El Balicon Latino Buffet, Winter Park

I had lunch at this Latin (Puerto Rican) buffet on 436 on Wednesday. It's where an Asian buffet used to be. It's near a Hertz car dealership. The buffet cost $10. They have been open for a month. They had: one station of rices, one station of meat - mostly roasted chicken and some beef (maybe ribs), one station of raw vegetables/salad, one station of desserts, one station of fried junk/sides and one station of soups/menudos and other things. I didn't think there would be enough variety to support a buffet, but, the more I think of it the more it makes sense. Although not healthy, it's not much worse for you than Chinese food. They appeal to the same type of customer (I did see more white working men with what I guess is their staff). The Latin market segment is growing. It's cheap to make. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that years in the future Latin buffets will be what brings the communities together. I'm not joking. I'm not sure that they will get the credit, but, they will replace Asian buffets and soften up America's under belly by infusing Latin culture right into the arteries of modern America. You know a way to a man's (woman's) heart? The food quality was ok. The roasted chicken was really the only thing done well (here and generally). I had some bad meatballs and some dinosaur shaped chicken fingers. I had a fish stick that I thought was a mozzarella stick. I had a maduro, a fried yucca stick, a fried calm and some dry pound cake. If I had anything else it was that forgettable. Like most Latin food, the desserts were terrible, the vegetables were an after thought and the beef was a low quality cut and overcooked. I would stick to the things they can't ruin or you can't tell if they are ruined like the yucca, maduro, menudo and the chicken is always good. The inside is the same except that they have some rustic murals now. They moved the two big billboard frames to the front in what appears to be a stage. It's not as bad as I was expecting and I wouldn't mind if all Asian buffets changed into Latin buffets. It's basically oily rice and chicken either way.