Over 63% Of People Agree That This Fast Food Restaurant Has The Best Tacos

Is it Taco Tuesday yet? Not that it matters. Taco Friday works just as well. When that taco craving strikes, any day is a good day to indulge. Sure, tacos are super-easy to make at home, or you can seek out a little hole-in-the-wall taqueria, but sometimes what you really hunger for is a good old greasy fast food taco. (The taste buds want what they want; don't judge.) While tacos aren't quite as ubiquitous as burgers or chicken sandwiches, unless you live deep in the boonies you'll usually have at least two, maybe more, fast-food taco options open to you.

So which fast-food chain has the best tacos? Everyone's got their own opinion, of course. While we at Mashed have not hesitated to share our own taco preferences in the past, we decided that perhaps it was time to listen to the opinions of others, as well – 656 other people, to be precise, people previously unknown to us who we contacted via a totally random survey. We gave them a short list to choose from: Burger King, Del Taco, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, and Taco John's, although we also included the option of "Other." Our soon-to-be-revealed survey results, interestingly enough, had one unexpected side effect: they seemed to disprove that old saw about familiarity breeding contempt.

If that "familiarity" hint didn't already tip you off, this is to confirm that the undisputed taco champ, with nearly 64 percent of the vote (which was close to 5 times the amount of votes earned by the second-place winner) was Taco Bell. Why would Taco Bell be nearly everybody's favorite? Well, we did not grill (nor did we fry) any of our survey respondents on the reasons behind their choices, so we can only speculate. Part of it may be Taco Bell's market penetration. While many other taco chains are fairly regional, there is a Taco Bell (or numerous Taco Bells) in every single state in the union, as at least one Taco Bell superfan can attest (via the Taco Bell blog). There are also Taco Bells in 26 countries around the world, according to the company, so even ex-pats can get a taste of tacos from home.

Apart from Taco Bell's near ubiquity, however, they've got one more not-so-secret weapon that practically guaranteed them a spot right at the top: Doritos Locos Tacos. Admit it. You want one. No, you want more than one. In fact, you've just said, "Alexa, where's the nearest Taco Bell to my location?" Either that, or you already know, and you're on the way. Damn you, Taco Bell! You've invented what is possibly one of the most addictive foods on the planet, and you've got us all hooked!

Way, way back in 2nd place with a mere 13 percent of the vote was Del Taco, a chain that might be even more popular if they'd only expand to cover the entire U.S., but that hasn't happened yet. They do not have any Doritos-flavored offerings, it's true, but carb addicts may be interested to know that it's possible to order tacos topped with fries off the secret menu. 

In 3rd place, surprisingly enough, was Jack in the Box, a chain better known for its burgers. Their weird-but-cheap tacos are a classic example of the popular food genre known as "drunk cuisine," and it's just possible that 7 percent of our respondents might enjoy an adult beverage or six prior to taco consumption. Taco John's, another underrated because underrepresented semi-regional (their website says they have locations in less than half the states) was a close 4th with just shy of 7 percent. In last place, as could have been easily predicted by Nostradamus' pet poodle, were Burger King's nasty tacos with less than 4 percent of the vote.

One of the fun parts of these surveys is the fact that they inevitably elicit recommendations of places we may not be familiar with. The main selections are the ones deemed most popular, but there are other fast food taco chains that may be too small/too local to have made the list. Nevertheless, knowing that they have fans out there who think highly enough of them to make them write-in candidates makes us want to give them a try.

There were, of course, a number of non-responses, such as people who just said "don't know," "don't eat tacos," "don't eat fast food," as well as one utterly unfathomable "ew" (there are people out there who don't like tacos? Who knew?) and another totally relatable "no preference" (relatable, that is, if it was meant to mean "I'll take one of each, thanks"). We also did get one vote for "lunch wagons," which is what food trucks were called back before they became trendy. Fast casual chains Chipotle and Tijuana Flats also got shout-outs, but our respondents gave us quite a list of lesser-known regional fast food taco restaurants: TacoTime, Pepe's, Mighty Taco, Torchy's Tacos, Roscoe's Tacos, El Burrito Loco, Taco Bus, Taco Del Mar, Taco Casa, Poppo's Taqueria, DeLeon's, Tacotote, and Rosa's Café. Whew! Anyone up for a taco road trip?