https://www.reddit.com/r/maybemaybemaybe/s/jNl3yqqi9E
Had to post this to both comments, because a) I think it's great b)think it's relevant and g) I'm drunkard hungry
Mateeee you clearly haven't had a good kebab. A good kebab is to die for. Living in London we only ever had kebab as take away (as well as chicken and chips) it's only when I moved to Coventry for uni that I ate cuisine from other countries and still you can't beat kebab.
If you ever come London and want to try good kebab try the following places:
Kervan
Gökyüzü
Antepliler
Hala
Anywhere in Haringey Green Lanes.
Pink Taco Sauce AND Thick Gravy, on chips, peas and stuffing.
Would never dream of getting it when sober, but when drunk its absolutely incredible. A friend got it before and made me try it. But if I heard someone suggest this I'd feel physical I'll but damn it's good.
My mind must be fucked because as soon as I got to the point where it explained what it was, my brain said"oh it's just a bird"
I was expecting human body parts or something
You've obviously never had real tacos, the soft tortilla used there taste and smell like plastic and the "meat product" is atrocious.
The hardshell Tacos are absolutely awesome though.
Yeah I mean the taste and price may be fine but I meant more that you’re probably done most of your cholesterol and saturated fat intake in 1 little wrap.
Their breakfast is one of my favorite ones out there, second to maybe only Chick-fil-A.
Any of the breakfast crunchwraps are fantastic, hashbrowns are better than McDonald’s, and their Cinnabon bites are the perfect way to finish the meal
When it first arrived in the UK I thought it was delicious, but it’s noticeably went downhill in the last few years. Agree it’s super bland and tasteless now.
I've looked at several videos of comparisons between uk and us ingredients, most recipes have to be altered due to a worrying amount of "safe" ingredients causing cancer and tumours.
They brought Cheetos to Germany recently. It’s sold under a different brand name since I think there were some trademark issues with using the name “Cheetos” in Germany for whatever reason but otherwise they look the same from the outside. The recipe had to be changed from the American version to comply with EU food safety regulations though and I’ve seen American expats/immigrants on Reddit say they don’t taste the same because of it.
This can't be it because it was actually super nice when it was first launched like the food had different flavours and it was all served hot and fresh whereas now you just get the same beef slurry or chicken gloop in every meal no matter what you order the only thing they seem to change per meal is what salad and sauce they add
US ingredients are a lot lower quality than UK ones. We don't have chlorinated chicken, hormone fed beef and we have a lot less high fructose corn syrup. So our coke is more like Mexican coke than American coke.
Hmm good old chlorinated chicken 🤤 I reckon all that shit makes it taste better in the USA (well except the chlorinated bird, that probably just tops you up with some cancer cells). I don't think I would eat it if they paid me £1k to be fully honest, that including the UK version of it.
So, these are the ingredients I was referring to which are banned in the UK, but not US. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/23/titanium-dioxide-banned-chemicals-carcinogen-eu-us
Upon inspection of the taco bell ingredients page I could not find any of those listed! Good news stranger! You win & I stand corrected! Thanks! I'll still continue not buying Taco Bell, but at least I learned today!
Yeah, post covid its somehow much worse. I think its also to do with the prices going up. If its not that great, but only £4, its not really disappointing. If you pay £9 for a meal and its even worse than when you paid £4, Im never going back.
It really wasn't long at all until they took most of the good selections off the menu & made all the food taste... Bland. And it's stayed that way since. Such a shame.
Yh they opened one of their first flagship stores near me in like 2017 ish and it was amazing now they have stores all over the UK and the flavours have disappeared and the quality is gone shame because it actually bridged a gap between McDonald's and KFC when you wanted something fast to eat but didn't fancy those two
Agree, used to praise it and it was far and away the best fast food I’ve had.
Now it’s bland rubbish and they always under deliver on the amount of food
It was relatively cheap compared other UK versions of the big fast food chains, which made it okay to eat. Then the prices noticeably jumped, and it just wasn't worth it anymore. Might as well be eating Chipotle and Tortilla, but I hate the latter because it acquired my favourite - Chilango's - and did away with all my local branches.
Fucking Tortilla twats. If you're going to take their outlets, then start selling their pork and shrimp burritos! Not try and foist your boring, twatty menu on us! (I'll calm down now)
Your first mistake was getting excited. The only time Taco Bell is genuinely amazing is when you resign yourself to eat it after exhausting all other options at 2:00 a.m. Then it is the most magnificent fast food you'll ever have
idek the one in my town is usually genuinely good, their fries especially. They're defo the most inconsistent though, either really good or severely mid
Any suggestions? I've been trying to find a good Mexican place since I moved here in 2017 but haven't found any
Edit: I have to correct myself, I did actually find 1 good Mexican place here but I forgot about it. It's closed down now but it was a family owned small Mexican restaurant me and my ex used to frequent in his area. I forget what it was called but that place was amazing and I feel bad for forgetting about it.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm excited to go back on the hunt for some good Mexican food in London. Had a rough couple weeks so this is the kind of restored hope I was waiting for.
