If you’ve come here hoping for a rating from before 2021, prepare to be disappointed. I didn’t want to retroactively rate anything after coming up with this idea, as your memory of things can be influenced by nostalgia after a significant period of time. Instead, this space is reserved for immediate ratings based on experiences moving forward. Enjoy.

Restaurants

Fast Food	Breakfast	Sandwiches
7.2 – Pancheros	8.7 – Fat Nats	8.3 – Z-Café
6.8 – Taco Bell	6.8 – Wildflower Bread Company
6.4 – Raising Canes	6.4 – First Watch
5.6 – Chipotle

Pizza	Mexican	Dinner
9.3 – Lou Malnati’s	8.3 – Barrio Queen	7.7 – Copper 48
	6.9 – Joyride	7.6 – Reunion
	6.7 – El Jefe

Hobbies

Hikes	Paddle Boarding
7.5 – Sunrise Peak	8.3 – Canyon Lake
6.8 – South Mountain Summit

 

Fast Food

Experience based on rate and quality of service, quality of food and price for a total of 10 possible points.

Chipotle
2,788 Locations in 49 States & Five Countries, Including USA, Canada, UK, Germany & France
Score: 5.6/10

If Chipotle put any effort into quality control at the different locations it could be a top stop in the fast burrito world. In that fantasy world, every cut of meat would be cooked to perfection on the grill and after it was grilled, they would shred it or cut into pieces of meat with the fat removed. That is just not the world we live in.

The service is inconsistent and it really ruins the experience. Sometimes, the food is flawless – great proportions and meat cooked and trimmed to perfection. Other times, the meat is chewy and a whole chunk of beef is served in the bowl or burrito completely uncut – just a flaccid chunk of meat.

My usual order consists of Barbacoa, Rice, Pinto Beans, Hot Salsa, Corn, Sour Cream and Cheese. The salsas are tasty, and the Hot Salsa has a good kick to it. The seasoning on the meat is not exactly authentic to Mexican food, but the flavor is still good. Overall, it’s a good stop except when it isn’t. There’s also usually a pretty long line, and the service can be pretty slow, so be prepared to wait and then spin that wheel, maybe you’ll get lucky.

Service: 4.8/10
Speed: 4.8/10
Food: 5.0/10
Price: 7.9/10
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Pancheros
72 Locations in 12 States, Mostly Midwest
Score: 7.2/10

Pancheros has taken the quick Mexican grill formula and improved upon it friendly service and quality meats. It also features the best queso in the burrito business. It was founded in 1992 and is expanding across the country – with most locations currently in the Midwest.

With a store down the road from the Minnesota United offices and my home, I frequented this restaurant for years and eventually was on a first-name basis with the regular staff – who often made conversation about work and took interest in each customer’s life. The restaurant chain also offers an app that rewards customers for repeated visits with a free burrito.

Menu options include quesadillas and tacos, but they specialize in burritos. The tortilla is pressed fresh to order. My usual includes rice, pinto beans, carnitas, queso, hot salsa, corn, cheese and sour cream. Staff will mix the ingredients together with a tool, fold it and bag it. There is also a green ‘grenade’ salsa that can be applied after the burrito is constructed that is rewarding. Line length varies, but you will benefit from the franchise being less well-known than Chipotle. Overall, it’s a top choice for quick American-Mexican cuisine.

Service: 7.8/10
Speed: 6.4/10
Food: 6.8/10
Price: 7.9/10
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Raising Canes
558 Locations in 32 States & Territories
Score: 6.4/10

Raising Canes serves fried chicken fingers and sandwiches with a special Cane’s Sauce, that is a mix of Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Worcestershire Sauce and various spices. The simple menu means that Raising Canes does one thing and they do it well. So well, that you will likely come across a large line when you visit your nearest store, which is the biggest negative to the overall experience.

The chicken strips are well-breaded, with a good ratio of bread to meat. One complaint is that they are a little smaller than they once were, a cutback made likely to save on overhead. A savings passed on, in part, to the consumer. A meal can be purchased for less than ten dollars and it will fill you up satisfactorily, consisting of Texas Toast, Coleslaw and Fries.

It’s not butcher quality meat, and most of the strips will feel a little overcooked – but that’s fine. They aren’t chewy and won’t get you sick. If you’re not in too much of a hurry, it’s good chicken served with a unique flavor.

