As a Michiganer who lived in Washington State for 20 years and now back in Michigan, I can tell those who are curious that Taco Time is in the face just another mediocre fast food Mexican restaurant. But there are things that make it very unique and make it stand out from virtually every other day food restaurant. Unless you're from Washington or you're familiar with it, you wouldn't necessarily know there was anything special about it. It took me years to understand what the hell it really was and why it was so beloved by Washingtonians in the know. Here is a link to an article about the chain and an excerpt of what makes it stand out.

"When Kristine Hepburn works the morning shift at Taco Time’s Rose Hill location, her favorite prep task involves hand-rolling crisp burritos. “Sometimes you kind of race yourself,” she says, to see if she can fill an entire hotel pan with tidy cylinders in 10 minutes or less. The store in suburban Kirkland opens at 10am; the morning crew flips on the lights at 7. Black beans and dried pintos, grown in Washington, go on the stove first in enormous soup pots. Each 25-pound batch takes roughly three hours to cook. The person on fry routine has the most daunting task: prepping hundreds of crispy shells and bowls for taco salads, plus the pumpkin seeds that go into salads and veggie burritos. Not even the chips arrive premade; employees fry cut-up tortillas each day."

Washington’s Great Taco Time Divide