Taco Bell — Restaurant in Portland

This Taco Bell is annoying to deal with. I loathe having to meditate before getting some Cinnabon delights in the morning, because I know that in order to get it I have to take on the mind numbing gauntlet that is the drive thru of this Taco Bell.

The food is great, always made as fresh as it can be, so there’s no issue there. However it’s the customer service here in the mornings that is annoying to deal with.

The language barrier here is less of a barrier and more of a language pit of quicksand, because even though you’ll always escape, you’ll feel like you’ve lost something. I have to do this time consuming back and forth with the employee, trying to balance being polite with being firm and blunt until eventually I get them to understand what I want.

For example, just the other morning I wanted to get a breakfast Crunchwrap with no creamy jalapeño. She replies, “there’s no jalapeño in the chalupa,” and I correct her again that no, I wanted the breakfast Crunchwrap and without creamy jalapeño. I clarified then that I wanted the number 16, no creamy Jalapeño, and she then says “oh you want the number 6!” and I tell her again, “No, I want the number 16.”Now the lady realizes what I actually wanted, and she does the adjustment.

Then I tell her that for my drink I’d like some raspberry Brisk, and I can see on the screen that she rings me up for root beer which I immediately correct her over. She says “yeah it’s raspberry tea” so I roll up to pay as she hands me a cup filled with bubbly root beer. I can tell it’s carbonated, so I tell her, “this is root beer, it’s carbonated,” and she kinda insists “no, no, it’s raspberry ice tea” and starts listing off other teas they have as if I had asked her what other flavors they had. I just gave up at that point and took the root beer, because I didn’t have the energy to argue with someone over a drink.

Mind you she’s being super kind the entire time, but I just can’t fathom how they’re leaving her to handle the customers’ orders when she can’t communicate efficiently with customers and serves people the wrong drinks even though she clearly remembers what the customer wanted. And judging by how everyone else is complaining more and more about their orders being bizarrely inaccurate as of late, I start to wonder if this lady on the morning shift is the sole person responsible for the decline in service or if management is just cramming any bodies they can behind the counter without checking their language skills. Regardless, please get her off the register and window! I’m not saying fire her, but management just can’t be doing this because they’re setting up entire shifts for failure like this. Honestly if this happens a third time, I’ll just have to get my fix for morning sweets at the Jack in the Box a few seconds down the...

I have not been to Taco Bell since the Covid-19 has started. I have been trying to eat at home and be safer with my food choices. However tonight I couldn’t resist as I am 6 months pregnant. I drove to the Powell location; as this is the one closest to my home. I pulled up and there was about 8 car ahead of me, which isn’t that bad of a wait. I have been when it was much worse. I waited and ordered just like every one else. Once I approached the window to pay I was told they ran out of beef and I could do chicken or steak instead, but would still need to pay an up charge. I was annoyed but realizing that they probably had just ran out and could nothing to help it, it wasn’t there fault I told the gentleman at the window that I would substitute steak. So my order was a little over 19 instead of 14. No problem, let’s try the steak! I’ve never had it was a good chance to expand my horizons. I waited for a few minutes for my food and a women came up to the man who was working the Togo window and said the fryer was down so they couldn’t sell anything they need to cook that way. That wouldn’t have been a problem except half my order was chips and potatoes. I told the gentleman in the window I was no longer interested and drove away. My next plan of action was to go to the Taco Bell off of 82nd and close to Powell. I pulled in the gentleman was very nice taking my order. I ordered the same thing and was Very excited to hear they could make everything. I tipped the guy at the window $10 to show how appreciative I was for my food. (Because I’m pregnant food is everything and I seriously appreciate getting the food I was craving). The gentleman in the window hands me a bag that has a “WE GOT YOU” sticker. Normally I take a quick peak at my food to double check the order, but with such a bold sticker I didn’t bother opening it. I got home and my order had tomato’s on it (I requested no tomatoes, as I am very allergic) so no nachos unfortunately. I had asked for hot sauce and mild, there was no sauce and my last request was silverware and napkins. We are in the process of moving to Beaverton. Our entire kitchen is packed up. We have close to nothing that wasn’t inside a box. So Once again there was no silver wear or napkins. I’m really annoyed and upset. I work as a server, or did. This kind of Performance would have lost me a job. I understand the craziness with Covid and how unfair everything has become, but this is so annoying to me. It reminds me why I haven’t been back to Taco Bell. Taco Bell has also been my drunken go to food. Yeah it’s cheap and low quality food, but simple requests should be...well simple. I will make tacos at...

Look, I'm not the kind of person to leave negative reviews all that often. I'm certainly not the kind of person to review fast food chains either, but i've finally just had enough of this location. I was just telling my friend last night to go to another location and why and got a text back later "I got home and my cheese wasn't melted." Taco Bell is pretty much my only regular fast food indulgence and this location just happens to be closest to me. For a few years now i've just been CONSTANTLY disappointed in the quality of the food (that I LOVE when I get at other locations). The convenience of the location was enough to overlook the CONSTANT "well this isn't as good as it usually is but whatever" orders. However the completely awful orders just kept piling up. Just in recent memory I had a cheesy roll-up completely unmelted - twice. I had a replacement for one of those completely melted into the paper it was wrapped in. Lukewarm EVERYTHING. I'm not waiting until I get home either, I'm eating it right there in the parking lot like a little impatient rat eating his garbage. Crunchwrap? Barely toasted and lukewarm. Bean & Cheese Burrito? Barely toasted and lukewarm. Chicken nuggets? DISGUSTING. Grease soaked but not really cooked batter and lukewarm inside - and they were four of the tiniest pieces you probably could have picked out. Many missing items too, but that happens. I always order through the app - and almost every time I give them the name at the ordering box - but then get up to the window and they act like they've never gotten an app order before. "Who did you say the order was for?.. Hang on." Then they start scrambling as other orders for the people behind me start stacking up on the counter as the line of cars get longer. I never have a difficult order either, usually just one or two items and a cinnamon twist. You would think that the ONE item would usually be cooked correctly if they are JUST making it - but alas, no. Which brings us to the most consistent and annoying one... my favorite item... the cinnamon twists. At every Taco Bell I've ever been to the cinnamon twists are a perfectly sweet end to any meal - at this location 8 times out of 10 they will leave you questioning if you somehow ordered them without cinnamon or sugar. Barely a whisper of coating on almost all of them - you're lucky if you get one piece that doesn't just taste like plain fried dough.

What's the definition of insanity according to Einstein? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Well I'm done with this Taco Bell. Do yourself a favor and drive the extra 5 min over to...