Kotas Reviews Taco Bell's AM Crunchwrap

Good news everyone! Taco Bell has introduced a breakfast menu! At least, Taco Bell assures me this is a good thing, and in no way a culinary abomination sent to punish our digestive systems for the current healthy eating trend. I'm sure it will be fine! I freakin' LOVE breakfast food, and the more ridiculous the concept the more I want to give it a whirl. There is nothing wrong with this plan, and only good things can come of it.

Since I am trying not to completely ruin myself, I narrowed my choices to sample what is probably the second oddest offering available: The AM Crunchwrap. For the uninitiated, the Crunchwrap is a flat hard taco shell, topped with various standard Taco Bell toppings (ground beef like product, something resembling chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, etc) all wrapped in a flour tortilla and grilled shut. It's not bad as far as Taco Bell goes, but can they pull off a breakfast-y version? Let's find out!

This looks...like food. Dig that malformed hexagonal shape!

This one looks like it was assembled with less care.

Well, it certainly smells like breakfast, anyway. From the outside, it is going to resemble any old boring Crunchwrap, but we know its terrible secret. BEHOLD!

The be-steaked HORROR!

The sausage edition is only slightly less horrifying to view.

I went for the steak edition, while my long suffering wife decided the sausage version was more her style. I sampled both...uh...for Science! I do suffer for my work. The steak version was probably the blandest breakfast food I've ever had in my life. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it lacked anything resembling unique and interesting taste, with one exception. The hashbrown steamed a bit inside and was less crunchy than I would have liked. The eggs were standard fast food eggs, and the steak was an almost flavorless chewing exercise. The one bright spot was some sort of Southwestern-esque sauce that had some spice (and salt) in it. Really perked up everything around it, but it was only in a small part of the thing. I tried putting some sort of salsa condiment on it, and while that did add flavor, it was only the flavor of salsa. The salsa itself wasn't bad, but I could have skipped the Crunchwrap and gotten a similar experience.

The one bite of the sausage version was infinitely better, as the sausage was nicely spiced and added some much needed salt to the egg and hashbrown. The sauce on it added a bit of kick and was actually good, as far as fast food breakfasts go. Both items were pretty filling, given it's potatoes, eggs, and meat (or "meat" if you will). I sincerely regret not getting the Waffle Taco instead of this, and hope to someday sample that creation. 

Overall, I'd give the Steak AM Crunchwrap 2 frowny faces on the FACE Rating System. The best thing I can say about it is that it did not taste bad, but only because it didn't really taste like anything and was a crushing disappointment. The Sausage Edition was much, MUCH better, earning a single smiley face, if only because it counteracted the terror of the Steak version. If you are the rare person who loves breakfast AND Taco Bell, give this a whirl...but stick to the Sausage Edition. Or the bacon one. I mean, it's bacon! How bad could it be, right?