How to Get Bigger Portions at Chipotle
When Keith Lee talks, the Internet listens.
The food reviewer and TikTok influencer, who has more than 16 million followers on the social media platform, recently re-reviewed several offerings from Chipotle. In his TikTok, Lee said that he wanted to give Chipotle another chance because “in [his] opinion,” his recent meals from the fast-casual chain had “not hit the same.”
Lee spent $40.59 on his order and received a steak quesadilla with corn and sour cream on the side; his “go-to bowl” of chicken al pastor, cheese, fajita vegetables, corn, medium salsa, sour cream, and brown rice; and his “go-to taco order” of crispy tortillas with chicken, cheese, sour cream, mild salsa, brown rice, and fajita vegetables.
Although Lee was pleased with his tacos, rating them an 8 out of 10, he wasn’t as delighted by the bowl. He commented that the portion sizes at Chipotle had been small lately and added that he “didn’t see [any] chicken at all,” as he dug into the bowl with his fork. “This was $12 or $13,” he said, “and I only get four pieces of chicken.” He ultimately gave the bowl a score of 2 out of 10.
A number of commenters on Lee’s TikTok echoed his observations about the chain’s supposedly shrinking serving sizes. “My Chipotle hasn’t been the same in a while,” one user wrote. While another added that the chain is “stingy with the food.”
In a statement emailed to Today, Chipotle said that it has not made any changes to its portion sizes. “Our intentions are to provide a great experience every time, and our meals have always been completely customizable so guests can vocalize or digitally select their desired portions when choosing from the list of real ingredients,” Laurie Schalow, Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, told the outlet. “If we did not deliver on our value, we want our guests to reach out so we can make it right.”
Some customers are taking matters into their own hands—or at least into the hand that’s holding their iPhone—and have been filming Chipotle employees as they make each order in some misguided, TikTok-approved attempt to get a bigger portion.
The “phone hack” has become so widespread on TikTok that Chipotle’s own account even parodied it, posting a clip of a Chipotle counter surrounded by phone-wielding customers with the caption “POV u work at Chipotle rn.”
We don’t advocate making service workers feel uncomfortable — or filming people without their consent. But if you really want a bigger serving at Chipotle, one less-invasive, possibly more-effective method is to…just ask.
“If you order in store, don’t be afraid to ask ‘can you go heavy on XYZ’ or ‘can I get a little more,’” one Redditor posted on r/Chipotle. “Ask kindly and you will never get any issue. Only way you’ll get charged more is if you ask for more meat. How I get around this is simply asking can I do half X and half Y (which is not extra) and you’ll usually get a pretty decent helping. Not quite double but a little more than one meat by itself.”
The Redditor also reminded everyone to be kind to the staff at their local Chipotle. “Remember these workers are overworked and underpaid,” they wrote. “A little consideration and kindness can go a long way, and just remember if you frequent a location and you’re always kind most of the time you don’t even have to ask. They’ll just hook you up.”
Huh. Who knew?