Does Chipotle Serve Alcohol?
Not long after its inception in 1993, Chipotle became a household name for fast, healthy, and delicious Mexican food. Offering enough options to keep things from feeling boring, but few enough staple items like burritos, tacos, and bowls to keep the menu uncomplicated despite highly customizable dishes, it's become hugely successful nationally and internationally. The restaurant emphasizes fresh and healthy food options with only 53 ingredients, so keeping a small menu allows for a genuine focus on quality components.
Most of us can agree that when you're short on time but want a hearty meal you can still feel good about, Chipotle is a solid option, and new additions to the Chipotle menu like carne asada or their refreshing aguas frescas keep customers coming back for more. But while we love Chipotle, there's something about eating chips and guac without a refreshing margarita alongside it that sometimes just feels lacking. Other than getting your Chipotle order to-go and whipping up a margarita or michelada at home, what are your options for pairing a little alcohol with your fast food of choice?
Chipotle's not-so-secret menu item
If you'd like to dine in at your nearest Chipotle establishment but still want a cold beverage that's not a soda, it turns out that around half of Chipotle locations serve alcohol, beverage director Hannah Yang told Thrillist. This may come as a surprise, but it's been doing so since it opened in 1993, and hundreds of Chipotle restaurants are on board with "harder" drink menu options: The chain offers a variety of domestic and specialty beer, or you can go for a perfect pairing with a margarita.
These drinks are usually sitting right in the beverage fridge behind the cash register (or not-yet-assembled at an inconspicuous, little-used margarita mixing station, as Foodbeast discovered), just waiting to be ordered, but it seems like Chipotle doesn't go above and beyond to really push the advertising on their alcoholic selection. Maybe the general environment of Chipotle — full of high school kids and families — means the chain doesn't want to turn into the newest hot spot for happy hour or Thursday Night Football ... We can only speculate. Either way, you're free to order a refreshing lime margarita from your favorite Chipotle, if they offer it, and sip it while munching on chips and queso.
A more-than-casual margarita in a fast casual setting
Though Chipotle has been serving alcohol, specifically margaritas, for close to 30 years now, the beverage selection started with humble beginnings — shaken with ice and Sauza tequila, reports Thrillist. The restaurant chain, however, likes to keep things fresh, new, and of course, in line with its mission statement to provide "real" food. So over the course of its careful evolution, the signature margarita underwent a glow-up to bring it up to par for modern patrons.
Say goodbye to boring mix in your Chipotle marg: The restaurant serves its made-to-order margaritas with freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice. The tart but refreshing drink also includes triple sec, agave syrup, and your choice of Sauza tequila or a top-shelf selection: Patron. You can even order it frozen at some locations. Across the board, Insider noted in 2014 that alcohol only made up a tiny percentage of Chipotle's sales, but it's nice to see it still gets the same attention to detail that every other item on the menu does. If you haven't tried one yet, look up the nearest Chipotle to you (that has a liquor license) and "splurge" for a fresh margarita to go with your weekly burrito.