A Taco Bell finally opened up where I live, and we are going to go try it tonight. What should I try and what should I avoid?
Of course I know I should try another restaurant and avoid Taco Bell, that’s too obvious, but what is life without a little Adventure.
Side by side, I will choose taco bell 100% of the time, no question. It’s imo vastly superior in flavor and experience. I have other non food related issues with Chipotles cyber security and response team that doesn’t help their case with me. I personally will never give them money again, mostly because of the security thing, but the quality of the food doesn’t help.
Their rice is good though.
Omg I love their rice. One thing I like about Chipotle is their choice to purchase locally-sourced ingredients. Ironically that might affect your experience. I am sorry you had a bad experience with their cybersecurity - probably cash payments would avoid that but you are already burnt on them at this point so that’s fine I am not pushing.
I recall driving through Iowa a few times where in Des Moines I would often stop off at a Taco Bell (or Burger King, or most often bbq b/c it’s really good there), but in Iowa City I would always instead go to the Chipotle nearest the university, where with the constant turnover of ingredients (by all the students & staff) it was really good. Not all places are as good, especially if not fresh, so Chipotle is more hit-or-miss I guess, as compared to Taco Bell that seems fairly consistent.
Also I agree they are 100% different styles - Chipotle is fairly basic ingredients, made very well but quite limited options, whereas Taco Bell is a flavor cornucopia, no doubt about that. Both can be hell on your asshole, but them’s the breaks:-). California Tortilla is way better than either, especially for flavor I mean, but also more expensive, although avoids trans fats so way healthier. Chipotle is an odd mixture there where most things have no trans fats, but the burrito (and soft taco) shells do, so you’d have to get a bowl or crunchy corn tacos to fully avoid those. Chipotle is impressively healthy though for what it is - except still loads you way up on salt and calories. Hey, I am old, so I remember splurging occasionally and getting guac on a Chipotle burrito - yum! (it was ONE WHOLE DOLLAR! before Trump destroyed the industry and now it’s like triple that) Ofc, eating at Taco Bell is when you just give up on all of that, and just enjoy the flavor regardless of what it will do to you:-P.
In the realm of fast burrito shops though, nothing compares to what is available in Texas that I have ever seen or heard of. Freebirds is noice, definitely worth a try, except that while it has expanded significantly beyond its initial offering in Texas A&M University, it is not available anywhere outside of Texas.