I am 50 years old and I'm about to try Taco Bell for the first time. What should I try first?

Crunch wrap supreme.

My boyfriend is a Taco Bell fanatic. I asked him and he told me "a grilled cheese burrito, a crunchwrap supreme, and nacho fries if they have them". Enjoy!

Probably 90% of their food is the same stuff wrapped up in a different shape, they're spooning the same meat into the tacos as the burritos as the crunch wrap etc.

So if your goal is to get a full sense of what taco bell has to offer, get a hard taco, a soft taco, a Doritos taco, and a chalupa, mix and match the meats, sauces, and other toppings, and you'll have a pretty representative sample of most of the menu.

As far as personal recommendations, I like steak chalupas, chicken crunchwraps with chipotle sauce, any variety of their grilled burrito, and their cinnamon twists. Sometimes they have a limited time specialty item that's pretty good, not sure what they're pushing now but always worth checking out what they have.

I will also say that if you don't get a Baja blast you're doing it wrong

Cheesy Gordita Crunch and Crunchwrap Supreme.

I'm also a fan of the Beefy Five-Layer Burrito positively smothered in Fire sauce.

Dunno fam. You might be too old to start eating taco bell. U might die.

Spicy potato soft taco. Small item overshadowed by others, but a solid go to when you want something small. Potatoes, spicy ranch and lettuce in a soft tortilla. Nothing fancy, just tasty.

First step of being new to Taco Bell:

My favorite thing is the Chicken Baja Gordita, it's an older menu item that they will still make, love the baja sauce.

Imodium

Taco Bell is a unique style of crap that's pretty good. I'd go for the classics: a beef taco and a bean burrito. Maybe a bowl of pinto beans. Everything needs to be covered in the packets of hot sauce. The hot and fire are the only good ones (I'm going by memories from the 90s btw).

Their breakfast burritos are good, cheap, and a great value for your money. Use their app, and you can get free stuff regularly, too.

EDIT: I'm talking about their lowest tier breakfast burritos. The higher levels are not worth it.

I didn't realize lemmy was popular enough to bother advertising on yet.

Mexican pizza before they take it off the menu again. Also, ask for all of the hot sauces. The workers won't care.

BRING BACK THE DAMNED FIESTA VEGGIE BURRITO, TACO BELL. YOU HAVE THE INGREDIENTS.

Any burrito that contains fritos or potatoes is a good choice.

I tried it for the first time a few months ago and it just tasted like a cheap supermarket taco kit. I'm in no rush to go back.

Have you ever had real Mexican food? Taco Bell is a not a good introduction.

Try not to shit your pants

THEY DISCONTINUED MY FAVORITE ITEM: THE 7 LAYER BURRITO. BRING IT BACK TACO BELL, YOU HEAR?

I personally love the tacos because they are cheap tacos. There is a lot of flavor, but it's simple. I'm also a fan of the crunchwrap supreme. The crunch paired with the soft outside it delightful. I always order the 12 pack, all soft shell, and a crunchwrap. I used to get two steak quesoritos instead of the crunchwrap, but I think they're gone, or they're too expensive. Diablo sauce isn't tasty, avoid it even if you like spicy. The fire is the best balance imo, but I would like more heat personally.

Quesadilla with extra creamy jalapeno sauce.

what should I try

The restaurant next door.

What did you get and how was it?

Going to a real taco restaurant.

you should try not

@lazylion_ca it's a fast food version of Mexican.

I like crunchy tacos with one packet of hot sauce per taco. Crunchy taco supreme is good. Burrito Supreme is good, too.

Sauce is very important, though. You have to have it. Start with the hot sauce (orange packets), and work your way up if you need to. They used to have green sauce that was pretty good, but it's only available in grocery stores now. 🙄

For a drink, you need to try a Baja Blast. It's like their signature thing. Very sweet, has its own flavor you can't really describe.

Just keep in mind that it's fast food. It's not casual fast like Chipotle or Panera - - more Macdonald's or Wendy's.

One thing Taco Bell has had over a lot of fast food places for a long time is that vegetarians and vegans can actually get edible meals there. It's basically all of the same ingredients, just mixed around differently.

They also have bowls you can get. They're not terrible. I prefer my old standard menu items that haven't changed in 40 years, though.

The other thing that just occurred to me - - most of us in the thread responding to you are suggesting their old timey comfort favorites. I'm no different (54 years old and had my first Taco Bell when I was 9), so at 50, your palate may not understand or have the associations with this place that ours do.

I'm really curious what you're going to think about it, though. I think most people going in with realistic expectations don't wind up hating it, though.

Taco bells menu is like 10 different ingredients combined in various ways, it nearly all tastes identical with the exception of the various protein options (I suggest vegetarian).

