The First Ever Taco Bell & What It Was Like To Eat There

You could buy anything off the admittedly short menu for pennies on the dollar at the original Taco Bell. But you also couldn't sit down. Would it have been worth a visit?

#TacoBell #FastFood #FoodHistory

Inauthentic pronunciation | 0:00
No space to sit inside | 1:03
Reminiscent of Mexican architecture | 2:00
Next to Mexico-themed strip mall | 3:21
Tacos fried in makeshift baskets | 4:15
Logo evolution | 5:15
Bell Beefer, by another name | 6:20
Five things on the menu | 7:20
19-cent menu items | 8:36

[MashedFood]

Do you think Taco Bell's food has gotten better or worse with the menu changes over the years?

[juliemccrea]

I managed a Taco Bell in the mid 70's when I was in college. Tacos, bean burritos and tostadas were $.29. Everything was made from scratch. We cut up all the lettuce, tomatoes & onions. Beans were sorted through by hand and then cooked with lard in huge square metal tubs. We used something that looked like a giant potato masher to stir them. You had to constantly stir them, or they would burn. It was a lot of work for us, but the food was superior to what they're selling today. Even with the low prices, we still averaged $2000/ night. Nobody ever sat down. I used to say, "I'm off to run my Taco Bell marathon..."

[oldnerdreviews]

I'm so glad I'm a Boomer and actually got to enjoy the Taco Bell of the 60s and 70s. Such awesome, warm fuzzy memories of a time gone by.

[raybrown]

I ate at a Taco Bell in Shanghai China in 2004 it was a sit down restaurant with menus brought to you and served to your table. Food was the same as now and we were greeted by Chinese young people in Sunbraros saying Hola and Adios when we left. Very surreal.

[cra]

Here in San Jose, CA many of the original Taco Bell stands with the arches and red tile roofs are still around, but they don't house a Taco Bell anymore. They are often check cashing places and other small businesses, but you can't miss that unique architecture of the original, tiny, restaurants!

[USNVA]

The Bell Beefer was really good, along with the original Enchirito. I sure wish they would bring them back.

[cindy]

My first job was at Taco Bell back in the 70s. It was the toughest job I ever have had. Everything was made in in-house, including shredding the cheese, chopping the lettuce and tomatoes and cooking the beef. We used to save the grease that came off the beef in tubs that were then sold to Love Cosmetics for use in their makeup. Closing time didn't mean everything relaxed a bit, because we then had to clean inside and outside before finally being able to leave for the day. All for minimum wage. But I learned what ended up being a life skill - how to fold a burrito!

[kenbaker]

I can still remember the first Taco Bell in San Jose, California! They used to serve a burrito that was pretty good! The Bell Beefer. It was a favorite place to eat!

[LegionOfWeirdos]

When I was a kid, a freaking billion years ago, I worked in a Taco Ball back when we fried the shells, cooked the beans in a pressure cooker, and fried up the beef. Doing the fry work was like a whole shift... different size taco and tostada shells, nacho chips, "taco pizza" shells, and those damned taco salad shells that always seemed to break when you were trying to hurry.

[philipwilliams]

Their meat has drastically changed since the 70's and 80's. Real beef with chunks of onion. Man, i could sit there and eat a few beef burritos, laced with hot sauce. The sauces came in little containers, like Mcdonalds does their mcnugget dipping sauces. So, you got a lot more sauce then than you do now. It just tasted higher quality. I rarely eat there now.

[mulekicker]

The Beef tostada was a mountain loaded with everything. My all-time favorite. Real beef included.

[johnshowalter]

I was born and raised in Downey California.. Taco Bell used to have a fire pit with seating in front of their restaurant...A green burrito after a day at Huntington Beach was Heaven...

[wesmcgee]

My first experience with the Bell was in the 70s when I was a teenager. It was in Texas. Been hooked ever since.

[jeffsilverman]

My first job in 1975 was Taco Bell in Northridge, California. There was like ten items on the entire menu. I made $1.70 an hour, and all you could eat or trade to the guys next door at 7-11 for beer on the late shift. No drive thru, a few tables and we made everything fresh. Including taking raw pinto beans and cooking them in pressure cookers to make the frijoles. Nothing came pre-cooked or packaged and it was good, a huge difference from today.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

- Taco Bells used to be built in Spanish mission revival style
- tortillas were fried six at a time in chicken wired baskets and aligned as a trail, rather than premade shells
- Taco Bell was viewed as an establishment rather than a bathroom
*We used to be a country, a proper country*

[joekurtz]

Grew up in Souh Gate CA, just over the river bed from this location. Never knew it was the original first location in the 60's as a kid, but it was a busy location back then. The plaza next door also had an excellent Mexican restaurant in the 70's & 80s and TB had closed years earlier.

[terrywalker]

I live in Virginia most of my life, but my parents divorced and my mom remarried and we moved to California. My stepfather took us to Disneyland and I was introduced to Mexican food. I loved it. One day I seen a Taco Bell. I asked if we could go there. He said it was junk Mexican food. I still regret that I didn't get to try it in it's early days. 😩

[lindaeasley]

Back in 1968 my family moved from the east coast to southern California and our first visit was with an aunt and uncle. They had had this strange thing called tacos for dinner.
We would wind up having them fairly regularly there after

[purberri]

I remember the original Taco Bell restaurants they were open air seating depending on location then they enclosed them with glass. I miss those..and the food was much better 1970’s. Miss the enchirito menu now is just taco’s and burritos.

[vaccumsealed]

We still have a couple mission style taco bells in Knoxville, TN. Ones a Subway while the others an abandoned mkm and pop eatery that was called Chandlers. Its caught on fire and has never been reopened, but the structure remains. Taco Bell was GREAT back in the 80s when i was a kid, but its so americanized now that no one identifies it as mexican food cause its not.