Del Taco -- 1495 N Garey Ave Pomona, CA 91767

My Meal Cost: $10.45. Health Rating A. Yelp 2 stars

Still in my home neighborhood, this is the closest of the places I'll be going to. Only 350 steps from front door to front door. A quick walk for some fast food. Or so one would hope. Unfortunately, the wait once I got in the doors was something else. I did go during the lunch rush and there was quite the line-up at the drive-thru window. I was behind one person in line and it took a good while to get to order. That happens sometimes as the person in front of me wasn't sure what she wanted. However, based on the time stamp on my receipt and when my number was called, I had to wait a full 11 minutes. Not speedy for sure, especially if I had been on a tight lunch break. I actually bothered to look at my watch when I realized that they were calling much lower order numbers of people who weren't in line when I got there.

You order at the window and there are menus above, like with most fast food places. The place was fairly clean, although while I was there the face on the soda dispenser was stacked next to it and you stared into a bare florescent tube as you dispensed your drink, and while there was a young man sweeping, he stepped over a soda spill on the flour several times without mopping it up.

There is nice, adequate seating in the dining area.

Since this place is close, it is somewhere that I go to from time to time for a quick meal. Not first choice, but most convenient. I decided to try one of their new "Epic" burritos. I was intrigued by the steak | potato | and bacon version so ordered it as a combo and got a medium beverage with it. I also decided to order two of the Del Tacos (their original crunchy ground beef taco with lettuce, tomato, and cheese) as well as a cup of beans with cheese (this item wasn't on the menu, but I've had it there many times so just asked for it). Their beverage machine had Coke Zero (which uses Splenda instead of Equal which is in diet Coke) which is my preference.

My meal before eating

With a few bites out of the burrito so that you could see the interior.

The burrito was interesting. I was expecting, not sure why, the potatoes to be roasted cubes of potato, instead what was in there were crinkle-cut French fries. Didn't really taste bacon, couldn't distinguish it from the beef in the filling. The "steak" was more like burnt ends of a roast or something. VERY well done and dried out. Really needed some hot sauce to add some moisture to the whole thing. Their were more fries than anything else, so I wasn't too disappointed (again, my potato obsession), but not really what I expected from this burrito. The tacos were the classic American style taco that I grew up on (as a transplanted Midwesterner at the age of 5 this was the only "Mexican" food I know beside chili con carne in a can). Simple, yet enjoyable. And I also had my beans and cheese in a cup which I mix with some hot sauce (in this case Inferno).

Del Taco also has some street tacos, churros, a wide selection of burritos and the regular Americanized Mexican food you would expect. Many steps below the more authentic taco places such as Tacos Mexico and DeAnda Tacqueria previously reviewed.

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