Sweeto Burrito’s new sit-down restaurant will wrestle your taste buds into submission
The Sweet Pork Salad, Nachos and Carnivore Burrito at Sweeto Burrito's new sit-down restaurant in Orem.
The Nachos, which included queso instead of traditional cheese, was among the best items we sampled.
Like many of the items at Sweeto Burrito, the Sweet Pork Salad includes a smooth yet zesty cilantro ranch sauce.
The Sweet Pork Salad, Nachos and Carnivore Burrito at Sweeto Burrito's new sit-down restaurant in Orem. To read the Herald's review, visit provodh.com/wgymh.
The Nachos, which included queso instead of traditional cheese, was among the best items we sampled.
The visuals of a UFC fight and the audio of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” is not your average combo.
Two lean, muscled fighters careening toward one another, a driving knee colliding with a clenched jaw, sweat and spit mixing in the air — coupled with the unapologetic softness of 1997’s biggest radio hit as it floats over the PA system: “I want to stand with you on a mountain/I want to bathe with you in the sea/I want to lay like this forever/Until the sky falls down on me.” A unique juxtaposition of the brutally aggressive and unrelentingly tranquil.
The only thing I’d compare it to is, well, eating at Sweeto Burrito. We did both this week at Sweeto’s new brick-and-mortar restaurant in Orem. Sweeto Burrito’s made a name for itself the past few years with its luchador-themed food truck, and I was curious to see how the sit-down experience would compare. (I got neither UFC nor Savage Garden at the food truck.)
Since burritos are Sweeto’s specialty — it also has tacos and salads — my friends and I focused our efforts there. We ordered the Sweeto, Buff Chick, Carnivore and Breakneck burritos, as well as chips and queso, nachos and onion rings. The burritos come in “middle weight” and “heavy weight” sizes, the larger costing three dollars more. Both seem plenty big.
The Sweeto comes with slow-cooked, sweet shredded pork, lime rice, black beans, pepper jack cheese, “neato” sauce and cilantro ranch sauce. “This burrito is the boss,” the menu says. That’s accurate. And the burrito was well named. Sweet pork burritos with rice and beans are a dime a dozen in Utah Valley. The pork, lime rice and sauces made for a slightly sweeter, more unique sweet pork burrito than what you’ll find at Café Rio or Costa Vida.
The real genius of this restaurant is how it mixes flavors. The Buff Chick, which includes breaded buffalo chicken, traditional buffalo or sweet-hot buffalo sauce, tater tots, cheddar cheese and cilantro ranch sauce, achieved that aforementioned mix of intense and low-key flavors. Kudos to this burrito for its texture mix, too — the tots and breaded chicken gave it a nice crunch. Same goes for the Breakneck, Sweeto’s original breakfast burrito that also includes tots, cheese and cilantro ranch sauce, substituting chunky bacon, eggs and neato sauce for the Buff Chick’s buffalo sauce and chicken. I would have preferred a bit more crunch from the tots, though.
With luchadors (Mexican professional wrestlers) being the restaurant’s theme, I didn’t expect such balanced flavors. Truthfully, I thought it might be a bit over-the-top. My friend Josh captured our collective expectation as we munched: “I was afraid I was going to have Guy Fieri just spitting nacho cheese at me,” he said. That didn’t happen, metaphorically or literally.
The nachos deserve special mention here. I’ve never had nachos quite like these. The chips are drizzled with queso, then topped with seasoned grilled chicken, bacon, salsa, sour cream, cilantro ranch and lime. The choice of queso over regular cheese was risky, but it works. These certainly aren’t Mexican nachos — they’re Sweeto’s, through and through. This appetizer really captured the unique flavor profile that wove itself through the rest of our meal. In its taste, décor and overall feel, Sweeto Burrito just knows what it is. Do I want to lay — er, eat — like this forever until the sky falls down on me?
Maybe.
SWEETO BURRITO
Where: 1990 N. State St., Orem
Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 7 a.m.-3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday
Prices: Burritos $6-$12, tacos $3, salads $6-$7, bowls $7-$8, appetizers $3-$8, sides $1.50-$3.
Info: (801) 980-1020, sweetoburrito.com