What not to order at Baja Fresh
I think of myself as a healthy, informed person who tries to eat well. I found myself at Baja Fresh for lunch today and felt like something light and well-balanced, so I ordered the Chipotle Glazed Chicken Salad. To my surprise, it came with some fried doughy things, which I couldn’t resist eating once they were in front of me. I then went to look at the nutritional information and found that there were 31 grams of fat and 700 calories in the salad and accompanying dressing alone. Fortunately, I didn’t order a soda a small Pepsi would have added an extra 140 calories, making it an 840 calorie meal!
I should have ordered the Baja Ensalada with Shrimp only 245 calories and 6 grams of fat with the fat free salsa verde. That would have left me with plenty of room to indulge in an afternoon snack of a Starbucks Lowfat Oat Fruit Scone at 320 calories and 3 grams of fat or, even a 270 calorie Butter Croissant with 15 grams of fat. In either case, I would avoid snacking on the seemingly healthy Zucchini Nut Bread at Startbucks, with 420 calories and 16 grams of fat.
I wish that all restaurants, whether it is McDonald’s or Baja Fresh or Starbucks, would come forward and make it easier for us to distinguish healthy items on their menu instead of being deceived by the apparent healthfulness of menu items (such as salad).
Fred Said,
May 8, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
Another thing to never have: Enchilado style.
I have a Baja Fresh across from work and I find that it’s normally filling, somewhat nutritious, and “clean” in the sense that I can tell what most of the ingredients are. However, last time I made the mistake of making my grilled veggie burrito into an Enchilado-style meal. Boy was that a huge mistake.
Enchilado style is simply taking a burrito and drenching it in a bit of salsa and a TON of jack and cheddar cheese. It’s frightening to look at the ADDITIONAL nutritionals: 630 calories, 40 g fat, 360 calories from fat, 19 g sat fat, 75 mg of cholesterol and 1450 mg of sodium!!!
Dangerous…it’s almost like eating the appetizers at Chili’s, TGIFriday’s…etc
jodi Said,
June 28, 2007 @ 8:06 pm
oh, i love baja and usually get the (a) chicken tacos or (b) the tostada, loaded with all kinds of fresh salsa… its hard not eating that tasty shell so if i can leave at least half on my plate, not eaten - i consider it a success!
i think its great that so many places list their nutritional info online nowadays, it should be mandatory for all restaurants and fastfood joints…
Rebecca Said,
June 29, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
I always find myself looking for the nutrition info of foods at restaurants. You can find a lot online now and it is frustrating when you can’t. Haven’t been to Baja Fresh in awhile though. Thanks for the heads up. Salads are always tricky! If you are into US Beef check out this demonstration I help with for MoovetoAmerican.org! http://moovetoamerican.org/index.html
johnny Said,
December 29, 2008 @ 5:25 pm
unnBE8 Thanks for good post