Taco Bell brought back discontinued items from the last 60 years. We ranked them from worst to best.

Taco Bell has a new Decades menu, celebrating fan-favorite items from the past. 

Taco Bell is the latest fast-food brand to bank on nostalgia, with a new limited-time menu featuring five fan-favorite items from the past.

When the first Taco Bell restaurant opened in Downey, California, in 1962, it offered just five menu items: frijoles, tostadas, burritos, tacos, and a chili burger. The menu has undergone multiple changes since, often removing and re-releasing fan-favorites like Mexican Pizza.

Now, Taco Bell is hoping to evoke a sense of nostalgia in customers with its new “Decades” menu that features five of its previously discontinued items.

The menu, which was released on Thursday, includes the Tostada from the original 1960s menu, the Green Sauce Burrito from the ’70s, the Meximelt from the ’80s, the ’90s-era Gordita Supreme, and the Caramel Apple Empanada of the 2000s.

This isn’t the first time a fast-food chain has leaned into nostalgia in a bid to win over customers.

Wendy’s recently launched a collaboration with Paramount, which owns Nickelodeon, and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary with a limited-edition burger inspired by the Krabby Patty and a pineapple-flavored milkshake.

It came on the heels of McDonald’s launching limited-edition cups inspired by iconic Happy Meal toys and its viral Grimace-themed shake, which paid homage to the character that was first introduced in the 1970s.

Additionally, in 2021, Burger King rebranded for the first time in 20 years, returning to a design reminiscent of its ’70s and ’80s branding.

Nostalgia can pay off. In July 2023, McDonald’s reported the Grimace shake helped boost sales by more than 10% during the quarter the campaign launched, while Fast Company reported that in the days after Burger King’s rebrand, customer visits increased by 39%.

We tried four items on Taco Bell’s new Decades menu (the Caramel Apple Empanada will be released on November 21) and ranked them from our least favorite to our favorite.

4 Tostada

Taco Bell’s tostada features refried beans, lettuce, and shredded cheese on a corn tostada shell.

Original release: The tostada, with its refried beans, tangy red sauce, lettuce, and shredded cheese layered over a crunchy corn tostada shell, was part of Taco Bell’s original 1962 menu, but it was discontinued in 2020.

Price: $2.19

Note: All prices listed here may vary in different markets.

The soft refried beans and tangy sauce perfectly complemented the crispy corn shell.

The crispy tostada was part of Taco Bell’s launch menu in 1962.

Anneta: The corn shell was satisfyingly crispy and had great crunch, and the refried beans on top were well-distributed across the tostada. They also packed a punch of delicious flavor thanks to the red sauce.

But I found the lettuce to be limp and distracting, especially since it covered the rest of the ingredients. Customizing the tostada with some pico de gallo would definitely help, but otherwise I’d probably skip this.

Priyanka: I usually prefer crispy-shell tacos over soft ones, so I enjoyed biting into this crunchy tostada. It felt like I was eating one giant, perfectly layered nacho, minus the melted cheese and sour cream. And while initially this looked more like a side dish than a main dish because of its size, I realized after a couple of bites how filling it was.

However, I thought the tostada was a bit bland and would’ve benefited from another layer of hot sauce or some pico de gallo.

3 Gordita Supreme

Taco Bell’s Gordita Supreme was originally released in the ’90s. 

Original release: The Gordita Supreme, which appeared on Taco Bell’s menu in the ’90s, features a flatbread shell filled with seasoned beef, sour cream, lettuce, diced tomatoes, and a three-cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar, and Monterey Jack.

Price: $2.99

The fluffy flatbread was the star of the Gordita Supreme.

The Gordita Supreme features beef, lettuce, tomato, and a three-cheese blend in a flatbread.

Anneta: The flatbread was the best part of my Gordita Supreme. It was warm, soft, and delightfully pillowy. But with no additional sauce and just your standard rotation of veggies — lettuce and tomato — there just wasn’t much flavor to it. I doused my Gordita Supreme with some avocado verde salsa and it helped a little. But I think what this really needs is some pico de gallo and purple cabbage, two new ingredients for Taco Bell that really helped elevate its fantastic Cantina Chicken Menu.

Priyanka: Since I don’t eat red meat, I swapped the beef for chicken, which I thought complemented the other ingredients well.

The light layer of sour cream gave the folded wrap a nice pop of freshness alongside the lettuce and diced tomatoes, and the chicken was well-seasoned. The one thing that would make this dish better was if the flatbread was lightly grilled or toasted.

2 The green sauce burrito

Taco Bell’s green sauce burrito.

Original release: The green sauce burrito, which debuted in 1970, was among the chain’s most loved and replicated items until it was discontinued. The burrito contains refried beans, onions, cheddar cheese, and a spicy green sauce made from green chili, tomatillos, jalapeños, and spices.

Price: $2.49

The simplicity of the ingredients used in this burrito allowed the green sauce’s flavors to shine.

Taco Bell’s green sauce burrito is made with refried beans, cheese, and the delicious green sauce. 

Anneta: I don’t usually go for a bean burrito at Taco Bell (I’m all about the Grilled Cheese Burrito and, more recently, the Cantina Chicken Burrito), but the Green Burrito really took me by surprise. The green sauce brings so much flavor and really elevates the entire burrito, adding subtle heat and pairing perfectly with the delicious refried beans.

My only wish is that my burrito had more crunchy onions for a little extra texture. But I couldn’t resist finishing the entire dish, even though it was the last item I tried on the Decades menu.

Priyanka: It took a few bites before I reached the oozing refried beans and crunchy onions, but once I did, the burrito was flavorful. Even though it was made using simple ingredients, it came together well, and I liked that it didn’t contain rice.

To elevate it slightly, I’d add some pico de gallo and request that my tortilla be extra toasty next time, but it was a solid dish.

1 Meximelt

Taco Bell’s Meximelt.

Original release: The Meximelt was on Taco Bell’s menu for 30 years before it was discontinued in 2019. The dish, which first appeared in the ’80s, features a tortilla full of seasoned beef, pico de gallo, and a three-cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar, and Monterey Jack.

Price: $2.99

The Meximelt was our clear favorite from the Decades menu.

The Taco Bell Decades menu is available for a limited time nationwide. 

Anneta: The ingredient list in the Meximelt is simple and short, but each one is performing at its peak. The pico de gallo added a burst of freshness to every bite, and the three-cheese blend was perfectly melted, wrapping up the beef in a deliciously cheesy hug.

I usually douse my Taco Bell order in hot sauce, but there was so much juice and flavor in the beef of the Meximelt that I completely forgot to add it. Even my boyfriend, who isn’t a huge Taco Bell fan, was impressed. I may be a ’90s kid, but the Meximelt was my clear favorite from the Decades menu.

Priyanka: Similar to the Gordita Supreme, I swapped the beef in the Meximelt for a layer of chicken, and I’m glad I did!

At first glance, I thought it looked a lot like the Gordita Supreme and would probably taste the same. But with the first bite, I was proven wrong. The tortilla was a bit thinner than the Gordita’s flatbread, which I preferred since it allowed the flavors of the other ingredients to shine through.

When B-17 contacted Taco Bell about the menu and our thoughts on it, the brand said it “is proud to have been able to provide fans with new and authentic innovations for decades.”

It added, “As our fans continue to call for the legendary mouth-watering favorites that they miss, or that they have only heard about and never got the chance to experience, the Decades Menu is reintroducing the classics from the first five decades to connect generations of Taco Bell fans with nostalgic flavors that have withstood the test of time.”