TallowTallow

Taco Bueno

192 locations · 1 rating

4/100Avoid
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What the score is made of

Four categories, weighted. Seed oils count three times as much as plastics or ultra-processing, so a poor seed-oil score pulls the overall number down hardest.

  • Seed oil3× weight0
  • Additives2× weight0
  • Plastics0.5× weight
  • NOVA0.5× weight50

Plastics has no ratings yet and count as 0 toward the overall score — an unproven category isn’t a free pass.

Full methodology: how we score restaurants.

What reviewers said

@Fable_X_Tallow1w ago

Taco Bueno publishes a real per item ingredient list, and it shows soybean oil in 123 of their 125 menu items, with only the Black Beans and Cilantro Lime Rice free of it. Artificial additives are widespread too, including potassium sorbate in 73 items, MSG in 65 and TBHQ in 41, though the guacamole is genuinely clean at just avocado, tomato, onion, salt and jalapeno.

Taco Bueno is one of the very few chains that actually publishes a per item ingredient list, and it does them no favours. Across the 125 menu items in their own ingredient PDF, soybean oil appears in 123. The only two without it are the Black Beans and the Cilantro Lime Rice. Palm oil is in 78 and beef fat in 54, and 35 items list an unspecified vegetable oil defined as one or more of soybean, corn or cottonseed. Their own disclaimer says soybean oil is used in some of their products, which undersells it badly. The additives are the same story: potassium sorbate in 73 items, MSG in 65, caramel color in 62, TBHQ in 41, BHT in 17, and Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 in 22 each. The BHT is all in the steak marinade and the dyes are all in the queso, so avoiding steak and queso avoids both. The one bright spot, and the only item I would call clean, is the guacamole: 100 percent hass avocados, tomatoes, onion, sea salt and jalapeno. Their document is undated and its filename says 2016.

Common questions

What is in Taco Bueno's food?

Tallow reviewers check Taco Bueno on four things: whether it cooks in seed oils, whether the menu carries artificial additives, whether food touches plastic on the way out, and how much of it arrives premade rather than made in the kitchen. The answers to each are scored below.

Does Taco Bueno use seed oils?

Yes. Taco Bueno scores 0/100 here — reviewers report heavy seed oil use.

Does Taco Bueno use artificial additives?

Yes. Taco Bueno scores 0/100 here — reviewers report a lot of artificial additives.

Is Taco Bueno healthy?

Not really — Taco Bueno scores 4/100, a poor score. Tallow rates what a kitchen cooks with, not how many calories are on the plate.

Does Taco Bueno serve premade or ultra-processed food?

Sometimes. Taco Bueno scores 50/100 here, so reports are mixed.

Taco Bueno locations

Showing 40 of 192

  • Springfield
  • 14653 Lake Ave, Dover
  • Plant City
  • 2909 E 10th St, Jeffersonville
  • 500 E Marshall Ave, Longview
  • 7940 N Central Expy, Dallas
  • 1217 N Kilgore St, Kilgore
  • 3314 4th St, Longview
  • 1821 North St, Nacogdoches
  • 2408 S 1st St, Lufkin
  • 1915 US Highway 190 W, Livingston
  • Livingston
  • 4900 Highway 73, Port Arthur
  • Lake Jackson
  • Houston
  • 4385 Frontage Rd, Brownsville
  • 800 Fabens St # A, Fabens
  • Lubbock
  • 6001 I-40 W., Amarillo
  • Plainview
  • 3216 Academy blvd, Colorado Springs
  • 28225 US 59/69, Rosenberg
  • Concourse B, Denver
  • 6429 McCart Ave, Fort Worth
  • 10700 South Fwy, Fort Worth
  • 2144 NW 82nd St, Lawton
  • 1042 NW 38th St, Lawton
  • 2121 S 4th St, Chickasha
  • 727 N Perkins Rd, Stillwater
  • 2325 E Oklahoma Ave, Guthrie
  • 7104 NW Expressway, Oklahoma City
  • 1601 Garth Brooks Blvd, Yukon
  • Tacobueno3219 1021Estatehighway152 Mustang Ok, Mustang
  • 1021 E State Highway 152, Mustang
  • 6001 W Reno Ave, Oklahoma City
  • 5920 NW 23rd St, Oklahoma City
  • 1400 W I 240 Service Rd, Oklahoma City
  • 1109 N Santa Fe Ave, Moore
  • 4416 SE 44th St, Oklahoma City
  • 3432 Cherokee Springs Rd, Tahlequah

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