I'm partial to the beefy 5 layer burrito and the cheesy bean and rice burrito.

Try the taco

You should avoid Taco Bell...

If they have it (not all locations do), the chili cheese burrito.

Get quantity over quality (many small tacos)

Try to prepare for disappointment. I was never a huge fan, but would have it occasionally. Had it for the first time in a decade or so a few years ago and didn't enjoy any part of the meal (various different stuff at an office party) :P

If you enjoy it, that's wonderful; it's just never really been a thing I look forward to, and I hope you don't have too good an image in your head.

Pretty much any other food outlet, that way you'll not be disappointed. I've no idea about your country but Taco Bell in the UK is expensive and poor quality.

We need an update!

You've got some people saying you gotta slather it in the hot sauces, and other people saying to get ready to have the shits.

Uh, you can avoid the shits by not using the hot sauces.

a better restaurant would be the best thing to try first.

I recommend Charmin Ultra Strong.

Make sure you have plenty of toilet paper.

Cyanide. It'll save you a lot of trouble.

A time machine.

Go back 5 years when everything still tasted good. Cuz idk what they did since pandemic hit, adding grasshoppers to the beef or something, but its not good anymore. Its weird-meh.

I hope you have some Charmin ultra soft ready to go for tomorrow morning

Dorito locos tacos, or DLT as the workers summarize for me but I am too embarrassed to use myself

Beef chalupa

Steak grilled cheese burrito

Baja Blast with whatever you get. Its the best god damn thing about taco bell and im STILL FUCKING PISSED IT LOST THAT ELECTION TO BE YEAR ROUND IN STORS LIKE 7 YEARS AGO

Don’t.

Crunch wrap & fries supreme (🇨🇦)

The fries supreme are just a shadow of their former self though, 20 years ago they were the best fast food item you could get

Tacos

Another Taco Bell ad!!

I can recommend the Chalupa and Crunch Wrap Supreme

The Exit, and the Food.

j/k (...except not that:-P)

You can try to find a Chipotle instead, and get one of their delicious burritos?

Taco Smell is best-known for being (a) cheap, and uh... oh also, (b) leading the world in how little meat processed byproduct they can put into something and still call it "beef" (I think the answer is 0% now, but when it started it was like 1/3rd iirc).

You know your digestive tract better than anyone, but I would suggest some kind of a variety pack. Like all Mexican-inspired cardboard food products (Mexico would legit and rightly go to war with anyone daring to call that Mexican food btw:-P), aside from the more special and unique items, it's mostly the same ingredients inside (with varying spices added) but what makes it present different is the crunch factor, which really does impact the experience.

Seriously though, if it were me I would go earlier in the day, b/c putting that stuff into your gut late in the day for anyone over 20 sometimes does not sit well. Though it is... tasty, and you will enjoy trying something different:-P (but no lie, better for lunch than dinner).

Have fun with it!

A Seven-layer Steak Burrito & a beef meximelt..... about 12 years ago....

The chicken chalupa is pretty good.

I tried it for the first time at 38? It isn't great but certainly a way to get a calorie bomb into you relatively cheaply. Arguably better than some fast food alternatives which is a low bar. IIRC I was a fan of the crunch wrap but the straight basic burritos are a way better value.

Cheesy Gordita Crunch with the nacho cheese shell on the inside.

I feel like the crunchy tacos there are such a staple of their menu, that I'd start there

Soft shell tacos. Easy and does great with any of the sauces. I usually do two fire sauce and one diablo per taco.

Prayer

Honestly? Just their basic tacos. Maybe the Doritos version if they still have those. But just get a couple of the hard tacos with some Fire sauce. If you like those, you may like other things on the menu; if you don’t, you probably won’t like any of it. They’re Taco Bell distilled.

All I get at Taco Bell any more is the steak power bowl and the cheese potatoes. The bowl is basically just a deconstructed burrito and the cheesy potatoes are cubed, fried potatoes covered in nacho cheese and sour cream.

Their French fries are also hella good; they're like their own kind of cheese dust covered fry. But the cheese potatoes are just better

crunchwarp supreme, double decker taco, and the dorritis shell tako

Hmmmm, I have also never had taco bell, let me know how it is.

That the toilet facilities are up to (your) standard.

No matter what you get you have to get hot sauce, and definitely not mild.

All the people who are clearly getting food poisoning from their local Taco Bells should really report them.

It's not normal to get diarrhea from eating out, even at Taco Bell.

The $5 box if they have it. Maybe in the app or online.

Black bean chalupa

Doritos locos tacos supreme with hot sauce, chicken quesadilla with extra sauce, cheesy gordita crunch.