Taco Bell expands cheap eats menu with Volcano Taco

September 2nd, 2008, 6:00 am · 20 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer

I stopped by Taco Bell the other day, and noticed the Mexican fast-food chain added a Volcano Taco to its Why Pay More value menu.

The new 89-cent taco contains seasoned beef, a new cheesy “lava” sauce, shredded lettuce and shredded cheese. The ingredients are all wrapped in a festive, red shell. (click on photo to enlarge.)

Once again, I have to give kudos to Irvine-based Taco Bell for offering some tasty, cheap eats.

In addition to the Volcano Taco, I bought an 89-cent regular taco and a 79-cent Three-Cheese Roll-up for me and my daughter for lunch the other day.

The food hit the spot, as did the price. Total cost: $2.77.

I’m not alone. Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch said consumers are responding well to the revamped value menu, which offers items for 79, 89 and 99 cents.

“Value is top of mind with consumers these days, and with people stretching every penny, we’re very pleased with the reaction to our 79-89-99 Why Pay More Value Menu,” he said.

Poetsch said the Volcano Taco is a limited item on the Why Pay More menu.

New on the Menu: Want to get the latest updates on menu changes at your favorite chains? Bookmark my New on the Menu section, where I keep a running tab of the latest menu items introduced at eateries. The feature is found to the right of this blog.

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jimmy says:

September 2, 2008 at 8:13 am

uh… taco bell is NOT a mexican restaurant.

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dude says:

September 2, 2008 at 8:41 am

I’d rather pay $2.50 for an authentic taco than 89 cents for a piece of crap.

Carly says:

September 2, 2008 at 8:47 am

Taco Bell is extremely delicious and I can’t believe people would think otherwise! I paid for a group of SIX people yesterday at Taco Bell and the total came out to be 11 bucks! I LOVE THAT PLACE!!!

dick cheeks says:

September 2, 2008 at 9:46 am

Of course Taco bell is a mexican restaurant, all of their employees are mexicans

Eating Fool says:

September 2, 2008 at 10:09 am

Perhaps I’m just getting older and my palate is becoming more sophisticated but I’ve loosing my interest in TB and their products. Instead, I’m looking more towards DT when I want quick Mexican food. I was at TB Saturday night (wife wanted it) and I purposely passed on the Volcano taco. I’m not sure Mexican food needs a name such as “Volcano” to be good cheap eats however TB just isn’t holding me like it used to. My first preference for good Mexican food is Taco Adobe in Orange, The Taco Company and Moreno’s, also in Orange and along with Gabbi’s for special occasions. El Torrito is becoming a sit down version of TB, much like Olive Garden is to Italian food.

Nancy Luna, Staff Writer and Blogger says:

September 2, 2008 at 10:33 am

Let me set the record straight: I , too, would much prefer eating a $2 — even $3 — fresh-Mex taco from Tacos & Co, or Taco Mesa. This story was only meant to say that TB — a cheap Mexican fast-food joint — is doing a better job with its value menu.

I’m sure many others, with less sophisticated tastes, are lovin’ the cheap new options at TB. I also typically prefer Del Taco over TB..but, I think TB is beating DT on the value/best bang for your buck contest. I’d eat the TB Volcano Taco over the new Mole Taco at Del Taco any day.

Christian says:

September 2, 2008 at 10:46 am

“Let me set the record straight: I , too, would much prefer eating a $2 — even $3 — fresh-Mex taco from Tacos & Co, or Taco Mesa. This story was only meant to say that TB — a cheap Mexican fast-food joint — is doing a better job with its value menu.”

Nancy, I’ve noticed how any time you write a story here somebody has to jump in and claim that they are too good for the type of food you mentioned and that their more sophisticated tastes lead them to much better food than what you apparently eat.

Fortunately you catch the nuances of all the different options out there. You realize that liking one thing on one restaurant’s menu doesn’t mean you like everything on it and it doesn’t mean you eat there all the time.

Likewise, people always judge my blog by the first thing they happen to see. If there’s a brief Taco Bell mention at the top they’ll glance at it and be like, “Hhmph! This guy thinks Taco Bell is Mexican food?!?! I know better than that!!” And they leave unaware of all the other content there is.

I don’t know what the solution is except to hope that people can think more logically in the future. So keep up the good work.

September 2, 2008 at 11:37 am

Christian,

Good points. I still go to TB although it’s typically for the bean burritos and the tostadas. Gordita? Chalupa? What are these? My personal view is that simple Mexican food is made of up the same few ingredients but prepared differently: Take a tostada and fold it in half. It becomes a taco. Roll it tightly and it becomes a taquito. Deep fry it and it turns into a chimichanga. Crumble it up and it becomes nachos. While humorous it makes the point that good Mexican food doesn’t need marketing driven names to be tasty or appealing and the inverse also seems to be true - the fancier the name the less likely it is to be the real McCoy.

AG30 says:

September 2, 2008 at 11:58 am

You guys are funny!

