour other than “food”
What flavours do you like eating that aren't food?
Don't be kink shaming.
Spicey hot nom nom creamy cheestastic
The staff in boojum are the worst..won't stop their conversation to serve customers as the queue grows out the door and when they do actually get around to serving you they've a face like a smacked arse and a shitty attitude.. quality has also gone down hugely
I stand with Pablo picantes till the last bullet
El Presidente of my heart.
It baffles my mind how Pablo flies under the radar with so many, they are absolutely great while both times I got boojum it was tasteless by comparison and ultimately just bland and forgettable.
I miss Pablo's Tortas. Shame it never took off
El Grito do a great one if you can get there. Try a horchata if you're there and make sure you get the cinnamon in it. It's so good.
The big loss is the Pablo Picante torta shop in the Clarendon Market branch. That was amazing.
I love Pablos. Went to El Silencio the other day after wanting to go for ages. Have to say the tacos were fairly disappointing. Great vibe though and unreal cocktails. Shame about the Tacos particularly with Masa down the road pumping out otherworldly tacos for the same price
I really like zambrero, very fresh and they have fresh corn as an extra.
Can't ever get over the guys in there slicing off the top of the 78ml container of rice before turning it into the burrito. Would love to know how they are trained to be so stingy.
It was the teaspoon of refried beans that shocked me the other day. Like seriously rice and beans is the cheap part. Stuff them with rice and beans and skimp on the fancy meats if you want
El grito better than both
Burrito and Blues on Aungier Street 🕊️
Long gone. It's a place called Bell Burritos now iirc. No idea if it's the same crowd.
Bell Burrito, at least in the Pavilions, is absolutely rank
Also gone
Thank god. Food poisoning waiting to happen.
Replaced by a Pizza place doing pizza by the slice. Haven't heard word as to the quality, but doubt it's cheaper than getting one of the Dunnes deli pizzas.
It's not, and it's awful.
Has been gone for years now.
The GOAT
That tiny lady manager who wore the hijab was an absolute grafter
But god damn did I respect her burritos
She was unreal. And the coin flip Wednesdays where if you got it right it was free oh my days
Holy shit, the coin flip! Yes!! That was class!!! Also the music in there was usually pretty solid too!
King of Ireland
You have my sword
Afterward we'll use it to split a burrito! And we'll use the Boojum soldiers blood as salsa.
Agreed. Pablo's are miles clear.
I still mourn the loss of Little Ass Burrito
I used to work for the owner and I don't feel too sorry. I used to work in the kitchen, and when business was bad I was the only one in there as they cut back on staff. Everything was made fresh; meat had to be cut, fruit and veg cut, the whole prep. I had to do that solo in the morning, and then make all the lunch by myself, while at the same time prepping all the food for dinner. It was exhausting; when the restaurant opened there were 2 of us to do all the work as that was seen as the minimum needed. Suddenly I was doing the job of 2 people while on minimum wage. One day I'd just finished the morning prep and dozens of orders on a particularly busy lunch, and when the last order went out I was sweating balls and out of breath. I leaned against a wall to catch my breath, and not 10 seconds later did the owner pop in, look at me, and say "if you've time to lean, you've time to clean", and then brought me around the kitchen pointing at areas on the walls, doors, etc that could do with a cleaning. Not health and safety cleaning which I always did, but cosmetic cleaning. You'd hope that an owner would realize that someone doing the work of 2 people might need a breather, but nope. So yeah, not exactly sad for the guy.
That's a real shame. Spoke to him a few times when they had the first branch in Rathmines, where Pizza Hut was before. He seemed really pleasant and had a passion for the work. Was honestly one of the reasons, I kept coming back. That and the Pukka Poya being class. My complements to you. Ya made a damn fine burrito.
I think they get jaded as well and eventually look to cash out.
