King Burrito In Tienmu (closed)

Cuisine Greater Taipei Restaurants
1

Just around the corner from the Tienmou Wellcome and Tienmou circle, this place is fast now and, finally cheap. I went to their branch in Jiantan (now closed) after hiking a few years ago. Could not exactly remember why I got a chicken burrito bowl and not a burrito. When I walked into their new branch in Tienmou a few months ago I finally realized why. The King Burrito was 390NT.

Pretty steep price especially considering Eddy’s is just down the street and their burritos are 270NT.

To be fair, the places serve completely different burritos.

King Burrito uses store bought tortillas, at Ed’s they are homemade. King Burrito adds the fixings like tomatoes, corn, lettuce and beans and rice plus the salsa into the burrito. At Ed’s, it is refried beans and rice in the burrito. The salsa is served on the side. At King burrito they ask do you want mild or spicy. At Ed’s they ask do you want regular or Habanero?

King Burrito served a nice burrito, but for the price I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back. Equally unsure if they would be around again at those astounding prices. Yes, TAS is just around the corner, but what about locals that may just want to give Mexican food a try? And with no Chinese menu?

A month or so later I was back in the area and decided to try it out again. Again, not bad. Same burrito. The price however had been lowered to 290NT.

Last week I was in the area again and saw that it was open and popped in. The price had dropped again. The King Burrito was now 200NT.

But they got sly and served what was once the “small” version of the King Burrito, passing it off as the King Burrito. So, they are now serving what was once their small version as the King Burrito at a still slightly inflated price of what their small burrito once was.

In short, if you have 5 minutes and are in Tienmou and want something to go, KB is not a bad choice. At Ed’s you may need to wait 15 minutes or so.

I was not a business major, but if you are cutting the price of your product in half after just a few months of opening, there may be some issues.

2

This restaurant is closed.

3

Bummer! At least at the old Shilin branch, those guys served a quality product.

Guy

4

…which very few people could afford unfortunately. I got sticker shock and never ate there.

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5

Being Californian I never thought I would say this but I miss Mexican food. :lick:

6

I imagine this “sticker shock” is compounded by the fact that the things they’re serving (burritos) resemble other handheld foods in Taiwan (runbin, gaobao, etc) that are available for around NT$50 in Taipei (and of course for less outside our lovely capital).

Sadly, Taiwan is where Mexican restaurants apparently come to die… :frowning:

Guy

7

Based on my experience, this makes you statistically normal! :smiley:

Unfortunately there are not enough of you guys here jonesing for burritos to keep these places going for very long…

Guy

8

In Tianmu there are plenty. Just not for the original price of $390. And as I stated in my OP, Eddy’s is right down the street for $120 less and better quality. I think the management incorrectly assumed because it was[i] Tianmu they could charge whatever and the foreign folks will flock. When, in fact, I was a bit insulted the first time I frequented the place and saw the price and then tasted the product. A local family of four won’t frequent a place that is going cost them over $1000 to feed a family of four (I think the regular burritos were 290 or 250 or something).

Final note. On my third and final visit when the King Burritos were $200, I was told they didn’t have any King-sized tortillas, but I could get two normal burritos for $390. Trying to get by on the sly…

9

[quote]I think the management incorrectly assumed because it was[i] Tianmu they could charge whatever and the foreign folks will flock. When, in fact, I was a bit insulted the first time I frequented the place and saw the price and then tasted the product.
[/quote]

Look, I have no relation to this business, and I do not know how the Tianmu shop was managed as I only was able to frequent the older location in Shilin. We get it that you thought their food was pricey. But please try to see what these guys were trying to do. They emphasized a “Chipotle” model with locally sourced ingredients, carefully prepared–no processed bullshit. At least give them credit for trying this instead of poisoning us.

It seems that we are caught here on the flob between bewailing all the toxins and assorted crap in the food system (due in part to a cost-down business model–and to hell with the well-being of others) AND wanting everything to have rock bottom prices, just for us because we’re so special. When you sell your services, do you want to be paid fairly for honest work? I thought so. I do too. And I suspect the King Burrito guys (who were from California, btw) did as well. Please give these folks a break.

Guy

10

There’s not enough well off people here who would pay for what is essentially snack food like a sandwich. People here easily pay that and more for hot pot and Japanese food, they like to get meal for their money. They should have done more value meals. I couldn’t really afford to eat there with my family and I earn more than most locals. I could pay the money but I wouldn’t feel comfortable spending that much on a few burritos.

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11

Indeed. Or more to the point: this is not the kind of international food that local folks here are willing to pay for. If you substitute “Japanese” for “Mexican” and keep this price point, people would pay.

And regarding King Burrito: while the business plan evidently did not work out, I don’t think we need to rag anymore on these guys who in my view actually gave it an honest go, with no shortcuts in the cooking and no nonsense in the food.

Guy