Service: 6.2/10
Speed: 5.4/10
Food: 6.8/10
Price: 7.1/10
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Taco Bell
7,427 total restaurants in 31 different countries worldwide.
Score: 6.8/10

It’s a mix of the same ingredients layered on top of each other in a different order for as simplistic a Mexican menu you could possibly find, but what they do they do well at Taco Bell. It’s Tex-Mex served quick and cheap. You’re not going to walk away feeling good about what you just ate. It will sit in your stomach like a sack of bricks, and your digestive system is going to be a little wonky of the rest of the day.

There are a couple of items on the menu worth noting. There is a chipotle sauce that is surprisingly flavorful, which you’ll find on the chalupa or inside a quesadilla. Then there are the potato items – both fiesta potatoes and the potato tacos – which are a good alternative to the traditional taco items. Taco Bell has also partnered with Doritos to create the Doritos Locos Taco, which gives off Walking Taco vibes.

You get what you pay for – well sometimes you don’t even get that. Truth is, no one is going to Taco Bell expecting Grade A tastes. It’s fast, affordable and not much else.

Service: 5.3/10
Speed: 8.8/10
Food: 4.4/10
Price: 8.6/10
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Pizza

Pizza is rated based on crust, sauce, cheese and quality of toppings for a total of 10 possible points.

Lou Malnati’s
Illinois, Arizona, Indiana and Wisconsin
Score: 9.3/10

Lou Malnati’s is a Chicago Style pizza joint located mostly in Illinois, and expanding to three other states with four locations each. While Lou Malnati’s makes excellent deep dish pizza, the thin Chicago squared-slice pizza is arguably the better pie. Each location has an authentic taste and quality to the pizza, but the original Lou Malnati’s in Chicago is the obvious first choice for the highest value pizza.

It’s worth noting that this is my favorite pizza. The crust is fantastic, with a buttery crisp crunch that you could eat by itself as a meal. The sauce is savory and sweet, not too light – as if the tomato was just squeezed onto the pizza – and not too thick – like the tomato was processed in a factory. The cheese is of quality you’d expect from a pizza place originating in the Midwest.

If you were to remove points, it would be for the toppings, but only because they don’t live up to the standards of the rest of the pizza. While I’m generally biased toward pepperoni on my pizza, sausage is the topping of choice on the deep dish pizza. For the thin crust, most of the toppings rank equally, based on what you like. I would recommend trying Hot Giardiniera for an extra kick. This is a pizza that is worth traveling for, and if you’re ever in an area with a Lou Malnati’s, look it up and place an order. It’s worth it.

Crust: 9.8/10
Sauce: 9.5/10
Cheese: 9.4/10
Toppings: 8.4/10
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Sandwiches

Hot dogs not included – Sandwiches are judged on bread, ingredients, flavor and value for a total of 10 possible points.

Z-Café
Mesa, Arizona
Score: 8.3/10

Z-Cafe is a hole in the wall, cozy sandwich shop pitted between a long line of stores. The cafe serves fantastic breakfast burritos in the morning, and a whole variety of sandwiches to fill any need around lunchtime. It’s a quick, walk up to the counter and order type stop and the food is delivered to-go on the front counter or directly to your seat should you choose to stay in and enjoy your food at a table.

My order was the Dylan, a chicken sandwich served with bacon, cheese and a chipotle sauce. The chicken is sliced in long strips and the sandwich is grilled with the cheese and ingredients inside, so that it all melts together into a bountiful flavor experience. You can order it with your choice of bread. Varieties include White, 9-Grain, Sourdough, Marble Rye, Ciabatta, or various wraps. There is also a gluten free option. My order was made with 9-Grain. The bread was good – soft and fresh.

The pinnacle of the experience was the chipotle sauce, that mixed well with the Monterey Jack cheese and created a burst of flavor that paired with the uniquely cut chicken for a satisfying taste. The wait for the sandwich was a little long, but nothing so deterring to take away from the overall experience. It’s a solid lunch stop for anyone in the area, with quality ingredients and friendly service – all for less than ten dollars.

Bread: 7.6/10
Ingredients: 8.4/10
Flavor: 8.3/10
Value: 8.8/10
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Restaurants

Dining experiences rated based on service, drinks, food and atmosphere for a total of 10 possible points.

Barrio Queen
Gilbert, Arizona
Score: 8.3/10

Barrio Queen is an authentic Mexican restaurant located throughout Phoenix. The restaurant I visited was in historic downtown Gilbert with a full tequila bar, a large variety of tacos and a great hybrid indoor-outdoor space for sitting.

