Benito's hat, Fitzrovia, London

Awesome food, especially the salad which is just as nice as the burrito. The cocktails during happy hour are very good value for money!

I visited Goodge Street shortly after it opened and three years later, a burrito from Benito’s still tastes as good from any of the three stores (Goodge Street, Covent Garden or Oxford Circus). Mmm… big fat pillow of Mexican loveliness!

Whenever I meet up with friends visiting London, I always make a point of treating them to “London’s finest Burrito" and after a year working out of town, I’ve started working in the City of London and although my desk is less than 100 metres from another Mexican kitchen, I joined the cycle hire scheme to make it easy to visit Benito’s for my Friday treat. My favourite spots are either in the booth with friends, or sitting in the window watching the world go by.

Best Burritos in town by some distance – ingredients and subsequent taste to die for. Great vibe and service in the restaurants.

In short I am addicted to Benitos Hat.

Great Location, amazing margherita cocktails that perfectly compliment a generous sized burrito. Doesn’t get too busy and happy hour is always great!

Massive portions of extremely good burritos. Fresh ingredients, great service, reasonably priced, lovely interior and serves an amazing watermelon margerita…definitely going back!

5 stars. These are the best burritos I have ever eaten, and no, I haven’t been to Mexico, so yes, I am basing this on my limited London burrito eating experience. But I still say they really are excellent. I had a steak burrito. It was huge, the rice was tasty, the black beans delicious, steak incredible…you get the picture (also had: medium salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce). It was huge, quite enough food for two meals (or one very long sitting). I also had a Ting, a grapefruit flavoured fizzy drink that accompanied my burrito nicely.
They have started doing loyalty cards so look out for them by the till.
Its nice to sit in the window and do some people watching out onto Goodge St.

YUM! Loved the burritos, cheap and delicious. The guacamole was fresh and excellent. I’m enjoying this recent invasion of Mexican food into London!

Delicious burritos but a little too expensive ! 7£ the burrito without coke or other soda !

One of the best Mexican eateries in London in my opinion. You can taste that the ingredients are really fresh and that a lot of love goes into cooking the various meats available.

I always go for a salad here as I cannot manage to eat a whole burrito (the portions are huge).

There is usually a long queue here at lunchtime and in the evenings it is hard to get a table.

The seating here is quite cramped but this is due to the popularity of the place. They could probably benefit from having larger premises.

Good selection of beers too...

Whenever I have a takeaway from Benito's Hat, I get lots of envious looks from my colleagues back at the office.

Oh, and great Guacamale too!

My office is just a stone’s throw from Benito’s Hat Goodge Street so I’m already a convert and love the fast, furious and friendly vibe, but the newest addition to the menu has me well and truly hooked; I’m told the Lamb Barbacoa will only be available for the next few weeks and is served as a Burrito ( my personal fave!) or as the slightly lighter Taco version.

Maybe Barbacoa dishes are set to be the trend of 2011, what with the opening of Jamie’s much hyped Barbecoa at the end of last year? Whatever, Benito’s Hat BBQ dish is the real (Mexican) deal; the lamb is wrapped in avocado leaves and slow cooked for up to five hours, so it’s deliciously fragrant and tender. It’s served with a smoking Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa which has just the right amount of chilli kick.

I paid under £7 for the Burrito - which was on the very generous side – and washed it down with a Pacifico beer – perfect way to kick start a night out!

After a particularly long day in the office, I stopped by Benito's Hat on my way home. I'm already a big fan of their pulled pork burritos, but last night a new lamb barbacoa burrito caught my eye.

Lamb isn't usually the first thing that springs to mind when I think of Mexican food, but it actually works really well, as it lends itself well to the array of spices, plus slow-cooking methods Mexican cuisine is known for. A quick look on Wikipedia explained that Barbacoa is a traditional cooking method in Mexico, whereby meat is slow-cooked in a hole in the ground filled with coal, and covered with Maguey leaves. I'm not sure if this is the method Benito uses - probably wouldn't be practical in the middle of Goodge Street! - but however they do it, the result is delicious - the meat was very tender, and was delciious with some of Benito's trademark guacamole. Highly recommended!