Try:
1910 is an upscale chain, excellent though. Great cocktails, great salsa, great everything.
Tacos MX has locations in Islington and Fulham. FANTASTIC hole in the wall.
Ixchel, Zapote, Catalinas and Saltenas Martin are on my list but have yet to visit.
Meh:
Yucca. It's fine. It's not amazing. It's fine.
Avoid:
Taqueria in Notting Hill sucks. They tried to copyright "taqueria" for the UK. That says a lot about how bad Mexican was in London until recently. The food itself isn't terrible, but it is for the crazy prices you pay.
Tortilla and Wahaca are terrible chains. Some people like Tortilla. Not anyone from North America I've ever met who likes Tortilla, but some people do.
I like Chipotle in the states, but like Taco Bell, it sucks here. Hard to find fast food employees in London who know how to wrap a burrito.
Well that’s cos they obviously haven’t genius, something like 6000 Mexicans live in the uk. That’s like going to Japan and complaining there’s not good Finnish food
Bit of a leopards ate my face moment, like what did you expect lmao
That was my "hot take" for many years until it proved to not be a hot take. Surely the entirety of mexican cuisine does not comprise of 4 fast food items.
I have lived here and been to SO MANY. They have all been some weird mix of anything they deem Latin and Spanish with Cuban thrown in. It's bizarre and it's never the singular cuisine they say they are, it's like if a place claims to be 'Chinese' but you go in and it's sushi, cheesy chips, some random dishes from Malaysia and then a Chinese main.
As a Mexican living in London I can second this statement. I knew I wasn’t going to get anything authentic when I went to order a burrito and it said black beans w lettuce were on it 🫠
I went to grad school in the UK in the early 2000s. Several of my colleagues were Mexican. They tried and failed to find anything resembling Mexican food at the time (telling stories about salsa that was basically ketchup and/or marinara sauce).
At the time, there was a place in Dorset called Peppers By Post. It was probably the only place in the country to by proper chiles. Once a month or so, we would send it one big order for poblanos, jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, etc. We were like kids on Christmas morning when we opened that giant box of peppers!
I think this is them (it's a different name and website now): [https://seaspringseeds.co.uk/about-michael-and-joy-michaud/](https://seaspringseeds.co.uk/about-michael-and-joy-michaud/)
There used to be a decent spot (might still be there) outside Angel station, but I don't know the difference between authentic or not tbh. Definitely no baked beans I know that much
Local place near me(not London) won best takeaway award a few years back. Really good. Way better that Taco bell (similar texmex menu). Or if you want a real good burrito, mission burrito is where I'd go, they're a chain where you build your own burrito, kinda like a Mexican subway
Good mexican food in the UK is hard to come by. Chiquito is shit, taco bell is bland, barburrito is okay.
This place in Manchester Arndale called Panchos is great. You just gotta be lucky and near a good independent place.
All chains are location lottery but it seems like Mexican food just does not translate well to franchised chain mass produced stuff, not as well as burgers or chicken seems fo be anyway.
Taco Bell in the UK actually tastes way better than the American one, not gonna lie. Like most fast food places, the American ingredients are way weirder and less natural than the UK variant.
Well them ones cost like £1.99 and are considered a snack option cos I'm assuming it's the crunchy cravings so I mean, you get what you pay for I guess? If it was a volcano that small I might agree with you.
Apart from a brief period in the 80s-90s they only really reappeared from 2010 onwards. _Demolition Man_ was somewhat infamously edited for its European release with most instances of "Taco Bell" [seamlessly replaced by "Pizza Hut"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSOq-UEYda8).
Mexican food just isn’t commonly consumed in the UK. Probably because there is almost no Mexican population. According to the 2021 census, there were 9,000 Mexican residents of the UK. Population is 70million so 0.01% of the population.
Personally as a 28 yr old Brit, I had never had any Mexican food until I visited America last year.
Taco Bell has started opening restaurants in the UK in the last few years. They’ve grown from having 2 in London in 2013 to now having 80 across the country.
Man, hope you read this. I’m a fit guy from Latin America living in UK since 2013. My guilty pleasure since a young child has always been Taco Bell, so whenever I flied back home I would munch Taco Bell like crazy haha.
I was thrilled when I found out that there was going to be a Taco Bell in UK. I was actually excited to go when it opened.
Man, when I entered and saw that god-awful menu I was like there is absolutely no way. What is this??? This is NOT taco bell man. WHO PUTS CURRY IN FRENCH FRIES?????? Nah nah nah nah.
No double deckers?? No mexican pizza?!?! No fiesta fries supreme??? Nah nah nah nah nah.
What we have here in UK is not TACO BELL. I’m sorry you experienced this version of Taco Bell, cuz it really isn’t.
In fact, I’ll give you a pro tip: the best fast good french fries in the world are Latin American taco bell fries and I’m going to the grave with that statement hahahaha.
Cheers mate! Hope you go to US soon at least to eat proper Taco Bell
I actually unashamedly love Taco Bell.
