Taco Time NW — Restaurant in Kirkland

This was my go-to Taco Time back when I lived off 85th in Kirkland. As I never dined in, this is solely a review of the drive-thru. The three-star rating is for a few reasons:

1. Location is convenient but can get VERY congested, even during non-peak times. The drive-thru seems to be oriented such a way that only entering the lot from the west is intended--if there is a lineup, using the north entrance (which is directly off of 85, going east) is ineffective and clunky.
2. Rotating staff. They can never seem to keep a steady stream of employees and I don't think the now hiring sign has been taken down since they were built. Which may lead to...
3. Order correctness. I lost count of how many times my orders were messed up. Sometimes it was just a taco or two missing. Other times I would ask for hot sauce only to have them forget it. One time a mexi-platter took 15 minutes to make for some reason; even then, there was a taco missing. To their credit, these errors were corrected. (Although it generally only required me driving through the lineup again once I noticed an issue, and I recognize that part of this is on me for not meticulously checking the order while still at the window. Lesson eventually learned.)

Despite those minor flaws, the food here has always been fresh and tasty. Taco Time is a great local brand that I was happy to support while I lived in WA. Even though I wouldn't rate this location very highly, I still enjoy...

New things at TT. You are encouraged (pronounced ignored) to use the self order panel on the counter. It is not the easiest to use, so after about 5 minutes, someone offered to help, but I persevered and got it done. Their user interface could use some work. I asked the petson behind the counter if I could purchase a large of hot sauce as we have done for years, and she tole me they didn't carry the bottles of hot sauce, but the totem lake TT did. I knew that one day the oft promised bottles had arrived. But she did let me know that i could purchase the small cups of hot sauce for $0.25 each. So, I drove to the totem lake TT and purchased 2 12 oz bottles for $10. That is about 42 cents per ounce. Next time, I will buy 24 cups of hot sauce as that would save $3.75. I ordered the mini soft taco, which was about a dollar less than the regular one. I think I will spend the extra next time as mini is a good name for it. It is so small that it is mostly just flour tortilla. I will just throw away what i do not eat. Of course, it still tasted good, as did the bean tortilla, which my...

I work nearby and this is normally a favorite spot to grab a quick meal when I need to work late. It's normally all 4 and 5 stars here.

I had a really weird experience with an employee who was singing as loud as he could and walking around making bizarre statements to customers. The other employees seemed to be ignoring him. He acted like he had just been fired and was mentally unstable or perhaps he was off his meds and in a mental health crisis? The things he said were all sort of an inside joke to himself, but the statements were all about how you the customer are sending me away and now I'm free. The other employees were all clearly upset and intimidated so they were all working silently trying to just get through the shift without any trouble.

I had intended to stay for a leisurely dinner but I got out of there because it quickly went from feeling uncomfortable to feeling unsafe to stay. I work nearby and I will be back, but I'm going to give management a couple of weeks to sort this out...