Do you think Taco Bell's food has gotten better or worse with the menu changes over the years?

I managed a Taco Bell in the mid 70's when I was in college. Tacos, bean burritos and tostadas were $.29. Everything was made from scratch. We cut up all the lettuce, tomatoes & onions. Beans were sorted through by hand and then cooked with lard in huge square metal tubs. We used something that looked like a giant potato masher to stir them. You had to constantly stir them, or they would burn. It was a lot of work for us, but the food was superior to what they're selling today. Even with the low prices, we still averaged $2000/ night. Nobody ever sat down. I used to say, "I'm off to run my Taco Bell marathon..."

I'm so glad I'm a Boomer and actually got to enjoy the Taco Bell of the 60s and 70s. Such awesome, warm fuzzy memories of a time gone by.

I ate at a Taco Bell in Shanghai China in 2004 it was a sit down restaurant with menus brought to you and served to your table. Food was the same as now and we were greeted by Chinese young people in Sunbraros saying Hola and Adios when we left. Very surreal.

Here in San Jose, CA many of the original Taco Bell stands with the arches and red tile roofs are still around, but they don't house a Taco Bell anymore. They are often check cashing places and other small businesses, but you can't miss that unique architecture of the original, tiny, restaurants!

- Taco Bells used to be built in Spanish mission revival style - tortillas were fried six at a time in chicken wired baskets and aligned as a trail, rather than premade shells - Taco Bell was viewed as an establishment rather than a bathroom *We used to be a country, a proper country*

My first job was at Taco Bell back in the 70s. It was the toughest job I ever have had. Everything was made in in-house, including shredding the cheese, chopping the lettuce and tomatoes and cooking the beef. We used to save the grease that came off the beef in tubs that were then sold to Love Cosmetics for use in their makeup. Closing time didn't mean everything relaxed a bit, because we then had to clean inside and outside before finally being able to leave for the day. All for minimum wage. But I learned what ended up being a life skill - how to fold a burrito!

The Bell Beefer was really good, along with the original Enchirito. I sure wish they would bring them back.

When I was a kid, a freaking billion years ago, I worked in a Taco Ball back when we fried the shells, cooked the beans in a pressure cooker, and fried up the beef. Doing the fry work was like a whole shift... different size taco and tostada shells, nacho chips, "taco pizza" shells, and those damned taco salad shells that always seemed to break when you were trying to hurry.

Their meat has drastically changed since the 70's and 80's. Real beef with chunks of onion. Man, i could sit there and eat a few beef burritos, laced with hot sauce. The sauces came in little containers, like Mcdonalds does their mcnugget dipping sauces. So, you got a lot more sauce then than you do now. It just tasted higher quality. I rarely eat there now.

I can still remember the first Taco Bell in San Jose, California! They used to serve a burrito that was pretty good! The Bell Beefer. It was a favorite place to eat!

I was born and raised in Downey California.. Taco Bell used to have a fire pit with seating in front of their restaurant...A green burrito after a day at Huntington Beach was Heaven...

The Beef tostada was a mountain loaded with everything. My all-time favorite. Real beef included.

I remember the original Taco Bell restaurants they were open air seating depending on location then they enclosed them with glass. I miss those..and the food was much better 1970’s. Miss the enchirito menu now is just taco’s and burritos.

My first job in 1975 was Taco Bell in Northridge, California. There was like ten items on the entire menu. I made $1.70 an hour, and all you could eat or trade to the guys next door at 7-11 for beer on the late shift. No drive thru, a few tables and we made everything fresh. Including taking raw pinto beans and cooking them in pressure cookers to make the frijoles. Nothing came pre-cooked or packaged and it was good, a huge difference from today.

Grew up in Souh Gate CA, just over the river bed from this location. Never knew it was the original first location in the 60's as a kid , but it was a busy location back then. The plaza next door also had an excellent Mexican restaurant in the 70's & 80s and TB had closed years earlier.

