Taco Bell Likely Closing at 14th and U St, NW Early Next Week!!!

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by Prince Of Petworth May 19, 2011 at 10:30 am 70 Comments

Photo by Flickr user marichica88

It gives me no pleasure (but there is a huge silver lining) to share the following very reliable tip – the Taco Bell at 1934 14th St, NW (just south of U St) will be closing early next week.

Sadly/Happily we all knew this day was coming. It is likely an indication of upcoming construction on this corner. The southwest corner of 14th and U St, NW is becoming the Utopia project featuring 220 residential rental units and over 20,000 square feet of retail. So that’s good news. The project’s architect is Eric Colbert & Associates.

But for now – allow me this time to mourn. Taco Bell, you’ve served me well. You may have even saved my life.

Lots more updates on the Utopia project when construction begins.

Profchris

Yeeeeaaah. Mixed emotions from me, too. However, they’ll likely move all the crap up to Columbia Heights…though a Taco Bell on Georgia Ave and Columbia or Irving is a hell of a lot better than a liquor store or Ethiopian bulletproof corner stop & rob…
Anonymous

Noooo!! This is a travesty! Where else can I get my crunchwrap supreme?? Are there any left besides the one on NY Ave?? Personally, I’d rather have Taco Bell than freaking Z burger up in Columbia Heights…They could have handed out churros at the little corner stand!
Sean

Nooooo!!!! Ugh, this was my last guilty pleasure. Many fond memories.
AA

There is a Taco Bell in Union Station (in the food court).
yourmomma

The Dominos is closing to and Chidogos is always empty. So they need to go to
- Kev29
  
  I imagine that Chidagos will be gone when the lease is up (later this year?).
  - pow
    
    The Food sucks they just opened up. When people lease a place its normally for 5 years.
- BF
  
  I actually love their Chicogo dog. Awesome. Anytime I am in that area around lunch time I stop in. I hope they don’t go under, it is hard to get a really good hot dog around here.
  - Nikki
    
    Agree, I would miss them. Nowhere else to get a italian beef sandwich soaked in gravy, and sometimes you just need one of those.
    - Sleepy
      
      There’s still the Billy Goat near Union Station
  - Tres
    
    Yeah, sometimes you just need your nitrites fix. S’good.
Kev29

So the Taco Bell is going but the KFC is staying? Kind of odd since they’re basically in the same building and probably run by the same franchisee.
- Anon
  
  As mentioned below, they are both Yum Brands franchises. Expect the KFC next door to become a KenTacoHut.
  - me
    
    Neither of you have obviously been there before. Otherwise, you’d know that the KFC isn’t next door, it is the same damn building. You order KFC or Taco Bell (or a mixture of the two) from the same counter and the kitchen is all in one. You eat in the same room. So when Taco Bell goes, KFC goes.
anon

I don’t eat much fast food, but occasionally I get a craving for Taco Bell’s.
- Kev29
  
  I’d much rather have Steak&Eggs Kitchen or Chipotles
  - anon
    
    What about Pot Bellies?
    - Kev29
      
      Delicious after a couple beers at Marvins
    - Another guy named Chris
      
      McDonalds is the best!
      
      …..oh wait
    - 2b3s
      
      I think you meant Pot Bellies’, no?
      - PG
        
        Much better than Quizno Sub’s
anon

Have I been under a rock?? I live on this block and had NO idea about this “Utopia Project” thing. Is this going to be gazillion $ per sq foot or what?? Anyone know any info?
- Eric in Ledroit
  
  try googling it…
- greent
  
  Yep, it’s gonna be huge, condo’s and retail sapce, with underground parking for 150. All entrances will be on 14th St. – including the garage access.
  
  Amazing how much U St/14th St has changed since 1995.
- Anonymous
  
  How can DC sustain this constant construction of condos and apartments? There is no way all these units will be filled. Looks like a glut may be on the way within the next few years.
  - Eric K
    
    Because people continue to move into the city and many of them want to live near U St. I’m not sure what is so hard to understand about that.
  - Tres
    
    Apartment vacancy is really low right now. Also, condos are -still- in short supply. DC needs more housing big time, if for no other reason than to stem the tide of rising rent/mortgage costs.
  - Logan
    
    Oh my goodness…you’re a little out of touch. DC rates numero uno in the housing market. Strongest economy, most sought after city for global investors, lowest apartment vacancy rates, strongest job growth, most sought after city to move to for college grads and hipsters, very low inventory of housing for sale, third highest costs for housing….In other words, new condos delivering in 2012 and beyond will be selling like hot cakes.
    - LisaT
      
      “most sought after city…hipsters”
      
      Nuh-uh! We’re only number 6!
      
      http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrismenning/the-most-hipster-state-in-the-us
      - Anonymous
        
        most sought after “CITY”, not state.
      - LisaT
        
        I’m sorry you missed the point.
niceguy

Mourn, not morn. As you were.
NE Groover

This is sad news. Where else can I get a 2 piece and taco!?
- LisaT
  
  That just sounds dirty. :p
  - Tres
    
    I think dirty is “top piece” as the kids say.
Anon

Cue up the gentrification argument about no place cheap to eat anymore!

