I love Mexican food. It would be more accurate to say I love both kinds of Mexican food, because there’s a big difference between the authentic stuff and what’s served at fast food restaurants. The latter being called everything from “empty and soulless” to “white-washed” by dedicated fans of the real-thing. Not everyone is so picky, or has access to eateries serving quality authentic Mexican close to home, and for those people (myself included) the Food-Gods have created Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, Taco Time and the guy named Bob who sells tacos at the corner bus-stop. Sure, I’m afraid to eat Bob’s tacos because they smell like dog-food, but then again so does Bob. Anyway, today it’s the Beef Quesadilla from Taco Bueno at a cost of $2.99.

According to Wikipedia, the Spanish word Quesadilla means “little cheesy thing”. There is much debate about what defines a real Quesadilla, but this is fast-food and we don’t have time for all that. One thing we can all agree on, it’s a tortilla of some type (corn or wheat flour) stuffed with cheese, and sometimes also includes meat. It’s usually folded in half, and then sliced up into several pieces like a pizza pie.

In today’s case, the tortilla is a soft-flour variety and lightly toasted. The cheese is a mixture of Cheddar and Pepper-Jack, and I’ve chosen to include meat in the form of ground beef. The Quesadilla comes pre-sliced into 4 pieces, but I needed to take a knife and re-trace the grooves since the slices had failed to penetrate the bottom half of the tortilla. As it turns out, the meat was by far the weakest part of the experience.

First of all, the ground beef has very little flavor. To call it bland would be a compliment. In fact, it muted the nice cheesy taste which was trying to get out. There were a few tiny specs of tomato and onions in the beef but WOW it’s BLAND. Maybe they use such a miniscule amount of seasoning in fear the meat will overpower the cheese. Whatever the reason, the end result is not good. Frankly the item would taste better without the meat. To that end, they offer a Cheese Quesadilla with no meat. They also have a Chicken version that’s much better than the Beef. Expect a review on that, soon.

The cheeses were good on their own. I could detect the 2 distinct flavors (cheddar and pepper-jack) and they combined to make the center thick and gooey, with some bites creating strands of melting cheese stretching out for inches before finally breaking off. The pepper-jack is not very spicy but it’s definitely got a little kick. Unfortunately, most of the cheese flavor is being absorbed or weakened by the super-bland beef.

The whole thing doesn’t feel right to me, having a scoop of loose-meat inside. It’s totally different than the Chicken version, or most other fast-food Quesadillas which use ‘chunks’ of chicken, beef or steak, as opposed to meat ground-up so finely.

I want to give credit to the salsa that’s included for dipping. It’s made fresh in-store daily at each Taco Bueno location. This freshness shows and it’s very good, putting the competition’s little plastic packets of sauce to shame. Unfortunately, even the tasty salsa is not enough to rescue this review from it’s inevitable conclusion.

The Beef Quesadilla from Taco Bueno is not very good. Sometimes a few simple ingredients combine to create a product that’s more delicious then ever expected. And sometimes they just create a Big Bland BLAH — which is the case here.

Price: $2.99 / Website: TacoBueno.com

Fast Food Critic Score: D

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Nutrition Facts - Taco Bueno, Beef Quesadilla.

Calories - 823
Calories from Fat - N/A.
Total Fat - 51 grams
Carbs - 49 grams
Saturated Fat - N/A.
Trans Fat - N/A.
Cholesterol - N/A.
Sodium - 1612 milligrams

N/A = The company has not made the information available.