Restaurant Review: Uno Mas

I have the worst luck with Mexican restaurants. My visits to Cantina Laredo and Taco Lu both left me dissatisfied. Unfortunately my first visit to Uno Mas ended the same way.

Uno Mas is located just off North Highway 17 at 880 Allbritton Boulevard. The interior is quirky, in a good way. That’s one of my favorite things about Mexican restaurants the décor always puts you in the mood for a good time and Uno Mas is no exception.

One glance at Uno Mas’ lunch menu and I was excited. That’s another thing I love about Mexican restaurants; how can you go wrong with fresh flavors like lime and cilantro paired with deliciously spicy proteins? So often Mexican cuisine is undervalued and underestimated for it’s complexities. In addition, Uno Mas belongs to the same family of restaurants as Boulevard Diner, the Village Bakery and Mustard Seed, a flavor-packed favorite restaurant of mine. I couldn’t wait to try Sal’s spin on South of the Border dishes.

How do two soft tacos filled with Mahi Mahi, jicama slaw, cumin cilantro mayo and mango salsa sound to you? It sounded good to me, too—that’s why I ordered it. Served with jicama and roasted corn slaw this lunch entrée sounded filling and fresh without putting me in the mood for a nap back at work.

The Mahi Mahi tasted fishy.  There was barely any mango salsa. The jicama and roasted corn slaw were delicious and fresh, but slaw shouldn’t be the best part of your meal. I devoured the slaw and ate one taco, but left one on my plate.

Our waiter possessed a shy eagerness to please—it was after all his first day on the job. He was very attentive and very, very sweet. He kept our diet cokes filled and prepared us to-go cups, which earned him bonus points on top of a perfect service score.

Even though I left dissatisfied with my meal, I’ll still be giving Uno Mas a second try. Every restaurant has an “off” day and I did hit the restaurant at the tail end of the lunch shift. The menu still has items I want to try (Grilled Shrimp Quesadilla, Sopa de Lima, Pork Enchilada).

Have you been to Uno Mas? What was your experience like? What should I order next time?

TacoLu

TacoLu is a small, fun and local Mexican restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, Fla specializing in a fresh twist on Mexican traditions.

TacoLu as a concept, is great. TacoLu as a restaurant is a let down. Other blogs and critics who have reviewed this taqueria with poor parking have given it generous applause. Frankly they have been far too generous. After having eaten there half a dozen times I remain unimpressed. 

The decor of TacoLu is fun and funky. Mismatched Mexican tiles, colorful lights and a great concrete bar create a groovy vibe and atmosphere that make you want to drink tequila and have a good time.


Too bad the food is such a let down. I have tried new things and given previous menu items a second chance to no avail. Tacos, burritos and appetizers have all left me unimpressed:


- Bangin' Shrimp Taco: such a great concept (have I said this before?) hidden beneath and made soggy by an overuse of crema. Tried this at least four times.
- Brisket Taco: braised in Mexican beer the beef in this taco is tender. However the first time the beef was salty enough to give someone heart problems and the second it tasted like week old pot roast.
- Duck Taco: a special taco (not always on the menu) that tasted nothing like duck and everything like the asian-inspired sauce they drowned it in.
- $10 Taco: no complaints here
- Queso: Good flavor but yet again so salty!
- Baja Fish Taco: What's the point of frying fish when you drown it in crema and you cannot taste the fish itself?
- Scallop Taco: Overcooking scallops is a sin.
- Suizas: Unfortunately lacking in flavor. I think stacking the burritos is a mistake here, but even though I prefer mine rolled if it were good it wouldn't matter.


In conclusion TacoLu is a great place for margaritas and fun, I just don't find it as alluring as everyone else.

Cantina Laredo

Cantina Laredo at the St. Johns Town Center is situated near some stiff competition in terms of restaurants: Capital Grill, Mitchell's Fish Market and J. Alexander's are all within a stone's throw of the Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately any and all of Cantina Laredo's competitors would have been a better choice this evening.


Previous visits to Cantina Laredo have been satisfactory, however this outing has prompted Cantina Laredo and I to split up. He, obviously, cannot give me what I want and I am sick of waiting for the relationship to improve. 


A friend of mine chose Cantina Laredo because she is obsessed with Mexican food. Cantina Laredo also has great pomegranate margaritas. Perhaps we should have ordered a few and the 45 minute wait for an incorrect food order would not have seemed so bad. Unfortunately the most exciting beverage on the table was water.


I ordered the Honey Shrimp salad. I've had it before, enjoyed it, and was not in the mood for the ubiquitous refried beans and queso of a Mexican joint. My friend ordered the Cilantro Chicken Salad. Both of us requested our dressing be on the side. 45 minutes later our salads show up. We've eaten our full of tortilla chips at this point. Nonetheless we dig in. I bite into a tough, lukewarm, overly grilled shrimp. My friend doesn't even bother to take a bite. The server has brought her the cranberry pecan salad. We send our orders back. He tells me the order took so long in the first place because shrimp take awhile to cook. (Note: shrimp take moments to prepare and are usually overcooked for this reason.) Our food returns. I immediately am annoyed when I see my plate. My first salad had five shrimp. My second one, though the shrimp are appropriately prepared, only has four shrimp. My friend's salad has dressing all over it. A manager walks over. We explain her order still isn't right. We ask that both of our meals be put in to go boxes, we're no longer hungry. The manager says the meal is complimentary and he apologizes. 


While the manager handled the situation correctly, I was still pretty annoyed. Sending food back once is bad enough. Sending two salads back, one of them three times, is embarrassing. I walked out with a free meal, but frustrated. Needless to say I will not be returning soon. Next time I am picking the restaurant.