La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill - The Luxor Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas

A burrito review from our yearly trip to the desert.

"La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill" - The Luxor Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, Nevada

La Salsa is a very spacious restaurant inside the equally, extremely spacious second level of the Luxor Pyramid. Tequila appears to be their specialty. Although, even for Vegas, 11AM was a wee bit early for tequila. the Burrito Czar and his Czarina opted for lunch. And what a sizeable lunch it was!

But before we get to that, what sort of burritos does La Salsa offer?

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill offers the following:
California Burrito (Veggie.)

Los Cabos Shrimp Burrito (Should have gone with my first instinct and ordered this one, as it's an ingredient you don't always see. Live and learn.)

Original Gourmet Burrito – Chicken or steak.

Grande Burrito – (Chicken or steak.)

Grilled Chicken Burrito

Fajita Burrito – (Chicken or steak.)

And…

The El Champion Burrito – which is DOUBLE the size of the Grande burrito. Diners who finish this along with a bar drink get a free t-shirt or something like that.

Now the Burrito Czar knows what you’re thinking! You’re thinking I went with the El Champion. I did not. There was enough of a belly bomber to be had simply by ordering the Grande Burrito, which as their menu states, is everyone’s favorite.

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill

Purchased April 4th, 2005 – BELLY BOMBER of a burrito first thing at 11 AM. They had just opened their restaurant for lunch.

Wrap / Presentation - **
Normally this would have received a higher rating if it weren’t for one distinguishing drawback. La Salsa apparently presses the burrito (panini style) prior to serving. This ‘crisps’ the tortilla and is allegedly considered "San Franciscan-style. Your everloving Burrito Czar didn’t know this. I also didn’t want a crispy pressed burrito. I wanted a soft burrito. Perhaps next time I'll request that they do not crisp the tortilla.

Fillings - **-1/2
Grilled steak, Mexican rice, black beans, Jack and Cheddar Cheeses, Salsa Mexicana, shredded lettuce, guacamole and sour cream. Yes, yes, more lettuce inside a burrito, but I gave them the chance as they were out West. The lower rating was more for the rice content than anything else. What is this place? Chipotle?! (Chipotle still owes M.O.A.B. a refund, you burrito defilers!)

Flavor - ***
The grilled steak was extremely lean and flavorful. YAHOO! It was just lost in a mountain of rice, both inside and outside the burrito. As well as lettuce and refried beans both in the burrito and on the plate. Again, pressing the burrito till the flour tortilla was no longer soft didn’t help. As it cooled, it got harder and more difficult to eat. Once cut into with a fork and knife, I had to sift through the mound of rice to get to the remaining grilled steak, cheese, guacamole and sour cream.

Pressed burrito.


Staff - **
Our actual waitress was willing to take the order, but was not overly anxious to return for follow-up. We received better service from the person who refilled our water and tortilla chip basket.

Condiments – **
The Salsa Mexicana is virtually undetectable inside the burrito. Sauces offered at table side were Cholulua sauce, a generic Chipotle sauce and a generic habanero sauce. When combined with the Salsa Mexicana for the tortillas, they made for an all right addition to the burrito innards.



OVERALL AVERAGE SCORE: 2.3 stars for the Grilled Steak Burrito.

TO BE FAIR, the portions were GI-NORMOUS - even by Vegas standards! I cannot fault La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill for that. Next time, as I said earlier, I'll go with his burrito gut instinct and order the shrimp burrito.

P.S. The Czarina highly recommends the Fajita plate. GI-NORMOUS though it was! Both meals were BELLY BOMBERS that early in the day.