I live in Virginia most of my life, but my parents divorced and my mom remarried and we moved to California. My stepfather took us to Disneyland and I was introduced to Mexican food. I loved it. One day I seen a Taco Bell. I asked if we could go there. He said it was junk Mexican food. I still regret that I didn't get to try it in it's early days. 😩

As more time passes, the food gets progressively worse and worse and worse and more expensive.

Loved the “Enchiritto”!!!!!

When I was a young kid mid 70's, Going to Taco Bell was a fun experience. (kinda like Long John Silvers when it had a nautical theme) These days Taco Bell just plain sucks from the food to the decor.

First job that I got I was 15 yrs old in Camarillo was for Taco Bell. The facade here looks EXACTLY like that very restaurant.

There’s still an original Taco Bell style restaurant here in Downey called El Taco, which serves a “Bell Beefer” type sandwich, and other quality foods that are delicious!

The Bell Beefer was the best menu item. I have never heard anyone pronounce taco that way. I also miss the old architecture.

Anyone from Texas or Oklahoma who was around in the 1980s will tell you that Taco Casa is just like the way Taco Bell used to be back then. Menu, taste etc

It’s funny how Taco Bell likely started as a traditional Mexican taco shop but then evolved to the most Americanized modern fast food taco shop 😂 it’s all about the name.

I ate there in the late 70s or early 80s Texas. The Burrito Supreme had black olives on it, yum!!!

As a kid I remember they had good stuff, I do remember not eating TB for years and then coming back to and wondering what happened? They used to make everything back in the day the beans, etc. Now everything comes in cans and bags. Not even sure it's real food. And then they get rid of stuff that you can't get other places. Like the Enchirito, Mexi Melts, Double decker tacos, for a while they had taquitos I know they had steak as I got those often, not sure if they offered chicken, I'm assuming so. cinnamon chips way better than those spiral things they offer. Even as an adult in the late 90s early 2000's when I started going back if you spent like 10 bucks on food it was an insane amount of stuff as most items were under a buck.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s in the Midwest I remember there being a Taco Bell in my town in the 80s but really don't remember going to there to often, but I remember liking it. I don't really even remember having a Taco night at home. Now after I joined the Army and went to Texas right away for training, then I learned Mexican food, opened a new world of taste.

Some Taco Bell histories mention that early on they used an alternate name called Taco Tio. Supposedly only a few in SoCal, but we had one on the SF Peninsula in the mid '60s. Same classic building, same menu as Taco Bell. This one was later renamed Taco Bell, and is long gone.

I never forgave them for changing the green sauce when I was a kid. The enchirito needs to come back too.

I loved the Enchirito! I also liked how the hot sauce came in a small plastic cup. (Pup N Taco had better tacos.) 😁

My first experience with the Bell was in the 70s when I was a teenager. It was in Texas. Been hooked ever since.

Taco Bell's food was better then--even in the 1980's. Something in their sauce recipe was different.

Please bring back the original green burritos and 7 Layer burritos!!!

I remember being able to get 4 tacos for one dollar and a few pennies back when they first opened then a short time later was .25 cents each...It's amazing to me how the crunchy tacos still taste the same as back then.

I remember when Taco Bell sauces came in a plastic cup.

Taco Bell please bring back the beef on the taco.

In the late 1900's early 2000's, in Mountain View, CA, the Taco Bell was closed for quite a while for remodeling and was rebranded "Border Bell." They seemed to be experimenting with an upscale version of Taco Bell, with many of the original items but with some higher end offerings that no longer come to mind, but fajitas(similar to Chili's at the time) seem familiar. It quickly failed and returned to a regular Taco Bell soon after. If I recall correctly, the indoor and outdoor fire pits remained for a number of years.

Bring back the Encherito and the Bellbeefer😋

The best food was at Plaza Guadalajara, which was next door to the original Taco Bell. They had one video game (Pole Position) and a juke box that was always playing. They had ancient Aztec murals throughout the restaurant... They had the best bean burritos with homemade salsas that are nothing like any other salsas I ever had. It was a bummer when they went out of business in the 90s, like so many awesome places, like orange Julius... When hot dog on a stick had real lemonade and not that artificial stuff they have now...

