Del Taco — Restaurant in Whitehall

Del Taco is what you wish Taco Bell would be. More variety, better quality ingredients, lower prices, and open 24 hours. I just wish they had more locations closer to me.

Whereas Taco Bell's unique items are gimmicky corporate things like Doritos taco shells and weird flavors of Mountain Dew, Del Taco stands out with offerings like fish tacos, shrimp tacos, and a dragonfruit blueberry boba shake. Going there is a treat, and normally my only reason for driving to Whitehall.

I want to explain why I didn't give them 5 stars. The first time I visited, it was before 8:00 a.m., after I'd dropped my daughter off at school. The store was open, but the only person I saw right away was someone sleeping at a table. Nobody was at the counter.

This gave me time to study the menu board, which I appreciated, because I was unfamiliar with their offerings. But when I was finally ready to order, I had to catch the attention of a guy I saw mopping in the back. To his credit, he dropped what he was doing and took care of me right away. He pointed out that the sleeping man was the one who was supposed to be working up front.

Also, a couple nights ago when I went to take my daughter there for her first visit, the door was locked and we had to go through the drive-thru. That was disappointing. I suppose it's the price of operating after dark in a place like Whitehall (and probably wouldn't be any different if they came to my community of Linden), but these incidences cause me to feel that it would be inappropriate to give them top marks for service.

That said, I do want to stress that I gave them a four and not lower, because every time I've been there, the people who waited on me were attentive, patient, friendly, helpful, and made me feel welcome and appreciated. I'd make it a 4.5 if that were an option.

I gave the food four stars also, and here's why. The fries, which look like a big feature of their menu, are just plain, bland crinkle-cut fries that get most of their flavor from a light sprinkling of salt and whatever toppings you might add. This is the sole item on which I would give Taco Bell higher marks. I love Taco Bell's nacho fries (not all locations have them), but Del Taco's school cafeteria crinkle fries aren't even in the same league.

I also found their steak taco less than impressive. The meat was a little tougher than I would have liked, and it had green peppers, which I despise and aren't an added-on item that you could request that they exclude. However, I should say that even so, for the two-to-three bucks they charged for it, it exceeded my expectations, as the chunks of meat were larger and tenderer than I would have expected at that price. Also, the flavor of the peppers was barely perceptible--good news for me, but perhaps not for people who actually like that flavor.

Aside from that, the only other critical remark I have about their food is that if you're accustomed to Taco Bell--or even more so, Chipotle--then you'll find Del Taco's tacos to be shockingly tiny. I think their tortillas are only about 4" in diameter. It feels tiny in your hand when you pick it up, and when you unwrap it, you'll think, "This is going to be gone in two bites." But they are generously filled with (other than the steak-and-pepper ones) tasty, fresh, ingredients that I found surprisingly filling. And at an average of around two bucks per taco, you can get a few of them.

The fish tacos even include a little wedge of lime to squeeze juice onto the taco. I liked this very much, and felt it added to the impression that this is a very fresh, wholesome taco worth going out of my way for.

Finding boba at a taco drive-thru was a real surprise! The flavor of the dragonfruit-blueberry shake was better than I expected.

I've also had their chicken soft taco and their signature "Del Taco" (a standard ground-beef in hard shell taco). Both of these are similar to Taco Bell, but tastier and cheaper.

Another thing worth noting--the small, cheap items at Del Taco allow you to sample a greater variety of flavors in a...

I want to start this review by saying that I’m from Pittsburgh, we don’t have Del Taco there. I skipped it while in southern CA the last time due to some other plans and I was planning a Vegas vacation for this week before we realized COVID was still going to stop us 8 months later. I came to Columbus to see an art exhibit and thrift and eat some out of town pizza. My partner mentioned there was a Del Taco here and that we should try it.

Upon seeing these reviews I was a little worried, but I’m rarely one to shy away based on word of mouth so we stopped over this afternoon (8/18). We opted to go inside to order because I knew it was going to take me a minute to decide and I’m so glad we did.

First off the store was incredibly clean. I saw the drive thru line and knew they were going to be busy so we expected a wait to be greeted and since we were still deciding it wasn’t even noticeable. A person in front of us mentioned she was from CA and was so excited that they had opened this store. We made small talk about favorite foods to try and I got a recommendation for the strawberry milkshake. They placed their order and I overheard the person working the cash register mention they were also from CA.

Listen, this person was fantastic. They had said they worked for Del Taco for 8 years. Their positive attitude was reflected in their coworkers 100%. It was busy and as someone who years ago spent almost 10 yrs in fast food I know how stressful and dehumanizing the public can be to food service employees. This person was proud to work for Del Taco, they genuinely cared about the presentation of the store, the quality of the food, and that we enjoyed our experience there. I know this can all sound so over the top, but even momentary interactions like this can make such a huge impact. I loved the food but this employee absolutely made this visit to the restaurant.

Now the food… My food was excellent. The fries were crispy and not too salty. The Cali Bacon burrito was unreal. Oh and that strawberry shake? Amazing. While it’s not eating Del Taco at a roof top pool in Vegas, the food part was just as perfect. Thank you to the staff of the Whitehall Del Taco for a great...

Food has always been good the two times I went with my mom. However, I had a bad experience with (I believe was) the manager, yesterday:

I thought I was missing a fry, as part of the order I paid for my mom, sister, and I. (We actually were missing my sister's burrito, but this was fixed very quickly.)

When I told the manager, the lady who took our order, she got very loud and defensive. It was like she was almost talking down to me, which I don't appreciate. I was pretty shocked. Her tone and energy seemed very disproportionate to mine — I didn't come off rude or nasty; I was just making sure all the items I paid for was accounted for. I understand correcting me about the items my mom, sister, and I ordered, but it is never okay to use that kind of tone when a customer is not being rude and just trying to account for the order they just spent their money on. We could have just calmly reviewed the receipt together and then just dismissed the misunderstanding — like water under the bridge.

At least another worker was kind: She offered to charge me another fry and apologized for the misunderstanding.

It also got kind of loud when my mom, sister, and I were finishing up our meal. The manager's family or friends sat near us and was kind of loud. I know that little kids can be loud — I get it. It's just that and my earlier interaction with the manager spoiled my appetite to ever visit and order any food from this...