Zephyrus recently went undercover to review the newly renovated Taco Bell restaurant near Southdale. In previous years, the Southdale Taco Bell location had been losing a lot of business to their popular neighbor McDonald’s. This could have been due to student preferences for hamburgers rather than tacos, but also due to the cleanliness, or rather uncleanliness of Taco Bell before the renovation.

After infiltrating the front door and causing a disturbance, we were scolded by the manager; a negative impression for customer experience, but a positive for management and staff.  We ordered our food, and it was delivered in just over a minute which was extremely quick considering the amount of food we ordered. Going next door to McDonald’s, customers consistently wait over five minutes, even for a single hamburger. The kitchen seemed to know what they were doing and were on top of orders right away, a plus for both customer experience and staff.

The interior is very modern with new wooden tables and chairs straight from Ikea’s warehouse. Even though the dining area is small, it’s much better than the bolted down furniture and flickering lights that gave the old Taco Bell the atmosphere of an asylum. However, cleanliness still seems to be an issue for this location as shown by the curb-stomped taco lying under our table.

Despite all these welcome improvements, the new Taco Bell is not for everyone.

Sorry potential thieves, the new security system ensures that anyone robbing T-Bell for all they’ve got (around $100) will find their ugly face plastered all over Kare 11 in HD.

Sorry loud-talkers, you no longer get to yell into the microphone at the drive thru just to have your order of two tacos turn into a Mexican pizza at the pickup window. The new speakers are some of the best I’ve ever heard and rival that of Bloomington’s Chick-fil-A.

Overall, the new renovation was a much needed improvement, and will bring in more business for the previously floundering taco industry.