Benito and his hat deserve a medal.

I discovered this place quite by accident, driving past one evening having not had dinner. I stopped and asked if they would serve me, and although they were closing up for the evening they whipped up some tacos for me which tasted sublime.

I now work within lunchtime proximity of Benito's Hat, and worry that one day my office will move too far away to come here regularly. I eat here at least once a week. The prices are excellent, the fillings are top quality and there's a giant poster of Mexican VW Beetle taxis on the wall! What more could I possibly ask for? I could ask for Agua de Jamaica, but they have that too :) (For those who don't know, Agua de Jamaica is Hibiscus water. It tastes a bit like cranberry juice but is much nicer).

I love Mexican food, and burritos in particular. Benito's hat is sited in an area of high burrito density, and the only reason for not going here is that the queue is too long, which says it all really. Benito's Hat serve the best burritos I've had in London, and I've had a lot of burritos. They also do cocktails and desserts, so you don't have to restrict it to lunchtime only :)

tasty and quick service, considering the queue is so long.

BUT i will not go there anymore due to the recent price rise (dec 2010). a standard burrito with chicken and guacamole = £6.80 takeaway. its just a burrito for heavens sake. rip off sorry

Great place!

First, the not-so-great: The flavours & seasoning are distinctively different from other burrito offerors, and less to my taste. That said, I do still like this place and find myself coming back again and again, whenever I am in the area and hankering for a burrito (which is, unfortunately, quite often).

Pluses: The staff -- you always get service with a smile! The cheery atmosphere. Not getting charged for guacamole.

And last but not least -- fresh ingredients. Never does the food look or taste like it's been sitting around for days, dried out (ahem, see my other review of a certain inconsistent burrito joint in the city).

I've gone here a few times - any San Diegan needs her dose of Mexican food every now and then! I think overall it's a good package: filling, all the fixins, good menu. Sometimes I think to myself there's some flavor missing, but that may be just me being picky. Either way wash your meal down with an ice cold cerveza and you're set!

Just went for lunch after a bad meeting so needed a luncheon pick-me-up. We fought through the rain and wind to the door of Benito's Hat. We arrived to a welcoming collection of chicas del Mexicana bopping and chatting over some dance music. It felt very fiesta like.

The music level was reduced as we were guided through the choices of their superb Fresh Mex style cuisine. The soup sounded authéntico but it's hard not to grab a steak/pork/chicken/veg burrito when they look so good.

The friendly service, good vibe and excellent fresh wholesome food makes Benito's Hat a great filling lunch choice. There is complimentary water jugs too if you over-spice your taco so you can extinguish the burn. The venue also makes a quick evening meal to be accompanied with some fine cervezas del Mexico.

Señor Benito. I doff my Hat to you.

When the Burrito Event Horizon has been reached and every shop is selling these tasty parcels of Mexican-style lunchtime goodness, I predict that there will still be queues outside Benito's Hat. And for quite good reason.

Their ingredients are consistently high-quality and tasty, and the staff seem to have a knack for getting just the right proportions. I'll often think about asking for a little more sour cream, but then trust their judgement, and realise that they know what they're doing. Even under the high pressure of lunch-rush, they consistently come up with the goods.

Personal favourite's the chicken burrito, black beans, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, and hot salsa. BAM! A taste explosion. There's a couple of decent beers on offer too, as well as various Mexican style drinks.

I can't comment on the authenticity of the thing - having never visited Mexico - however Benito's Hat are consistently authentically tasty, and never so soggy that the bottom drops out of the thing before you've finished. The handful of tortilla chips is a nice touch, but probably unnecessary.

The only way I'd make this place different would be to turn it back into a secret, so I don't have to queue up for their amazing bundles of awesomeness.

Such a brilliant place to pick up a quick bite in town. Amazing staff and massively filling portions. Cheap and muy cheerful. My only regret was not going for one of the incredible looking mojitos. Although I did mange to get by with the great choice of 2 different mexican beers.

Cheap and cheerful, filling, tasty, in a great location, veggie friendly and nice staff, can't afford to go to Mexico now so think I'll be back here if I have another mex craving

nice place to eat lunch