Del Taco — Restaurant in California

So there I was… Sitting in the drive-thru line, minding my business, waiting for my turn to order. When I finally get to speak to the lady over the voice box, I ask a simple question: “What’s on the carnitas quesadilla?”

She replies, “Meat, cheese, and some sauce.”

Sounds good. I say, “Cool, I’ll take the carnitas quesadilla meal at the top of the menu—no sauce, please.”

She agrees. Simple enough.

Then, the wait begins.

I sit there for what feels like a small eternity. Good thing TikTok and Instagram exist, otherwise I would’ve had to rely on my own thoughts—and let’s be honest, no one wants that while stuck in a slow-moving drive-thru. I had about three cars ahead of me, but somehow I was there for 15, maybe 20 minutes.

Finally, like every weary traveler before me, I make it to the window.

The lady there is actually very nice. She greets me, taps my card, disappears for a moment, and returns with my order. I’m in a bit of a rush—got somewhere to be in a couple hours—so I thank her, take the bag, and drive off.

I open it up, expecting my glorious quesadilla and fries.

Well, I got the fries (they were actually pretty good), but instead of a quesadilla... I see a burrito.

At this point, I'm annoyed. I didn’t want to go into the restaurant—that’s why I chose the drive-thru—but here we are. I park and take a look at my receipt fully expecting it to say carnitas quesadilla with no sauce,But the receipt says “burrito,” I know I don’t really have a leg to stand on. I mean, I’ve got a couple of beefy legs, but neither of them is a carnitas quesadilla, unfortunately.

So I sigh, accept my burrito fate, and head back to the freeway.

I unwrap the thing, dress it up with some mild sauce, then wrap it back up like a newborn being swaddled in a freshly warmed hospital towel. I take a bite… and instantly regret it.

The carnitas taste burnt—like it was scraped off a grill that should’ve been cleaned five hours ago. It smelled like scorched metal and tasted about the same. But I’m a wide-bodied human, and I needed something in my stomach, so I powered through about ¾ of the fries and less than half the burrito before surrendering and tossing the rest.

I left feeling disappointed and robbed—like I’d just thrown my money into a black hole or paid taxes straight to the void.

I really wanted to say something good about this visit. I live two hours away, so I can’t just swing by and make it right. The only positive? The woman at the window was very kind. But the order?

It got jack-O-saurus wrecked.

I don’t think I’ll be returning to this location… not in the future, and definitely not even if I get access to a...

As my sister and I are driving on the freeway she noticed a billboard for their Del Tacos new "Stuffed Quesadilla Tacos". Now, we're not stupid enough to think the food will look as good as it does on the billboard (nothing ever is) but with the ingredients they were advertising it should still taste good none the less. We ordered the carne asada taco meals ($10 for one and $11 for the other for adding 🥑). I also ordered a bean and cheese burrito on the side. The meals come with a drink and fries (why fries at a taco joint, idk lol) which seemed expensive but we wanted to try them. $25 dollars and a 10 min wait later we get our food from the drive thru and are back on the freeway only to find that there are no fries, no hot sauce we asked for and 2 of the tacos are chicken! On top of all that the tacos were just meat, cheese, lettuce and a bomb of salt! I hope it was just that one location but I feel like it's not... I don't recommend trying to see...

If it were possible to give negative stars, this place deserves it. The staff are lazy and argue with you when THEY get it wrong. Tap their long, health hazard nails at you if you look at the menu too long. Literally 4 people within 20mins (5 including myself) had to argue about how we didnt recieve items we rightfully paid for, AND items received were made incorrectly! Even with items made incorrectly they still argue with you about how it's your fault they messed up. The playground... oh my gosh the playground.... my kid stated how there was spider webs and dust bunnies everywhere. Not to mention the foam 'protective padding' is falling apart. For how cheap and inconsiderate this location is, the prices would cause you to believe you could at least enjoy your meal without risk of getting some serious IBS. If you're in the mood for Del Taco, do...