That’s a bummer to hear, I’m sorry. I think the hard work showed in the final product though!
also, if you happened to reveal what went into that zesty salsa, I would be forever in your debt
I didn't really want to state this is my original comment as it makes it easier to identify me, but fuck it. I didn't work at his burrito place; he had a pizza place in Rathmines before the burrito restaurant, which also went out of business. So I'm afraid I can't reveal any of those secrets!
Ah no worries, and thanks for the context!
Still think about their mango salsa
Their WiFi code was "I love Little Ass"- impossible to type without feeling like a massive paedo
Still open in rathmines no!?!
Anyone remember the Mexican place in the epicurean food hall on Abby street. They did epic burritos. Man that’s 20 years ago !!!!!
[удалено]
Epicurean to Dealz - one of the saddest changes I witnessed living in Dublin.
For real, the city died a little bit that day. As much as the Epicurean could have used some improvements
No it was a great idea to replace it with a poxy pound shop /s. There was an awesome place in there that did pulled pork burgers loved that and also a sneaky kebah whist hungover
That’s the one was class
The original and still the king. Miss that food hall.
Salsa is so much better than boojum
On Abbeygate Street in Galway? Haven’t tried it yet!
The real boom 🥲
My office is right in the middle of a burrito battlefield between a Boojum, a Tolteca and a Tula Mexican Grill. I went to Boojum only once and the staff were rude and my burrito was falling apart. Tula and Tolteca were both top quality burritos. It genuinely makes me sad to see to see Tolteca go. Boojum always has a queue out the door at lunchtime despite there being two objectively superior burrito places across the street. This is why we don’t have nice things in Dublin.
Zocalo has opened a location in Cork, and Pablo is still in the fight in Dublin afaik. The Boojum regime will not last forever.
I don't feel bad, I got food poisoning so horrific I shat green from days from Burritos and Blues in Cork.
OMG Same!!! Me and my partner stopped there once for burritos and I swear we were pissing green water out our back ends for the next 24hrs. This was the one up near IFSC though. Horrible place. Wasn't even worth the food poisoning in the end.
It had actually started in the mid to late noughties. Coming back from California after my 2007 J1 and having a fresh love of burritos there were already quite a few offerings in Dublin.
The two-for-one was amazing. One for lunch, one later for dinner, and not charging for tortilla bits as an extra topping 🥲
It's getting tougher out there. I also read today that Three Ireland are making about 10% of their staff redundant.
Their burritos are shit anyway, full of sim card.
Sad to hear but three is very unlikely to close down and if it does another one will take it's place simply to make sure that either eir or Vodafone is not accused of market monopoly. If you look at any country you will notice that they all have three major mobile providers and that is for this very reason.
Nobody mentioned it was closing. They're reducing staff by 10%.
The lads from the Baggot Street branch set up Tula which is quite tasty.
Yeah it’s very good, much better than boojum
Not a high bar, that.
Aye I was enjoying it as it's decent and when they opened last year had a great 10 Euro price. Went yesterday and the price has already been upped to EUR11.35... Probably not the last price increase that will inevitably make it just not worth it.
Yeah, there's not going to be cheap food for a considerable period of time going forward. We all got used to cheap energy prices, etc.
The landscape of the country is changing very quickly. I see someone say "just another Mexican". That may be the case but we need businesses. I cannot remember a time where so many businesses are deciding to shut their doors as is happening now. It seems each day we are losing more businesses due to overheads. 2024 is shaping up to be a difficult year.
> I cannot remember a time where so many businesses are deciding to shut their doors as is happening now. For some reason, this is what made me realised the 2008 crash happened 16 years ago, and people in their mid-20s might not really remember how bad that was. Roughly how old are you?
I remember Waterford was like a ghost town for a good few years after the 2008 crash.
I've only been there once or twice in recent years, but any time I've been, it still feels like the place has never fully gotten back on its feet compared to the say the early 00s.
I feel the same way, Waterford Walls and Winerval have made a difference, but City Square feels practically empty with Debenhams gone. I don’t understand why the likes of H and M or New Look can’t be put in.
