By Julia Kelm
Imagine you and your friends are out on the town — the vibes are chill, that cheap beer you always buy tastes a little better than usual, things are simply going great.
Then out of nowhere, someone pipes up.
“Hey, what if we went to Taco Bell?”
You all freeze, and stare in absolute awe at this person who just made one of the most beautiful requests you’ve ever heard.
So you all pile into the car, blaring music, and make your way to the Taco Bell in Eureka. It’s almost 1 a.m., surely nobody will be there… right?
Unfortunately, you are then met with a drive-through lane over an hour long. Your night is ruined, morale is at an all-time low, and then someone sitting next to you says, “There’s no line at Burger King.”
The fact there are only two Taco Bells in the vicinity of Cal Poly Humboldt is a travesty. However, the lack of Taco Bells isn’t the only issue — the wait time at these restaurants is truly insane.
I have personally walked into the Eureka Taco Bell, coming in around 6 p.m., ordered my food, and then proceeded to wait a full hour for two chicken quesadillas, two bean burritos, and three Baja Blast Freezes. The worst part is that they didn’t fill the cups all the way, AND they were the wrong size — smaller. It’s safe to say I was losing my mind.
Don’t believe me? Here are some reviews from Yelp that share my lousy experience:
“Just don’t come here. Unless you want to wait all day. Spare yourself the disappointment,” Tanner R. said.
“They’re so slow they should just fire the whole crew and start over. It’s ridiculous in LA where I get Taco Bell you hand them your card they swipe it before you can put your card back in your wallet. You have your food almost in your face. I know it can be faster. These people suck,” Greg C. said.
“This is the worst Taco Bell on earth. Humboldt County deserves much better! I spent about 40 minutes in the Drive-Thru this evening. No empathy, no apologies,” Marcus R. said.
These are all one-star reviews, by the way. It is quite evident that I am not alone in my disappointment with the Taco Bells in this area.
However, I think it’s important to mention that fast food places like Taco Bell have only one or two employees working late hours. So if anyone should be blamed, it’s the managers and owners that have these poor employees trying to feed the masses.
As Marcus R. put it so eloquently, Humboldt County does deserve so much better. So, take this column as a plea to whoever decides where Taco Bells go. Please put one in Arcata, or at least a few more in Eureka. It would make me, and probably a lot of other people very happy.
Julia is a journalism major at Cal Poly Humboldt. She loves film and is a regular on Letterboxd. To quote Robin Williams in her all-time favorite movie, Dead Poets Society, “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
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