Taco Bell — Restaurant in Gardendale

I literally sat in the drive thru for 30 minutes waiting for my order to be taken. That may not seem bad, but I was at the box/speaker where you place your order.... for the whole 30 minutes!!! Once I approached the box/speaker, the car in front of me pulled out mad. They turned around and left. I thought they were out of whatever they wanted. So I approached the speaker myself. I said hello to let them know I was there and I wasn't quit sure of the total of tacos so give me a sec to count. Once I had my total, I told her I was ready. She said one minute please. So I waited patiently for her to return. About the 15 min mark, I spoke and ask if she was ready..... where she replied. One min ma'am. She seemed polite about it, so the next 10 mins went by and I still had not heard a word. As this point my children no longer wanted Taco Bell and they were ready to go somewhere else. We ended up leaving and going somewhere next door. I know the work force is lacking right now. I work in the restaurant industry myself. We would never treat our customers that way. This was last Monday...

The social distancing and apparent new procedures for Taco Bell are confusing and futile. At least in Gardendale. Today, I pulled up to drive thru. The female employee was NOT wearing gloves. I, the customer, was not and handed her paper currency to pay. This exchange was not social distancing. She then hand placed the brown bag of food on a tray, hand placed the soft drink and straw in tray slot. Then placed my change in a plastic cup that she also placed bare handed. The same employee then extended the tray for me to take all items off. I reached in the cup and took my change. She immediately said, "You need to take the cup". I said, No, I do not want the cup and besides you already touched it. She then dumped it out over the trash container. First, this entire process is counterproductive. If any, all shared germs were comprised at the beginning. Then Taco Bell spending money on cups to pass currency? Wasted cost. Considering money is already exposed to germs from register and other monies rotating each day. I'm guessing coins and paper money...

If you're stopping by any time after 8pm, you might as well give up and go somewhere else.

I work nights, and I try to get food on the way home. In the last 2 weeks I've been told: they're only serving regular tacos and burritos, no speciality items. Online orders are down, so I would have to order/pay again, cancel my online order, and wait for a refund. Another time I was told they had no chicken, steak, or beef, and I could cancel my order OR wait 30 minutes for them to make more.

Some nights the drive thru is lightning fast, other nights it take 20 minutes to get 3 cars through.

One night they left a burrito off my order, I called and asked about it. They said I could come back and they would give it to me. I told them I couldn't drive all the way back from my house to get one burrito and if I could just get a refund or pick it up with my next order. They said no, I could get it that night or not get it at all.

After the refurbish they actually were really good for a while, but they dropped off hard. I'd avoid this...