We had a franchise in No. California too in late 60's. It was just like that walk up that you featured. The tacos were 28 cents. We loved it. When I drove through there reently...the building is still there...but no longer a Taco Bell. Loved it! It was cheap, for those of us who are fussy eaters, we appreciate the simplicity!

Unfortunately Taco Bell's food has gone WAY DOWN over the past 10 years. Portions are very small, beef on a taco is maybe a tablespoon at best. I used to like the refried beans, but found the cardboard cups were not flat on the bottom which gave a much smaller portion. Then we come to counter service which is poor and drive thru is even worse. I stopped going to taco bell years ago which was a shame as they at one time had half decent Mexican "fast" food. I now make my own at home with Old El Paso taco kits which include the shells, meat spice and salsa. Fry up some hamburger meat with the spice pack and you are ready. Just add sour cream, lettuce/tomato and your set. These are much better than taco bell !!

I remember taco's we're cheap and lived off of taco's and bean burritos when I was broke lol

The first Taco Bell only had about 10 things on the menu and they were 25 cents each, sodas were 10 and 25 cents. In my opinion the quality has suffered over the years...

I remember as a kid in the 70's our family would eat there and it was so good, my favorite was the Enchirito with the three black olives. Later in high school I worked there in the 80's and if you worked a certain amount of hours you would get to eat like five dollars worth of food for free and that was alot, one of my most fun jobs I had because many friends worked there too...miss those good old days.

They shouldn’t have ever changed the ground beef

As a kid in the 60s and 70s my favorite thing was the open fire pit. We would chuck the used sauce packets in there. I still miss the bellbeefer. I'm wondering if putting the filling of a taco into a hamburger bun would taste the same.

I remember when they built the one on the corner of Jackson Dr. and Fletcher Parkway back in the 60s, I loved the fire pit outside. My favorite item on the menu was the Enchirito, even after it was removed from the menu I could still get it for a couple years at my Taco Bell in Santee, Ca.

In 1967, my friends and I ate at Taco Bell often. Tacos were 19 cents a piece.

Use to eat at the Taco Bell on Rosemead Blvd/Lakewood Blvd, when I was young. I remember my sisters trying to scrape up 21 cents (19 cents plus tax) to buy a Tostada. The food was so good back then, made on sight fresh. loved Bellbeffer and Encherito too.

One thing to remember when you are younger... THESE are the good old days... Make 'em worth remembering. And if you're older? Make these better than the good old days really were.

I had a good friend that built a Taco Bell in 1980 in the upper midwest. It was the iconic architecture with the arch's and stucco design. It did have indoor seating due to the cold weather climate but the big difference from todays design was it had the restrooms in the back of the building and were only accessible to go outside and enter them. The construction company I worked for rebuilt a new Taco Bell in that location around 2004 with their new design and yes it finally had the restrooms inside. LOL!

Taco Bell came to my town in 1968. I met my first love at Taco Bell. I loved their food then and I love it now. It hasn't really changed much if at all. Of course, I still only order from the original menu-taco, burrito or tostada. I do hate that they stopped having green sauce!

I miss the Bellbeefer! I still make them.

It’s ok now but it use to be better. TB use to fry everything in house daily. There was a dedicated fryer position. The beans use to be pressure cooked on site in 3 pressure cookers. It was day managers job 1st thing in the morning-beans, water, a small brick of lard, & salt & 3 hours. Yum. The cheese was also shredded on site. I miss the Enchirito. It was made with a special tortilla that half flour half corn & your choice or red or green sauce that was mixed daily. I too miss the Bellbeefer and pintos & cheese(what the video called frijoles). Today TB has 2 standouts: the Mexican Pizza & Breakfast Crunch Wraps. I get a Breakfast Box 3-4 times a week. Great deal for $5.99, includes the wrap, hash browns, Cinnabons, & coffee.

