Have you heard about this new lawsuit against Taco Bell?
Some dude is suing the company because he says it deceives customers, stating the product is nothing like the advertising. I just wanna go on record right now that I am NOT the dude suing Taco Bell… despite the photos that will follow.
Look, I adore Taco Bell. When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is, “¡Yo quiero Taco Bell,” so I was obviously gonna try its new birria-inspired Shredded Beef Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco no matter what.
On the surface, the SBGCDT sounds great – a hard-shelled taco with a three-cheese blend of cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper jack baked on the outside. Inside you get braised shredded beef, a creamy jalapeño sauce, and more cheese for good measure. And if that’s not enough, it comes with two dipping sauces — nacho cheese and “red sauce.” How could you go wrong?
Well, I won’t mince words; my taco was an absolute crime scene. It was the messiest thing I’ve ever had at Taco Bell, and I’ve eaten the horrendously overrated Mexican Pizza.
There was only cheese on one side of the shell, and about five tacos worth of sauce blasted inside, which completely ruined the integrity of the entire thing. For something called a “dipping taco,” I had a really hard time picking it up, let alone dipping it.
I’m not one to complain (lol), and the (very nice) employees had a lunch rush to deal with, so I just soldiered on. I figured it looks bad, but I bet it still tastes good… and ya know what? It did, for the most part. You can literally see the lowlights, so I’ll focus on the highlights.
The birria-style shredded beef was excellent. It was seasoned well, super tender, and not even a little bit stringy. If it becomes a menu staple, I’m customizing all my meals going forward with shredded beef. The half-cheesed shell was limp, but I dig the general idea. It’s like a Cheesy Gordita Crunch without the outer soft tortilla.
There’s an epidemic in our society with over-saucing everything, and this jalapeño cream sauce went way beyond that. While it has a nice, slightly spicy kick, it needed to just be a dollop. Better yet, it should have been the dipper in place of nacho cheese, which is completely redundant.
The red sauce is really just a vague taco sauce, but I liked the consistency, which was similar to a thin spiced-up tomato bisque. It was actually a good “dip.”
I’m a little baffled by the concept in the sense that even if mine was clean and compact, it’s just a taco. That doesn’t seem like the right delivery system for a “dipper.” I get dipping taquitos, but an entire taco?
Assuming I got a properly constructed taco, I’d still toss this overall concept in the upper “mid” category. The grilled cheese taco shell and the pulled beef were both winning ideas. This isn’t the first time Taco Bell has done either of those things, but it should become a standard… just take it easy with the sauce.
I decided to rate this on taste and ignore the presentation. It was an absolute disaster to look at and a huge pain to eat, but I’d still rank it a “Hot” on the Taco Bell sauce chart. Sue me.
Purchased Price: $3.99
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 300 calories, 19 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 580 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.
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Well I agree with you right up until the part where you said that Mexican pizza was overrated! I love those things and rallied hard to get them back LOL. But I will admit while not overrated to me they are definitely overpriced! Along with these dipping tacos!
Taco Bell no bend or not paying attention to what go out the door! Grilled cheese dipping taco no cheese or toasted on outside? At all ? Instead of where’s the Beef where’s the Cheese toasted! Otherwise great flavor. Just Saying. Mgnt. Should check new things.
Strong agree, and mine looked just like that when I got it mid-afternoon without another customer in sight. I opened it in the parking lot and immediately decided I’d need to eat it at home, even without dipping, it was just too messy. Also overpriced for what it was.
6 is about right. The shredded beef saves them from being a total disaster. The beef is really good and I hope it stays on the menu. I’m definitely gonna sub it into other items while its available. The rest of the concept never should have made it to market. It’s an incredibly messy eat. The grilled cheese on the outside makes it very greasy and soggy, which totally defeats the purpose of being able to dip it. The sauces are uninspired (regular nacho cheese) and very bland (the red sauce). I wasn’t expect true birria from TB, but I would have hoped the red sauce at least mimicked it a bit. They needed better sauce options. If they reworked these, skipping the grilled cheese on the outside and instead gave us a set up similar to a double decker taco or cheesy gordita crunch, these would work a lot better. But they didn’t and the structural issues cause a big points deduction.
I tried it today and loved it. Easily an 8.5/10 in my book. Maybe it was the location?
I noticed some locations are not using the press correctly for griddle on the cheese, and instead putting it in the quick steam, but regardless the advertisement for this item, and the final product are two ENTIRELY different items. The portioning on the shredded beef goes from almost ample to severely under portioned. And the shell on the advertisement does not show EVERYTHING falling out the bottom like it’ll do almost every time when you steam and try to griddle cheese on a hard shell incorrectly.
Even the review here..take a look the entire bottom of the taco gone.
Why?
Isn’t this item the same price as an ACTUAL AUTHENTIC STREET TACO??
Shouldn’t this item be prepared correctly if you are going to charge a similar price?
