Anna's Taqueria (Beacon St)
Brookline, MA
| Overall Score based on 8 reviews |
7.4 recommended |
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User Reviews (8)
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Showing 1-8 of 8 (most recent reviews shown first)
Score: 9 / 10 Reviewed by: iskeith3
Well, well. We have a new reigning champion. While I personally prefer a Chipotle burrito, it is clear through careful analysis that Anna's is the better overall bet. To start, the restaurant has a fantastic atmosphere. It's a great home-style run burrito joint, and the employees there will be wrapping your burrito quicker than you can decide what you want on it. If you show up at Anna's, it's likely the line will be out the door -- but you'll be amazed to see that line disappear in about two minutes. Seriously, we're talking about the best wrapping in the land. Even quicker than Busdriver. Get it? Wrapping, rapping? Har har. But I digress.
How's the actual burrito? Mad tasty. As we were chowing down, the thought came up, "I'm not sure if there's anything that Anna's will lose points for!" The quality of the ingredients is top notch, and everything is a party for the taste-buds. Especially the guacamole. After several jaunts of sub-par guac, I was very happy to taste some real avocado-full-of-flavor guacamole. And here's the final kicker: the price. The burrito is well-sized, quite delectable, and very affordable. Good work, Anna's. I'll be seeing you around.
Score: 4 / 10 Reviewed by: gobells
I'm gonna have to go with Adam on this one. After growing up in CA, I moved to Boston for school and realized that the Mexican food here sucks. The burrito I got at Anna's was small and pretty bland, so I found myself dumping their hot sauce (which is average) all over it. After I finished, I realized I was still hungry, despite ordering the super burrito. I thought about getting another one, but then realized that I did not want to give any more of my money to such a place. The sad part is that all of my friends here think that Anna's is the best place in the city for a burrito. I don't wanna sound like a burrito elitist, but I will: in my New England Mexican food-eating experience, I have yet to find a place that holds a candle to even the crappiest of places in CA. I give them a 4 for effort.
Score: 10 / 10 Reviewed by: burritoman34
Anna's is the end all and be all or Burritos in Massachusetts. I've tried most places and Anna's just blows them all away. My co-workers and I will pilgrimage to Anna's from the suburbs just for the experience.
My all time great:
(A "Super" includes cheese, rice and beans and meat)
Super Carnitas, black beans, salsa ,hot sauce. Occasionally I add Jalapenos and or guacamole. It's just pure heaven. the Carnitas is full of flavor but not overly salty.
The grilled chicken is the next best option for me. Very tasty.
I tried the Al Pastor when they introduced it. not my cup of tea. very salty. maybe that's just the way Al Pastor is.
You can always add extra meat for a cheap price. The dinner plates are also delicious!
Score: 9.5 / 10 Reviewed by: jsimone11
This is in response to Adam's ridiculous posting on April 13th (http://www.burritophile.com/user_review.php?pid=70&rid=1529&uid=1006). Having lived in Boston my whole life and having studied the taquerias in the San Francisco area for 1 month, I think I have a good sense of a Boston Burrito vs. San Francisco. Anna's Taqueria is the best burrito in Boston for a good reason. They have the freshest ingredients, best equipment (tortilla steamer), and best staff of any other taqueria in Boston. Also, Anna's is on par with almost every taqueria in the San Fran area with only La Costena and El Farolito being consistently better than Anna's.
I would like to address some of Adam's specific problems with the Beacon Street Anna's. These numbers reflect the 200-300 burritos I've had at this Anna's:
- On two occasions, both of which I remember because of how odd an event it was, I got an undercooked pinto bean. Since switching to mostly black beans, I have never had another undercooked bean.
- If Adam always receives a chicken burrito, then he's ordering wrong. My friends and I have perfected the ordering process to not only get exactly what we wanted, but also to maximize the amount of meat and other fillings inside. I will admit that they work fast, but as long as you're not flustered, as Adam appears to be, the ordering process is efficient and accurate.
- Because of the unique steaming process with cheese already on the tortilla, I think Anna's has good tortillas. They do NOT overpower the taste of the burrito which is the case at some other taquerias. More outrageous was Adam's comment that the integrity of said tortillas is poor - ask almost anyone who eats at Anna's and you'll find that they consistently have the BEST burrito construction around. In fact, I sat in on a meal not more than 7 days ago where each of 4 people had no breaks, tears or even DRIPS after eating our super burritos.
