Taco Bell — Restaurant in Memphis

I live down the street and come here more than I probably should. And, in general, it’s Taco Bell, ya know? It is what it is. I never set my expectations high. I’ll never complain about anything as long as they are handing me food in a bag when I get to the window. But… tonight. I was on my way home from a concert and wanted a singular volcano burrito. They were out of volcano sauce. Okay. I’ll adapt. Went for the beefy burrito from the $2 menu. Nothing more, nothing less. Had leftover sauce at home from previous TB runs.

From first bite…

I want to shake the hand of the Michelin five star chef that prepared this burrito. I don’t know what he/she/they did to this burrito but they did it. Every bite was a song. Every scent a whisper. Telling me secrets I never knew I needed to know. One of those food experiences where you take a big bite, exhale through your nose, and close your eyes in a desperate attempt to deprive yourself of as many sensations as possible to focus on the most important sensation in this moment - taste. Listen to La Mamma Morta by Maria Callas on full blast and imagine life and death in their entireties and that was the experience I had with this burrito.

For less than $3 my world has been altered. Whoever made this burrito at roughly 11:20pm on July 31st, 2023 is a true artist. Mr. John Taco Bell - PAY THIS CHEF. Give them the keys to the TB mansion. They are the backbone of this company. If Gordon Ramsey did a Kitchen Nightmares episode on this establishment, he would change the title of the show to Kitchen Dreams purely for the God given ability of this chef to make a burrito.

I am now met with a dilemma. Will I return? I’ve lived near this Taco Bell for about 9-10 months now and have probably averaged 1 visit per week. But this one single late night burrito was so perfect, will I taint it by chasing that high? Would the beautiful moments in our life have such beauty if they lasted forever? Or perhaps is it the sheer scarcity of these moments that make them so valuable to our human experience? Far too many people forget the beauty they once experienced while desperately clawing at the inescapable walls of the pit of memory and nostalgia, trying to recreate that moment, rather than sitting at peace next to such an experience.

I will likely return. Like an addict, I will likely return. Like a vile vermin that was tossed scraps of rotten bread on the back porch of a tragically forgotten degenerate, I will likely return… but now… now I rest. Now I reflect. On...

I can't get an order right here. I'm experienced enough with this location to check my bag before I leave because 90% of the time something is missing. Today was no different. I stopped through the drive-thru on my lunch break around noon. It was stormy out, so there were very few people there. No one else was in the drive-thru line. I placed my order and was asked if I wanted sauce. Yes, I wanted hot sauce. Once at the window, my order was read back, including my hot sauce request. I received my food, asked if that was everything, was told "yes", double checked my order, and was missing my Nacho Fries. Requested the Nacho Fries and went home.

Once home: I had ordered a Spicy Potato Taco but should have specified Spicy PotatoES Taco because my taco literally had 2 potatoes on it! My husband's Cheese Quesadilla had cheese MISSING on 2 of the 4 slices. The lid to my cheese sauce wasn't on the container. I had the Nacho Fries, but the cheese was dumped out all inside of the bag (got cheese sauce on my work shirt sleeve). I looked for my receipt to find the store number but surprise, no receipt. Oh yeah, and of course no hot sauce either. In fact, no sauce at all.

I'm so used to Taco Bell getting everything wrong. It's my own fault I continue to go back. But the really annoying part, aside from the fact that I was on my lunch break, so there was no time to get my order fixed, was the fact that they were super slow and as I'm retrieving my food from the drive-thru window, I hear a worker tell the manager he should start sending people home. You should start sending EVERYONE home and hire a new crew. I'm done with Estate Taco Bell. IF I ever eat at a Taco Bell again, I guess I will have to drive to Ridgeway to see if they have their act...

I'm trying to pick up my mobile order and I pull up to the window and they will not give me my food and are trying to make me go get back in line that's completely wrapped around the building and into the street. The short haired girl working on the food line is extremely rude and disrespectful plus some other things. Update: I went back around for the 3rd time and this time they said I had to go back through the line again because all I said was I have an order to pickup and they said ok but when I get to the window because I didn't say the customer's name I just said I had an order to pick up they're trying to make me go back through the line again this is crazy that you treat your customers like this and I know why I'm being treated like this and then they threatened to call the cops on me but Taco Bell's the one stealing from the customer that's paid for the food but you won't give it to me That's stealing so you may want to tell the people you have working at Taco Bell on estate drive in Memphis Tennessee it's not very smart to threaten people when you're in the wrong You're stealing from me and to think this is all over me not saying a name at the box I think there's a lot more to this she's got a problem with me because I'm different from her she literally stood there and argued with me through the window about giving me the customer's food that had paid for it and just kept telling me to call Carl her GM I asked for her name but of course she's too scared to give it to me if you aren't doing anything wrong and you have nothing to hide why won't you give me your name because you're a liar and you had a problem with me since I pulled up to that window to get that food I've never seen anything just so disrespectful...