I live down the street. Man I miss this classic tacobell.

Back in 1968 my family moved from the east coast to southern California and our first visit was with an aunt and uncle. They had had this strange thing called tacos for dinner. We would wind up having them fairly regularly there after

They used to have a green sauce in the late 70’s. Fantastic on $.51 bean burritos and pintos and cheese. Now their stuff is garbage.

I miss the Taco Salad. I wish they would bring it back!

I grew up in NYC. The first time I heard the term taco was while watching the Partridge Family in the early '70's. I had no idea what they were. I ate my first taco when I moved here in the early '80's.

I was.fifteen when the first Taco Bell opened in Santa Monica California. I believe the street was Lincoln Blvd. It was so exciting they were giving away Mexican Straw.Hats for each order. I'm Mexican, and l know the food was not authentic, but it was pretty good and cheap! Sure brings back memories of the sixties.

I bought 4 soft taco Supremes for at least $10.00 yesterday and when I got home in each one was about 2oz of beef mixture a small tad of lettuce and a few tomatoes with a dime size of sour cream, talk about getting ripped off, I'll make my own from now on, that was ridiculous.

I remember the old locations had open fire pits on the outside.

I used to love the bell beefer,from around 1968 and you sat outside to eat, the food tasted so much better back then....

I don't think they mentioned it, but the original Taco Bell building in Downey was picked up and moved to Corporate Headquarters in Irvine, CA. The last known restaurant in that original building was a Taco's Raul. They closed up shop and moved. There's a Tacos Raul near Firestone and Lakewood in Downey, but I'm not sure if is the same owner. I also remember Plaza Guadalajara. There used to be a Mexican Restaurant in there too in the early 90's. A friend from High School worked there. That's all gone now. The only building left on that side of the street is a Target Carpet. Across the street though, there's a newer Taco Bell / Pizza Hut and a Home Depot.

Back in the late 70's my favorite, the now canceled Enchirito was made with corn tortillas (not flour) and topped with 3 neatly place black olives...yummmmm

And bring back Mexican Pizza!

I remember back in the 60s a gold bell came to our house for a while… I later found that was when my brother (a McDonald’s employee) had engaged in some restaurant rivalry

I rember this Taco Bell design as a kid in the mid 60's at: 16414 Crenshaw Blvd, Torrance, California. I think the old building is in there under all the new features. There used to be an A&W Drive In car hop burger across the street. We would get food there before going to the drive-in movie at the Rodium Theater up the street.

I think their sauces were better back in the late 70s and early 80s. And bring back the Mexican pizza!

I miss the beefy tostada it was like a open face taco, you snapped it in half then they started the Mexican pizza nope, the supreme barreto but they can't spread everything in the length of a tortilla you get a lob at one end in the middle and at the opening sour cream what's so hard to put all the flavors together.

We still have a couple mission style taco bells in Knoxville, TN. Ones a Subway while the others an abandoned mkm and pop eatery that was called Chandlers. Its caught on fire and has never been reopened, but the structure remains. Taco Bell was GREAT back in the 80s when i was a kid, but its so americanized now that no one identifies it as mexican food cause its not.

I used to live a 1/4 mile from there.. i remember riding my bike with friends to get the bellbeefers and tacos and remember the hot sauce that came in that square plastic container..

We're not going to talk about the Enchirito, the best item ever?

I remember the BellBurger and it was sooo good lol.. It was taco meat and lettuce and shredded cheese on a hamburger bun...It was really good. I wish they bring the wild sauce back.

these were great, i loved the enchirito with the olives on top but taco bell came 2nd to Pup and tacos in that era

TB got it right then of course changed it because why have something good. I could go online and place your order under guest mode, pay with Google pay and pick it up through the drive-thru. I don't like putting my personal info in on every website so this was nice. Bring that back, it was good.

