How about some “re-imagined Mexican food” flavours for Iftar? Returning with its Tex-Mex theme for the second year, California Tortilla has brought ‘Ifarrito’, its buffet concept, to town this Ramadan again.
Offering all the great ingredients for fillings to choose from, the Ifarrito buffet lets you create your own burrito.
Available throughout Ramadan at its restaurant located on the C-Ring Road near the Radisson Blu, the Iftarrito concept proved to be incredibly popular last year, with customers enjoying the delicious savoury meals featuring California Tortilla’s signature Mexican meals throughout the month.
This Ramadan, California Tortilla’s Iftarito buffet will include a 12” tortilla, with your choice of a number of fillings including mesquite chicken, grilled steak, blackened fish, veggie mix, sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, cooked rice, cooked beans, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, lemon slice, and topped with either olive oil vinaigrette, Caribbean mango or BBQ sauce.
“We have an open buffet. In 55 Qatari riyals, it has a lot of options on the menu for everybody. We are trying to push this concept and we are seeing how much people are enjoying it,” Ramy Kabel, Business Development Coordinator, California Tortilla, tells Community at an Ifarrito recently.
The menu has the same contents that go into a burrito, with blackened chicken, blackened beef, black beans, rice and the tortilla bread, letting you make your own burrito. In case, you do not want a burrito, you can also put the food on the plate and eat it with a spoon. The way you eat it is entirely up to you. 
“If you are an expert at creating a burrito yourself, fine. Otherwise, we have our staff always ready at hand. They can assist you in making your own burrito — all you need to do is to just ask them,” says Kabel.
The buffet is available between 6pm and 8pm daily, including drinks and the restaurant’s popular range of hot sauces. After 8pm, the a la carte menu is available.
“We also have salad ingredients on the buffet menu. You can make your own salad with vegetables, sour cream, cheese and other ingredients. You have vegetable soup for starters. I think it is a lot of buffet for people to enjoy,” says Kabel.
Kabel says they are constantly evaluating how people respond to the menu, especially monitoring the items that people like the most and if the prices are good or not. 
“We are having a very big campaign this or next week, where we are making some new stuff for our guests. There will be lots of competitions, promotions, winners and I hope people will like it,” he says.
The Ramadan buffet has been going on since the first of Ramadan at California Tortilla. The response so far, Kabel says, has been varying.
“It all depends. On some days, it has been really good while some days have not been that good. On the weekends, I think most of the families like to stay home and eat together. But on working days, like today, we had a really good response. It was full,” says the marketing co-ordinator. 
“Mostly, we are targeting the Qatari and Arab people, as Ramadan is the holy month for Muslims. And then there are a lot of European and Western expatriates who are coming here. We are particularly very popular with the Filipino community. A lot of them come here,” says Kabel. 
The restaurant has four branches in Qatar including the main branch on the C-Ring Road. There is a branch in 01 Mall, in Al Meera in Jeryan beside Qatar University, and the latest one was opened in The Pearl by the US ambassador. 
The one on the C-Ring road is the main branch and the biggest of them all. It is the most popular as well, says Kabel. “As it is on the main expressway, it is visible very well to everyone so it gets the most people. It is not possible for you to pass by and not see California Tortilla,” says Kabel.