• taco bell is reviving five menu items from decades past for a limited time.
• The nostalgic menu includes dishes such as Tostada, Meximelt and Gordita Suprema.
• We tried the new Décadas menu and the Meximelt was our clear favorite.

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 he The first Taco Bell restaurant opens. In Downey, California, in 1962, it offered only five dishes on the menu: beans, tostadas, burritos, tacos and a chili burger. The menu has undergone multiple changes since then, often removing and relaunching fan favorites such as Mexican pizza.

Now, Taco Bell hopes to evoke a sense of nostalgia in customers with its new “Decades” menu that includes five of its past menus. discontinued items.

The menu, which launched Thursday, includes the Tostada from the original 1960s menu, the 1970s Salsa Verde Burrito, the 1980s Meximelt, the 1990s Gordita Supreme, and the Apple Empanada and Candy from the 2000s. .

This isn’t the first time a fast food chain has turned to 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 smoothie.

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

Additionally, in 2021, Burger King renamed for the first time in 20 yearsreturning to a design reminiscent of its brand from the 70s and 80s.

Nostalgia can pay off. In July 2023, McDonald’s reported that the Grimace shake helped boost sales by more than 10% during the quarter in which the campaign was launched, while fast company reported that in the days following Burger King’s rebranding, customer visits increased by 39%.

We tried four dishes from Taco Bell’s new Decades menu (the Caramel Apple Pie launches Nov. 21) and ranked them from least favorite to favorite.