By Juliette Daly
Chipotle and Cava are both fast casual restaurant chains with customizable bowls, and build your own meals. Chipotle is a mexican inspired cuisine, while Cava is a mediterranean style cuisine. Many people debate which is better, so here are the pros and cons, and a review of each.
Chipotle has a Mexican inspired menu, with quesadillas, burritos, burrito/protein bowls, rice, tacos, chips and guacamole, and much more. The most popular item on the menu is the customizable burrito bowl. The price of one of these bowls is $10.50 to $14, depending on if you wanted to add extra chicken or guacamole to your meal. The bowl includes your choice of protein, with the options of Chicken, Steak, Barbacoa (shredded beef), Carnitas (pulled pork), Sofritas (spicy tofu) , and Smoked Brisket (available in certain locations). The bases of the bowl include white rice, brown rice, cilantro lime rice, and supergreens salad mix. You can also add beans, with the option of black beans or pinto beans. The rest of the toppings include a wide range of salsas (pico de gallo, green chili salsa, red chili salsa) , fajita vegetables, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, corn and queso blanco. A popular side to get with a bowl is chips; which costs extra money with your meal. So with this wide variety of options, this leaves many different combinations in a chipotle meal, a big factor in its popularity.
A CAVA bowl however, is a customizable Mediterranean meal with a base of greens or grains, a protein selection of chicken, falafel, or steak, and dips such as hummus, tzatziki, Crazy Feta, and toppings like veggies, feta, olives, corn, pickled onions, and dressings including Greek vinaigrette, harissa vinaigrette, garlic dressing. Cava bowls cost about $13-$16, so they are a little pricier than chipotle bowls. Despite the price of the Cava Bowl, they have risen in popularity because they are seen as a much fresher and healthy option compared to other fast food restaurants.
In my opinion, I think chipotle is better because of their variety of menu items from bowls, to burritos, to tacos, and more, and the customizable bowls are priced cheaper than cava. When asked “Do you prefer Cava or Chipotle?” sophomore Chloe Annicharico said “I prefer Chipotle because I find it fresher and tastier than Cava. It is also a lot more filling.” Which one do you prefer?
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