The restaurant has a wide variety of Mexican-inspired food included in its full menu. For our purposes, we’ll focus on tacos. They are authentic street tacos, with a variety of flavors. The carnitas and barbacoa were definitely favorites among the group, but the unique flavors in the pollo, which is shredded and served in a creamy sauce within the tortilla, was my top choice.

Overall, this a good stop for consistent Mexican food. There are locations throughout the Phoenix area and a number of tequila drinks – including a flight of margaritas for those of us who have a difficult time choosing. All good, so no chance of making a mistake from the drink menu.

Service: 7.1/10
Drinks: 8.9/10
Food: 9.1/10
Atmosphere: 8.1/10
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Copper 48
Gilbert, Arizona
Score: 7.7/10

A more formal dining location in downtown Gilbert, Copper 48 (formally known as Marketplace) offers steak, seafood and chicken and is a good dinner date location with fantastically mixed cocktails, a decent wine selection and good appetizers.

I ordered steak which came out grilled perfectly. The cut of meat was high quality – unfortunately it was over-seasoned. Despite that, it was tasty. Less pepper would have lifted the score significantly. Definitely worth a spending a date night at Copper 48, but make a reservation. There was still a wait, even with our time reserved.

Service: 7.4/10
Drinks: 9.0/10
Food: 7.4/10
Atmosphere: 7.1/10
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El Jefe
Tempe, Arizona
Score: 6.7/10

Located just off I-101 in Tempe, El Jefe is a Mexican + Sushi hybrid restaurant with a brewery feel. The seating locations are all contained in a large room with fans overhead. There is a bar on either side of the restaurant and orders are placed at the counter and brought to you at your seat. It’s a casual fast diner that offers take-out and a variety of Mexican treats with the added bonus of Sushi.

Keeping things consistent, I ordered four tacos – which was what was included as an item on their menu, although you could order tacos individually. The tacos I got were Chicken and Carnitas. After placing the order, you are able to choose the types of salsa that you’d like between ‘red’ and ‘green’. I opted to try both, and would say they were similar in taste with neither providing much of a kick.

The tacos were authentic Mexican street tacos, but a little too runny and the tortillas were steamed, not grilled. There was pretty good flavor on both tacos, but it felt like the same seasoning, so it was not particularly easy to distinguish between the two meats based on taste alone. I also got a side of Nachos which could accurately be described as stadium nachos.

The service was good, and relatively quick. It was a little difficult to hear the server when they were taking the order, but part of that is just due to the mask mandate. Overall, this is a good stop for lunch, especially if you are planning to order it for takeout. There are a couple of additional options on the menu that looked enticing, including a Birria Burrito, which equates to a California Burrito, with fries on the inside.

Service: 6.5/10
Food: 6.8/10
Atmosphere: 6.9/10
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Fat Nats
Crystal, Minnesota
Score: 8.7/10

The best breakfast in the Twin Cities? Probably. It’s an old fashioned diner with spicy carnitas, classic eggs benedict, a new twist on the classic pancake, eggs, omletts and more. They know what they’re doing and they don’t alter from the course with friendly service to boot. Go in and order anything – it’s all good. The restaurant only serves in the AM, so get there early.

Service: 8.3/10
Food: 9.1/10
Atmosphere: 8.8/10
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First Watch
Mesa, Arizona
Score: Score: 6.4/10

Well, it’s breakfast. The problem is that it’s just not that good. The flavors are bland and the service is bleh. It’s been hyped up enough to create a long wait, so plan to stand for a while as they prepare your reservation. Looking for brunch? There are better options.

Service: 6.3/10
Food: 6.8/10
Atmosphere: 6.2/10
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Joyride
Gilbert, Arizona
Score: 6.9/10

Joyride is an American-Mexican food restaurant in downtown Gilbert, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The restaurant has a wide variety of tacos, appetizers, margaritas and a great outdoor seating space.

We were seated outside, near a walkway that split Joyride from the restaurant next door and ordered two appetizers – Queso Dip and Mexican Corn (Elote) – along with five different kinds of tacos and four different flavors of margaritas and ranch waters. Overall the experience was good, with friendly service and a comfortable and relatively quiet atmosphere. The waitress visited our table often – but not too often – and food was delivered to the table quickly after ordering.