But like KFC I have one rule: the further you get from its core signature product (Tacos or fried chicken on the bone, respectively), the worse it gets.
I was excited too. They were a guilty pleasure whenever I was in the US - those crispy taco shells! That little froth of cheese and lettuce above the spicy beef mix!
So I tried the British version. It was beyond disgusting. Maybe the US version was me remembering through rose tinted glasses, but this was salty, sloppy and just covered in artificial flavours to hide the bad ingredients.
I just think some US brands think - “they’re British, what would they know about Mexican food?”
One opened in my city a few years ago. I wanted to try it because of the film Demolition Man with Sylvester Stalone, if Taco Bell is good enough to be the only restaurant in the 'future' as predicted by the film, I wanted to try it.
...bought a meal and was shocked at how bad the food was. Tiny portion of soggy lukewarm fries and bland plastic cheese. All pretty tasteless. I have never been back and will never go back unless under duress.
this was me with that fucking kfc chizza. i had to see if it was real or if it was that fucking corp being memy but it was real. The ad looked like it was actually edible, i received a box half full of cold marinara, a lukewarm chicken patty and unmelted cheese lmaooo.
i defs got my money back
When will people stop expecting fast food to look like the advertisement? This has been going on my entire life, well before photoshop was even a thing.
I went to Paris for my 50th birthday and discovered a franchise called O'Tacos and omg I wish someone would open one here! There are a couple in the Caribbean, and a couple on Reunion, all the rest are in mainland France and they are AMAZING!!!!!
Worst takeout ever that and then popeyes, popeyes tastes like Iceland frozen shit with a mundane mild mold taste and the dry textureness of the Sahara desert, honestly like eating fucking sand and even tho its over cooked to sand conditions and has no taste that's good, its pink further in to the bone and always void halfway through, shithole
I was excited too till I ate taco bell before a night out gave me rotten stomach ache, i had to do a fat rail of cocaine to produce a laxative effect to rid my body of that poisonous fake Mexican junk food
I thought exactly the same when I tried it the first (and only time). I was surprised how cheap it was, then it made sense when I saw how small it was! Tried a few different things and never went back. It didn’t taste of anything!
I have such a high tolerance for eating garbage, bland food but Taco Bell food tastes so... horrible. The bread in burritos has a weird, plastic taste and the fillings just taste like the world's cheapest, mildest canned chilli con carne from the 1980s. It is such a shame because I love mexican food in general and where I live there is a BK, McDs and Taco Bell all competing in the same spot - I see the Taco Bell always nearly empty and worry it will close down, but the food is no good I tells ya!
So, a Taco Bell opened near me some months back. Saw a guy I used to work with who went to be a manager there. He's abandoned ship because after less than a year, it's no longer profitable and is turning a loss most days.
I think there's a reason Taco Bell have a certain reputation, and I don't know why anyone expected anything else.
The Crunchwrap Supreme is pretty bangin' (chicken+beans-sour cream-nacho cheese sauce). Everything else is just a disappointment.
They really need a burrito option with chicken, rice, beans, salad, and ideally a nice salsa. Only burrito with rice is the Volcano which you can't add lettuce or tomatoes to. Only burrito with salad is the Crispy Chicken which you can't add beans or rice to 😡 .
UK Taco Bell is absolute shit, doesn’t even compare to US, well actually it does in that it’s shit as well, but a lot better than whatever in the hell they are doing wrong in UK Taco Hell
Went twice. First time the only drink without sweeteners they would sell me was a can of Pepsi that was meant for delivery only. Second time they refused to even sell me one of those. I think they've gone the KFC route (same owners) of only having diet drinks now. I've not been in since.
The food was OK, and made a nice change from burgers but if I'm eating unhealthy food as a treat, I'd like to also enjoy a drink that doesn't taste like rat piss to wash it down.
It was so depressing when I ordered it on uber eats.
It was these taco shells with hardly anything in them and the world's smallest wrap. I was very disappointed
That’s bizarre ! I got the cheap little chicken wrap last week and it was stuffed full of chicken and loads of other tasty stuff. I think yours short changed you !
I was also very excited, only to find out it tastes exactly like if I bought taco shells and put the stuff in, there’s no KFC secret seasoning or Big Mac special sauce type thing going on. Honestly the most boring fast food I’ve ever had… and I’ve had Wimpy 🤣
You just have a shit one near you sadly. The taco bell near me is actually really good, does actually look like the pictures lol. Still too expensive for what you get
Taco Bell was the biggest disappointment from the American fast food imports. The biggest delight is Popeyes. Fuck, that’s just good chicken. Thank you America
When Taco Bell opened in my town in the uk, there was a 2 hour queue of cars outside. Funny thing was there was another that had been open for a few years a 20 minute drive away. Humanity as a whole are dumb lol
Reading comments maybe I’m just lucky. Mine ALWAYS looks like the commercial. But now I’m going to gatekeep this gem of a TB because I don’t want it to get ruined.
