YO TANGO FROM TACO HELL! TOO BAD TO RATE -1
To no avail, i
t appears that "Yo tengo TACO Bell" might get changed to "You'll Tango from Taco Hell" dancing to the nearest bathroom.
An assessment might not be fair during the investigation of 90 of their restaurants in the northeast. They were shut down for E.COLI problems. So most folks were cautious about eating there.
When we hit them during the break out, we went to three different locations here in Florida. One, three times, I watched folks pulling the lettuce out of the sandwiches, so we backed off and let the petri dishes clear before we went back. They should of looked at the jalopeno, and cilantro. Lettuce took the fall.
We gave them a couple months.
"BUR-RAT-TOES" -
And soon after as if bad news comes in bunches, the beat goes on. The TACO Bell in the center of the universe, Manhattan, NYC was filmed with surveillance cameras with mice and rats scurrying throughout the place before opening one day after they passed their inspection by the NYC health department. I guess as the idiot inspector(s) was walking around with his thermometer he missed the rat excrement. As I have said before those certificates on the wall mean nothing, It's the integrity of the chain. I wouldn't be surprised if someone mispronounced Burrito as "Bur-rat-toe" and actually got what they asked for!
DISABILITY ACT - And there is that little problem of the civil disabilities act which is now a class action suit with many locations in violations of aid for the physically impaired.
BREAKING NEWS - AUGUST 6th, 2010
WE GAVE THEM ANOTHER FINAL SHOT
Three times, in one location, five locations total, five trips, same habits, same employee "e-spit de corpse" and we have concluded that they are their own worst problem.
I was in
• They floors were tacky or greasy, like some mopping would help to break the grease from all the fryers.
• First impression struck me odd, it was dinnertime and the place is empty.
• The store only had three seated customers in the entire place, so they were not busy.
• The tables, three of them were filthy, food droppings and obviously not wiped down.
• Employee possibly on break ignoring the mess, but had the time to smoke two cigarettes.
• The cashier was pleasant, but gave the impression the clock wasn't moving fast enough.
• They are their own worst problem.
Making employees wear gloves
•
Act friendly, smile, greeting, basics, things like that.
MY EXPECTATIONS LOWERED
The food came fast, almost too fast and t
he order consisted of:
• Two of the new Cantina Meat Tacos sharing one piece of lime.
• One Cantina Chicken Taco, with a piece of lime.
• A regular Taco
• Two drinks. One water and one soft drink
• Afterthought: A Burrito Supreme to prevent starvation.
IS THIS FOOD?
Supposedly, these are soft Tacos (actually Tortillas) with meat, onion, cilantro and something else on it I can't describe and I have seen more meat in a can of Ravioli, from Chef Boy-ar Dees new vegetable line. Description of what I received would be best served by a forensics lab.
•
The tortillas had split, and disintegrated. The edges cracked all around like undercooked.
• They came in tin foil but were not hot.
•
They were minuscule in size and totally unlike the picture. Two bites at best.
• So when it flopped open, gravity did it, the inside "looked like the tracks on a baby's diaper".
• You could barely see a streak of fine chopped onion, some green cilantro and a bunch of
dark, remnants, not quite quarter inch pieces of "meat"?, I am being kind, my lady friend after consultation described it simply, "well, it looks like rat excrement". Coming from a family with a history in the veterinary business, she knows. It was despicable.
• This is tough talk but this was an abomination, perhaps the worst we have ever seen since one place we were screening, another chain, the toilet fell through the floor exposing their septic line.
THIS IS A TEAM?
One bite was enough, mentally I spit it out, I wrapped it up, threw it out and went back to the counter and ordered a Burrito Supreme.
I mentioned nothing to the staff, as one of the employees drew all their attention, bellowing loud enough to be heard out front, we heard him, and we were seated halfway to the front door yelling "he needs more help" and other unintelligible motivational sentences. I joked with the cashier and said who is that? She said; He's a manager. Yea and I'm a "food critic".
This is not leadership, this is not training, this is bellowing. The only busy part of the operation was the two cars in the drive thru. Then the guy on break who had finished his second cigarette came out of the ether, he seemed distant and totally unconnected to the operation and the problem in the kitchen. He asked "you need help"...like the kind Custer got at the Big Horn. He was not the 7th Cavalry.
WHERE ARE THE GLOVES, LONGEVITY, PEOPLE TRAINING, MANAGEMENT
• Had I observed what I saw later, I would have thrown back this meal. The prep guy was gloveless, bare handing the food, then dishing out the meals. No gloves? Handholding the Tacos and Tortillas for the drive in, while w
Not letting the meat sit in heat trays for hours uncovered.
• Start a fresh campaign of re-training their staffs in the art of cleanliness.
• And put fresh products like meat, on and in the Tortillas and Burritos in something more than a smear. It was a joke.
The best thing I like about Taco Bell after five tries is their hot sauces and at least they come pre-packaged.
I have Mexican friends and they have no idea what half the food served there is. Our maintenance guy, Juan, refereed to it as Gringo Stuff.
SUMMARY:
an emergency, a convenience stop, not serious eating, order only the fastest moving most popular items so they are fresher. The style and processes they use need some re-thinking.
This is a large chain with 5600 stores. I will avoid
them in the future till they clean up their act. I would pay a dollar or so more, wait two minutes longer, to get good food rather than what they are putting out.
Sometimes the minute you walk in to an establishment, you get a feeling it's not clean...go elsewhere.
The KFC's in particular, as we noticed the whole place feels greasy, maybe the combo of the old south chicken and obviously the older chicken in the tacos and all that frying oil is a bad combo as one chain in these dual stores gets the blame for the other.
NEW STORE
They just tore the Taco Bell store on US 19 and East Bay and rebuilt it. It is cleaner and nicer looking. I was hungry, dropped in and they definitely did a better job with the food handling. That puts them at average fast food. But you have to look behind the counter and if your food is being manhandled pass and eat elsewhere.
I needed a bulldozer to dig up an email direct to the corporation, first you got to find them, find out the will not take a direct email and you go through their process as to age etc. Then you fill the questionnaire, and then just sort of forget it, they get enough complaints.....
When I googled Taco Bell Complaints the board lit up. 01/12/2011 The service was fine and other than a guy taking his clothes on and off in the dining area, this store is located just off the intersection of East Bay Drive and US 19. We have pan handling laws in many of our cities here and this intersection is in the county, not the city so it has a following of homeless people who are trying to survive the cold. It's been in the thirties at night. I offered to drive him down to the shelter, but they don't trust shelters.... Back to the food, nothing has changed, I had the two Chalupas and One Taco, little or no meat, nothing like the pictures, the lettuce was ice cold about the temperature of the meat. So once again I can't really find anything nice about this place, the corporation or the food. Taco Hell is still appropriate.
I had just made my run to Tampa International's postal hub at the airport to rush a few packages direct to the airlines and save 12 hours of the shipping time. It was a long day and I just wanted some food on the way back. I stopped at Taco Bell.
