There's been some prettty big noise pumping out of Taco Bell kitchen's this year. The radical transformation continues with the addtion of the straight to full time menu Cantina Bell menu line. While I wouldn't call two items a full line, the Cantina Burrito and Cantina Bowl have the opportunity to bring in a whole new customer base to the Bell. With celebrity chef Lorena Garcia providing the inspirational ingredients, it's hard to beleive something so fresh came out of any fast food kitchen.
The Cantina Bell menu focuses on bringing in the new "gourmet" Mexican food scene to Taco Bell. The likes of Qdoba and Chipotle have been running wild with fresh ingredients, exorbitant prices, and excessive trips to the bathroom for years, but Taco Bell is ready to cut in on their sales. The food is perceived by many as "healthy" because of the natural ingredients although there are enough calories involved to send an average man into a coma. Taco Bell is taking its own hand at this game with a Cantina Burrito and Cantina Bowl.
We'll start off with the Cantina Bowl. Rolling in with a respectable 560 Calories and 22 grams of fat, the Cantina Bowl could offers a very exotic and enticing meal option while not destroying your life. While the other chains seem to be calling this a "naked burrito" or "burrito bowl" Taco Bell simply describes it as a bowl. As you'll see with the Cantina items, there are a lot of ingredients, so I don't blame anyone for forgetting a handful of them. We start off with a bed of cilantro rice, add in guacamole, roasted corn & pepper salsa, black beans, pico de gallo, a creamy cilantro dressing and top it off with Taco Bell's brand new citrus marinated chicken, steak, or vegetable options.
As you can see from the pictures, the display comes off quite well, despite being constructed by some clearly confused employees. It took a considerable amount of time to get our order filled with the new items and ingredients being implemented. Overall the ingredients taste come together quite well. An overwhelming sense of "fresh" falls over you like a waterfall on a hot day. The corn indeed looks "roasted" as well as some freshly made pico intermingles for a very natural tasting veggie experience. The new chicken was surprisingly tasty, with a true blue blood marinated feel. There's some random samplings of lettuce involved here and there actually could be more to add a more salad like feel.
The guacamole is still kind of weak and the rice is somewhat bland, but with these items being less than $5, you can't complain too much. My fiancee discovered the clutch play of dipping chips into the bowl to create a Cantina Nacho ideal. Very good idea. The Cantina Bowl gets 3.5 stars.
Next up is what I was particularly interested in: The Cantina Burrito. A burrito has always been my go to at the other guys. But with the price around $7 and the calories in the four digit range, it's hard to justify this purchase very often. The Cantina Burrito pounds out 27 grams of fat and 760 calories, so we can't say this is very healthy at all, but compared to other big burritos, it's beats the competition to a pulp.
The Cantina Burrito takes everything involved in the bowl, wraps it in a flour tortilla, then puts it on Taco Bell's grill press. The jury is still out on how I fell about the grill press usage. All of the other eateries typically flash grill the tortilla before any ingredients are added to soften up the tortilla. While this typically leads to the tortilla crumbling and leaving the eater with swamp hands, Taco Bell's alternative takes away from the gourmet factor. It looks like a typical Grill'd Stuft burrito, which many aren't looking for in this realm.
Overall the taste of the Cantina Burrito was good, but not great. The ingredients were all there and the new inclusion of black beans into the Bell repertoire is very welcome, but in my humble opinion the thick tortilla masks the flavors. Because pico doesn't have a particularly strong, bold taste, it's hard to really get maximum flavor whenever the salsa typically provides the kick. The bowl highlighted the fresh flavors quite a bit more. Next time I'll definitely add some of the famous Taco Bell hot sauce to give the burrito that little kick it needs. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great tasting piece and for under $5 a steal. Cantina Burrito gets a 3 star rating from me.
Head on over to Taco Bell and try out their new Cantina Bell menu. And don't forget the astoundingly priced $1.50 guac and chips!
Cantina Bowl: 3.5/5
Cantina Burrito: 3/5
32 comments:
Thanks for the review. The commercial for these new products is kind of a joke to me; like you said, teenagers are attempting to put these together, not a famous chef in a gourmet kitchen. Whether it's inspired by her or not, it doesn't sound or look like it's worth it. I'm a big fan of Qdoba, and I also like Taco Bell, but to me they're on two different levels, Qdoba being of much better quality. Taco Bell's items might be cheaper, but you don't seem to get nearly as much food as their competitors. I get Taco Bell is trying to appeal to that market, but I don't see it working out.
Actually, I find the Cantina Bowl a welcomed departure from the traditional, heavy taco salad. It is a little high on the calorie side, but I can live with that. Taco salads at even the best Mexican places pack in a lot more calories than the Cantina Bowl and feel like a bag of bricks on you later! It has even won over my husband who usually won't eat the "green stuff". So, I have to say Thank You Taco Bell for a change that I don't have to feel all that guilty about!
I tried the cantina bowl tonight and it was good. There was plenty of food there to fill me up. I will definitely get it again.
Really Guys? It's been a month since you posted anything. It's getting pretty lame checking in and seeing nothing new. Guess I'll take you out of my normal rotation.
I tried the bowl today and was really surprised by how much I liked it. I'm one who tends to go to Chipotle for my mexican food. It had a great balance of flavor and the acidity of the lime that was in there really brought out the rest of the flavors in the meal as well.