Yeah serpent eye in the bell with a triple 6 surrounding the building

I began working at Taco Bell in Sept 1967. We fried our own meat, cooked the beans, grated huge blocks of cheese, fried our own taco shells. Even the sauce was hand pored into small plastic cups, shredded our own lettuce using a "Hobart" machine. Tacos, Frijoles, Tostadas, Bell Burgers, Burritos (mild red or spicy green sauce). Drinks were only Carbonated Orange, Pepsi, Root Beer. That was the entire menu. Tacos were 19 cents each. It was nothing to have lunch and dinner "rushes" every day with as many as 30 people ordering. Walk up windows (2). We made our own change... Cash registers didn't tell us how much change to give back. Price of a Taco "jumped to 25 cents each a year later in 1968. Customers were very angry because Taco Bell was" gouging it's customers". I met my husband there and in 1970, Jan., we married. Those were the days and fun. Car gas price was 20 cents a gallon. In 1971 the cost of gas rose to 23 cents a gallon.

Taco Bell should bring back their classic looking buildings as well as their classic sombrero man logo. Also the Bell burger would be awesome with the nacho fries!

The enchirito was terrific! I miss the old days. Their food was much better then. Bell burger and pintos and cheese were also favorites for me.

They used to have the fire pit out front! Imagine if they did that now!😃

I started eating Taco Bell in the 60's at a West LA store that resembled the original store. The food was all freshly made from scratch on-site, so it was a lot better than the food now, but I still like Taco Bell today.

My first Taco Bell was in Parkersburg- Vienna back in the 70s, my favorite thing in the world was their tostadas back then. My grandparents took me as a treat, good memories. The Taco Bell is still there but not the original building.

Even if they brought back the Bell Beefer, it wouldn't taste the same, because it wouldn't be the same.

I'm Australian and I have wanted to try taco Bell since the Demolition man movie!!

I remember when a TB opened in St. Petersburg, Florida (mid 60s).. It was a big deal.. The Mariachi band at the grand opening was quite cool for this little lad..

I remember as a youngster Taco Bell opening in La Jolla on La Jolla Blvd. Food was $.019 for tacos and burritos and I was always torn as to which to order. Man, those were good. That's about the same time I was introduced to Mountain Dew. With that combination I was in fast food heaven. (back when there wasn't much in the way of fast food). I think Chicken Delight was just coming into being too where they'd actually deliver a chicken dinner to your door! That was a real treat back then!!!

Great story. I remember they had taco sauce in square containers

I just realized Taco Bell doesn't have southwest style building anymore, I always thought it looked cool as a kid

I loved the Bellburger later the Bellbeefer from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. When I moved from California to Hawaii because my family was in the Navy. The Hawaii Public School Jefferson Elementary School had Taco Burgers which was served once a week as a school lunch. It had taco meat, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped lettuce, and chopped tomatoes, on a hamburger bun. I still make Taco Burgers today to remember my childhood.😋😋😋😋

Taco Bell was great back in the old days, now, not so much. I eat at Taco Casa now and it reminds me of the old Taco Bell menu.

Taco Bell was great and all back then, but it's pretty obvious peak Taco Bell will always be: I'm at the Pizza Hut (what?) I'm at the Taco Bell (what?) *I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell* I prefer McDonald's honestly, because there's nothing quite like having a Big Mac to relax after an important meeting at my palace

Taco Bell used to be great, now it is inedible

I loved the Bellburger when I was a kid as a nice change of pace! I get it with lack of understanding of Spanish if you weren't from California. I had a coworker from Pennsylvania that said how much she loved "byoor-ee-tows" until I told her how to pronounce it! Haha!

When I te!l people the taco Bell I used to go to in the early 70s in CA didn't have any windows and we'd sit on the ledge to eat they don't believe me. Now I have.proof! We got 10 cent tacos after going to the beach all day! Great memories.

They have came a long,and the food tastes great and fresh.

When you ordered a burrito at Taco Bell they would ask if you wanted red or green.

I can't crap for a week after eating one bean burrito from taco bell. And I always go back for more.

I grew up on toco bell in So.Cal. And I miss the “Incharitto”❗️