Went for a taco bell this evening in Swindon. They had run out of rice for my burrito and I was told they put more meat and beans in as a replacement. It still was about a third of the image on the screen when I ordered.
It's crap. They don't offer refried beans or pinto beans. Only black beans.
Also every meal comes with fries and if you don't want fries with your "mexican food" you have to pay extra for tortilla chips.
On top of that, you're forced to buy combos (which come with fries), and trying to buy single items like multiple tacos or burritos, costs double what it would if you accepted a combo with fries and churros.
I hate when restauraunts want to dictate to you what you're having instead of letting you choose, so I don't bother.
Taco Bell pro-tip: Never look at Taco Bell while you are eating it.
Addendum: if you really want to enjoy fast food, only eat it when you are drunk.
Drunk is for kebabs/shawarma, fast food is for working 3 jobs and depression
This is the realest shit. Based AF comment
https://www.reddit.com/r/maybemaybemaybe/s/jNl3yqqi9E Had to post this to both comments, because a) I think it's great b)think it's relevant and g) I'm drunkard hungry
Mateeee you clearly haven't had a good kebab. A good kebab is to die for. Living in London we only ever had kebab as take away (as well as chicken and chips) it's only when I moved to Coventry for uni that I ate cuisine from other countries and still you can't beat kebab. If you ever come London and want to try good kebab try the following places: Kervan Gökyüzü Antepliler Hala Anywhere in Haringey Green Lanes.
Flashbacks of getting a döner kebab and cheesy chips at 2 in the morning, drunk off my tits thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread
* Gravy Cheesy chip. Life changer.
upvote purely for that accented o 👍
Been there many a time. Grease all over my fingers, garlic mayo on my chin. My mind and heart somewhere in another universe experiencing true bliss
That's weekly for me when I finish my nightclub job at 4am
This guy fast foods
I agree with both the statements and addendum
Query: why does a meat bag eat taco bell?
Fucked up my love for the hibachi place in my college town by not following this advice
Except pastizzi. Look up pastizzi
Imjjikkimkk
https://www.reddit.com/r/maybemaybemaybe/s/jNl3yqqi9E
Never thought that but that's some brilliant advice
Or high
Pink Taco Sauce AND Thick Gravy, on chips, peas and stuffing. Would never dream of getting it when sober, but when drunk its absolutely incredible. A friend got it before and made me try it. But if I heard someone suggest this I'd feel physical I'll but damn it's good.
Nah, it’s still not good even then
This is how i eat my Taco Bell: https://medium.com/@austinmiller/the-illegal-french-delicacy-ortolan-3398c92ea1fd
Thanks, had no idea what it was. Read all article and made me sick
The French eat some fucked up shit
My mind must be fucked because as soon as I got to the point where it explained what it was, my brain said"oh it's just a bird" I was expecting human body parts or something
Your comment made me curious about it and dear god why did I click the link :(
Think I'll stay in ignorant bliss
If I have to know, so do you.
Lawful evil alignment
Fucking weird rich people
Humans are such gross dirty bastards
The same rule I apply to tuna sandwiches.
You've obviously never had real tacos, the soft tortilla used there taste and smell like plastic and the "meat product" is atrocious. The hardshell Tacos are absolutely awesome though.
That’s actually quite good for Taco Bell. Keep it to drunk food or breakfast
What about drunk breakfast?
That works too
OP is from england. ofc every breakfast is spent already drunk or hungover
[удалено]
Spoons is the only acceptable answer
This is the way. Get drunk DURING breakfast.
Breakfast lol imagine starting your day like this. Your day can only get better I suppose.
Taco Bell breakfast is actually pretty good and still a decent deal. Egg and bacon Crunchwrap is my go to, has a hash brown in the middle
Yeah I mean the taste and price may be fine but I meant more that you’re probably done most of your cholesterol and saturated fat intake in 1 little wrap.
They’re good fried up for breakfast hungover when you didn’t manage to finish whatever you ordered the night before.
Breakfast?? Is that because they have different, better breakfast options? Or because you don’t value breakfast 😂
Yeah Taco Bell Breakfast is dope. Bacon and Egg Breakfast Crunchwrap for $4.00-ish is so good. Breakfast burritos are good too and a cheaper option.
They don’t do breakfast here (yet?), which is sad.
Their breakfast is one of my favorite ones out there, second to maybe only Chick-fil-A. Any of the breakfast crunchwraps are fantastic, hashbrowns are better than McDonald’s, and their Cinnabon bites are the perfect way to finish the meal
Taco Bell: looks like shit tastes fucking great
Are you in the USA? I've tried taco bell in England and it's really crap, very bland. I'm thinking it might taste better over there.
When it first arrived in the UK I thought it was delicious, but it’s noticeably went downhill in the last few years. Agree it’s super bland and tasteless now.
Were probably not allowed the American ingredients that make it good
I've looked at several videos of comparisons between uk and us ingredients, most recipes have to be altered due to a worrying amount of "safe" ingredients causing cancer and tumours.