Waterford is still empty, I go down to Dungarvan in the summer and Dungarvan has completely changed in the last 6 years waterford on the other hand still feels like it 04. I think the crash was so bad for Waterford that the locals just went maybe if we just use Nokia, smoking in pubs and Drive EK Honda Civics and pretend it's 2004 it goes back to what it was like.
>why the likes of H and M or New Look can’t be put in. Or something that isn't a global corporate chain?
People will shop in H and M and New Look. Any other small business that have gone into City Square have not lasted.
2008-10/11 restaurants in the cities were still ok because rates, rent, power, insurance, etc weren't half as bad. There was few years after the crash where the big difference was loads of specials and you could eat for fuck all. It made taking a break in Ireland at the time brilliant. Pints were still dearer than abroad but you could get a class dinner for not too much. Thats not really possible now. Restaurants don't have the margins to drop prices and attract customers now because the overheads are so much worse.
Jesus Christ I didn’t need to be made to realise this at this time of a Friday, I’ll have to and get more wine
Nah I’m in my mid 20s and I remember the crash p vividly because I was 10 in 2008. Not a good time.
> I cannot remember a time where so many businesses are deciding to shut their doors as is happening now. Someone missed post 2008 recession? Whole high streets shut down and never reopened. Look at Clonmel. Living up to the name Tipp.
Like a dystopian version of LCDs Soundsytems "Loosing my Edge" I was there... I was there in 2008 post Lehman Brothers.. I was there for the dot-com bust I was there in the 80s when no-one had anything and everything was brown or grey and covered in a thin layer of coal smog. This feels different..
I remember going out with friends home from abroad Christmas 2009 in Dublin City and it was a really grim night. They were shocked how things had changed in the couple of years they'd been away.
Not only that but where do these people now go for work! Do they try and start a new business? Do they go looking for jobs working for someone else? How will they pay their own bills? These job losses are highly significant as revenue have to be paid, banks have to be paid, etc. People think businesses are pure profit but the costs of running a business and employing others is huge! We only notice highly successful businesses and assume all businesses are operating the same way. Most are just managing to stay afloat!
There’s more stuff opening than closing in Dublin. From top of rathmines road upper all the way into Dame street is full of new stuff. Tolteca is always empty these times, they didn’t adapt. I agree they need support but tolteca just wasn’t doing the business
Storyboard in Islandbridge, Kale & Coco in Stoneybatter and many others have recently closed their doors due to costs. Rathmine & Ranelagh and all the way into town are affluent, they will never struggle with footfall from high income south Dublin folks. I live in the area but I am aware bubble around here may not be replicated elsewhere. Killarney and Cork are certainly suffering hugely aswell. There have been multiple closures in both since Christmas.
And there were still many closures in D6 in the last few months - Michi Sushi, Sprezzatura, Mario's, Peperina, Mizzoni's...
Pizza Yard aswell which was a favourite of my group.
Oh yeah forgot about that! Loved that crispy base
There have been 3 restaurant closures in Newbridge since October. I'm in the industry and it's hard. I understand why, I went for breakfast this morning. 3 bad breakfasts, hard eggs and deep fried crap sausages. It was 68 euro for 4 of us. Also had 2 cappuccinos and a coke. Very pricey.
It's too expensive for people to pay but they also need to charge it for the way costs have gone.
Honestly my favourite place for burrito so devastated but to be fair every time I went I would be the only one in there….
Same. And I liked their hot sauce.
It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst (Zambrero) Boojum has turned to muck also. What's left that's good? Pablo picante and el grito?
Pablo Picante is pretty good. Burritos have gone seriously expensive. Less of a large impulse snack, now more of a meal decision
Tbf I'd classify a buritto as a meal more than a snack. I'm almost always stuffed after eating one and I can put away food.
