I recently signed-up for a Yelp account and have finally been trying-out a hand at writing reviews about places I’ve eaten at. I don’t think I’m terribly skilled at writing reviews of food, but maybe with some practice I’ll get better at it. That said, here is my review of Viva Burrito, a somewhat unknown national chain with locations across the Denver, CO metro area.

Being that I live in a fairly unsavory part of the metro area, I’ve made it a point to try everything in my neighborhood in hopes of finding some gems (or at least places I didn’t have to go out of my way to eat at). Viva Burrito has been one of the better experiences.

Generally speaking you get what you pay for at Viva Burrito– the beef is super greasy, the bacon is not bacon, but merely crisply fried ham, and I’ve had a few items that I didn’t want to know details about. After trying several things out on the menu, the things I can recommend are:

- Rolled tacos. Crunchy and super greasy, but pretty good.
- Beef tacos. See above.
- Chicken burritos. The chicken tastes pretty plain, but has some sort of spicy red sauce which is pretty good.
- Breakfast burritos. I’m partial to the ham ones, though the “bacon” ones are good sometimes too.

If I liked tomatoes the nachos would be pretty good. Essentially they contains some pico de gallo, shredded cheese, and chips. I’d also highly recommend asking for the green salsa instead of the red. The red stuff is pretty watery and not really hot or flavorful. The green at least has flavor.

Oh, and I’ve never eaten inside. I would highly recommend being fluent in Spanish if you decide to try it.

If you’re looking for something other than Taco Bell at 2 AM, I would highly recommend getting a breakfast burrito here. Otherwise you’re not missing much, but it’s nice to know it’s there in a pinch. The food can be hit or miss, but is usually decent considering that it’s fast food and inexpensive. It is much more authentic than most any other similar place.

If you’re from Highlands Ranch and easily spooked by eating somewhere outside of Applebee’s or being outside of neighborhoods which might have at least a little character, you should probably never try it. In fact you’re too boring to even be on the internet researching restaurants– why are you still reading this?

Other reviews of Viva Burrito:

• Westword
• CitySearch