Taco Bell opened in Dundee yesterday with queues of people lining up to get a their taco fix – myself included.
Welcoming their first customers from around 10am, by the time I got to the venue on Reform Street at 11am more than 100 orders had already been placed and fulfilled.
The place was buzzing with activity with order numbers being shouted to be collected.
Lots of people were excited to see the venue open, however after hearing some mixed reviews from my DC Thomson colleagues in Aberdeen, I decided I needed try it out for myself to find out if this new addition to Dundee’s fast food scene would be worth the money or not.
Offering Mexican-inspired foods which include everything from tacos to burritos, nachos, fries and desserts, there’s plenty of choice with a variety of fillings available to pack dishes with, too.
What did I order?
Having never been before I thought it was wise to purchase a selection of food to try in order to give a detailed review.
I found out that only the crispy chicken is halal so I ordered myself a burrito meal with it, which also came with seasoned fries. I got a bean taco and some churros, too.
The order:
Verdict: Crunchy taco with black beans
I started off with the taco because naturally I was intrigued to see how good they were at Taco Bell. After all, the business has the dish in its name.
I ordered the crunchy (hard shell) taco instead of the soft one as I felt it would house the black beans I had as the filling better.
To be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with the presentation but decided to give it a try.
The taco was very crunchy when I bit into it and was filled with black beans, cheese and lettuce.
Overall I felt it was missing any real flavour. Although I enjoyed the crunchiness of the taco, I felt given their name is Taco Bell that their tacos would have blown me away a bit more.
Presentation: 1/5
Taste: 1.5/5
Total: 2.5/10
Verdict: Crispy chicken burrito meal
Inside the crispy chicken burrito I found breaded chicken, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and some sauce. It also came with seasoned fries on the side as I’d ordered a meal.
I have to say the chicken certainly was crispy but again, like the taco, it lacked any real flavour.
The fries on the other hand were very well seasoned and had a tasty paprika flavour to them.
As well as being soft on the inside they were slightly crispy, but I think I would have preferred them to be a bit crispier. Nevertheless, I would order another portion of these fries.
I was also meant to receive a drink with my meal which I never did. So although I brought some water with me, I missed out on a fizzy beverage to accompany my meal.
Presentation: 3/5 (3/5 for burrito and 3/5 for chips)
Taste: 3/5 (2/5 for burrito and 3.5 for chips)
Total: 6/10
Churros with dulce de leche
The last item was two cinnamon and sugar coated churros which came with a dulce de leche (also known as caramel) sauce.
The churros were warm when I first got them, but by the time I got round to eating them they had cooled down.
I have to say despite this they did taste nice with their crispy exterior and soft interior, and had plenty of cinnamon sugar coating on them.
Coupled with the caramel sauce this was a tasty finish to the meal.
I would recommend ordering these after you have finished the rest of your meal to enjoy them at their best.
Presentation: 2/5
Taste: 3/5
Total: 5/10
Information
Taco Bell is open from 10am to 11pm, seven days a week.
Address: 19 Reform Street, Dundee, DD1 1SG
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