. "0"^^ . . "2015-08-12T00:00:00"^^ . "Exactly what Yelp says 3 stars is: \"A-OK\"\n\nCame for lunch and our waitress asked if we'd ever been there before. Saying no, she described the food as \"Mexican and stuff.\" This wasn't Mexican - much closer to Cuban, given the plantains, black beans, and Havana sandwich on the menu and the Buena Vista Social Club on the radio. Especially, with the extensive rum menu and flights (not tequila!), the description should be the same as the parent company, Paladar, as a \"Latin Kitchen.\" A more knowledgeable description from the waitress would have been more respectful instead of distilling down any place with tacos as \"Mexican.\"\n\nWe started with a salsa - the mint tamatillo. Very unique and I enjoyed that it came with diverse plantain, yucca, corn tortilla etc. chips. It was a reasonable price of $3.5. I saw a few people order the guac; while the mix-ins seemed interesting, the price of ~$7 for the portion size I saw didn't seem that worth it.\n\nMy friend and I both ordered their well-priced lunch deal: $10 for 3 tacos. Their taco menu is extensive and diverse. I ordered the lamb barbacoa, duck, and crispy shrimp. I wish the execution of the tacos was a little better. All three tacos had the salsas/creamy sauces on the bottom of the taco, making the tortillas very soggy. This also caused the salsa to drip from the taco I was eating onto the other tacos, disrupting the different flavor profiles. An easy fix would be to put the salsas on top. The barbacoa and duck tacos were okay - not as moist as I would expect for two types of cuts of meat that run on the fattier side. The crispy shrimp was delicious though and I would highly recommend if they could just put the salsa on top. \n\nAlso worth noting is that all three tacos were generously portioned with what tasted to me in-house pickled jalapenos, just in case you aren't a jalapeno person! There was also pickled jicama that was delicious. Finally, the corn-flour \"fusion\" tortillas were nothing to write home about, but if I came again I may order the corn tortillas to see if they are more sturdy. \n\nAs a side, I ordered plantains: yum!\n\nService was okay, our server was clearly at her first job and it showed. Aside from her opening introduction that rubbed me the wrong way, it was nothing to write home about.\n\nI'd recommend this place when deals are going on: happy hour, lunch. But seeing the slightly-off execution, I think I'd wait until I see the food improve before I put down money for a full-price dinner."^^ . . "3"^^ . "0"^^ . "2"^^ .