The highlight of the meal was the appetizers. The ‘Mexican Corn’ was Elote, but made without lime. It was cut off the cob and served in a bowl. The Queso was traditional. Tacos left a bit to be desired. They felt less authentic and more like an American spin on Mexican food. It would be a good spot for happy hour drinks and appetizers before moving on to another location.

Service: 7.3/10
Drinks: 7.1/10
Food: 5.1/10
Atmosphere: 7.9/10
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Reunion
Northfield, Minnesota
Score: 7.6/10

Downtown Northfield is a cozy locale, next to the river with a number of small businesses and restaurants to choose from. Reunion is a dining location with a fairly typical American menu including fish, steak and chicken. The staff are your typical small town friendly and the food is good, not great. It’s a nice stop.

Service: 7.6/10
Drinks: 7.1/10
Food: 7.2/10
Atmosphere: 7.9/10
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Wildflower Bread Company
Gilbert, Arizona
Score: 6.8/10

The restaurant isn’t exclusively breakfast, but then again it isn’t exclusively anything. As the name would indicate, they bake their own bread – and it’s good. Soft, with a good crust and plenty of flavor. They serve a variety of coffees and teas and good breakfast sandwiches that are great on the go, or if you’d like to sit down for a casual breakfast/brunch.

Service: 7.0/10
Drinks: 7.1 /10
Food: 6.9/10
Atmosphere: 6.3/10
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Hikes

Dining experiences rated based on service, drinks, food and atmosphere for a total of 10 possible points.

South Mountain Summit
Phoenix, Arizona
Score: 6.8/10
Difficulty: 6.2/10

Despite the name, the South Mountain Summit doesn’t actually end at a summit. It is a portion of the Telegraph Pass Trail and is about five miles round trip. The path is moderately traveled, with dogs, tourists, locals and passing hikers adding to the traffic. It runs along a road, and elevates 1,131 feet from the bottom of the path.

It does offer several good views of downtown Phoenix skyscrapers in the distance, but for the most part, the trail views are confined to views up the mountain. It’s good exercise, but not much more. Not overly-strenuous, but with opportunities to continue down the path, the hike is an opportunity to spend an afternoon outside.

Traffic: 6.8/10
Path: 7.4/10
Views: 6.3/10
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Sunrise Peak
Fountain Hills, Arizona
Score: 7.5/10
Difficulty: 7.3/10

Sunrise Peak is located about one hour outside of Phoenix and features a summit that is 1,184 feet above the trail head. It can be accessed via the Sunrise Trail and is four miles round trip. The elevation gain gets steeper the longer you hike, with the top offering two separate trails, one of which features switchbacks and the other which is a more direct approach. At the top, there are panoramic views of the cityscape that surrounds the mountain.

The hike is heavily traveled, with dogs, tourists, and casual hikers of all ages. It’s not overly-strenuous, but does offer some difficulties in footing at various areas, making it more challenging, especially near the top. There are picturesque views at the summit at every side. A fun day-hike that only takes a couple of hours.

Traffic: 6.7/10
Path: 7.8/10
Views: 8.1/10
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Stand Up Paddle Board

With a total of 10 possible points, paddle boarding routes will be judged based on accessibility and lake traffic with an emphasis on the uniqueness of views.

Canyon Lake
Apache Junction, Arizona
Score: 8.3/10

Bordered by cliffs, Canyon Lake sits in a State Park about an hour from Phoenix with rivers that run in and out of the lake. It’s a scenic paddle, with huge rock formations on either side of the water and explorable outlets.

The Lake allows boats with motors, and because it is located in an area without many lakes, it is a popular destination for boaters and fishers alike. Most don’t adhere to any boating etiquette and will buzz by in full speed. I visited the lake in the winter, so traffic was down, but you could see how busy the lake might get during the summer. There were a few pull-offs for free parking, where you could hike down to the lake with your board in hand, but parking closer to the lake required a permit which could be purchased for about $14.

The outlets are especially breathtaking and are accessible mostly by board or kayak. I paddled under the bridge that takes you into the park and upstream to a calm and secluded location that flows over rocks at the start of the stream. There is water trickling down the cliffs on either side of the stream, and the water is calm, with the wind blocked by rocks. It’s a great place to relax and enjoy the scenery. In-all, this is a top paddle with stunning views that is worth the trip into the park and the price of admission.

Traffic: 6.8/10
Views: 9.8/10
Waves: 7.9/10
Launch: 7.1/10
Uniqueness: 9.8/10
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