Cantina Bell Menu Items: My Experience.

A few weeks ago, Taco Bell launched it's new Cantina Bell Menu. I was really excited about this, because I love restaurants where you get to have a burrito rolled just for you & you choose all of the toppings etc. The item that I was most excited about were: Cantina bowl, Cantina Burrito and the side of Rice & Black Beans. I went there with someone the weekend that it launched & they had the bowls as buy one, get one free, so I tried that, first. He got the chicken burrito.

The Cantina Bowl

Description from Taco Bell: Experience our new citrus-herb marinated chicken, flavorful black beans, guacamole made from real Hass avocados, roasted corn & pepper salsa, a creamy cilantro dressing, and freshly prepared pico de gallo, all served on a bed of cilantro rice. Also available in Steak or Veggie.

Taco Bell's Photo:

My Actual Meal Photo:

It's not quite like the marketing photo (of course), but it is pretty commendable for a fastfood restaurant. I'll tell you what I liked about it & what I don't.


What I like:

• The dressing is pretty good. It's not overly seasoned or salty, which I enjoy.
• The corn salsa is really good. It's sweet, roasted and has a nice crispness to it.
• The bed of lettuce. I'm so glad that it's not shredded iceberg lettuce. It was satisfying for a salad, because, as you know, lettuce is the most important component of the salad. If the lettuce is no good, the salad is no good, right. 
• The rice was cooked well and isn't overly seasoned, either. It mixed well with the other components of the Cantina Bowl.
• The presentation is nice. Everything is separated and neatly built together.

What could use improvements:

• You can't choose your toppings w/o paying extra for each one.
• There aren't any new, fresh salsas like the other burrito joints. (spicy, roasted, mole etc)
• They should consider a white salsa con queso, too. 
• There's no iconic shredded, white cheese with any of the Cantina Items. 
• The chicken isn't what I'd hoped for. I thought it would be more like a grilled, sliced chicken, instead of the regular Taco Bell chicken. Just wishful thinking ;)

I would order this again, in fact, I already have. It looked the same the next time that I got it. I do like it and fell that it's a wonderful addition to the Taco Bell menu, but I just wish they'd let you customize it without additional charges. I'd love to add things like: jalapenos, cheese, sour cream, or a sauce to it at no additional cost. What brings people back to places like Qdoba is the option mix it up a bit. I'd like to see more varieties of these bowls, or the option to choose your components. Variety is the spice of life and it makes menus better, too :)

Taco Bell's Side of Rice & Black Beans

Taco Bell Description: "try our side order of tasty cilantro rice topped with flavorful black beans."

Taco Bell's Photo

My actual meal photo

Black beans & rice has to be one of my most favorite side items in the world. I love to order this from a good restaurant and I love to cook it at home. Beans & rice are so filling and delicious, just on their own.


The Taco Bell Black Beans & Rice side was a little, well, small... Like, I could see the bottom of the bowl around the rice, small. The taste was alright--better than some other chain restaurants--but, I'm afraid to order this again due to the size of it. That's just not worth almost $2, in my opinion. Another note: the beans look nothing like the ones in the photo. I think they're kind of overcooked. That's a personal preference, I guess.

The Chicken Cantina Burrito

Taco Bell Description: Experience our new citrus-herb marinated chicken, cilantro rice, flavorful black beans, guacamole made from real Hass avocados, roasted corn & pepper salsa, a creamy cilantro dressing, and freshly prepared pico de gallo, all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. Also available in Steak or Veggie.

My Photo of the Chicken Cantina Burrito Combo

The burrito is basically a Cantina bowl inside of a tortilla. They take it to the next level and toast it, which is nice. It's a large burrito--similar in size to a grilled stuft burrito. I, personally, do like the burrito, because of the green, leafy lettuce and the variety of ingredients in side of it. It's very filling and my friend really enjoyed his chicken Cantina Burrito.


I have the same likes & dislikes as I had for the bowl, since they are essentially the same item. The Cantina Bowl is the same, in theory, as a "naked burrito" from Qdoba--meaning that it's the tortilla-less version of a burrito. I just wish they had introduced some new salsas: mole, spicy salsas, roasted salsas, a very fresh red salsa like you get with chips at a Mexican restaurant. I wish they'd add grilled peppers & onions to the menu. Mmm.


I hope you gained some insight & helpful information from my review of the new Cantina Menu from Taco Bell. I do recommend that you try it out, because it's a big step up from comparable items on their menu. I love Taco Bell and I really like when they offer new items. I hope that they continue to add to this Cantina Menu and don't let it be a fad for summer & then become an afterthought. There's a lot of potential here and I'd love to see Taco Bell realize that.






*This is not a sponsored post. I bought this with my own money.