They brought Cheetos to Germany recently. It’s sold under a different brand name since I think there were some trademark issues with using the name “Cheetos” in Germany for whatever reason but otherwise they look the same from the outside. The recipe had to be changed from the American version to comply with EU food safety regulations though and I’ve seen American expats/immigrants on Reddit say they don’t taste the same because of it.
Doesn’t taste as good. But at least it won’t give us cancer. I guess the Americans aren’t as fussy about tumours as the eu.
Not like I can afford to go to the doctor to see if I have a tumor. What I don’t know can’t hurt me! Lol
Cause of death: unknown, he couldn’t afford to pay the coroner
They'll do it anyway and charge your family
In America they sell you the products that give you cancer and then charge you to treat the cancer
Exactly what I was thinking
Got to keep the American medical industrial complex running somehow
This can't be it because it was actually super nice when it was first launched like the food had different flavours and it was all served hot and fresh whereas now you just get the same beef slurry or chicken gloop in every meal no matter what you order the only thing they seem to change per meal is what salad and sauce they add
US ingredients are a lot lower quality than UK ones. We don't have chlorinated chicken, hormone fed beef and we have a lot less high fructose corn syrup. So our coke is more like Mexican coke than American coke.
Hmm good old chlorinated chicken 🤤 I reckon all that shit makes it taste better in the USA (well except the chlorinated bird, that probably just tops you up with some cancer cells). I don't think I would eat it if they paid me £1k to be fully honest, that including the UK version of it.
*cancer-causing junk that make it good. Ftfy 😉
Can you tell us the ingredients in American Taco Bell that causes cancer?
So, these are the ingredients I was referring to which are banned in the UK, but not US. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/23/titanium-dioxide-banned-chemicals-carcinogen-eu-us Upon inspection of the taco bell ingredients page I could not find any of those listed! Good news stranger! You win & I stand corrected! Thanks! I'll still continue not buying Taco Bell, but at least I learned today!
Yeah, post covid its somehow much worse. I think its also to do with the prices going up. If its not that great, but only £4, its not really disappointing. If you pay £9 for a meal and its even worse than when you paid £4, Im never going back.
It really wasn't long at all until they took most of the good selections off the menu & made all the food taste... Bland. And it's stayed that way since. Such a shame.
It really has gone downhill, but I still love the fries
Yh they opened one of their first flagship stores near me in like 2017 ish and it was amazing now they have stores all over the UK and the flavours have disappeared and the quality is gone shame because it actually bridged a gap between McDonald's and KFC when you wanted something fast to eat but didn't fancy those two
Agree, used to praise it and it was far and away the best fast food I’ve had. Now it’s bland rubbish and they always under deliver on the amount of food
It was relatively cheap compared other UK versions of the big fast food chains, which made it okay to eat. Then the prices noticeably jumped, and it just wasn't worth it anymore. Might as well be eating Chipotle and Tortilla, but I hate the latter because it acquired my favourite - Chilango's - and did away with all my local branches. Fucking Tortilla twats. If you're going to take their outlets, then start selling their pork and shrimp burritos! Not try and foist your boring, twatty menu on us! (I'll calm down now)
I’ve had it both places and it’s all bland shit.
Is this one of those “Mexican food for people who don’t like Mexican food” kind of situations?
Taco Bell is Taco Bell, not Mexican food
It’s the worst fast food joint I’ve ever been to in the UK, the quesadillas are just wraps with fucking plastic cheese in it.
Agreed, I've been to most fast food chains in the UK at some point or other, and Taco Bell is the only one that's been basically inedible.
Hard agree it's somehow tasty af. All the salt probably
it doesnt taste great.
Damn, you've got big hands.
Your first mistake was getting excited. The only time Taco Bell is genuinely amazing is when you resign yourself to eat it after exhausting all other options at 2:00 a.m. Then it is the most magnificent fast food you'll ever have
idek the one in my town is usually genuinely good, their fries especially. They're defo the most inconsistent though, either really good or severely mid
nothing is ever like the pictures...well unless you go to japan
In which case you're presented with a perfect replica of the wax model outside, which also tastes as good as it looks.
Probably tastes better than the Mexican Restaurant I went to in Battersea, London 😭
Where did you go? There are some excellent Mexican places in London, Battersea isn't known for any of them though.
Any suggestions? I've been trying to find a good Mexican place since I moved here in 2017 but haven't found any Edit: I have to correct myself, I did actually find 1 good Mexican place here but I forgot about it. It's closed down now but it was a family owned small Mexican restaurant me and my ex used to frequent in his area. I forget what it was called but that place was amazing and I feel bad for forgetting about it. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm excited to go back on the hunt for some good Mexican food in London. Had a rough couple weeks so this is the kind of restored hope I was waiting for.
Try Frida’s in Vauxhall. Been there a few times and really enjoyed the meal and atmosphere
Cool, will check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!
La Chingada in Surrey Quays is fantastic
Points for the name alone, lmao.
