The Absolute Worst Del Taco Item Is A Flop Of A Dessert

Long live regional fast food chains. Here at Tasting Table, we're longtime Del Taco fans. We even named the chain as one of five fast food restaurants that foodies should try when visiting the U.S. for the first time. Still, even winners have to lose sometimes. Del Taco went bankrupt trying to keep up with Taco Bell, and today, we're cautioning foodies against another miss for the chain: Skip the caramel cheesecake bites. In our ranking of 19 popular menu items from Del Taco, the chain's caramel cheesecake bites fell to the bottom of the heap.

Unlike Taco Bell's cinnamon twists, which are light and airy, Del Taco's caramel cheesecake bites arrive significantly heavier, like mini deep-fried chimichangas. As we mentioned in our review, these hot, bite-sized treats "look like an egg roll from the outside, which is fine." Although more importantly, surpassing the advertised cheesecake, this dessert delivers "just mouthfuls of crisp breading," with any filling therein distributed unevenly or (as was our experience) stuffed into one end of the log: "This dessert is mainly the crispy roll with a nominal amount of tangy cheesecake filling and even less caramel."

We aren't alone on this "mid" take, either. A YouTube foodie review gives Del Taco's caramel cheesecake bites a positive, if skeptical, assessment. Taking a bite, the poster remarks, "Actually not too bad [...] I can dig it," but points out the bites' ambiguous shell: "I don't even know what this is wrapped in. Tortilla? Breading?" 

Elsewhere online, a TikTok review concludes, "[T]hese are interesting [...] my final verdict is 2.5 out of five." In a Reddit thread asking foodies about their go-to Del Taco orders, the weird egg roll item is sorely missing from foodies' responses. Instead, Del Taco fans on Reddit recommend the mini churros and the strawberry shake (which placed #6 and #3 in our ranking, respectively). The Del Taco dessert consensus is in, and (apparently) it says "skip the caramel cheesecake bites."

Ultimately, Del Taco's caramel cheesecake bites serve a different, wholly tertiary function to the desserts at other fast-food chains — like a Wendy's Frosty or McDonald's McFlurry, which fulfills the classic "burger and shake" food pairing motif, and can also be used for dipping fries. When it comes to tacos, however, there is no equivalent customary pairing, and therefore, the absence of a sweet treat post-burrito is not felt the same way that a burger without fries might leave a foodie unsatisfied. In fact, perhaps this can be viewed as an accolade to Del Taco's well-rounded, balanced entree items, which don't need any accessory help to deliver on their own and to satisfy. That bean and cheese burrito with green sauce doesn't need a side of caramel cheesecake bites to be complete — and, considering the bites' $4.69 price tag, gourmands are better off putting that Del Taco money toward a second burrito, anyway.