Del Taco — Restaurant in Santa Ana

This is a rarity for sure. Such a distinction and that being said In comparison to every business I've ever been to, contracted with or for, one in which I worked for, managed a team for, sold for, or even those in which I've owned personally or jointly.

This 5 star rating isn't set as a result of how this business performs or how we were received, or as a reflection of the quality of their food served, or any other possible metric capable of placing the individual success this particular location is operating in, against it's kin, nor those existing in the specific nor general verticals of that of the fast-food nor food service, preparation, or delivery based purveyors, franchisees, chains or conglomerates.

No. This rating is not a reflection of measurement of such limitations. Rather, I hope to convey how impressive this business has put all of its parts, functions, systems, and humans together and created a beautiful example of what any business should strive to resemble and create.

From the meticulously groomed and manicured grounds surrounding the walls of its interior kept in such same regards, to the perfection of its handoff of their product, which is of course obviously produced with the same care and respect as handled with the aforementioned, to each customer, and everything in-between, it is painfully obvious how much better the group is of everyone involved in every aspect of the daily objectives, routines, and transactions is than any other business in operation today.

I have forgotten to get the name of the woman behind those headphones, which upon arrival the mere thought of prior experiences begin to create stressful memories and involuntary tension to seep inside. And thus the first shock to the system hits you, "wait, what?! That's impossible? I must be too comatose and missing something. Did this really just happen? Did I literally just have a fast food order exchange with this giant metal box and speaker, that didn't jolt me out of my seat from the 2 million decibuls of screeching unintelligible more often hate filled barking orders?"

Then things start to become visible. While waiting to pull up for my turn to receive my meal, there's the replay of images of the drive up to the metal box of anger. The perfection of eat off the floor cleanliness, the surgical precision of the cut grass, trimmed hedges, bushes, and trees sparks further cognitive visualizations of what is going on.

The name of the woman who has been there twice before to help me, I do not have. I would imagine she is the manager and if I'm wrong then she is the pillar, the measuring stick of every success.

This team, this woman who has shown such a love for what she does, should be exctatic for what they have created and how they conduct...

Service was great! Atmosphere was beautiful, with a nice picture of the Cali Sunset behind Santa Ana Hotel Circle.. Food tase was egg-cellent 👌 I got 2 Del Classic Chicken Burritos, and a Del Taco… Reason why I gave a 4-Star vs 5-Star, is because, 1) My Del Taco taco shell was broken when I unwrapped it… WHATS THE POINT OF A HARD SHELL TACO, if the SHELL is broken?! MIGHT AS WELL CALL IT A “Del Taco, Broken Shell Taco Salad”! 😂 And 2) BOTH of my Del Classic Chicken Burritos were all Tor-tilla for the 1st 2 Inches!! GOT TOR-TILLA?! 😂 COME ON GUYS… These are 2 out of many examples why people make fun of fast food workers! Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of anyone who is a hard worker working for their dollar to pay their bills.. but it’s simple guys, 1) If you’re the cook, and you’re making the taco, and it breaks, common sense which ain’t so common anymore, is to empty out the ingredients of the broken shell Taco, and make a new one! So simple yet, so hard to do?!?? And 2) Fill the burrito to the Top? Especially if they are both open ended burritos, and especially if they only have five ingredients, chicken, secret sauce, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes.. not a very expensive burrito, and for the size since they are both small burritos, nothing close to their epic burritos, they should definitely put a little more of the ingredients in to make them full, so you don’t have to bite into 2 inches of tor-tilla.. Very Simple Adjustments to make myself and everyone else happy! 😉 I was in the border of giving this review a 3- ⭐️???🤷‍♂️ Come on guys, let’s do it! 5-⭐️ Food, Service AND Atmosphere! As Rob Schneider says in the Movie, “The Waterboy”, “YOU CAAAAN DOOOOO ITTTTTT!!!!!”...

To be totally honest, went to this Del Taco because they accept EBT. When we got to the counter we could see a huge puddle of water that was about 5×8ft and about 1/2 inch deep between the fryer and the station they make tacos & burritos and it was milky white like a shake machine had been leaking. The employees were walking through it like it wasn't even there and not even bothering to mop it up. We were there for over 30 mins waiting for all of our orders and still hadn't mopped up the puddle. Many orders after mine were served and after about the 4th order served after mine and I still didn't have my order, the manager snapped at me that she was working on it. It appeared as if they were understaffed and a bit stressed out as they had more customers than employees and were quite backed up. I've always liked Del Taco and the food was good as always and there are no complaints in that part. Only thing I feel the manager should have done differently is not snap at customers because it is not their fault you are understaffed, maybe explain calmly and respectfully your situation, I could wait an eternity for niceness and have made cleaning up a priority even if customers had to wait a moment (most people would have waited and understood because it is common sense) for the mopping to be done because that is a slip and fall/worker comp lawsuit waiting to happen causing the store to be even more understaffed. But the restaurant was very clean from what I could see and the cashier was very pleasant and greeted us...