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My first impression of anything Mexican was going to Taco Bell in 1982. My 4 yr. old daughter chose it for our weekly outing. I had no clue what they even offered, I was a hamburger and hot dog girl.
Chose something from the description posted of the food offerings.....an enchirito. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!
Several years later a fancier Mexican restaurant came to town......Chi-Chi's. Pricey but served drinks. Went for the first time (and possibly only time) with coworkers after work and I was not impressed! Didn't come close to the flavor I loved of Taco Bell.
To this day Taco Bell is my absolute "go to" for fast Mexican food. And I live in a city now where every corner has some sort of restaurant or Taqaria (sp) that is a Mexican food place.
I DO miss a bar in an industrial area that 2 friends and I would go to before ceramics class across the street. This bar had a "wet burrito" that was TO DIE FOR! Oooooey Gooooey cheesy, lots of ground beef and red sauce, mmmmmm. It was so big it fed the 3 of us. When I first visited Texas and went to a Mexican restaurant, I ordered one, specifically drooling for a "real" wet burrito. THEY HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT! Discovered to my disappointment it was a Northern thing. I still haven't found anything to match that particular Mexican item.
It's not a matter of self-appointment - it's just having a clue.
As an aside, I was in Los Angeles recently. I did a lot of eating, as it's a great town for authentic Mexican as well as a vast array of other cuisines (had some great Korean and Cuban, too). But it amazed me that there were Taco Bells there. Who on earth would pass up all the great Mexican street food for some moronic 'taco' made out of a giant Dorito? Probably the same sort of person who travels to Europe and eats at a McDonald's in Rome and goes shopping at The Gap in Paris.
I can see the self anointed food and cultural experts gritting their teeth, but I love Taco Bell and eat there more than at any other Mexican themed restaurant, 'real' or not.
I have to agree with you. Yeah, it is Mexican fast food, and not really 100% authentic, but we eat there at least once a week, sometimes more. It is fast, somewhat edible, and on the way home from our shop, so we stop often.
Depending on who is cooking that night, the food can be ok to really not bad at all. Funny how a simple thing like a steak burrito supreme can vary so much from night to night.
I can't stand Taco Bell, those Dorito tortilla shells are disgusting. Lettuce does not belong on Tacos and they put so little cheese on the tacos that I'm not sure why they bother. Del Taco is much better as is El Pollo Loco but I think it's only in Western States.
But given the choice I will go to a Mexican taco truck or even the little Mexican restaurant a block from my house. Big Carne Asada street tacos for $2.75 with all the warm chips, salsa and black bean dip you can eat, oh yeah and Negro Modelo on draft
The "expensive" part I'm really not getting... We have quite a few local taco places around, and a single taco I runs from $1.25 to $1.75, depending on location and sometimes choice of meat.
You are right about the wait time, as the stuff is cooked on site when ordered, but it's so well worth it.
Where half of the unit is a meat market and the other is a restaurant.
A few blocks down there is a Taco Bell. To each their own I guess...
I used to stop at a lot of places like that in the Bay Area. The only thing I didn't like about them was the small portion sizes. I could buy a taco plate with four tacos for about $3, and they were fresh and tasty. But each taco was only a couple of bites. I would have probably had to buy three plates to get filled up. Value wise it was kind of hard to justify. Most Mexican people there seemed to just buy them for a quick snack between meals.
On the other hand I could go to this one hole in the wall Mexican restaurant and buy a giant one pound super burrito, for $6. It was definitely big enough to get me filled up, and still one of the best burritos I have ever eaten.
Where I live now, the Mexican restaurants are not that great and way overpriced. Surprisingly the best Mexican food I have bought here was from a non-Mexican place. It was from a guy who runs a burger stand. One time he had a sign up for a beef burrito special for $7. I decided to try it instead of the burger, and surprisingly it was pretty damn good. Not perfect, but it was probably about an 8 out of 10 as far as an authentic Mexican burrito goes. He seemed to have all the right stuff in it. Unfortunately I never saw him offer burritos again, and he raised his burger prices to $10. So I don't eat there anymore.
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Discovered to my disappointment it was a Northern thing. I still haven't found anything to match that particular Mexican item. 