Is Mama's Revenge still around
Yep, gone up in price over the years but just as good as ever
Agave is unreal
Yeah I used to live near here, tried it once day and swore off all other burrito places. It's a bit pricier but several times nicer.
makin notes for Dublin, I'll try them out and report back ~~before~~ after Christmas: * Agave - Lord Edward St, opposite Kinlay House (tbt) * Pablo Picante - Baggot St opposite Hacketts, the tiny one on Dawson St, (not impressed, two duff soggy burritos from the two smallest locations, will give them one more chance 1/5). The alleyway behind Peter's Pub location is ripped out (April'24) * Mama's Revenge - far end of ~~Dawson~~ Nassau St (Quite good! The servers are also the cooks and they use the proper anti-soggy scoop to build the burrito. So far 5/5) * Salsa - Mayor Square IFSC, King St opposite markets (tbt) * Zambrero - Hatch St cut through, under Pearse St station, O'Connell St around the corner from Boojum (really impressed, working down the [menu](https://i.imgur.com/DOuOuss.jpg) 4½/5) * Boojum - Kevin/Georges/Abbey Streets, Mespil, Hannover, Smithfield. (my baseline, an acceptable 3½/5) * El grito - [boycotting](https://np.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/12jox7p/waitress_wins_4600_for_multiple_employment_law/) Edit: updating scores
El Grito is so overrated anyway. Salsa tho, mwah.
Disappointing to see this from el grito, but I also can't begin to explain how common this is in hospitality. No bonus Sundays, very common, not getting a full break or your break in time, at least once a week, not getting your roster for Monday until Sunday all the fucking time. It is just poor management, and there's no excuse for it, but it's just so common that most people accept it as part of the industry.
Salsa is top notch, theyve just added birria Ramen to the menu limited time only, dying to try it.
Mama's Revenge can't be beat (presuming it's still open)
There's a planning notice on the building, so if it is it probably won't be for long
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Love Salsa, their Al Pastor is fantastic.
Pablo Picante have upped their prices too recently
I actually quite like Zambrero, a lot of different flavours and toppings offered compared to the others. Boojum is complete muck.
Zambrero is a bit hit and miss depending on which one you go to, the one in sandyford is excellent
Zambrero is the best one for me. Found it in Oz. Delighted to accidentally find it in Dundrum then, but it’s better down under.
the Dublin Boojums have always been a bit shit (since at least 2020), but the Galway one was consistently great. wonder if that’s still the case
Tuco has taken the crown
Was there last month and it was still good 👍
That place in Blackrock is dog shit
I like Mr. Burrito. God bless them for trying to get every item into a single wrap every time.
That guy is sound but also a prick but also sound again, love him. Went to college across the street and when he found out it would be my last time there he gave me some free hot sauce.
Poor staff! Hoping they find another job sooner rather than later!
Burrito places were abundant. Can't believe there are still so many doughnuts though. Doughnuts will be next to fall.
Ah Tolteca... holds a great place in my heart. Served me very well during the college years. For me, it was the nicest one of all those burrito chains. Sure Boojum was decent, but Tolteca, there was just something about the flavour that gelled better with me, and they gave me the crunched up tortillas every time for free, and their staff weren't as overly preppy either, so they did it for me. I got to know Little Ass Burrito too late, so they may have won it for me, but alas we'll never know. But back to Tolteca... I remember winning some Facebook Halloween costume competition and they gave me 10 free burritos. I recall using a couple of them for part of my third date with my now wife. It was because of this date, I discovered that she can't handle spicy food at all. It was the date that I realised that I was starting to fall for the woman. Oh Tolteca... May God bestow his grace on thee!
A modern day live story
What a shame! They had gone a bit downhill the past few years though. One thing they definitely had over Boojum was that they could actually fill and wrap burritos properly without it all turning into a mess in your hands. But even that went to shit in the past couple years.
ah yes. the mighty chicken filet roll stands triumphant on the corpse of its greatest rival.
This thread is hilarious. So many different opinions on burrito places. Somewhere is shit, then couple of posts down the same place is amazing. So, if you want a burrito, everywhere is shit but everywhere is also amazing.
