F&D Cantina, Lake Mary

I had lunch at this new (one month) Mexican offshoot from F&D today. It is in the old World of Beer spot in that strip mall on 46A that has the Amstar movie theater. It was the mirror experience of my last post. It started out with reserved enthusiasm and eroded from there. The food was just poorly prepared. I could excuse the fact that it is just another modern Mexican addition to a thoroughly played out genre. But, there is no way I can support this level of carelessness. It's as if they don't have a quality control person at the pass. Half the items I sampled were in need of salt (or other listed components) and half were in need of restraint. I started with the trio of dips (so I could report on a host of things for you) at $10. Now considering that a whole order of guac is $12 and queso is $8 and salsa is $3 (not free), the $10 seemed reasonable. The guac was supposed to have serrano chiles. It didn't. That left no foil for the lime. It could have also used salt. Fresh but bland. The queso was "stadium" style and had way too much salt. Couple that with salty tortillas and it was offensive. The salsa was spicy and good. A bit of garlic. However, it was a bit foamy and watery. Like when I make it in a blender. I wonder if they are as bad at salsa prep as I am or if they didn't churn it enough before they scooped the less dense area of the cauldron. The chips were fresh. I had a main course of Floridian Fish (grouper) Tacos for $14. The fish tasted and smelled fishy. The moron in the kitchen also doused them in salt. Some dull cabbage slaw completed the dish. They came in raw flour tortillas even though the menu said corn. The drunken golden raisins (the main draw) were nowhere to be found. The aoili tasted like McDonald's buffalo sauce. I ate one and asked for the rest to go because I didn't want to cause a scene when I didn't eat the rest. The tacos came with black beans. They were undercooked/hard. Plus that is a bad pairing with fish especially when you add beef to the beans. You also get hosed if you come on a weekend. Their lunch pricing (around $3 less) doesn't apply. The rest of the menu is ordinary. Tacos, burritos, chimis, fajitas, enchiladas, quesadillas are all they aspire to. They have a few trendy (actually not at this point) like street corn and ceviche, but, they aren't breaking any new ground or bringing authenticity to the table. Oddly, they remind me of the Mexican place that F&D replaced. And they failed. The place looks great. Yet, not ground breaking there either. They have murals and paintings from that artist that does the hot chicks in "day of the dead" make up and those metal star light fixtures. I'm seeing that everywhere. They opened the kitchen. They have a big selection of tequila. Service was good. It seats about eighty. I'll try it once more. But, if they haven't worked out the kinks, I won't try again. There's no need to. These places are a dime a dozen. And God help them if they bring back the live music that made WOB insufferable. They get a F'ing D for this performance.