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I worked for Taco Bell for 5 years, with a significant portion of that as a manager. I still eat there and it's my prefered fast food place.

Only problem is it tends to not fill me up and is a bit addictive

 BigWaaagh wrote:


You can get a Heinie or Sol at your Taco Bell? That just took Dutch Taco Bell up a notch.

Lol ehm jup, you can get Heineken there it isn't considered a premium grade beer in the Netherlands.
Seeing it branded as a premium imported beer is one of the funniest things of visiting a bar in a foreign country.

I ate in it once on holiday in the good ol USA as I love Mexican food..... not a pleasant experience. Cheap old garbage. But having said that I've spent a good amount of time in the US and as much as I love the place and it's people the food generally is pretty woeful.

 Galef wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Taco Bell is NOT Mexican food. Please don't insults Mexicans like that.

Although I enjoy Taco Bell, this statement is absolutely true. TB is at best a Southwestern TexMex Americana hybrid....drenched in grease.
My very Mexican wife calls their tacos "abominations".

I have a high constitution for this kind of food (likely brought on by years of eating fast food) and TB does not upset my stomach at all.
However it can mess with some peoples' digestion.

Having said this, a TB in the Netherlands is unlikely to be the same as on in the U.S. Due to local tastes and ingredients, often fast food chains that venture to other countries have fairly different menus. McDonalds is completely different in China, for example

I'd try it at least once, but don't have high or low expectations.

Taco Cabana FTW!!

My general love of Tacos is what keeps me going back to Taco Bell/ Taco Bueno every now and then
But thankfully, I married a genuine Mexican who has introduced me to some "real" taco places here in Dallas TX.

 DaisyWondercow wrote:
It fills its niche real well. Don't go there for a meal, find yourself there after a night at the bars.


And here's a pro-tip:
There's a menu of big items and meals- ignore it. The art to ordering at Taco Bell is getting 3-5 of the super cheap small things- maybe a beefy 5-layer, a couple of spicy potato soft tacos, and a mini quesadilla? $5, pretty inedible if sober, but drunk or stoned? A masterpiece.

This man knows the truth. Just like McDonald. If you are gonna pay 6€ for a McDonnald burger, just go to a real restaurant and have a better burguer and cheaper. But if you buy 4-5 burguers for 1€, then now you see value here!

 Galef wrote:
My general love of Tacos is what keeps me going back to Taco Bell/ Taco Bueno every now and then
But thankfully, I married a genuine Mexican who has introduced me to some "real" taco places here in Dallas TX.

Torchies uber alles!

 Frazzled wrote:
Taco Bell is NOT Mexican food. Please don't insults Mexicans like that.

This

And theres a 50% chance of being on the toilet the day after with a burning butthole

 WrentheFaceless wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Taco Bell is NOT Mexican food. Please don't insults Mexicans like that.

This

And theres a 50% chance of being on the toilet the day after with a burning butthole

I'm amazed you can make it to the next day.

My body gives the evacuation order mere hours later.

As an American, I cannot recommend Taco Bell. However, having been able to compare foods in various fast food chains in other countries, I have found they are often radically different from the same restaurant in the US.

So I don't know. Maybe taco bell is decent in the Netherlands.

I spent 3 years working for Taco Bell before I joined the military. I still eat there somewhat regularly.

My experience with American fast food in other countries, with the sole exception being KFC, is that it is always better. So I suggest you try it out.

If you really need to clear out your bowels then yes its good.

The Black Bean burrito and the Seven Layer burrito are both vegetarian but I have no idea if they are options at that Taco Bell.

Like a lot of fast food it isn't usually the best option but it can be perfectly reasonable if you get it once in awhile and are somewhat selective.

We had Taco Bells here shortly before the movie "Demolition man" opened at the cinema (1993). I bring this up, because our theatrical print had "Taco Bell" winning the "franchise wars".

By the time it got released on dvd (2004) locally, ALL traces of Taco Bell had been erased locally. Symbolically, most of the references to TB had been replaced by Pizza Hut in that release.

I tried it a couple of times. The bean ones were bland, and all the hot sauce did was add heat, not flavour. I could keep it down, but it invariably wanted out a few hours later - sometimes explosively.

 Ahtman wrote:
The Black Bean burrito and the Seven Layer burrito are both vegetarian but I have no idea if they are options at that Taco Bell.

Like a lot of fast food it isn't usually the best option but it can be perfectly reasonable if you get it once in awhile and are somewhat selective.

I would frankly classify all of taco bell as vegetarian. Its not like they use real meat.

Remember Taco Bell's 1990's jingle, "Make a run for the Border!"? Is that PC these days?

I like it. There's a special place in my heart for gorditas and taco supremes. That sour cream is probably the only sour cream I like. It's cheap too (in the U.S.), but I'm not so sure how cheap it is in the Netherlands as it was more expensive in Japan.

The cinammon crisps are a must buy... yum...

Sounds like a lot of you folks have digestive issues.

