EatWisconsin

I was looking at some old e-mails and found one that I sent to Qdoba last October when I discovered that the Chicken Mole Burrito was discontinued.  At the time I said I would boycott them and nobody believed me because I was a Qdoba junkie.  Well its been over six months and I have not returned.  I am holding strong!  Here is the letter I submitted via their website complaint form:

Dear Qdoba:

Something happened at Qdoba today and it likely will result in me never eating at your restaurants again. I walked into the restaurant, walked to the counter, and placed my order for a chicken mole burrito. I had been craving one for a while and I hadn’t been in the restaurant for a couple of months, so I was quite shocked when the employee told me they were discontinued and replaced with the ancho pork burritos. I didn’t know what to do….what should I order? I froze and then decided to try the pork burrito. Big mistake. It was very mediocre and could never compare to the Chicken Mole. You know how much I wanted a Chicken Mole Burrito? I actually brought a lunch to work today and didn’t eat it because I was craving the Chicken Mole so much. So you can imagine my disappointment when I found out that I would never ever again be able to enjoy what is possibly the best “fast-casual” food item out there.

For years, even back when you were called Z-TECA Mexican Grill and your only location in Milwaukee was at Kenwood and Oakland near the UW Milwaukee campus, I have been enjoying the Chicken Mole Burrito. When I lived near the Oakland Ave. restaurant I would eat there almost once every single week and I almost always ordered the Chicken Mole (with black beans, habenero salsa, sour cream, and cheese). I tried other things but nothing satisfied me quite like the Chicken Mole. When you opened up a location near my workplace I was ecstatic and ate their every week. Then you put one in Downtown Waukesha near my house, which satisfied any evening or weekend cravings. All of this excitement revolved around one thing, and one thing only: The Chicken Mole Burrito. How could you take something so good, and so ingrained in your history and toss it aside? I am hoping and praying that this pork replacement will eventually become the “New Coke” as Chicken Mole fans demand that you bring it back.

Was it really that hard to have one extra container on the line with mole sauce? Were they that unpopular? What if you just shipped your surplus mole to the Qdobas that I frequent. They can keep it in the freezer in portion sized containers. I can call ahead so they can thaw it out and put it in the burrito when I arrive. I am sure this e-mail doesn’t mean crap to you guys. You probably did some market research on people who probably are not as loyal of a customer as I, but you listened to them instead. Actually you probably didn’t even tell them that if they like the pork, you are replacing the Mole burrito. It reminds me of when M&Ms made a big deal about bringing back the red M&M after years of it being absent due to some red dye poison scare. They even let people vote on it. What they didn’t tell anyone is that by bringing back the red, they were eliminating the light brown M&M, which was my favorite color.  However unlike M&Ms, which all taste the same regardless of color, there is no burrito that can even come close to replicating the Chicken Mole. I cannot even go to your competitor, Chipotle, for a fix because they don’t have mole either.

So it is with a heavy heart that I must leave you Qdoba. When I arrive at home I am getting out the scissors and cutting up my Q-Doba card and I cannot fathom ever going to a QDoba again (unless you bring back the Chicken Mole burrito, of course) We had a good run, almost 10 years but our relationship must come to an end . You just don’t have anything to offer me anymore.