I'm not big on tacos and therefore rarely ever go to taco bell. But when I saw the ad for their new Loaded Grillers, I knew I had a trip into uncharted waters in my future.
Spicy Chicken, Beefy Nacho, Loaded Potato. I wasn't psyched for the beefy nacho, but look at how good the others look!
I couldn't tell the difference in the wrapping and I now know that tortillas do an amazing job of hiding scent, so I opened the first one and bit in, giving my mouth a surprise.
For starters, these are pretty small, but they were also surprisingly big for only costing a dollar each.
delicias del menú de dólar!
There's a glaring problem with these though, and it's something I didn't see until I bit in. See this picture?
How is that tortilla containing all that food? Are these hot pockets? Do they just fill up a tortilla tube with stuff and toss it in a bag?
No. No they don't.
donde está la carne?
The glaring problem with these is that you had damn well better like tortillas, since half of them is just rolled up tortilla. I know that's pretty standard with Mexican food, but the ratio of tortilla to goodies is a bit off, and the difference between what they advertise vs. what you get is DRASTIC.
Anyway, the first one was the Beefy Taco. At first, I hated it. It was just a glob of powder meat. The red chips were a great idea though, since they add a nice crunch to something that's mostly goo. About half way through, this got much better, since that's where all the nacho cheese was hiding.
explosión de queso nacho!
I'm still not a fan of taco seasoned meat (and from what I've heard in the many Taco Bell tales told to me by friends, their meat is pretty low on the chart), but the nacho cheese and crunchy chips made this tolerable. I give it a C, but if you like Taco Bell meat, you'll probably like this more than me.
Next up was the Spicy Chicken. My never-eat-mexican-food brain went all estúpido with this one, since, looking at the picture, I assumed this was buffalo chicken-seasoned. But nope, that sauce is just spicy sauce, and that white sauce I thought was ranch or blue cheese was sour cream.
decepcionante!
It ended up being kind of like a Mexican buffalo chicken wrap (similar spice), but it was missing something very important- MELTED CHEESE. Fill in the holes with melted cheese and this would probably be a lot better. As it stands, it's a tangy (sour cream) and fairly spicy chicken wrap with decent chicken and plenty of sauce. I didn't love it but may consider getting it again. I guess that gives it a C+.
Turns out I saved the best for last. The Loaded Potato was muy delicioso. It consists of potato bites with lots of skin on them (and nicely seasoned), nacho cheese, sour cream, and of course, the kicker- bacon. I may have been swayed because this one seemed to have less tortilla, but I felt like this one was pretty perfect in terms of how much of each ingredient I got.
patatas, queso, bacon, oh mi!
This is basically a wrap where, instead of meat, it's just fried potato bites. So... a sandwich made of french fries. AWESOME.
The nacho cheese and bacon work great together, and the potato tastes fantastic. I could have done with less sour cream- and I really mean less--
basta con la crema agria!
but generally, this one rules. I have to give it an A, and I sure hope it stays on the menu. They need something like this permanently on their otherwise just-whatever value menu.
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SO, in closing, these were mostly close to something awesome but didn't quite make the mark. The Beefy Nacho was good but suffered from its lack of non-taco-meat flavors, the Spicy Chicken drastically needed cheese, and the Loaded Potato was overall fantastic but suffered from hasty preparation (spread the sour cream around, high school dropout!). But all were solid, and for only a dollar each, a huge win.
What they should really do (and I may just ask if they can do this) would be to add the crispy red chips from the Beefy Nacho one to the Loaded Potato. Extra crunch, another flavor... I think I'm on to something. Sure hope you're paying attention Taco Bell! Escúchenme, Taco Bell! Fatguyfoodblog sabe TODO!
el desorden.
-review by Mike
You should be able to just ask when you order it to add whatever ingredients you want. Also, just a FYI Taco Bell is not Mexican food, its a trashy Americanized Fast Food joint.
ReplyDeleteTrue, you could ask them to customize your griller, but taco bell employees are some of the most underpaid, overworked, underqualified and stressed out individuals in the fast food business. I can't stand their food but my girlfriend likes it - every single time i take here there the service is atrocious and they screw up the order. once i asked if they could make the taco in her T7 combo a double decker and the employee says "my manager says i can't do that". really? you can't say yes to a simple request? a friend of mine likes the food too - every time he goes there they manage to overcharge him or leave something out of the bag. yet they keep going back! I'll never understand it.
ReplyDeleteback on topic, the potato loaded griller was ok, but i agree there was waaaaay too much sour cream. that's like all there was in mine.