- Also of note here, which I think disproves Adam’s post overall, is that Anna’s Taqueria uses Mission Tortillas which are EXACTLY the same tortillas used by almost every taqueria in the country. (I think >90% of tortillas are Mission brand).
- I don't understand Adam's comment about the salty fillings. Either he's making fun of Russians or they like their fillings salted very appropriately.
- Last but not least, having the option of including broccoli in your burrito is great. If Adam doesn't like broccoli, he can specifically ask and they will not include it in the burrito.
In closing, a fluster-filled burrito ordering and eating experience does not a burrito critic make. I ask that Adam reassess his burrito experiences before he tries posting again on this reputable burrito website.
(Edit to respond to Adam: You are entitled to your opinion, I can agree with that. The discussion on this site and others like it are important to make sure we're all maximizing our burrito eating experiences. Though I do NOT agree with your description of Anna's, I really disagree with your grade more than anything else, and would like you to at least reconsider that grade. Below are the Burritophile guidelines for grades 5, 6 and 7. By your description alone, I think you grade should at least be in this range. Anna's should not suffer with a 6.9 overall because you and some other burrito rookie gave it a low grade.)
7
Good. Enjoyable overall, but nothing special.
The kind of burrito that you expect if you live in San Francisco or Mountain View. If you're on the east coast, you're going to be really happy if you can find a place that rates this high.
6
Almost good. Shows promise, but needs improvement.
We'll usually pass up a 6 in San Francisco — the cheese won't be melted, the al pastor tastes too much of orange, integration is nonexistent, etc. It's hinting at a 7, but it's not quite there yet. (For reference, Chipotle is somewhere around a 6.)
5
Fair. Unmemorable. Bland.
We might eat 5s if we're out of California, otherwise no. It's not a bad burrito, per se, but there's just nothing particularly good about the experience.
Score: 3.5 / 10 Reviewed by: adam
Whoa, what's up with the attacks on vegetarians.
Anyway, I'm a human. A human that has lived in California. Honestly, I'm not sure whether the Anna's on Beacon would appeal to humans in general (it strikes me as unlikely, but who am I to judge). But if your mental image of "burrito" is the same thing that I interpret "burritophile" to mean, then Anna's is not the place for you. I live near this branch, so have been a number of times.
-- On several occasions the beans have been hard/undercooked
-- Somehow now matter what you order, they dive into action making you a chicken and pinto bean burrito. It doesn't matter what you said-- by the time the tortilla comes off the grill, they're grabbing a spoonful of chicken and saying "chicken?" to you. Even if you manage to jump up and down and remind them that you had ordered something else, they may still in Houdini-like fashion manage to make you a chicken burrito, even while it looks like they are making something else. You will not find this out until you get it home and unwrap it.
-- The tortillas are rubbery and bland. In spite of this, the burrito integrity can be surprisingly poor (probably because they don't really drain the ingredients)
-- Fillings tend towards waaaaay too salty, with little else in the way of flavor.
-- The salsa, in particular, must be made with the neighborhood Russian grandmothers in mind. (absolutely *nothing* against Russian grandmothers--I just mean that the salsa is not designed for people who like spicy food)
-- For vegetarians, the vegetable burrito is filled with broccoli. I'm sorry, nothing against broccoli (really!) but it just doesn't belong in my burrito. So, just a friendly warning for those unaccustomed to the Boston broccoli custom: be sure to ask for no broccoli if you don't want it.
Although I'm not really a fan of any Anna's branch, the one at MIT seems relatively better, and even the one in porter square is a notch better. The beacon one really seems to be the lowest of the low. A shame, too, since it's right at my subway stop :(
I'm tempted to give them a 3, but they at least pass a couple of the criteria to go above 3 in the guidelines (tortilla is warmed, and cheese is not American cheese) Not good enough for a 4, though (the place *is* a travesty in my book)
[edit to reply to jsimone11's review: I'm glad you like it, and you're very welcome to your opinion-- different opinions is what makes sites like this useful. I personally happen not to like it at all, and I know I'm not alone, and I'm entitled to that opinion too, so you don't have to get all attackative. There are plenty of burritos in the world that I *do* like but this is REALLY not one of them. It sounds like my undercooked bean experiences were not so completely unusual, if you've had it too-- I've never had that issue anywhere else, so I think it is worth mentioning re Anna's. Switching to different beans is not a solution, it's a coping strategy. My consistent objection to this particular branch is that I find the ingredients overly salty and otherwise bland, and I don't like the way they steam the burritos into rubberiness. Actually, I don't blame them for things like generally not fresh guac, since that's a supply problem with avocados in Boston. And I'm *certainly* not flustered about ordering, I'm just always amused that 60 seconds after I say my order and have it repeated back to me correctly, I'm always re-asked "chicken???" Maybe I should say yes some time, if it's what they specialize in. But whatever--that's not the reason I don't like them, it's about the taste of the burritos. I keep giving them a chance because they're at my T stop. And if you want to calibrate my tastes, I put Anna's squarely in the middle of the local options, above Taqueria Mexico's burritos (3ish) (though TM''s tacos are better), tied with Baja Betty's, and a short notch below Boca Grande (5ish). My ideal burritos in the world are La Bamba in Mountain View, Grand Central Market in LA, and in SF, Taqueria Cancun and La Taqueria.
