Is Del Taco Really the No. 1 Fast-Food Restaurant?

Del Taco achieved the top spot in USA Today’s 2024 Readers’ Choice 10 Best Fast-Food Restaurant rankings, which makes it the most favored fast-food restaurant by the publication’s readers for delivering quality and satisfying meals. This has come as a surprise because the fast-food restaurant chain that usually wins this type of poll is Chick-fil-A.

Although Chick-fil-A has devoted fans, one of the reasons why Chick-fil-A may have lost some favor could be due to the chain announcing a shift in its chicken sourcing strategy, moving from antibiotic-free chicken to a new standard called No Antibiotics Important To Human Medicine (NAIHM) starting this spring. This change addresses supply concerns by allowing antibiotics only when necessary for animal health, diverging from its previous No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) practice. Initially adopting antibiotic-free chicken in 2014 and fully implementing it by 2019, Chick-fil-A decided to adjust this year due to challenges in maintaining a consistent high-quality supply.

According to the New York Post, “After nearly a decade on top, Chick-fil-A — which announced in March it would be shifting away from antibiotic-free chicken starting this spring due to supply chain issues — has dropped to No. 3, according to USA Today’s annual reader-ranked survey.”

Furthermore, Del Taco has launched a new special value menu, dubbed “Del’s Real Deal Menu,” which currently contains 15 items priced at $2 or less. This value menu emphasizes affordability, but beyond that, Del Taco is also highlighting how the menu and its items contain “real ingredients.” The variety of available items includes tacos, burritos, nachos, and freshly made chips with homemade guacamole. Some of the specific menu items include:

• Bean & Cheese Burrito (Red or Green Sauce)
• Chicken Cheddar Rollers (Original, Ranch, or Chipotle)
• Crispy Chicken Tacos (Ranch, Chipotle, or Habanero)
• Chicken Taco Del Carbon
• Snack Taco (Crunchy or Soft)
• Snack-Sized Chips & Fresh House-made Guac
• 3-Layer Queso Nachos
• Crunchtada Tostada
• Snack Queso Quesadilla

This menu is chock-full of items that seem to cover anything that a customer would want when it comes to Mexican fast food, and it appears competitive compared to other fast-food restaurants and their value menus — for those that even offer one.

In response to USA Today’s post, users on Reddit voiced varied opinions on the matter. While some expressed their enjoyment of Del Taco’s food to varying degrees, others claimed to never have been to one, noting that not many Del Taco locations exist compared with other chains on the list. Some users believed that the list was simply a joke or that not many people voted in the poll, and others simply stated that there were better fast-food restaurants out there.

Meanwhile, other sites have published their own lists with different rankings. The New York Post named Culver’s as the top fast-food restaurant in April, though it was based on one food writer’s “year of extensive travel” rather than a poll. In comparison, USA Today’s editors choose a final group of nominees each year for the Readers’ Choice Awards, and then its readers vote to come up with the list of winners. Meanwhile, Time Out named In-N-Out as No. 1 on the site’s personal list of favorites in January.

Financially, it’s hard to compete with the brand that currently has the most dominance in the market. According to Statista, McDonald’s, the world’s most valuable fast-food brand in 2023 with an estimated value of $191 billion, expanded its global presence by adding 1,547 new restaurants worldwide last year. France led in Europe, China in Asia-Pacific, and Brazil in Latin America and the Caribbean. The United States maintained the highest number of McDonald’s chains globally, with over 13,000 locations.