Takeaway Truth: Mad Mex “Naked Burrito”

Takeaway Truth is an occasional Lifehacker feature where we compare marketing images against what you actually get served. Today: Mad Mex’s Naked Steak Burrito.

Fast food restaurants have been known to gild the lily when it comes to accurate depictions of their menu items. Far too often, the mouth-watering feast on the poster turns out to be a limp and oily morsel. In a bid to keep the fry-jockey overlords honest, we’ve decided to document the reality of fast food — it was either that, or go postal like Michael Douglas in Falling Down.

A few years ago you couldn’t pay an Australian to go into Taco Bell. Today, Mexican takeaway food has become one of the nation’s most popular choices, with Guzman y Gomez and Mad Mex on the top of the healthy eating list.

As its name implies, Mad Mex’s Naked Burrito is a bowl of burrito fillings minus the bread wrap. Positioned as a low-carb option for weight watchers, the Naked Burrito comes with an option of different meats (chicken, steak or pork), black beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, sour cream and salsa.

Here’s a side by side comparison of how the Steak Naked Burrito compares to the menu image:

Instead of lovingly placing the steak on top of the bowl, our food preparation worker dumped a crap-load of colourless lettuce on top which obscured everything else from view. When we took a closer look at the steak, it’s not surprising they wanted to bury it:

Compare the huge, deliciously rare cuts of steak in the poster to the gristly morsel above. All the meat in our meal looked the same.

Of all the Takeaway Truths we’ve done, the Naked Burrito has probably been the healthiest and most delicious. But when it comes to accuracy, our serving kind of stunk.

    Truth Rating: 6/10

Which fast food franchise or menu item would you like us to tackle next? Let us know in the comments section below.


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