Also what happened to the chili oil looking birria sauce in the advertisement that they’ve now replaced with old discontinued enchirito sauce,…and call it The Red Sauce…what a joke!!
I agree 6 out of 10. Mine looked the same as the picture a mess and to much sauce inside.
I really wanted to like this, but the best I could say is that it was “edible”
I don’t care for a flippity foppity corn tortilla, and this was more like something you’d roll a enchilada with, not make a taco. This might have worked better with a flour tortilla, or even better yet, with the toasted cheddar chalupa shell with a wider container of something better to dip it in.
I honestly thought you were fisting it for a second.
I gave it 2 tries. The first time it was super squished so I basically ate a tortilla with smeared cheese and a little piece of shredded meat sticking out of one side. So definitely not a taco at all. The second one at a separate location was not as flat, but there was no shredded meat inside only ground beef. So I ate a small ground beef quesadilla. A 6 out of 10 is generous, I give it a 3 because I as able to use the nacho cheese for my chips at home.
Tried it and I was not impressed. It was sloppy and greasy. Hardly any meat. Not worth the price if $3.69. I will not buy it again.?
I tried one today early before the lunch rush, & was disappointed at how little beef was actually in it. I also didn’t see one side of the shell was grilled with cheese like yours was. It was a messy mess, but tasted pretty decent, but dipping it won’t work well at all as it was falling apart & I even had them cut the jalapeño sauce that’s supposed to be put inside of it. I switched out the mystery red sauce for their avocado ranch sauce as I previously had it with the discontinued fried chicken shell taco I loved. But now it’s hotter, so probably won’t ever get this again, considering how little of the birria style beef was in it. It maybe had a teaspoonful of beef. Not enough for sure, & it looks like you got more, from the look of it in your picture. Great review.
I can’t believe I’m posting here, but I just tried two of these at a Santa Clarita location. I feel like it was somehow steamed and not quite grilled – that said it was kind of delicious. Not sure what people are looking for exactly, but it was greasy, cheesy goodness and the meats delicious. It has an insane amount of oil all over it, scary to pick up and a mess – but very guilty fun and prob their best item in many years. It’s just HEAVY and you feel it! But i loved it.
Well, I gave it a 2nd try at a different location near me & what a difference! It had way more beef in the 2 that I got today, it was a bogo 1/2 off, so I thought sure, why not? I was pleasantly surprised at the difference. Not only was it more tasty beef like it should be, but it was grilled on one side with the cheeses like it shows as well. Messy still, but I don’t care about dipping it into anything. It’s great tasting as is & I was able to pick it up with my hand as it did not fall apart like the first one I tried the other day at a different franchisee’s location. Plus I didn’t ask them to leave off the jalapeño sauce that goes in it, & it was much much better tasting than I expected. I would eat those at least once a week if I could always get them the way I got them today.
I got one. It was awful. Flat as a pancake & very tiny. It was completely stuck to the wrapper & tore apart when I tried to get the wrapper off to eat it. There was no dipping possible as it completely fell apart. What a complete disaster. Worth $1 at best for what you get.
Totally agree with this assessment. The meat was good but the whole thing was a a soggy, broken, greasy mess.
I loved it. Got it four times and each time was a magical as the last. First two time I substitute beef with chicken, the last to times I kept it classy and got the shredded beef. The glorified taco sauce was amazing mixed with the nacho cheese! I hope they make it a regular menu item because I’ll be sad to see it go.
Drew, I’m thinking the store you went for the dipping taco either had staff that wasn’t trained properly on how to make it or their equipment they make it on wasn’t up to snuff.
I happen to live a mile from “The Most Beautiful Taco Bell In The World” in Pacifica, CA (just south of San Francisco) — it’s the famous (infamous ?) location that’s situated on a beach, all by itself, no other stores or restaurants around, with a patio, a fireplace and great views — and is a Cantina store. I’ve had the dipping tacos there twice … and they were SO good! They weren’t burnt, they didn’t fall apart, absolutely delicious. One of the best parts is the taco shell — it’s not their regular “corporate” shell, which tastes a bit synthetic to me, but I believe a freshly fried one (similar to how they made last year’s limited Cantina Melt Taco).
The only downsides were that I would have liked more of the shredded beef (although that’s goes as well for any of their proteins and you can certainly pay more to get more), and, as you and others alluded to, the dipping sauce isn’t true birria style — but, then, they don’t use that word in the name, so I’ll throw them some slack. Ok, so the second time I did ask for no jalapeno sauce inside as I feel it overpowers the taste of the shredded beef, and I liked it even more. I suppose asking for no cheese on the outside could also help if your store keeps burning it and, with that special shell and the other ingredients, you’d still have a great taco. So, at least out of my local TB, I’d give this a 9 out of 10.
Alas, I just checked the app to order some tonight — it’s already been discontinued! ?