Yeah, the olive slices made it. That’s not to say that the spork wasn’t essential to the experience as well.
Given that Glen Bell got his start in my old hometown and I’ve eaten at the cafe he ripped off in developing Taco Bell, I can excuse the fact that I still jones for a gone-for-decades fast food item.
I understand the difference as well. In my refrigerator right now, I have grilled chicken breast that I marinated in lime and cilantro, homemade Spanish rice, and a corn and black bean salsa I made as well. I will probably make a plate of that tonight with corn tortillas and a Mexican lager. But that was a lot of work and sometimes I just want a Dorito taco (firey) and a beefy frito burrito.
I like the taste of Taco Bell. And I’ve been in plenty of Mexican restaurants in my life. Including a few that used a lot of Velveeta, shredded cheddar, and Rico’s nacho sauce served with store-bought chips.
Plus there’s the cost/time factor. if you’re out running errands, a #3 meal at taco bell won’t cost you a lot of time or money. A sit down dinner with table service is going to take a lot of time and more money and plus I’m going to want a nap when I’m done.
I recall a story a few years back about their “ground beef” being adulterated – but just what is in it, apart from beef and spices?
If a very long time means the last time you were there they only had three “hot” sauce options - Nachos Bellgrande. Get some of every sauce and experiment with all of them for flavor on chips.
I go to Taco Bell about every other week. My standard order is 3 Cool Ranch tacos and 2 soft tacos. Sometimes I’ll get a Mexican pizza instead of the soft tacos. It’s really all just a delivery medium for hot sauce anyways, AFAIC.
That wasn’t the story. The story was that the ground beef filling was x percent beef and that x was somehow hilariously low. The remainder was mostly water and spices, which would pretty much be the case with home made burrito filling. It was entirely overblown and misleading.
When I go to Taco Bell, I get a #6 combo: no sour cream, one chicken, one steak, and a crunchy taco. And I get a 2nd crunchy taco too.
Goto Del Taco… its simply better. When forced to “run for the border” (even the ad is offensive) the Chalupas done Al fresco is a goto. Chicken or what Taco Bell calls ground beef…
The bacon club chalupa is also really good.
I like chalupas because of this news story.
I’d have to go 400 miles for a Del Taco.
Over 200 miles for me. We had one here in the Chicago area (maybe more than one) about a decade back, and I agree that it was much better than Taco Bell. Loved their fish tacos. Unfortunately, it only lasted about a year or so.
One of the saddest days of my life. I was in Phoenix, and in a blistering hurry. There I am, in the home of some of the best Mexican food in the goddamn world…and I had to drive thru a Taco Bell to make my schedule.
Talk about your woeful countenance!
Yeah. Some asked me if I was going to that Mexican restaurant in WaltDisneyWorld, and i told her “Florida? Hey, I am a Californian, do you know what we call ‘Mexican food’ here?” “no?”. “Food”.
I’m fond of the CrunchWrap Supreme. There’s some sort of cheese on it that I can’t quite identify, but it’s really good. Plus I like the texture.
It’s that fake “nacho” crap. But yeah, other than that, it’s not bad at all.
Thank you for all of the suggestions.
I made my first visit today. I got four things to try:
A Ghost Pepper Griller
A Taco Salad–Beef one
A 5-Layer Burrito
A Fresco Crunchy Taco
I have eaten the first two things so far and it’s filled me up, so I’m going to save the last two things for later.
Here’s my reviews of the things I tried:
Beef Taco Salad - This was surprisingly good. Maybe the best thing I’ve ever had (so far, although that bar is set low right now) at Taco Bell. I can easily see myself getting these again and enjoying them. Maybe trying a chicken or steak one in the future, just to see how they are…but the beef one was just amazingly delicious. I liked it a lot. Big and a bit filling too.
Ghost Pepper Griller - WOW, this thing had some heat on it. It was definitely spicy. Opened my sinuses up and my nose is running a little now.
I like spicy things, though. I’m a big fan of the hot and spicy…and I’d rate this about a 4 on a scale of one to ten, where one is “hardly spicy at all, not much heat detected” and ten is “HOLY SHIT, SEARING, INTENSE BURNING, SPICIER THAN ALL GET OUT, EXTREME HEAT, MOUTH AND THROAT ARE ON FIRE”.
Like I said, it had some heat behind it and I could feel it in my mouth for a bit afterwards. I’d say it was one of the actual, geniunely spicy thing I’ve had at a fast food place and certainly at TB. I mean, so many times, something is advertised as “spicy”, but the spiciness is fairly lacking. Not in this. This delivers. You WILL feel the heat/spice.
In terms of FLAVOR, though, it was absolutely DELICIOUS. I loved it. Very strong flavor and an excellent blend of sauce and spice mixed with…well, whatever they have in it. I enjoyed this a lot. About as much as I did the Beef Taco Salad.
I’ll eat the other two things for a late night snack, probably, and then tell my thoughts on them too, in here.
And then in a day or two or three, I’ll go to TB and get a few more things to try.
As a matter of fact, I’m going to change the title to this thread to reflect my ongoing mission to try many things at Taco Bell now.
I don’t have enough for the GOOD (good as in, better than TB) Mexican food. 
I have, usually, about 1.77 to spend on a taco. Also, it’s a time thing. Also, it’s a “I think Taco Bell IS good thing”. I’m just not very picky…and like I said in the OP, I kinda want TB specifically.
But you’re right, I do have a few Filibertos around here and they aren’t that much more expensive or that takes a long time to make, but I still want TB.
The seven layer burrito is my go-to. I’m not sure why I like it so much, but something about the contrast between hot and cold ingredients all wrapped in that limp pasty tortilla gets me every time.