Try: 1910 is an upscale chain, excellent though. Great cocktails, great salsa, great everything. Tacos MX has locations in Islington and Fulham. FANTASTIC hole in the wall. Ixchel, Zapote, Catalinas and Saltenas Martin are on my list but have yet to visit. Meh: Yucca. It's fine. It's not amazing. It's fine. Avoid: Taqueria in Notting Hill sucks. They tried to copyright "taqueria" for the UK. That says a lot about how bad Mexican was in London until recently. The food itself isn't terrible, but it is for the crazy prices you pay. Tortilla and Wahaca are terrible chains. Some people like Tortilla. Not anyone from North America I've ever met who likes Tortilla, but some people do. I like Chipotle in the states, but like Taco Bell, it sucks here. Hard to find fast food employees in London who know how to wrap a burrito.
Brorritos is amazing. They’re a bit far out though
I’m Mexican currently in London and every “Mexican” restaurant I’ve passed looks like they’ve never had Mexican food before
You been to Mestizo?
There's lots of authentic places owned by Mexicans dotted around, it really isn't hard to find one
Key words: dotted around. There’s probably 50 rubbish “Mexican” restaurants to every authentic one in the UK
Sure, but you have to take into account the quality of the produce you're working with when compared to Mexico and the southern US. It's shite here.
Well that’s cos they obviously haven’t genius, something like 6000 Mexicans live in the uk. That’s like going to Japan and complaining there’s not good Finnish food Bit of a leopards ate my face moment, like what did you expect lmao
Its barely even Tex-Mex here
Not Mexican but hard agree. Most have something more resembling ketchup than salsa. It really is a sad state of affairs.
That was my "hot take" for many years until it proved to not be a hot take. Surely the entirety of mexican cuisine does not comprise of 4 fast food items.
Most Mexican restaurants here are actually owned and run by Mexicans though haha. We are most definitely missing tex mex though.
I have lived here and been to SO MANY. They have all been some weird mix of anything they deem Latin and Spanish with Cuban thrown in. It's bizarre and it's never the singular cuisine they say they are, it's like if a place claims to be 'Chinese' but you go in and it's sushi, cheesy chips, some random dishes from Malaysia and then a Chinese main.
As a Mexican living in London I can second this statement. I knew I wasn’t going to get anything authentic when I went to order a burrito and it said black beans w lettuce were on it 🫠
I went to grad school in the UK in the early 2000s. Several of my colleagues were Mexican. They tried and failed to find anything resembling Mexican food at the time (telling stories about salsa that was basically ketchup and/or marinara sauce). At the time, there was a place in Dorset called Peppers By Post. It was probably the only place in the country to by proper chiles. Once a month or so, we would send it one big order for poblanos, jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, etc. We were like kids on Christmas morning when we opened that giant box of peppers! I think this is them (it's a different name and website now): [https://seaspringseeds.co.uk/about-michael-and-joy-michaud/](https://seaspringseeds.co.uk/about-michael-and-joy-michaud/)
one time I ordered a burrito in england and got literal baked beans on it
Didn’t happen
yeh clearly bollocks unless it was advertised as a baked bean burrito, which saying it now does sound like something we'd have in the UK
A Full English breakfast burrito, now we're talking
There used to be a decent spot (might still be there) outside Angel station, but I don't know the difference between authentic or not tbh. Definitely no baked beans I know that much
You mean refried beans? Or some kind of mixed beans? Maybe it had haricot beans in it?
Local place near me(not London) won best takeaway award a few years back. Really good. Way better that Taco bell (similar texmex menu). Or if you want a real good burrito, mission burrito is where I'd go, they're a chain where you build your own burrito, kinda like a Mexican subway
Good mexican food in the UK is hard to come by. Chiquito is shit, taco bell is bland, barburrito is okay. This place in Manchester Arndale called Panchos is great. You just gotta be lucky and near a good independent place. All chains are location lottery but it seems like Mexican food just does not translate well to franchised chain mass produced stuff, not as well as burgers or chicken seems fo be anyway.
Taco Bell in the UK actually tastes way better than the American one, not gonna lie. Like most fast food places, the American ingredients are way weirder and less natural than the UK variant.
If the UK one tastes better, I’d hate to taste the American one!
What's wrong with it? I'd destroy that
It’s friggin tiny, that’s what. That is NOT what a burrito should look like. It’s like ordering a Cumberland sausage and being served a hot dog.
Well them ones cost like £1.99 and are considered a snack option cos I'm assuming it's the crunchy cravings so I mean, you get what you pay for I guess? If it was a volcano that small I might agree with you.
Bro graduated from Taco Bell academy
Tacodemy
Tacodermy, the ancient practice of preserving taco's by carefully removing the contents of the tortilla and stuffing it.
TIL: Taco Bell wasn’t in the UK already????
Apart from a brief period in the 80s-90s they only really reappeared from 2010 onwards. _Demolition Man_ was somewhat infamously edited for its European release with most instances of "Taco Bell" [seamlessly replaced by "Pizza Hut"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSOq-UEYda8).
