How Reddit Really Feels About Taco Bell's New Cantina Melt
Over the past several years, whenever Taco Bell announced a new menu item, it was often aiming for the outrageous: the Naked Chicken Chalupa, or the Naked Egg Taco, or the Cheetos Burrito (via PopCulture). With the new Cantina Crispy Melt Taco, on the other hand, Taco Bell is getting back to basics. Per the chain's website, the Cantina Melt is simple and delicious-sounding: melted three-cheese blend, nacho cheese sauce, beef, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and shredded cheddar on a fried white corn shell. And at $2.19 and 280 calories, it's not overly indulgent. (Prices vary by location.) Taco Bell also put a vegetarian version on its menu, with black beans. Beyond that, you can fine-tune every ingredient in the Cantina Melt.
Taco Bell took the Cantina Melt for a test drive a little more than a year ago, in the Detroit area (via Chew Boom). Presumably, the trial was successful enough to give the new item a nationwide rollout ... for a limited time only.
Food critics on Reddit are notoriously hard to please, but user "ConsciousnessOfThe" had praise for the Cantina Melt last week on the tacobell subreddit. "The new Cantina Melt Taco is actually pretty good," the Redditor said in their post's headline. Then came the "but": "Sucks it's LTO."
Taco Bell's new Cantina Melt is tasty ... and messy
Judging from the Reddit discussion about the Cantina Crispy Melt Taco, the new Taco Bell menu item is so good it converted some taco skeptics. "Honestly it is my favorite thing right now," bolonga16 commented. "I NEVER would buy tacos from tb before this, but I get this every time." The original poster replied, "Same. I never order tacos. Only burritos. But I'm genuinely surprised." Redditor Knit-witchhh also gave the Cantina Melt a high grade: "I described it to my fiancée as, 'So you know how a TB crunchy taco is, like ... a solid C+? This new taco is like they really put in effort and made an A- taco for a change.'"
Some Redditors quibbled about the price, but the one complaint that stood out was that the Cantina Melt didn't hold together as you bit into it. "The only thing bad about this LTO is how messy it can get," Lewdeology said. "Ate two whilst driving — can confirm," allinforit replied.
Redditor Sith_Moon waited until they got home before eating their Cantina Melt, which worked to their advantage. "Ate 2 while standing in my kitchen. Had to let my cats devour the scraps that landed on the floor," Sith_Moon said. "We all are más now. Would recommend."