8-foot alligator gets in drive-thru line at Texas taco shop. ‘I’ll pay for his order’

A taco shop in East Texas was forced to close its drive-thru Wednesday morning after an alligator showed up waiting in line — and then fell asleep.

It happened at Jucy’s Taco in Henderson, about 170 miles southeast of Fort Worth, and the restaurant kept its sense of humor about the ordeal.

“The drive thru at Jucy’s Taco in Henderson is temporarily closed, as a customer decided to take a nap in the line,” the restaurant wrote on Facebook. “It turns out gators like Jucy’s Taco, too!”

The Henderson Police Department shared photos of the alligator’s “bring it on” expression and reported it was eight feet long. It was taken to nearby Willow Creek Lake and released at an “undisclosed location by Texas Game Warden.” The lake is about 500 feet from the restaurant, reported station KCEN.

The department’s Facebook post has gotten about 2,000 combined reactions, comments and shares, including a lot of jokes about slow drive-thru service and alligator tacos showing up as a daily special.

“Omg I’ll pay for his order. Give him what he wants,” Pat Hutto wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

“Drive through to(o) slow,” Pamela Shipwash joked.

“Well, I hope they gave him some tacos before they set him free,” Raymond Aten posted.

The local newspaper, the Henderson News, reported people in the area “have argued that there are no alligators in Willow Lake.”

“This guy proved you wrong today,” the outlet reported. “So many people have to eat their words today.”

Police weighed in on the discussion with a warning: “Anytime there is a large area of water, odds are an alligator is in there.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 6:40 AM with the headline "8-foot alligator gets in drive-thru line at Texas taco shop. ‘I’ll pay for his order’."