I hope the McDonald’s goes away. I don’t mind McD’s and eat in one from time to time, but I can’t forgive that place for not having unsweetened iced tea — like every other McD’s I’ve been in.
- Anony
  
  McDonald’s isn’t going anywhere it’s “historic.”
  
  Ugh, shoot me in the face.
- inwdc
  
  Sadly, if you go to the link containing the architect rendering of the project it still shows those foul golden arches. I can only hope the rendering is just that, and McNastyMagnet will actually disappear.
  - me
    
    Or, if they keep that McDonald’s, that they at least make it so that it doesn’t smell like vomit at all times.
- Logan
  
  The building that McDonald’s is in will stay as part of the bigger project but I doubt that McD’s will be able to remain in there during construction.
Anonymous

at one point wasn’t there discussion of including a public library in this space? any idea what came of that?
Trenton Famous

Please, God, save the KFC.
- g
  
  POPEYES!
mouthwaterin melvin

common sense says the parent company, yums will probably combine it with the kfc like the one on riggs road.
Anonymous

Worst Taco Bell I’ve ever patronized. Adios.
Mario

I’m extremely happy to hear this news. Don’t get me wrong – I love Taco Bell but in all my years, I’ve never had a worse Taco Bell experience. The service is atrocious, there’s always homeless people loitering (which doesn’t allow me to get a table), the menu price is different from what they actually charge, and they even forgot to put meat in my burrito. You reap what you sow.

Go to Pica Taco up the street for your taco fix.
ralphing

I got food poisoning from an order of nachos bellgrande at taco bell in 2002. I still can’t bring myself to eat there.
Sully

I know where I am going after G40 tomorrow night. I am stocking up!
Idaho Ave

I wish there was a taco bell our in Tenleytown/Glover park/Georgetown/Cleveland park. It is truly a guilty pleasure I miss.
- D
  
  Two were closed in the past few years, so I guess you’re alone in that wish.
Shawn

People saying they are going to combine it with KFC obviously have never been there. That place already IS a combination Taco Bell/KFC.

I am very upset by this news. I will have to go there this weekend before it closes..
- NE Groover
  
  +1 It is a combo already (w/ limited menu).
andy

NOT THE KENTACOHUT! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Trueblue

So you’re saying that even if I manage to survive the Rapture I’ll have to live without Taco Bell??? Wow.
Mr T in DC

Just a curmudgeonly grammar note:

It’s Potbelly not Potbellies or Potbelly’s
Taco Bell not Taco Bells
Ruby Tuesday not Ruby Tuesdays
Ellwood Thompson not Ellwood Thompson’s or Ellwood’s
- PG
  
  I pity the fool who misues apostrophes.
- Anonymous
  
  i love potbelly’s.
  - Anonymous
    
    the one in silver springs is the best one.
    - PG
      
      No its not!
      - Anonymous
        
        the one in barry farms is better.
- Anon
  
  I think its Potbelly’s. As in, the restaurant is called Potbelly, but I’m going to Potbelly’s [restaurant]. Simply shortened to Potbelly’s. Makes sense to me.
  - djdc
    
    Here’s an interesting one. I believe the official names of a couple of department stores are: J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward. However, I have never ever heard anyone call it Penney or Ward. It’s always Penneys and Wards. Or is it Penney’s and Ward’s? I don’t know.
D

Urban fast food is such a bummer. Worse quality, worse service, and the stores are some of the dirtiest I’ve ever been in.

I’d rather reserve my fast food intake for when I stop along the highway in some no-name town where a Taco Bell is the best food I’m going to get.

See you later, KFCBell!
- Hipster Harry
  
  +1. Why is the same chain so much cleaner and more pleasant in the ‘burbs?
  - Anon
    
    Cause it’s high class eatin’ there.
    
    (Sorry ‘burbs. We do love you.)
Keepin’ it real

This is horrible news. The Rapture can’t come soon enough.
Bryan

It’s a trick news item: You can’t get your Taco Bell fix there anyway because the staff there hides in the back anyway
Neal – Som Records

I used to love KFC but that particular branch has ruined it for me forever. I don’t eat at any KFC’s any more (and I love fried chicken). That place is nasty. Good riddance.
I love ChiDogOs btw in spite of their slowness (at times).
Big Sherm

save kfc!!! its my every 6 months treat that brings me 1 year closer to death but oh so damn good. even that subpar one is better than none at all
KJ

Viva gorditas! But honestly that place needs to be shut down. The service was BAD.

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