Taco Bell — Restaurant in North Logan

TL/DR: Go to Chipotle to get better food (imo) and pay FAR less for it, albeit in much larger portions.

I went to the Taco Bell in North Logan for the first time today. I was looking for a place to get a small-ish, high-protein lunch without paying a ton for it. (Spoiler: This isn't it. Small-ish and high-protein, sure....but I paid a ton for it.)

I paid $7.42 for a chicken soft taco, a Chicken Chipotle Melt and a Cheese Roll-up. Breaking it down to individual pieces and calculating the cost-per-100 calories (as I often do), you get: Chicken Soft Taco: $2.91 /160cal * 100 = 1.82 (That is, $1.82 per 100 calories) Chicken Chipotle Melt: $3.01 / 190cal * 100 = 1.59 Cheesy Roll-up: $1.50 / 180cal * 100 = 0.83

What about protein (or rather, protein-per-calorie), you ask? That's actually these entrees' strong point: Chicken Soft Taco: 12g protein / 160cal = 7.5 Chicken Chipotle Melt: 12g / 190cal = 6.3 Cheesy Roll-up: 8g / 180cal = 4.4

And, of course, at Taco Bell you get to enjoy that Wonder Bread-esque quality that their flour tortillas seem to have. (Note: I'm not actually that keen on that, to be honest.)

btw 7.5 is actually a really high score, for protein-per-calorie; it's up there with a Pork Soft Taco from Taco Time and a can of Campbell's Well Yes! Chicken Noodle Soup. So that's good.

But $1.82 per 100 calories is INSANE. (I once paid $1.13 per 100 calories for lunch from Five Guys and griped about the cost.) Let's compare Chipotle, where I often get: 3x Soft tacos with chicken, rice, black beans, sour cream, fajita veggies, and cheese; this has a protein-per-calorie score of 60g / 1010cal = 5.94, and costs $9.83 / 1010cal = 0.973 per 100 calories. (Note the comparison: $0.973 at Chipotle, $1.83 at Taco Bell. Taco Bell costs NEARLY TWICE AS MUCH as Chipotle, and I'd call Chipotle the better food.) A burrito from Chipotle with chicken, rice, black beans, corn salsa, sour cream, fajita veggies, and cheese: it's protein score is 64g / 1160cal = 5.52 while its cost-per-100 calories is $9.83 / 1100cal = 0.85. Gosh, that's even LESS expensive. A chicken quesadilla from Chipotle with fajita veggies, sour cream, rice, and black beans: it's protein score is 73g / 1300cal = 5.62 while its cost-per-100 calories is $10.42 / 1300cal = 0.80. EVEN LESS EXPENSIVE!

To sum it up: Go to Chipotle! The food's better, the food costs HALF AS MUCH AS TACO BELL and it's pretty high-protein.

Well, aside from the Cheesy Roll-ups from Taco Bell. At $0.83 per 100 calories, that's pretty good. But it's, what, cheese and a tortilla? It makes an ok side, but if I try to make an entire lunch of of those...I'm gonna get sick of them, REAL fast.

For a second (far quicker) comparison, let's look at a meal from In 'n Out: A Double-double (minus tomato, add onion), fries and a regular chocolate shake: 62g / 1621cal = 3.82; I last paid $10.64 / 1621cal = 0.66. The protein isn't nearly as high, but it costs A THIRD of what Taco Bell costs.

Yikes, Taco Bell. Here's hoping you lower your prices SUBSTANTIALLY.

Another "sum it up:" Go to In 'n Out too! It's way, WAY less expensive...

This store supposedly just changed management about a month ago (according to another review). They rated the restaurant 5 stars which makes me think they might know the new managers. This store still sucks like always. Look at the reviews spanning over 4 years and nothing has changed. Today, I was in there at 2:45pm. There were 3 other customers in the place and my food still took 25 minutes to get out. This is not Fast Food! Here are the things that were over the top bad this time that forced me to leave a review.

The person making the food (I'm assuming the new manager because he wasn't wearing a taco bell shirt), was only wearing one glove but was obviously touching everything with his gloveless had. I watched him hand the store's portable phone to a girl that was on the customer side of the counter. This girl and her 2 friends just stood at the counter talking with him and on the phone and it didn't allow any room for the actual customers to get their orders.

This "Manager" doesn't know how to make a burrito. I would call myself a taco bell connoisseur and the proportions of ingredients were way off. My shredded chicken burrito looked like it should have been on the dollar menu. Hardly any toppings and smaller than any I'd ever order. My combo burrito was beans on one end and meat on the other. It's not hard to make it correctly.

No one in this store acted like it was important to get food out. Like I said, the manager just chatted with the girls at the counter while slowly making food. He's a big guy and so it seemed no one else could get next to him on the line and so food just came out slow.

The thing that really irked me this trip. The Mt. Dew, Baja Blast and Dr Pepper all were mixed incorrectly. There was too much CO2 and it was extremely noticeable with the color of the soda. I thought maybe it was just the dining room machine and so I asked for one from the window. This had the same problem. I asked the guy behind the counter if it even looked like mt dew and he agreed the color was wrong. So there was something that was visually wrong and no one cared to fix it. I asked another customer on the way out if he had issues with the soda and he said he had told them too and they told him that they had just changed the syrup. So when I reported the problem to the cashier, he turned and told the manager and the manager just said ok. No resolution and no one cared. GRRRR.

I will not be going back to taco bell for at least 6 months to see if they get their act together. I personally hope the corporate offices close this store down and so they can't continue to ruin the Taco Bell name. I'd rather not have Taco Bell at all than have this...

Update: My kids, husband, and I went for dinner last night. We all enjoyed our food, but that was about it. The restroom was a mess, with food on the floor in several areas, and it looked like it just hadn't been truly cleaned in some time. There are no paper towels, so your forced to use the stupid dryer, then hope everybody else washed as you unlock and pull open the door. Right. There's also NOWHERE to hang or put down a purse or anything else. Other than the dirty floor or maybe the wet sink. The lobby wasn't much better. It's like they have forgotten it's there, since they rely on the screens for ordering. It feels unwelcoming. They were also completely out of both mild and hot sauce, but didn't bother to put up a sign or anything, so we waited a few minutes to get someone's attention to ask as our food chilled in the overly cold lobby. Service was about as neutral as you can get.

The building looks great since they remodeled. The food is still good...but... I went with my mom today for a very late lunch (3 or 4ish), and we had a few issues. First, there was NO ice in the lobby. That meant that, not only did we have to ask for ice at the counter (frustrating when you like a FULL cup, since nobody ever fills it), but the soda was warm. I tried Pepsi...it fizzed, but still tasted flat. So I had to dump the cup, rinse it, ask for more ice, and get tea. Ok. We ate, then Mom used the restroom. When she came out her hands were ice cold! The restroom was very cold, the water didn't get warm, and the hand drier was cold. This is a woman who is almost always way too warm, saying she was cold. I wanted more tea, so I filled my cup again. But it tasted weird this time. Like it was sweetened (I got unsweetened), or had a fruity note. It was great the first time, so I can only think they refilled it with the wrong stuff. It was frustrating! And gross. I tossed it. It gets 3 stars because it was clean, the food was good, and the...