Taco Bell's Grilled Cheese Burrito is good, but not good enough

Posted on Dec 14, 2020

The Grilled Cheese Burrito was introduced at Taco Bell back in like, July, and it wasn’t until now that we’ve decided to review it. It’s not like we hadn’t had it since it came out - we’ve eaten it several times and, spoiler alert, find it really good. We’re just still bitter about the Taco Bell Menugeddon that happened around the same time period. We don’t want to give Taco Bell much attention right now.

But like a siren, the Grilled Cheese Burrito calls to us. We hear its song. The promise of crisp cheese on the outside of the burrito, and a filling almost but not exactly like our old favorite, the Beefy Fritos Burrito. We cannot resist. We must, must have this burrito. And so we did. And we had it again, and again, and again.

We broke our own oath over this thing. We pledged that we would stop eating at Taco Bell, that they had hurt us for the last time. But we knew we couldn’t stay away. It’s too, too hard. Hit the jump and you can find out what makes it so irresistible for yourself. 

The Grilled Cheese Burrito was introduced on July 2nd, 2020, mere weeks before the incident happened. Oh, what gilded times those were, can you imagine? You could order, theoretically, a Grilled Cheese Burrito with potatoes in it and pico de gallo. God, we were so naive. If only we knew what was coming! 

Inside the Grilled Cheese Burrito is a standard blend of Taco Bell ingredients: beef, cheese, chipotle and nacho sauce, red strips, sour cream, and rice. It’s what’s on the outside that matters. Before being served to you, the Grilled Cheese Burrito is clad in shredded cheese, wrapped in parchment paper, and toasted so the cheese melts directly onto the tortilla. It’s nothing short of a revolution. Taco Bell really came up with something fresh and interesting for once! Sure, the inside of the burrito is the same as anything else, but come on, crispy melted cheese on the outside…

Of course, this burrito isn’t cheap. It costs 3 dollars at our local Taco Bell for just one of these, for a burrito that has almost the same filling as a dollar menu item from less than a year ago! Taco Bell really thinks it can get away with these things. Butchering their menu, overcharging for the same old menu items, no longer serving Sangrita Blast? Well, they can get away with it, because they’re one of the largest fast food chains in the world and we can’t do anything to affect their decision making process. Mexican Pizza is not coming back and there’s no way we can convince Yum to do so.

What can be said about the flavor? Once again, this is an “Ordinary Taco Bell Burrito.” The addition of the red strips only makes us think about how good the Beefy Fritos Burrito was, and how bad we miss the Fritos filling. The red strips are okay, and add the crunch that Taco Bell products desperately need, but they’re just plain bland tortilla strips. No, the only reason to get this burrito is the cheese coating, and it delivers. It’s so cheesy. You order one of these and your car will smell like Cheez-Its all day. It’s hard to hold without getting your hands all greasy - fortunately, the parchment paper it comes with makes a perfect vehicle for holding. And it’s very, very good. The cheese gets all nice and crisp while maintaining its gooeyness, and every bite is a cheddar bomb of flavor. It’s slightly blackened in spots, adding a “char-broiled” bitterness that makes grilled cheese great. The main downside to eating this is that it’s incredibly messy. Not only do your hands get all greasy, like many Taco Bell burritos it’s at risk of bursting all over the front of your shirt if you so much as look at it the wrong way.

The Grilled Cheese Burrito was an LTO, but Taco Bell decided to keep it on the menu around the time of the Menugeddon, we believe. The twist here is that they made it online only, forcing you to download their app or go to their website to get it. This is okay because it encourages social distancing, but it made it a real hassle to order for quite a while. Taco Bell’s app sucks, and their website sucks, and ordering food online in general is a massive hassle. Fortunately it was recently re-added to the main menu, allowing you to order it directly through the drive-thru! Thank goodness. If we had to deal with one more “Oops!” message and that stupid little taco falling over we’d go apeshit.

So, all in all, the Grilled Cheese Burrito is our current go-to item on Taco Bell’s menu and probably one of their top items of all time. It doesn’t make up for some of our favorites being gone, but who knows? Maybe after this COVID crisis is over, we can get potatoes back. We doubt it, though. 

Categories: food

Tagged: 2020 beef burritos cheese rice taco bell

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