Tortilla, Gatwick

Where not to eat at Gatwick Airport

Airport food, why is it so crap? They have us there at least 2 hours before and yet we pay a premium for below-average food. Tortilla Gatwick was our choice for breakfast, would it haunt us?

After a disastrous trip back courtesy of EasyJet from Berlin which included an overnight stay at a Britannia Hotel (if you know, you know) we were up and at Gatwick early to check-in, get breakfast and get home.

We checked in, got through security and headed to breakfast. As did the rest of what appeared to be the South East of England. Far too many people and not enough space, seating, food places, basically not enough everything. The whole place was like a follow your leader looping around as everyone looked to get food and a seat before crying.

Read about James Martin Kitchen at Glasgow Airport

For an airport of this stature, the food options were pitiful and long queues were out the door for each of them. A queue just to get in, never mind ordering anything. By this point we were starving, really. We couldn’t get a hot meal at our hotel the night before and had left before breakfast service so whatever Gatwick had to offer, we had to eat it.

So onto Tortilla!

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Tortilla Breakfast Menu

Here is the menu choice for breakfast.

Looks interesting, something a little bit different so we decided to try that.

According to the entry for Tortilla on the Gatwick Airport Website

Wholesome toppings made from fresh ingredients like the taquerias in Mexico and California? Now you’re talking.
from Tortilla entry on Gatwick Airport Website.

Keep this in mind… look at the fresh ingredients in the photos to follow.

We ordered two breakfast burritos and a breakfast roll for the mother, we asked for no smashed avocado but the rolls had already been made and sitting in the warmer – no offer to make a fresh one.

The roll was “warmed” as in wrapped in its foil and placed in the tortilla warmer for seconds. Then two tortilla wraps were “warmed” at the same time in said warmer… how warm can two tortillas get on a warmer designed for one? We soon found out.

Ordering hot drinks, as well as cold drinks at the same time, confused the cashier, so we had to order each soft drink separately going back and forth to the fridge….

Thankfully the mother had secured a seat, so we sat down eager for some food.

The breakfast roll was cold. So, I returned it to the counter to be directed to the end of the queue to get another, the server then realised that this was a bit of a crap move and brought over a warm breakfast roll. It was warm but the bread tasted old…you know that yesterday’s bread that has been sitting somewhere being kept warm feeling, that one.

Look at this delightful breakfast roll.

Remember what it is meant to look like?

I am astounded by the similarity…….

So onto the breakfast burrito, look above for reference.

Another excellent dish. Extra chewy chorizo and mush. Tepid mush. By this point, I was fed up, and hungry and couldn’t be bothered discussing this with staff, again.

The cappuccino was extra frothy, would have been nice to get at least 3/4 cup of coffee.

Later on, I posted on Twitter, seemingly this Tortilla is a franchise according to the Twitter DM from Tortilla. Not according to the Tortilla entry on the Gatwick Airport Website.

We’re not part of a multi-franchise, Tortilla started with the help of some friends and an awesome effort from our crew… all fanatical (in a healthy way) about making the best-quality, freshest, most delicious burritos and tacos this side of the Atlantic. Today we proudly stand in front of our 45+ stores nationwide (and in the Middle East!) whilst we raise a glass of tequila filled, frozen margaritas and doff our hats to our 500+ crew and loyal burrito fans who have helped make us who we are!

Verdict

Avoid as much as you can. We should have just got a meal deal from Boots. To top it off we tested positive for Covid a few days later. We are sure the cattle-like herding around Gatwick didn’t help.