Taco Bell is wild when it comes to menu experimentations. They’ll wrap anything in tortilla (or recreate the taco) and see what happens. But not all menu items were a win, though. Here are the 10 biggest menu fails from Taco Bell that had us saying “nice try, but no thanks.”
10. Waffle Taco
In an attempt to give the breakfast menu a shakeup, Taco Bell created the Waffle Taco in 2014. It’s exactly what you think it is: a waffle folded like a taco and filled with sausage and scrambled eggs, served with syrup for drizzling. It did sound delicious, but customers didn’t embrace it as a regular breakfast choice. Some even raised issues like the soggy waffles and the messy nature of the item.
9. French Toast Chalupa
Four years after the Waffle Taco disaster, Taco Bell didn’t learn their lesson. The result? Another breakfast item that appealed to no one. The French Toast Chalupa had a French toast “taco shell” loaded with scrambled eggs and sausage or bacon. It even came with a side of syrup. Ohio got a taste of it as a test menu item, but the taco didn’t make it past the testing phase.
8. Pacific Shrimp Burrito
Taco Bell is a brand known for their chicken and beef, and so it wasn’t quite surprising that they couldn’t ace the seafood category. The Pacific Shrimp Burrito is proof of that. The combination of Mexican food and seafood just didn’t feel authentic to customers; Redditors here recalled ordering it and called the item an abomination.
7. Cheez-It Collab
The Taco Bell x Cheez-It collab generated social media buzz in 2024 and was called one of the most successful releases from the brand. However, this Reddit thread tells a different story. While Cheez-Its are great on their own, they just don’t work with Taco Bell fillings. Some are still frustrated that Taco Bell didn’t team up with Doritos instead.
6. Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco
The Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco was actually loved for its promising concept, inspired by the rich flavors of birria (plus it got shredded beef on the inside). However, customers found that it was an inconsistent mess; some reported that the taco always fell apart, others claimed that the taco didn’t have enough filling.
5. Burgerito
If there’s a menu item that could represent Taco Bell’s identity crisis it would be the Burgerito. Looking at the name alone, it wouldn’t be hard to tell that it’s a combination of cheeseburger and a burrito. The item was confusing to most customers and felt like a solution to a problem that didn’t exist. Let’s be honest: burger lovers would rather go to a burger chain instead.
4. Fire Sauce with Boba
Remember the boba tea trend? Well, this inspired one of the most bizarre experimentations from Taco Bell, the Fire Sauce with Boba. It featured the brand’s signature Fire Sauce jazzed up with tapioca spheres. Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s chief food innovation officer, admitted that “it might be a bad idea.”
3. Hash Brown Taco
Taco Bell’s innovation around its taco shell seemed unending when it released the hash brown taco (also called Potaco). The taco shell was made from potatoes and Mexican spices, and looked like a folded hash brown. This item was available only in India (thankfully) and it seemed like a bad idea because hash browns are naturally fragile—execution was nearly impossible.
2. Cheetos Burrito
In 2016, Taco Bell attempted to replicate the massive success of their Doritos Locos Tacos collab, and so we got the Cheetos Burrito. It featured the standard burrito ingredients, plus Cheetos for crunch and flavor. Sounds uninspired? That’s right, people thought that this item lacked creativity and adding Cheetos into the mix felt like an afterthought.
1. Seafood Salad
Back in the 1980s, Taco Bell already wanted a piece of the seafood game, and so they created the Seafood Salad. It sounded promising as it featured shrimp, snow crab, and a mix of whitefish, served with veggies in an edible taco bowl. The look in promotional materials, however, was unappetizing. Plus, it was rumored to be the cause of a few food poisoning cases. Taco Bell removed the item reportedly due to low sales.