4 Taco Bell ‘Decades Menu’ Items, Tasted and Ranked in 2024

Being a Taco Bell regular can be a rollercoaster of emotions. No other major fast food chain changes its offerings so often and is constantly adding to it new menu items while abruptly dropping others. One day your favorite order will be waiting there for you. The next day – poof! – it has disappeared, with no indication of when it will ever return. Just ask fans of the Enchirito or Mexican pizzatwo beloved foods that Taco Bell has unceremoniously ditched over the years.

However, with every breakup, there remains a glimmer of hope for a joyful reunion one day. Both the Enchirito and Mexican pizza eventually returned, albeit only briefly in the case of the former. And that’s what fans of four bygone Taco Bell delicacies can now look forward to with today’s launch of Taco Bell’s new Decades menu.

The prolific Mexican chain has returned a popular item from four decades. These temporary comebacks include the Tostada, an original item from Taco Bell’s first menu in the early 1960s; the Green Sauce Burrito, which was popular in the 1970s; the much-missed Meximelt from the eighties; and the Gordita Supreme, which rose to fame in the 1990s. A fifth item, the sensational Caramel Apple Empanada, will finally join the group of returning throwback favorites next month.

Curious to see how well these ghosts of Taco Bell’s past would resonate with today’s tastes, I walked over to my nearest Taco Bell to try them all. Here’s what they tasted like, each listed in descending order, starting with my least favorite and counting down to the one nostalgic bite that still holds up.

Tostada from the 60s

Power supply: (Per 1 Tostada)
Calories: 170
Fat: 7 g (Saturated fat: 2.5 g)
Sodium: 420 mg
Carbohydrates: 20 g (fiber: 5 g, sugar: <1 g)
Egg white: 6 gr

The Tostada was one of the original Taco Bell menu items, dating back to 1962. And from the composition of this very simple preparation, it’s clear that the chain didn’t hit its creative stride until many, many years later. Baked beans are spread atop a crispy, deep-fried tortilla, then topped with a spicy red sauce and chunks of lettuce and yellow cheese. It was the cheapest of all four “Decades” items at just $2.49.

The appearance: Very simple. The combination of brown, yellow and light green ingredients, with just a hint of reddish brown, didn’t do much to whet the appetite. It looked like something you might slap together when the closet was running low. I was most encouraged to complete this one and move on to the other, more tempting options.

The taste: Nice square, especially for circular food. The yellow corn tortilla was perfectly crispy and held up under the weight of all the toppings. The beans were creamy, the sauce was plentiful and slightly spicy, and the shredded lettuce added a second layer of crunch. The cheese was so mild it was barely noticeable. It’s easy to be disappointed by all this. This was undoubtedly the easiest of the four to replicate at home, and probably not worth the effort on its own. The ’60s were said to be a simpler time, and this mediocre tostada is proof of that.

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Gordita Supreme from the 90s

Power supply: (Per 1 Gordita)
Calories: 280
Fat: 11 g (Saturated fat: 4.5 g)
Sodium: 560 mg
Carbohydrates: 31 g (fiber: 3 g, sugar: 5 g)
Egg white: 13 gr

The ’90s were definitely more my decade than any other, so I expected to feel a little more nostalgic as I delved into this Gordita supremewith ground beef, lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and a mix of mozzarella, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, all stuffed into warm flatbread. Maybe that’s just teenage angst coming back, but I was pretty stunned by the whole experience. Another reason for the disillusionment. This item cost the most of all four: $3.99.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The appearance: Certainly more colorful than the tostada, with pink-red tomato cubes emerging from a large pile of lettuce and cheese shreds. The flatbread looked stone white and doughy with brown spots around the edges, as if it had at least been warming up on the griddle for a while.

The taste: Rich and creamy. The flavor of the well-seasoned ground beef, combined with the cold sour cream dressing, came through, while the flatbread provided a soft and chewy vessel for the entire mixture. It’s a fine, taco-like thing, but still rather unremarkable, especially compared to two others.

I tried Taco Bell’s entire value menu and one item was super filling

Green sauce burrito from the 70’s

Power supply: (Per 1 Burrito)
Calories: 370
Fat: 10 g (Saturated fat: 4.5 g)
Sodium: 1,040mg
Carbohydrates: 55 g (fiber: 9 g, sugar: 4 g)
Egg white: 13 gr

Many Americans remember the 1970s for bell-bottom pants, disco dancing, and Jell-O molds. Taco Bell has chosen to commemorate the decade with something tastier than all of these things: a spicy green salsa made from green chiles, tomatillos, jalapeño peppers and other spices, making this Green Burrito his name. The viridescent item cost me $2.69.

The appearance: Literally full of beans. The thing was so packed with the braised legumes that it was hard to spot the other ingredients at first. A bit of chopped onion here, a bit of melting cheese there and a faint glimmer of green sauce were the only visual clues that gave this overwhelming brown mass any character. It’s certainly the least visually appealing of the four.

The taste: Surprisingly spicy. That sauce, while mostly hidden in plain sight, packed a wonderfully flavorful punch. It was bright, fruity and moderately spicy, giving this otherwise bland wrap an eye-opening kick. I would happily have a side of that green sauce with any entree, anytime. Still, there was one throwback item I liked even more.

Every Taco Bell Burrito, Tasted and Ranked for 2024

Meximelt from the 80s

Power supply: (Per 1 Meximelt)
Calories: 250
Fat: 13 g (Saturated fat: 7 g)
Sodium: 720 mg
Carbohydrates: 21 g (fiber: 3 g, sugar: 2 g)
Egg white: 13 gr

The Meximelt was a mainstay of the Taco Bell menu for three decades before being discontinued in 2018 and is one of the chain’s “most requested comeback items.” And it’s easy to understand why. A Taco Bell fan site described it as “cross between a Fresco Soft Taco and a quesadilla,” with seasoned beef, pico de gallo, and a mix of mozzarella, cheddar, and Monterey Jack, all tucked into a flour tortilla. The much-missed item cost me $2.99.

The appearance: Molten. Peeling the tortilla away revealed a tantalizing cheese puff that melded the meat and all the trimmings together. It was a messy but colorful conglomeration, with hints of red tomato and flecks of green herbs amid the lava-like flow of yellow cheese.

The taste: Desiring – and I don’t use that term lightly. From the first bite it was the clear winner. The Meximelt contained the same tasty blend of ground beef and three cheeses as the Gordita, but the flavors meld so much better when the cheese is completely melted and gooey. That, combined with the spicy pico, made this item over the top. The Meximelt also left me with a pleasant, savory aftertaste that lingered and actually made me want to order a second round.

One thing that might make it even better: a dose of that excellent green sauce from the burrito. Hear me out, Taco Bell innovation team: Green Meximelt – that’s something to bring all generations together.

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