Do protein shakes taste bad? Like, compare them to another taste...and maybe reccomend some flavors...?

Yeah, I think most of the do taste bad - I definitely wouldn't buy a big tub of it unless you have tried them before. It depends what kind of protien and who makes it. One kind I have tried that tastes pretty good is Muscle Milk - especially Strawberry Bananna flavor.

You can go to a website like bodybuilding.com and they have forums where people talk about different products and you can get reviews and stuff.

The problem I've always had with mass gain and protein shakes is that I have a milk allergy, so whatever I take has to be mixed with water.

Since a lot of mixes now a days have micronized formulas, they dissolve and mix well with water. I always look for that first.

What I am taking right now is HDT's Pro Blend 55 as my protein supplement. Their chocolate flavor is pretty smooth. I can drink it like a regular drink, and not "this stuff takes terrible, I just have to force myself to drink it a bit at a time".

They can taste good. They are best made w/ strongly-flavored things like chocoalte, coffee, or lots of fruit. To me, it's the texture more than the flavor (taste), so disguise it w/ lots of other stuff.

A good tasteing one is Myoplex chocolate flavor. You can it at almost any vitamin store.