Once upon a time (a long long long time ago), Taco Bell, when they used to cook the meat in the restaurants, had decent crispy tacos. This probably ended in the 80s. I don't know if there is a good chain taco, crispy or soft. The La Salsa / Baja Fresh, etc. ones are harmless but not that great. Taco Bell is a 'soak up the booze' place. Jack in the Box is a science experiment that has probably killed thousands (throw frozen shells stuffed with meatmush right in the fryer). As for the person who said that Jack's tacos aren't real, neither are pink tacos, but people still like to eat them.

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The best thing about Taco Bell is the Chernobyl Cheddar... :D

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One thing must be said... If the tortillas are not soft shell.... they aint tacos...

Yep!

When I went to the local Chipotle outlet with my US based family members, you would always have at least one patrol car of the local police department parked outside for lunch.

A sign of quality? ;) And, yes, what they do is very convincing at least to a non-American/Mexican. The sauces including guacamole are not bad either.

I buy corn tortillas by the bag, fry them in a little corn oil and fold them over a form. Baked might be better for me but not as crisp or tasty.

We have a pretty large local hispanic population. Mrs BamaVol teaches the first communion classes at the Catholic church and 80% of her class is Spanish speaking. We have lots of Mexican restaurant choices - no, not as many as a big city, but easily one for every 3-5,000 residents in the county.

I guess that's why I like mine better.

That's exactly the way we do it, except we try to appease the nutrition gods with safflower oil, and we also regretfully avoid anything lardlike. ;)

As to baking, we bake tortillas when we bake enchiladas. @:-)

I'll personally admit to eating cold corn tortillas right out of the refrigerator, or sometimes to microwave them before adding a slice of cheese if I'm looking for a snack, but I certainly wouldn't recommend that in a dining forum. :D

Chipotle
 

As the thread topic is "best chain..." and not home made, I'll vote for Chipotle being the closest to the Mexico City taquerias. They're fresh and I'd love to get one of those tortilla warmer things for when I make tacos at home.

When in the Chicago suburbs, Tacos El Norte has outstanding tacos al pastor and is my #1 choice for best chain tacos.

For me, it's a local chain called Muchas Gracias. They're pretty close to authentic (I have a lot of hispanic friends and so of course, nothing matches the real thing, but Muchas comes REALLY close since the owner himself is hispanic), though.

Dang it! Now I want Muchas Gracias!

3 categories of restaurant tacos i eat:

real tacos: from small shady looking independent joints in texas cities

fake tacos: taco bell crunchy taco supreme drenched with fire sauce

americanized tacos: chipotle (for relative quality of ingredients)

avoid mid-range chains

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real tacos = mexican street tacos

I got to thinking about this and there have only been two places I even remember how good their tacos were, and that is Alvarado's Mexican Food in benbrook, TX and Taco Casa in Stephenville Tx

Alvarado's also have some incredible roasted chili salsas on a cold bar at the end of the counter.

the have some mean chicken taco's as well, it is the real deal, a perfectly seasoned shredded chicken.

I didn't realize either was a chain.

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Well, yea but.......

The OP asked for chain tacos. Oh wait, who is the OP? ;)

Seriously, Chipotle is the In 'n Out/Five Guys of fast food Mexican. They have good ingredients (I think they use Niman ranch pork for instance) and are fresh and tasty in my experience.

Sticking with the chains, I would have to add my vote to Chipotle. At least the meat, salsa, and guacamole is fresh...

A distant second would be Dell Taco....