TB is a “fast food” joint! Nobody goes to TB for a great Mexican dinner….are you guys on crack?? TB is where you go when your frick’n hungry and your don’t want to stop anywhere and you don’t want to spend a lot of money. It’s “cheap” dinner or lunch…..why would you even bring up “real” Mexican restaurants in the same conversation with Taco Bell??

mike says:

September 2, 2008 at 4:30 pm

Although TB does have a better selection on their value menu, Del Taco still beats them. If you stick to the basics such as the regular tacos and bean burritos, Del Taco is a little cheaper and has a fresher taste. I believe a Del Taco taco is around 59 cents, while the taco bell version is something like 89 cents. I used to like Taco Bell more than DT but somewhere down the line they began to go downhill. Years ago I used to love the burrito supreme but now they are just sloppy messes. One more comment, everyone knows this is not Mexican food duhhhh. Geez, most mexican food isn’t even mexican food more like a hybrid tex mex thing. Just don’t bother me while im enjoying my crunch wrap or volcano.

September 2, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Gorditas and chalupas are actually authentic Mexican items. I know full well Taco Bell puts an Americanized, mass-produced spin on them but they are based on food items that originated in Mexico. There are items that Taco Bell has created on their own such as the Pizzazz and the Crunchwrap Supreme.

In all my research and in talking to people who are knowledgeable on the subject I have found that it is very hard to pin down whether something is authentically Mexican or not. In my mind there is more of a “spectrum” of authenticity rather than a “toggle switch” of authenticity, i.e., it’s not an either/or proposition. And there’s all sorts of options for how Mexican food can be labeled. “Authentic” and “Tex-Mex” do not begin to describe all the options.

Everyone that has commented here seems well aware that Taco Bell food is far from the most authentic Mexican food but it’s not like it’s so inauthentic that it ceases to be Mexican food and becomes Chinese food. It’s just on the low end of the authenticity spectrum. And when I go there and it’s Mexican people making it and half the customers inside are Mexican themselves then I don’t get too hung up on the matter.

Mark says:

September 2, 2008 at 9:55 pm

All you guys are making me hungry!
But seriously, everytime there’s some kind of food review at a fast food restaurant, there will always be that one guy that claims their taste is too sophisticated for that kind of food. This kind of obnoxiousness needs to cool down.
So what if you favor El Torrito. And Nancy, you lead a lonely life of sophistication.
: D

limacharliewhiskey says:

September 3, 2008 at 3:49 pm

To actually get back on topic to Nancy’s original post, I visited my local Taco Bell for lunch today and didn’t see the Volcano Taco on the menu. However, there was something else called a Black Jack taco, which looks like a derivation of the Volcano Taco. The taco shell was black instead of red as shown on the Volcano Taco, and the cheese I think was Monterey Jack cheese instead of cheddar cheese.

Personally, I like the new Rubio’s Grilled Gourmet tacos, which are very good, but expensive. I can only hope for the day when Del Taco or Taco Bell will put avocado and/or bacon bits in their tacos.

Bob says:

September 3, 2008 at 5:49 pm

Last I checked this was the “Fast Food” Maven’s blog. Of course higher end

I actually prefer TB to DT for most food items, and I have tried the Volcano Taco, definately an origional idea and tastes good (for an $0.89 item).

September 4, 2008 at 4:39 pm

I finally tried the Volcano, pretty good and spicy. Kinda tastes like the nachos. Well I guess if i crumple it up a little, it would be nachos. Next time i am gonna have then add sour cream and tomatoes.

Network says:

September 8, 2008 at 7:23 pm

shame on taco bell for releasing such an easy-to-make-fun-of food

who here wants RED TACO!

Jake says:

September 23, 2008 at 3:59 pm

I love mexican food and I hecka love the Volcano Taco. It is nice to see a global (internet) disgust for fast food in general, though. I still will love my Volcano Taco for all time…

skimps says:

July 6, 2009 at 5:56 pm

Taco Bell is Boss.

Enough said.

Richard Bewick says:

August 23, 2009 at 7:11 pm

Nothing but crap! Volcano Nachos are only mild at best, I would say false advertising myself, I was very disappointed.

Brendan says:

October 6, 2009 at 11:12 pm

As a former employee of a restaurant owned and ran by an all mexico family, fresh FROM mexico, I’d like to point out that unless you’re in Mexico, you’re not eating mexican food. You can use every single exact ingredient but they’re coming from the states, and it’s going to taste different. Regardless of your peoples’ “Authenticity”, everything “mexican” food we eat here in America is going to be different and never come out the same.

I for one believe Taco Bell’s cheaply made and tossed-together food is not only GREAT TASTING, it’s also cheap, and very convenient to grab and go. -They’re a huge company for a reason, because they’re doing tsomething right. Keep it up TB.

(PS: Corn is grown in numerous colors, and it’s not uncommon to make a tortilla out of blue, red, yellow, or white corn.[[Even if their's is probably coloring])