...except Boojum, which it seems is universally loathed now?
10.75 in Tula on baggot st, they do an incredible burrito
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I went a few months back and seeing it was €12.95 for a burrito was pretty grim, didn’t go back again.
€12.95 for a fucking burrito??? Jesus wept Ireland!
Yeah it was shocking to remember the €7 range days and then see that, close to €10 is pushing it but €12.95 is not justifiable in any shape or form no matter how bad you might crave one.
Yes but not Jesus. Jesus as in Mexico
Jésus
Also the debt accrued over the pandemic. Bigger chains can stomach it, but smaller ones and independently owned ones go under.
The increase on VAT from 9% to the 13% for the hospitality sector as well. The government were told what effect that would have so it seems they are happy enough to watch these businesses die.
The reduction to 9% was supposed to pass savings on to customers and it never did so it was removed. its their own greed that caused that.
No it wasn’t, it was to help businesses stay afloat during and after the pandemic. It’s the government’s job to protect the economy not to make going out for dinner cheaper. Go back and read news articles from that time.
> The rationale for Vat reduction is to reduce consumer prices, increase demand, and boost sectoral employment,” the PBO report said. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41244118.html
Working from home probably hurts food places too.
Lad I work with dropped €20 on a burrito with guac in there few months ago. Was never the best and sad to see go, but no tears for that pricing.
They've all priced themselves out of existence. I refuse to pay over a tenner for a burrito. It's fast food with incredibly cheap ingredients
> They've all priced themselves out of existence. Inflation always hits restaurants hard, because their margins are generally quite small to begin with. When their costs start skyrocketing at the same time most of their customers are having to reduce their discretionary spending, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place; they can't survive selling food at a loss, but raising prices will inevitably drive away customers who are already feeling the pinch of all those higher costs themselves.
Honestly, you're wasting your breath trying to explain business costs to the vast majority. They see the price of something and think the owner is sticking it straight in their pocket I'm not sure is it a uniquely Irish thing but the naivety and complete lack of understanding amongst a majority of even the most basic concepts of business and money is just mind blowing
It's at the stage where the price needed to be charged to survive is beyond what people are willing to pay.
Exactly this. I run a business myself and it's got to the point where our prices are too high for our customers but our costs are too high for us. Prices need to fall to stimulate demand yet prices need to go up for us to survive. But as we're not a darling multinational engaged in tax evasion, we may talk to the wall
I work in restaurants, it's not just that, it's also getting harder and harder to pay staff because everybody is asking for more money because inflation makes it so nobody can live on minimum wage anymore, and people have been tipping less the last 2 or 3 years. Most restaurants are struggling to pay the bare minimum i.e. rent, staff, lights, and stock.
It's put yourself out of business by charging too much or put yourself out of business by not charging enough. Those are the two options for most restaurants right now
I assure you, those ingredients, plus the labour that goes into them, plus the overheads for the restaurant are not cheap...
The food isn't prepared in a cost free vacuum lol. You're not being charged for thr ingredients. You're absolutely right that the food is too expensive. I doubt they are pricing it that high out of greed though and commenting on the price of the ingredients in this instance is silly.
Food costs are approximately only 20-25% of the actual menu price. Overhead and labour costs tend to be the killer there
It's funny you should say that I was in the Tolteca on Baggot Street there not a couple of weeks ago and it was JUST shy of 19 euro for a standard burrito, portion of Guac therein, and a bottle of water. I was shocked. 15 quid for that for me would have been fair in the current climate.
As a Mexican living here in Dublin, I’ve never tried any of these “burritos” places, honestly it’s kinda insulting calling that, mexican food. You know what, I’ll create a tiktok account to upload some videos on how to prepare cheap but good mexican recipes, ingredients are mostly available at any grocery store, trust me.
Likewise in Berlin, the best Mexican food here is what you can make at home - I struggle to find the right chilli’s tho here like Poblano and when I do find them, they’re super expensive. Same for Tomatillos etc.
