You Should Never Get The Tacos At Burger King. Here's Why

Ever had a Burger King taco? If not, you're hardly alone in this, as they're not really one of the chain's more popular offerings. In fact, if you didn't even know Burger King offered tacos — it's just as well. What with all the well-deserved hate they're getting from the food critics, this $1 menu item may not even be around too much longer.

Actually, these tacos, which are supposedly a "limited-time offering" (as are pretty much all menu items not guaranteed to be top sellers year-round), are a reboot of sorts. They were first introduced to the menu in the fall of 2002, and stuck around less than six months before disappearing (via The Takeout). Why Burger King brought them back in 2019, we're still not sure... a new generation of drunk college kids, we're guessing, or perhaps the increased availability in certain states of a once-illegal appetite stimulant. Whatever the reason, it was unlikely to have been nostalgic demand from the few who managed (or bothered) to try these tacos back in the early part of the millennium.

Burger King makes its tacos in pretty much the same weird way that Jack in the Box does — stuffing the beef and cheese in a tortilla, deep-frying it, and then prying it open to slap on some lettuce. According to a Business Insider review, the BK taco looks absolutely nothing like it's supposed to. In fact, a comparison of the real deal and the ad version doesn't seem to show the magic of PhotoShop so much as the fact that Burger King's ad team evidently photographed an entirely different taco.

Was this a case where appearances belied reality, though? Sadly, no – the taco tasted just as bad as it looked. The taco filling was described as "a gooey, disappointing, confusing mess" that "tasted like bean mush," with no apparent beef or even hot sauce. The Takeout characterized Burger King's taco as "cheap, sloppy, [and] low-grade," and voted it the worst of the fast-food taco offerings.

Even if you're a veteran of the almost equally gross Jack in the Box cheap tacos, they do have one thing that puts them far ahead of BK's in the drunk munchies category: you get two for a buck instead of just one. In a case where quality is so far out of the question, it's quantity — and thus Jack in the Box — for the win.