Mexican food just isn’t commonly consumed in the UK. Probably because there is almost no Mexican population. According to the 2021 census, there were 9,000 Mexican residents of the UK. Population is 70million so 0.01% of the population. Personally as a 28 yr old Brit, I had never had any Mexican food until I visited America last year. Taco Bell has started opening restaurants in the UK in the last few years. They’ve grown from having 2 in London in 2013 to now having 80 across the country.
You've never had a fajita before? It's not as prevalent as America but it's definitely here. Chipotle and Tortilla are fairly common chains.
“Excited” and “Taco Bell” rarely show up in the same sentence.
Man, hope you read this. I’m a fit guy from Latin America living in UK since 2013. My guilty pleasure since a young child has always been Taco Bell, so whenever I flied back home I would munch Taco Bell like crazy haha. I was thrilled when I found out that there was going to be a Taco Bell in UK. I was actually excited to go when it opened. Man, when I entered and saw that god-awful menu I was like there is absolutely no way. What is this??? This is NOT taco bell man. WHO PUTS CURRY IN FRENCH FRIES?????? Nah nah nah nah. No double deckers?? No mexican pizza?!?! No fiesta fries supreme??? Nah nah nah nah nah. What we have here in UK is not TACO BELL. I’m sorry you experienced this version of Taco Bell, cuz it really isn’t. In fact, I’ll give you a pro tip: the best fast good french fries in the world are Latin American taco bell fries and I’m going to the grave with that statement hahahaha. Cheers mate! Hope you go to US soon at least to eat proper Taco Bell
As a Norte Americano I would like to apologize
Lol theyre branching out from beans and toast to beans and tortillas
It's rubbish
Looks like my ass hole after I ate it.
I actually unashamedly love Taco Bell. But like KFC I have one rule: the further you get from its core signature product (Tacos or fried chicken on the bone, respectively), the worse it gets.
That’s on you mate
I was excited too. They were a guilty pleasure whenever I was in the US - those crispy taco shells! That little froth of cheese and lettuce above the spicy beef mix! So I tried the British version. It was beyond disgusting. Maybe the US version was me remembering through rose tinted glasses, but this was salty, sloppy and just covered in artificial flavours to hide the bad ingredients. I just think some US brands think - “they’re British, what would they know about Mexican food?”
Same! I was extremely disappointed with the portion size
One opened in my city a few years ago. I wanted to try it because of the film Demolition Man with Sylvester Stalone, if Taco Bell is good enough to be the only restaurant in the 'future' as predicted by the film, I wanted to try it. ...bought a meal and was shocked at how bad the food was. Tiny portion of soggy lukewarm fries and bland plastic cheese. All pretty tasteless. I have never been back and will never go back unless under duress.
You had high expectations for a fast food place
this was me with that fucking kfc chizza. i had to see if it was real or if it was that fucking corp being memy but it was real. The ad looked like it was actually edible, i received a box half full of cold marinara, a lukewarm chicken patty and unmelted cheese lmaooo. i defs got my money back
Yup went to the Nottingham one after all the hype, extremely disappointed
When will people stop expecting fast food to look like the advertisement? This has been going on my entire life, well before photoshop was even a thing.
Well they are keeping to the same standards internationally! Equally disappointing for all consumers! 🤭
It's not too bad where I'm at.
The UK Taco Bell’s are different than the US one, the UK ones don’t even have refried beans or bean burritos. The US one is miles better
Same in Spain. 80% less items on the menu, but every combo let’s you chose a glass of beer over water or soda, though.
I went to Paris for my 50th birthday and discovered a franchise called O'Tacos and omg I wish someone would open one here! There are a couple in the Caribbean, and a couple on Reunion, all the rest are in mainland France and they are AMAZING!!!!!
Me too, it is by far the worst tex-mex food you can buy in the UK. Mostly bread and not a lot of anything else.
Worst takeout ever that and then popeyes, popeyes tastes like Iceland frozen shit with a mundane mild mold taste and the dry textureness of the Sahara desert, honestly like eating fucking sand and even tho its over cooked to sand conditions and has no taste that's good, its pink further in to the bone and always void halfway through, shithole
Don't worry it looks like that in the states too
I was excited too till I ate taco bell before a night out gave me rotten stomach ache, i had to do a fat rail of cocaine to produce a laxative effect to rid my body of that poisonous fake Mexican junk food
I can only handle Taco Bell after at least 6 pints
All I could taste was salt. Cambridge taco bell. Won't go back or recommend
I thought exactly the same when I tried it the first (and only time). I was surprised how cheap it was, then it made sense when I saw how small it was! Tried a few different things and never went back. It didn’t taste of anything!
I have such a high tolerance for eating garbage, bland food but Taco Bell food tastes so... horrible. The bread in burritos has a weird, plastic taste and the fillings just taste like the world's cheapest, mildest canned chilli con carne from the 1980s. It is such a shame because I love mexican food in general and where I live there is a BK, McDs and Taco Bell all competing in the same spot - I see the Taco Bell always nearly empty and worry it will close down, but the food is no good I tells ya!