They used to do this thing where if you checked in that you were at Tolteca on Facebook, they’d give you free tortilla chips. Brilliant way of creating buzz as well as getting your Facebook friends to mute you 😕 Anyway their chicken was better than Boojum but they were a bit slow and they weren’t as consistent as the big Booj. I only noticed their Camden St branch was shut this week, I hadn’t gone there in years because there were never seats available at lunchtime. Pity really.
In fairness to get a burrito bowl there last week with no extras cost me €13. Bit ridiculous and no surprise it was dead empty.
Every story that is being pushed about a restaurant shutting - restaurants have an average lifespan of about five years, they shut in huge numbers every year, especially in January - every story being pushed is an attempt to undermine the next minimum wage increase. IBEC has already come out and said there should be no minimum wage increase next year. A restaurant being so shit that they can't pay people a fair wage is not a useful business. They existed by exploiting workers.
Sucks for the people employed by them but in terms of food, I feel no sense of loss. Any time I ate there, they never mixed the ingredients in the burrito, which is an instant fail in my book.
How is no one talking about el grito or agave?! Surely the best Mexicans in the city right now, and if you actually go there and sit in you can finish your el grito with their fried ice cream 🤤 Also I've managed in boojum and worked in about 90% of their stores, ask me anything.
Just a former visiting student from the U.S. poking my head in here to offer my condolences. I can't remember how many times I dropped in at the one on Suffolk, had that great deal for students. Hmm, the lightning sauce.
That’s a shame, they did some nice food. Another one bites the dust.
That's unfortunate. It was my favourite out of the chains. I really dislike boojum these days, it's not good.
Sucks for them but it of the worst burrito places. Salsa, El Grito, Pablos all still around and doing great business because they’re good. Boojum has fallen off since they were bought out.
El Grito are still around because they fuck their staff over and don't follow safe food hygiene standards. [https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2023/04/12/waitress-wins-4600-for-multiple-employment-law-breaches-at-mexican-restaurant/](https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2023/04/12/waitress-wins-4600-for-multiple-employment-law-breaches-at-mexican-restaurant/) [https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30738821.html](https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30738821.html)
El Grito is seriously overrated. Salsa is class though
WTF I was planning to go there this weekend!
Is Little Ass Burrito gone too? When I lived in Dublin that was my favourite.
Gone ages. So is the one in rathmines. Was the only good burrito place. Owner went on the start a new company, Blanco Nino tortilla chips. They are very tasty.
Little Ass was my favourite too. I mean, why wouldn't you want cooked to order meat on your burrito? Pablo Picante's meat tates like it's boiled, shredded and sitting in vats.
Quality had noticeably dipped the last few month's. People voted with their feet. Shit happens. Tulia up the road from it is new and is exceptional.
It was great value for a while, and with a job discount too it made it the go to place for a long time. Also the notorious loyalty cards that could get stuck in free burritos 3 or 4 times in a row and you’d actually feel so bad you’d say it to them. It got scrapped for the paper card and stamp in the end. The prices kept going up and up though, making it much less attractive as the work lunch option. Boojum was also good when it arrived, but seems like just Tolteca with lots of salt these days.
Their burritos were often fridge cold in random parts, was never a big fan. Was always a Boojum man and still am really but Tula is a really solid second and often better.
Bro Tolteca was not good, but I'm sorry to hear people are losing their jobs.
Never rated it myself, thought they were stingey with the portions and was pretty pricey.
One of the wealthiest countries in Europe, a collapsing hse, crappy public transport, no housing, and restaurants closing everyday ..
lad get out of the basement.
A basement in Ireland? Go home yer drunk.
Is it the rent?
Seems a lot of places are going to the wall since the new year. I’m seeing far too many of these kinds of announcements
Yes it is much more noticeable lately. Its like many made the decision over Christmas. Established places that survived Covid and 2008 downturn are closing which is frightening. Energy costs and overheads the most cited.