Taco Bell is my fast food guilty pleasure. It's about the only fast food I'll eat. I love the stuff.

Is it good?

Er. Maybe not so much.

 oldzoggy wrote:
Would taco bell be worth the visit ?

As an American that has had a wide variety of fast food from here, there, and yonder, allow me to save you some time.

Taco Bell sucks.

It's fast. It's cheap. It will clean you out.

But it sucks.

I get chicken tacos "fresco" (fresh) style. All vegetables and chunks of chicken. I don't have any issues with it. But I won't touch the cheese, beans, sour cream or anything like that. Ground beef is acceptable there in small doses.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Ahtman wrote:
The Black Bean burrito and the Seven Layer burrito are both vegetarian but I have no idea if they are options at that Taco Bell.

Like a lot of fast food it isn't usually the best option but it can be perfectly reasonable if you get it once in awhile and are somewhat selective.

I would frankly classify all of taco bell as vegetarian. Its not like they use real meat.

Oh they use real meat. But once you learn what it is you'll WISH it was vegetarian! Dohoho!

The question is "Is Taco Bell any good".

The follow on question is: "Are you drunk?"

Use the answer for the second question to satisfy your first question.

This also works for Jack-in-the-Box, Krystal, and Long John Silver's.

I love Taco Bell. It is definitely in my top 5 fast food places. The thing about it is, it is definitely fast food, so intended to be cheap rather than healthy. And I've never had digestive issues with it like some of you are describing. Maybe my digestive tract is really robust or something. I never had an issue with it even when I worked at a Taco Bell for like 7 months.

Really the main fast food I eat much of (due to its proximity to my apartment-short walking distance) is Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken. Better than KFC in my opinion. If there was a Taco Bell that close, I'd eat there a lot too as it is cheaper than Lee's.

It would be interesting to try some of these American places in foreign countries. I've never had the opportunity to visit another country, but maybe someday...

 CptJake wrote:
Sounds like a lot of you folks have digestive issues.

For people unacclimated to spicy food, even small amounts can cause problems as capsaicin is an irritant. Additionally, when you have large amounts of oils and similar products, they often pass quickly in an undigested state. Their meat uses a large amount of fillers that may cause similar issues. Taco Bell also has a reputation for relatively poor sanitary conditions (though it varies widely by location), and it is not uncommon to get various severities of food poisoning from improper food handling. Anecdotally, I got a severe case of food poisoning from a Taco Bell where the sour cream was not properly refrigerated (the manager acknowledged the fact and numerous other people got sick from it) and couldn't touch sour cream for years.

I've never found Taco Bell to be particularly spicy. I grew up with Cajun food, and after 15 years in Houston, grew to love spicy Tex-Mex for the perfection it is. I'll admit that there were some spicy dishes that regretted the next morning.

However, all jokes aside, the few times I've had Taco Bell, I had issues later.

 jmurph wrote:
Additionally, when you have large amounts of oils and similar products, they often pass quickly in an undigested state.

I'm betting that's what doesn't agree with me. Look at how much grease and oil is in the bottom of the bag or in the wrapper next time you eat there.

Blegh...

I used to love Taco Bell way back when, when fast food wasn't as crappy (it was still crap, just not the crap of today). Nowadays I can't touch it. There are much better fast-casual burrito places around me though, I have a Qdoba, Moe's and Chipotle all within like 10 minutes of each other. And a few authentic mexican places around here too, Norristown apparenly has quite the mexican population and there's some seriously good mexican restaurants around here. So I'm spoiled now.

Like all fast food joints, it's a gamble. Chances are if it's a new place, the employees will care a little more and the boss might be around the crack the whip, so you might have better luck. Have some pepto on hand just in case

 jmurph wrote:

 CptJake wrote:
Sounds like a lot of you folks have digestive issues.

For people unacclimated to spicy food, even small amounts can cause problems as capsaicin is an irritant.

This is probably why I've never really had any issue with Taco Bell. I've always loved spicy food and even started eating Jalapeños & Pepperoncini out of the jar when I was around 12.

If you are accustomed to spicy food, go for it. If not, be prepared.

-

So what's this Wendy's I keep hearing about?

I may have visited one in 1994, but couldn't say for certain.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So what's this Wendy's I keep hearing about?

I may have visited one in 1994, but couldn't say for certain.

It's mostly a burger and fries place. Think Burger King, but IMO just a bit better.

We exaggerate a bit as no food place can induce that kind of indigestion on it's clientele for that long and still stay in business.

However a lot of the stuff they use is highly processed, so for most people it's in one hole and out the other pretty fast. They also use a lot of beans for filler, which might also contribute to the "flushing". And in at least one known case they were using meat that were below the lowest food grade for human consumption (it was a grade used for dog food, literally). I think that has stopped after the story broke but it does explain a lot.

Taco Bell is also more pronounced because fast food joints generally cause constipation more than...regularity...so it's a lot more noticable if you're accustomed to fast food fare.