Look What People Are Saying About The Restaurant That Could Be The Next Chipotle (CMG)

ShopHouse is Chipotle's Asian spinoff, and it has the potential to be a huge new business for the popular fast food restaurant. 

Its test location at Dupont Circle in Washington D.C., is seeing sales volume surge according to Chipotle's first quarter earnings announcements.

And many are now saying that ShopHouse could be the next Chipotle.

The idea for ShopHouse came to CEO Steve Ellis while he was visiting Thailand and Singapore last year.

The restaurant draws on Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Singaporean cuisines for its recipes.

Here are some reviews from Yelp that give a broad sense of how it is being received.

Jimi D: "4 of us had various reactions from fever to the shits to puking."

Score: 1/5

Sorry dude, Party of 6 went there for lunch 3 of us got meatballs three of us got broccoli. 4 of us had various reactions from fever to the shits to puking. Not again.

Source: Yelp

Richard M: "Holy Mother of Chipotle! ShopHouse is a Thaiphoon of tastes"

Score: 4/5

Holy Mother of Chipotle!  ShopHouse is a Thaiphoon of tastes, a flood of flavors and a bargain for a bowl.

So you combine Chipotle's tried and true "build your meal" method, but with very fresh Neo-Asian ingredients.  It's fast, it's fresh it's relatively healthy (especially the tofu option) and it's cheap. The toppings are spicy, but I dig it that way.

On my first visit I had a bowl with rice noodles, tofu, eggplant and slaw.  The only reason I didn't give them 5 stars is because I've only had 1 order.  My rating may change after trying few more combos.

Source: Yelp

Laura L: "Will it be authentic? Hmm... that's debatable. Is it tasty? Absolutely!"

Score: 4/5

While ShopHouse touts itself has having Southeast Asian cuisine, I would consider it more of a spin-off or even an interpretation. So will it be authentic? Hmm... that's debatable. Is it tasty? Absolutely!

I've been to ShopHouse quite a few times (maybe less than 10 now) and if you're into the setup of Chipotle (or fast casual anything), you'll dig ShopHouse. You can opt for noodles, rice or bahn-mi and load up the fixin's. I'm a fan of the rice bowl with pork and chicken meatballs with the slaw. I've tried it with green beans but my weakling palate can't really take anything remotely spicy. As for sauces, the vinaigrette or the green curry tend to be on the mild side but are fairly flavorful.

The only downer about ShopHouse is that 1) it gets crazy busy on weekends during normal lunch times so it's best to be avoided then (post lunch around 2pm, it's empty) 2) it's not super authentic (if you want the real deal, go to Eden Center or A&J or....) 3) seating can be few and far between even when it's not super busy so takeout may be your only option, depending on the day. It'd be cool if there was sidewalk seating. Maybe one day, ShopHouse!

Source: Yelp

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