The Chipotle Mexican Grill does not have: table service, an extended menu or, thank heavens, sombrero pictures on its walls. In fact, it doesn’t have much of anything on its walls. Let’s hear it for concrete. Industrial chic — the decor is strictly utilitarian.

But the grill does have: a basically young crowd, fast service, fresh food and a Manifesto.

A Manifesto? That’s what I said. How many restaurants do you know that can make that claim? Read it in detail at www.chipotle.com/fwi. That “fwi,” by the way, stands for Food with Integrity, which is what this restaurant is all about. It strives to serve naturally raised meat from humanely raised animals (no antibiotics, no hormones); cheese and sour cream from the humanely raised cows; beans — and Mexican restaurants are full of beans — that are organically grown. Chipotle tries to get as much local produce as possible in the summer.

Founded by Steve Ells in Denver in 1993 and even backed for a short time by McDonald’s, the grill now has more than 900 locations coast to coast. (The closest one to us, heretofore, has been in Rochester.)

It aims to present fast food with quality.

All the save the earth philosophy is great — and I personally have been a believer for years — but I wear a different hat when I review restaurants, and my concern is taste. So here’s the thing: The taste is good. Even if you don’t give a darn about what the pigs have been given to eat or where they play (the chain says it “respects their pigness”), you’ll like eating here.

Maybe you can detect social responsibility and maybe you cannot, but this food is delicious.

Chipotle has no ambience, food is cooked in the open kitchen in front of you, assembled cafeteria style and comes out fast. Think assembly line — “green” assembly line, in fact. Do not expect to linger.

Pick out the tortilla you want. Burrito, taco, fajita or choose a bowl, you choose what you want the staff to put inside it. Chicken, steak, shredded beef (barbacoa), carnitas (shredded pork), vegetarian. Then choose the toppings you want (various salsas, beans, lettuce, guacamole, cheese, sour cream). It goes together and bing bang boom (don’t know how to connote the speed in Spanish).

Takeout is big here (you can order online); eating in is not so big. You have a choice of a very few high tables or a low shelf overlooking the outside view. Unless you count a clear sight of melting slush or a Christmas store that looked pretty forlorn in January to me, I use the term “view” lightly.

Since this is supposedly burrito headquarters, we went that route. The special of the day was a Chicken Burrito ($6.10), a great large flour tortilla carefully folded over sprightly dark green lettuce, grilled chicken that had been marinated in chipotle adobo and heaped with roast chili corn salsa (medium hot — I loved it); those beans; medium hot tomatillo salsa; rice, sour cream and guacamole ($1.85 extra). It was zesty, messy and excellent.

And so was the Steak Burrito ($6.50) with pretty much more of the same. For good measure, we ordered some ala carte Chips with Hot Tomatillo Red Chili ($3), described as “hot” and they aren’t kidding.

With all of that, you really need beer, and a cerveza / Margarita license is on its way. It’s in its early days yet, but the Chipotle Grill has a national reputation and the Amherst lines are already long. Good thing they move so quickly.

So we drank our sodas gratefully, piled up our napkins and cups, carefully placed everything in the proper recycling bin and made room. Plenty of people — mostly young — were waiting for our seats to be vacated.

CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL

Three stars

WHERE: 1643 Niagara Falls Blvd., Amherst (836-1039, www.chipotle.com). It’s not much to look at, but this industrial-looking burrito depot overlooking a parking lot has a mission in life — to offer ecologically sound ingredients that are fresh and tasty. And they pretty much meet that goal. No beer or wine yet.

Credit Cards: American Express, MasterCard, Visa.

FAVORITE DISH: Roasted Chili Corn Salsa

NEEDS WORK: Food is of good quality.

PRICE RANGE: Burritos start around $6.

SERVICE: Cafeteria style. Fast and efficient.

HOURS: Seven days, 11 a. m. to 7 p. m.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes, though most seating is at high tables and could be a problem.

PARKING: In the plaza

RATINGS: Stars reflect the overall dining experience at the time of The News’ visit — including service, ambience, innovation and cost — with greatest weight given to quality of the food.