I lurrves me some Taco Hell. I lurves me some Fire sauce too. Have you tried their caramel apple empanadas? Yummy. I think I know where I’m going for lunch.
IOW, Taco Bell makes him fart.
So I can be a tad gullible at times!
Well, now I want TB for lunch, too.
Right before my wedding, the about-to-be-inlaws came into town. They’re Mexican, from central Mexico. It was late when they arrived. Taco Bell was the only place that we could find open to eat at. I got Burrito Supremes for everyone, and they loved them!
My wife is (of course) an excellent, authentic, Mexican cook, central-Mexican style, since that’s where she’s from. I have access to freshly made, delicious, Mexican food on a daily basis. In fact, the cafeteria at work makes worse “Mexican food” than Taco Bell (but the cafeteria’s free of charge, so that makes it acceptable).
My wife and I still like Taco Bell. Of course we both agree that it’s not Mexican food, but rather it’s American food through and through. As long as we don’t expect Mexican, then there’s nothing wrong with it.
(Incidently, I was surprised at a Mexican restaurant in Creel, Chihuahua a couple of months ago – their picadillo tacos dorados were virtually identical to Taco Bell’s Taco Supremes.)
So, some general observations:
[ul]
[li]Not Mexican.[/li][li]Not spicy enough. Their “Fire” sucks. We use our salsa.[/li][li]Carne asada? Please… with all due respect to my central-Mexican wife, all carne asada sucks unless it comes from Sonora. I will miss the meat here![/li][li]It does taste good, and it’s dirt cheap![/li][li]Never gotten the runs there that I can remember. On the other hand, White Castle guarantees the runs.[/li][li]Their picadillo (their ground beef) is okay and good quality. Their spices may be no agreeable to everyone, though.[/li][li]Their pinto beans are delicious, but it’s hard to screw those up anyway.[/li][li]Where’s the good cheese, though?[/li][li]Veggies are decent and fresh.[/li][li]Need some ceranos in their pico de gallo.[/li][li]Tortillas are the same commercial stuff you get at Kroger. So, not the most delicious that exist, but peor es nada.[/li][li]Green sauce pisses me off. You used to be able to order bean burritos with green sauce. Now they just give you a bean burrito with red sauce and a packet of green sauce. Bastards![/li][/ul]
A year or two ago a research project was done comparing the local governments’ health department records for one thousand outlets of each of ten major fast food chains, for a total of ten thousand restaurants. Googled but couldn’t find it.
Taco Bell had the best record of the ten chains studied. Burger King was the worst.
No. 3: Why the anonymity? Name the restaurant, please!
I can’t stand Taco Bell. Their bean burrito is god-awful. It’s too chili-ish, and the taste is just off in some unquantifiable way.
I go to Taco John’s if I want cheap fake Mexican food.
Late to this thread, and I haven’t read all of it. Oh, well.
Taco Bell is cheap. The food isn’t inedible.
But I don’t like to go there. When I lived in L.A. there were real Mexican restaurants. (The ones up here are okay, but not as good as down south.) Del Taco, while ‘Mexican’ in the same way Taco Bell is :dubious:, just tastes better to me. I’d go to Del Taco over Taco Bell any time. (Interestingly, the two places share a common origin.) If I wanted Mexican fast food, I’d eat Speedy Gonzales. I mean I’d go to Tito’s Tacos. Now, I’ve heard that some people aren’t impressed by Tito’s; but most people I’ve talked to who have eaten there love it. Nothing like a couple of tacos and a nice cup of pinto beans for a lazy Saturday afternoon!
The one thing though that Taco Bell has going for it, in my opinion, is that it’s cheap. It’s not bad. It’s just that there are so many other places that have better food.
Put me in the ‘I know it aint mexican but I like it crowd’
- It’s consistent.
- It’s fairly cheep. Yes, I know what real good Mexican tastes like. It costs twice as much. I also know what cheep authentic Mexican tastes like. I used to have to get lunch fairly often at the roach coach where I was the only gringo in miles. Give me taco bell instead to that crap(except the Tamales, Damn I loved it Wednesday’s when Hector’s mom made fresh Tamales).
- It’s better than the other fast food mex places. It’s actually fairly well seasoned at the bell. My preference is more heat, but the rest of the complementing spices are well done. I went to Del taco twice. Both times I spent like 5 bucks on a chicken taco meal. There was no freakin flavor.:mad: When I want Mexican type food I don’t want the most prominent flavor to be lettuce. I tried their hottest sauce. 1% heat, 1% tomato, 98% cumin, no blend of spices, no good.
Give me the Bell please, I’m off to get a Mexican pizza for breakfast, 
Taco John’s is better I’ll give ya, but there are only a couple in Colorado.
I can’t recall having eaten there, but when I hear the name I always think of Demolition Man , set in a future so barren that people get fined for swearing and the only restaurant is Taco Bell, apparently the winner of the “Fast Food Wars”.
I remember seeing this one one of those primetime shows (Dateline or 60 minutes).
Taco Bell did better than the other 9 compared against. IIRC, Wendy’s was bad too.
Seriously, it’s a) DIRT CHEAP and b) served EXTREMELY FAST. Is there not value in that? I’ve never gotten “sick” or had the “runs” from it and there’s enough selection that unless you go all the time, can mix it up a bit and still be satisfied. If I’m craving something drive-thru style, again, why SHOULDN’T I drive thru Taco Bell?
I went to the one here in town and watched the kid behind the counter take the money, issue change, hand over the soft drink cups with his fingers inside the cups, rub his nose, scratch his neck, then pack up the order for the person in front of me. I turned around and left.
TB = Taco Bell
TB = Tuberculosis
Coincidence? I THINK NOT!
Taco Bell uses horrible tortillas, crappy cheese and lousy spices. I don’t eat there unless I’m just famished and there are no other options (a.k.a. never).
I’ve never been made sick by it.
At least they don’t put tater-tots in everything like Taco John’s does.
It’s all right in a pinch, but there’s so much more real Mexican food out there that I’d rather have.
Yeah, cause you’d never see this at TGI Fridays, Applebees, Ruth’s Chris, your friendly neighborhood bar, or that family pot luck.
You just need to assume that there’s germs everywhere, everyone touches money, doorknobs, and their mouths and noses. If they work in food service of any kind, those same hands will be touching your plates, flatware and glasses.
Taco Bell used to be decent, back when I was in college (early to mid '80s). Somewhere along the line, they switched out their mildly flavorful beans, decently tasty (for cheap stuff) cheese, and okay tortillas for bland, tasteless beans, bland, tasteless cheese, and chewy, bland, tasteless tortillas (yeah, I like bean and cheese burritos).
Went back once recently and things were just as bland/boring. And I like bland food!
Nowadays we go to a local Taco Bell knockoff called Taco Bravo, which is the same sort of cheap pseudo-Mexican food but much tastier.
Heck, there’s two here in Grand Junction! Much better than Taco Smell. Damn, it’s Taco Tuesday and I already ate!
I sure do miss Del Taco, though (originally from SoCal). Johnny L.A., Naugle’s was the one that had roots with Del Taco, not Taco Bell, IIRC.
Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell. He had a taco stand in Barstow, CA. Barstow was inconveniently far away, so Bell leased the stand to Ed Hackbarth. Ed Hackbarth went on to found Del Taco. (And Del Taco eventually tool over Naugle’s – where I spend many a Friday night while cruising the boulevard. 
)
Ah, Naugle’s. I remember it well, even though I never could figure out how to pronounce it. Good cheap faux-Mex food, and a pretty decent hot sauce, IIRC.