Anyway, I stick by my 3.5-- I don't know where the assessment of burrito rookie comes from, but I've decided after too many half-eaten Anna's burritos that I picked up out of convenience on the way off the T that I really find them barely edible, hence, not quite a 4 by the burritophile guidelines. It's not just that I wouldn't eat them if I were in CA--I'm avoiding at least this Anna's location from now on, even by Boston standards. Note that I did say that I've found some others a bit better, btw]
Score: 10 / 10 Reviewed by: Walacama
A response to GOBELLS review of 4/10. If you are telling us that a super burrito from Anna's is small and leaves you hungry. You are either morbidly obese, have a tape worm, the biggest glutton on the planet, or the burritos you are used to could feed a family of five. It's one thing to give it a bad review, which is your opinion and right, but don't make an obvious misstatement of fact. I raise my score to 10/10 because there is nothing in the area that compares.
I had to write a review of Anna's when I saw that Boca Grande had a score of 8 and Anna's had a score of 3 because of some vegan pu~neta. Anna's is hands down the best burrito in the Boston area. The ingredients are fresh. The rice and beans are great. You can get the Super Burrito for like $5. The taste is authentic. The service is fast. I have to give it a 9.5 because there is no comparison in all of New England. Does it measure up with some of the Burritos I've had in CA, TX, NM, or Mexico...No, but I have yet to find a Burrito that does on the East Coast. If your in Boston and need a Burrito, go to Anna's. If you can't get to Anna's go to El Pelon. If you can't get to El Pelon, don't get a Burrito. We'll Boarder Cafe in Cambridge is very decent actually.
I tend to only order chicken burritos as I don't care for steak or pulled beef. I like ground beef. The Anna's Chicken Super Burrito is my choice. Fresh Tortilla, melted cheese to bind the ingredients. Choice of beans, all are excellent. The toppings are distributed evenly throughout. When finished you are satisfied.
Score: 10 / 10 Reviewed by: tulrich
[A message for the west-coast Anna's haters: I'm sorry, but you folks are not tasting with an open mind. I've eaten hundreds of burritos on both coasts and in between, and Anna's stacks up against the best of its style; it truly is something special. Maybe you like your burrito with bbq tofu or grilled shrimp or thai peanut sauce or something, but that's no reason to give Anna's a 4.]
I dream of Anna's.
The beginning: "Super Carnitas please". The setup man, a king sized stack of Mi Pueblito tortillas, a pale stack of jack slices, the steamer -- the translucent glowing sheet, slapped onto the counter. A spoon heaped with rice, a spoon of pinto beans, bobbed once to drain the liquid, tucked onto bubbling cheese.
Then the meat: impossibly large hunks of nearly burnt pig, picked with tongs from a juice-filled bin and chopped, in thirty or so firm strokes, with what may have once been a machete, into a heap of soft fibers and crisp bits. A spoonful for the tortilla -- the rest, neatly collected and deposited back on the heap.
A square of foil slipped underneath. Pico de gallo with bits of cilantro leaves. "Hot sauce?" "Yes." A curt line of red squirted from a plastic bottle. At last, three quick movements: fold, form, and flip.
You know how it ends.
Seriously, these people can cook a burrito. Over the years they've opened more stores, the prices have inched up, and the portions have inched down, but as far as I can tell the recipe remains sublime and unchanged.
Score: 3 / 10 Reviewed by: robertb (San Jose, CA)
I'm a vegan. So beware.
But, vegan or not, there's no way this place could be considered good. There are no refried beans, the salsa has too much cilantro and is bland, and the tortilla is rubbery. Yuck. You would do much better to just get a Shepherd's-Combo Falafel at Sepal in Watertown and forget the burrito concept. (Baja Betty's in Brookline can be a decent alternative if a burrito substitute is unacceptable.)
Showing 1-8 of 8