I found the portion size of the bowl to be too much food for one sitting so not only does eating only half of it cut down on the calories of the meal but it also provides me lunch at work for two days in a row.
I love the cantina bowl. When you run as much as me it's a great way to grab something somewhat healthier than the other drive through options!
The cantina bold is the most delicious fast food dish I have ever eaten. I truly enjoyed it. THe quacamole really set it off... And just 550 calories I did not have to feel guilty. it is loaded with lots of vegetables and chicken
Where did you go? This was such a promising blog.
Last night I masturbated like a champ. As I lay in bed the taco bell cantina commercial came on. I drove to taco bell and gave the bowl a try. I was heavily impressed. I went to bed again and I fell asleep like a baby.
at 560 calories??? Not to mention the saturated fat - not that healthy
My bowl must have been made with way too much of the disgusting cilantro lime dressing. All I can taste and smell is that. Also, with this much dressing there's no way in the world this is healthy.
The chicken Cantina Bowl was the nastiest garbage Taco Bell has ever made. Can't believe a famous chef "created" it. lol The chicken had this soft, mushy texture. But the cilantro lime dressing...ugh, it had a rancid flavor that ruined even the lettuce.
First cantina bowl... Should've gone to Chipotle. Rice-yuck, dressing-way too much, lettuce-not enough, steak-chewy. Never again.
Cantina-bowl=the shit. Haters gone hate
The new bowl was great...Excluding the fact that an hour after I took my last bite, my stomach started turning. I spent much of the next hour in the men's room, putting on a concert for the afternoon men's room crowd!
Explosive excitement, compliments of the new Taco Ball Cantina Bowl.
Oddly enough, I have had two more bowls since I put on my explosive show!!!
Soon Ling
The Mile High City
My cantina bowl: heaping serving of rice. teaspoon of beans, teaspoon of corn, teaspoon of tomato, teaspoon of guacamole; lots of wilted lettuce, teaspoon of Chicken and a waste of $5.
I tried the cantina bowl today and was pleasantly surprised. The chicken was moist and light. Overall flavors were acceptable. My lettuce was fresh. The rice and black beans are a great combination. And the sweet roasted corn was a nice pop in your mouth. I am always down for a lighter, satisfying fast meal on the go and this is it. I will be getting this again. Thank you, Taco Bell!
Had the bowl.... GROSS!!! Too much cilantro, bland rice, and the corn salsa taste like someone left it in an open container in the refrigerator. The manager did allow me to order mexican pizza to replace it.
760 is four digits now? must be the new math
No longer updated? Shame, Blog had great potential
I think the Veggie Cantina Burrito is quite delicious. The extra black beans as opposed to meat is a wonderful option! I place mine in the fridge for a while prior to eating, it allows the ingredients to settle and equalize in temperature. Great job Taco Bell!
I actually gave the so called cantina bowl a try and it was terrible, just alla around bad. It was a waste of money I wish i would of gone back n asked for my money back but had to drive all the way back 15 miles not even worth it, I'll just never had it again.
I love the veggie burito wraps they serve in our local food trucks just near my body building station. I consider salad or veggie mixes as the best pre workout from my experience in gym and body-building activities.
I just had my first cantina bowl and my overall impression is this: the cheaper (than Chilpotle) rice and meat detract from my enjoyment of this dish. I'd rather pay more and eat Chilpotle or Qdoba once a month than eat this more often.
At least their meat is cook on the premises.
I was actually really excited to try this new inspiration of a somewhat burrito bowl from Chipotle. As a big fan of the burrito bowl, I thought the Cantina Bowl would be a new, more affordable version of that. I am also a big fan of Taco Bell, so I thought it was a win/win. When I tired this, I did take into consideration the fact that it was from a fast food restaurant, but it did lack flavor. Everything was pretty much jumbled together rather than tasting the distinct flavors of each ingredient. I give the inspired chef credit, but like people have said...it was INSPIRED by her, not made everyday by her. I can understand the freshness of ingredients, but it was mushy and I am truly not a huge fan. I think it needs some flavor improvements. I will still give the Cantina sections of Taco Bell a chance and am looking forward to trying the new steak burrito.
This could help me out in my daily diet routine. I'm undergoing to a so-called freeze off fat procedure, I'm worried about my weight that's why I'm doing all this stuff but I think this one is really a healthy meal for me.
NASTY DO NOT EAT Honestly sitting on the toilet at 4:36 am cuz I ate that last night it taste so bad. ... just spend the extra 3 $ at chipotle....
Part of the insomnia treatment program I'm currently with includes proper eating habits and a series of cardio exercises. My doctor said that living a healthily will help me get enough and normal sleeping habit, so I guess, I should just make a pass on trying this out even though God knows how much I fancy cheese.
the cantina bowl is the bomb!!! very fresh, great REAL flavors. varied flavors as well. A gastronomic home run if you ax me. I would most definitely order it again and I have been raving about it to friends (for fast food).
Disgusting!!! Tasted like shit and I regret even buying that crap,I'm sticking to chipotle!
This is a bowl of garbage. The rice was crunchy, the zingy lime cilantro guac combo tasted like Neopolitan ice cream. I had to drown it in fire sauce to eat the thing. Really not an alternative to Chipotle's offering, which bag, steamed chicken and processed-ingredients all-around.
I tried the Chicken Cantina bowl today & loved it!! It's light on your stomach and low calorie considering the portion size. I'll definitely order it again:)
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