Taco Bell V.S El Charro Mexicano

Taco Bell Menu. Personal Phograph

It always happens when a restaurant is at the prime of its career, when they are beginning they only have the homemade style of their plates with the homemade recipe. This is how many restaurant or mini food franchises begin. The more hidden are they, the more delicious they are. Similarly, I have noticed now small franchises with good income and very good feedback start decaying as they start increasing their food network. In other words, as their product starts to be more commercialize, because they increase their locals, they start losing that homemade and personal touch from the original cuisine. Taco Bell is an enormous fast-food franchise of Mexican food which have a big worldwide recognition. On the other hand, El Charro Mexicano is a local Mexican restaurant here in Panama that focus on serving homemade Mexicans plates. Although Taco Bell and El Charro belong to the same type of cuisine, they distinguish themselves in other factors of criteria as quality and variety.

First, let me start taking apart on the section of quality for these Mexican restaurants. I have never forbidden me to eat in fast food restaurants, but I have noticed the difference between a fast food plate and a homemade plate. For instance, Taco Bell sells Mexican plates mix the American style. This is a common thing for any big food chain over there. Pizza, hamburgers, tacos, they have changed they original style for an American style. What is the difference? Well in the case of Taco Bell, the Mexican food they portray is not any closer to an original Mexican plate, but still they buy it. In the first place, the burritos that they sell are covered with guacamole, rice, and lot of cheese. This way for making burritos is made this way to get more profit from the product is not because that the style of Mexicans. Also, they add guacamole and sour cream to every plate which is way too different from a Mexican plate; but this all thanks to the commercialization and the strategies to get more costumers. According to the online article Taco Bell Wants to Make 'Mexican' the Next Global Fast Food, Venessa Wong states that 95% of Tacol Bell’s restaurants are in the US, and they have franchise on 26 countries outside US.

In the contrary, the Mexican food that you can eat at El Charro has a different story than Taco Bell. El Charro is focused on traditional homemade Mexican plates, that eliminates the traditional view that people has for Mexican plates. On the other hand, they only have two subsidiaries in Panama City, and they keep the same taste and I even see the same personal on both restaurants. In contrast, El Charro doesn’t have burritos with cheese, rice, guacamole or sour cream, because those ingredients are not traditional. A traditional burrito or taco do not go with cheese, I do not know what Americans have for putting cheese to everything. Moreover, in El Charro, the service is completely different from any Taco Bell, because they style is built as you were visiting a house. Yes, this a common thing about traditional Mexican restaurants, they want you to feel as you were eating at someone’s house. In addition, in el Charro you can find fajitas, nachos, mole poblano, steak, chicken, and many appetizers besides only taco, burrito and quesadilla.  

Nachos: El Charro Mexicano. Photograph by Eduardo Cajar

Finally, let me conclude that I am not saying that you should stop eating Taco Bell, and go El Charro; I am just sharing my opinion on how I see the misconception for traditional food against fast-food. You maybe will think that Mexican food is how Taco Bell portrays it on their advertisement, and because EL Charro is not well known it should be considered. This where the market takes a point by changing everyone perspective on food. In my case, I always choose to have a traditional Mexican plate besides a Burrito supreme With Supreme French fries and a supreme Pepsi soda.