Taco Bell Introduces A Fried Chicken Sandwich

[Alpha8472]

This new "chicken sandwich" is supposed to compete with Popeye's and Chick-fil-a in the chicken sandwich wars.

What I received was a dried up rock of fried meat in a thin piece of folded bread. It looked like a turd in a soft taco shell.

I am pretty sure most people are so disappointed in this that they will never order it again. Does it even qualify as a sandwich? It might be considered a taco, but there are no vegetables in it unless you get the spicy jalapeño version.

https://www.brandeating.com/2021/09/rev ... -taco.html

[storewanderer]

With the Safeway deli currently charging $9.99/lb for chicken strips, this thing with 1 chicken strip in it at $1.49 doesn't look like a bad deal... sort of reminds me of the old McDonalds or Wendys snack wraps that both have discontinued.

Sounds like they are having issues with product hold time which could doom the whole thing.

I think Del Taco has been selling a chicken strip based soft taco in recent months. The strip in the photos Del Taco had up looked like a Foster Farms strip (frozen) which I do not like. Also Del Taco has not opened its lobby in about 1.5 years so I haven't been to Del Taco in about 1.5 years.

[cjd]

With the Safeway deli currently charging $9.99/lb for chicken strips, this thing with 1 chicken strip in it at $1.49 doesn't look like a bad deal... sort of reminds me of the old McDonalds or Wendys snack wraps that both have discontinued.

Dairy Queen was offering two of them along with fries as an option for their $5 lunch. They had a piece of fried chicken in a tortilla with lettuce and cheese. I thought they were really good, I don't know why they discontinued them.

[storewanderer]

I actually bit on the Taco Bell thing.

The $1.49 price point is for online orders only. The menu board was 2.29 or 2 for 4.49.

It wasn't easy to even find one of these places that operates. This seems to be a really sketchy chain. The first Taco Bell I went to (freestanding building across from Whole Foods, Home Depot, Target, very busy intersection) is only open 11 AM to 2 PM Monday-Friday. The next Taco Bell I went to in a not as busy spot showed it was open 11 AM to 5 PM 7 days a week but it was closed this afternoon. Third Taco Bell I went to was actually open, but drive through only "for your safety" said the sign (in the middle of the day...???).

Anyway it took at least 5 minutes for my order to come out. Once I received it, it was obvious they had made the chicken piece fresh. The visual appeal of the chicken piece is absolutely awful and the sauce was slopped and dripping from both edges of the flatbread. Once you got past the bad presentation, the thing was actually really good. The chicken tasted good and it was like a chicken strip in texture (like actual chicken breast), and the breading was crisp and had a good level of flavor. I'd buy a 3 piece of these in the form of chicken strips.

[Alpha8472]

Wow! I had a totally different experience. The chicken I received was totally petrified like a rock. It must have been a bad batch.

I also experienced some weird app error today which said that the restaurant closes at 4 pm. I assume it was an error as it is normally open until 1 am.

[storewanderer]

It may have also just been way past its hold time. I think I was very lucky to receive this with the chicken freshly cooked.

I was looking on the Taco Bell locator and this chain is the most screwed up chain I've ever seen. In Sparks they have a location that is only open 7 AM to Midnight Wednesday-Friday. What a mess.

I see the Taco Bell locations here that are so screwed up on their hours are owned by https://drgfood.com/ and this is something new to me but I see they also own the lone Reno Arby's now. That Arby's has also been closed every single time I've tried to go there lately. I haven't eaten there in 2 years, it seems like it is always closed (sign blocking drive through lane, inside locked). That Arby's used to be owned by Lunan out of Chicago who never participated in any promotions and closed all of the locations around here but that one, continuing to sit on the brand rights for the area keeping anyone else from opening any Arbys around town. This DRG did remodel that Reno Arby's last year- what is the point when they won't open it up.

I am amazed at these businesses that would rather have zero revenue than do what they need to do to get employees to come in and work (pay a higher wage).

[Alpha8472]

I do not know how they can even pay their rent if the restaurant is closed so often.

There are Taco Bell locations in the San Francisco Bay Area with no drive thru that are open 10 AM to 8 PM or 9 PM. These locations are really tiny storefronts and have terrible staffing issues. There are never enough employees. Somehow they stay open.

[storewanderer]

Tried another of these today. Ordered via app so price was 1.99 vs. the posted price in the location I went to of 2.99. Took about 5 minutes for order. Chicken was steaming hot when I unwrapped it and obviously freshly made. I seem to be getting really lucky with this item- when it is made fresh, it is very tasty.

[Romr123]

I had a petrified one late 2 Saturday evenings ago around 10 pm..around here they were promo-ing it with a burrito, a taco, and a drink for 5.99. It clearly had possibilities--if fresh I'm sure it would be delicious. Rather messily built sandwich with a dozen (!) jalapeno slices, but flavor is good.

[storewanderer]

I had a petrified one late 2 Saturday evenings ago around 10 pm..around here they were promo-ing it with a burrito, a taco, and a drink for 5.99. It clearly had possibilities--if fresh I'm sure it would be delicious. Rather messily built sandwich with a dozen (!) jalapeno slices, but flavor is good.

I purchased a couple more yesterday (two different locations). Used app so 1.49 each at those. I am seeing variable pricing on the app depending on location (1.49, 1.59, 1.99, 2.49) but it is always lower than if you order in the location. Both times there was a 5 minute wait to get the order. Freshly made chicken. I did see at the last one I went to, they had cooked a batch of chicken and put them into the holder/warmer bin then prepared mine. I think sales are slow on this item. It sounds like without decent movement on the chicken this item is terrible- so clearly they need to do something here to sell more chicken. Maybe start to offer them as chicken strips too.