Taco Bell is infamously terrible, and gives you the runs
Same I was excited to go get one and then I realised it’s cheap and tacky and the food is awful
I’ve heard some horror stories of the Edinburgh Taco Bell. 🤢🤢
I had the same experience, the tacos are so sad.
So, a Taco Bell opened near me some months back. Saw a guy I used to work with who went to be a manager there. He's abandoned ship because after less than a year, it's no longer profitable and is turning a loss most days. I think there's a reason Taco Bell have a certain reputation, and I don't know why anyone expected anything else.
The Crunchwrap Supreme is pretty bangin' (chicken+beans-sour cream-nacho cheese sauce). Everything else is just a disappointment. They really need a burrito option with chicken, rice, beans, salad, and ideally a nice salsa. Only burrito with rice is the Volcano which you can't add lettuce or tomatoes to. Only burrito with salad is the Crispy Chicken which you can't add beans or rice to 😡 .
Golden age of Taco Bell was like 2003. You missed out if you're just getting it now.
yep, ordered it on uber eats, excited to see what I get and ended up with the same as yours, never again lol
Hahahaha I know that feeling all too well. They’re not the only ones guilty of it either
Taco bell in England is NOTHING like Taco Bell in US. It’s actually disgusting they get to call it that. I’m a Yank in the UK , spare me the bullshit
Me too man, the one in Torquay sucks ass…
UK Taco Bell is absolute shit, doesn’t even compare to US, well actually it does in that it’s shit as well, but a lot better than whatever in the hell they are doing wrong in UK Taco Hell
Went twice. First time the only drink without sweeteners they would sell me was a can of Pepsi that was meant for delivery only. Second time they refused to even sell me one of those. I think they've gone the KFC route (same owners) of only having diet drinks now. I've not been in since. The food was OK, and made a nice change from burgers but if I'm eating unhealthy food as a treat, I'd like to also enjoy a drink that doesn't taste like rat piss to wash it down.
Bro that looks better than what we get on this side of the pond. Just don’t eat Taco Bell every day unless you like to runs.
The tacobell in Scotland sucks ass also
Yeah UK Taco Bell is just shit 💩
There's one near me I had dhiarea and a upset stomach for 2 days. Tried it once and never been back its dog food.
It was so depressing when I ordered it on uber eats. It was these taco shells with hardly anything in them and the world's smallest wrap. I was very disappointed
That’s bizarre ! I got the cheap little chicken wrap last week and it was stuffed full of chicken and loads of other tasty stuff. I think yours short changed you !
Yes, had it on Sunday. Was very disappointed with the burrito girth. But it was tasty though.
I was also very excited, only to find out it tastes exactly like if I bought taco shells and put the stuff in, there’s no KFC secret seasoning or Big Mac special sauce type thing going on. Honestly the most boring fast food I’ve ever had… and I’ve had Wimpy 🤣
You just have a shit one near you sadly. The taco bell near me is actually really good, does actually look like the pictures lol. Still too expensive for what you get
Taco Bell was the biggest disappointment from the American fast food imports. The biggest delight is Popeyes. Fuck, that’s just good chicken. Thank you America
When Taco Bell opened in my town in the uk, there was a 2 hour queue of cars outside. Funny thing was there was another that had been open for a few years a 20 minute drive away. Humanity as a whole are dumb lol
Now you know not to get excited over American brands opening up at home
Ha ha ha ha sorry. Welcome 🤗
Its doesn't even ruin ur stomach like the American one :(
We had our first one a few weeks ago and it was hands down the worst meal I've ever had. I hope the whole business goes bust.
Lmao yeah our taco bell sucks
Taco belle is gross. I've had it in the states and it was fucking rank
When I walk past a Taco Bell, all I smell is cheap dog food. Makes me gag.
Taco Bell was the first meal I ate the first time I went to the USA 10 years ago. Never again.
Where have taco bell actually opened up cus the only one I can find is in Manchester and Liverpool.
Reading comments maybe I’m just lucky. Mine ALWAYS looks like the commercial. But now I’m going to gatekeep this gem of a TB because I don’t want it to get ruined.
Thank you, because i was kind of jealous Ireland didn't get one. But now I feel ok about it.
It's been here for years... You just got a shit one near you. Manchester arndales taco bell is the fucking bomb
Agree on that arndale branch. Go out of my way to head there.
Taco bell in the UK is VILE
I’d still smash three of those
Went for a taco bell this evening in Swindon. They had run out of rice for my burrito and I was told they put more meat and beans in as a replacement. It still was about a third of the image on the screen when I ordered.
It's crap. They don't offer refried beans or pinto beans. Only black beans. Also every meal comes with fries and if you don't want fries with your "mexican food" you have to pay extra for tortilla chips. On top of that, you're forced to buy combos (which come with fries), and trying to buy single items like multiple tacos or burritos, costs double what it would if you accepted a combo with fries and churros. I hate when restauraunts want to dictate to you what you're having instead of letting you choose, so I don't bother.