We compared San Antonio-based Taco Cabana and Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizzas. Who did it best?

Late last year, San Antonio-based Taco Cabana added a double-decker snack to its menu that bore an uncanny resemblance to the much ballyhooed Mexican Pizza from rival fast-food chain Taco Bell.

Both menu items feature seasoned ground beef and refried beans sandwiched between two fried tortillas, then topped with cheese. TC’s — called the Double Crunch Pizza —adds chipotle ranch dressing, pico de gallo and a drizzle of sour cream. Taco Bell’s sticks with a no-nonsense crown of pizza sauce, cheese, tomatoes and more sauce.

Which is better? We tried them both, side by side — so you don’t have to.

Taco Bell’s OG Mexican Pizza has garnered a cult-like following since its introduction to the masses in 1985. Why? We couldn’t tell you. The specimen we were served today was soggy, loaded with processed tomato flavor and full of mushy, bland bean-type filling. The flaccid state of the fried tortillas was particularly upsetting, especially since Taco Bell was the second stop on today’s drive-thru journey, and should have, in theory, been more crisp.

Taco Cabana’s Double Crunch Pizza was crunchier, but the promise of savory chipotle ranch dressing was an unfulfilled one. It very well could have been in there somewhere, but the snack’s onion-loaded pico de gallo topping overpowered any other flavors contained inside the two crispy tortillas. The filling did seem to have a more equal ratio of ground beef to beans, so at least there’s that.

All in all, we likely won’t spend our hard-earned dollars on the Tex-Mex abomination from either chain again. For those who live by a code of morbid curiosity, however, we have to say Taco Cabana’s Double Crunch Pizza delivered more on crunch and complexity of flavors — we’re using that latter phrase loosely, here — than Taco Bell’s OG Mexican Pizza.

So, at the risk of using another term loosely, we’d say Taco Cabana is the “winner” in a side-by-side comparison of the layered snacks.

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This article appears in Dec 28, 2022 – Jan 10, 2023.