Greg and I went down to Su Casa Mexican Restaurant in Camden last week before I drove to Portland. We were energized that there was a new Mexican place around to counter one in Northport that we don't like too much. Su Casa bills itself on its blog as an authentic Mexican restaurant. I like to refer to it as authentically mediocre. We were seated upstairs when we got there and I was pretty amazed that on a Friday night at 6:30, there were only 5 tables full..after dinner I think I knew why. The food was simply alright. the decor was laughable.

The restaurant owner's idea of decor run to a bunch of those cheap Mexican sombreros with sparkles glued all over them...kind of like what some dancing with the stars dancer would wear during a salsa dance. Or what bandoliers would throw down on the floor and stomp around. The other beautiful decor addition was a clear plastic sheet tacked to the wall with a silkscreened "mexican" couple walking in an outdoor scene...WTF? Classy, let me tell you. It seems that the owners took over the restaurant from a TGI Fridays and just changed the wall decor to hats and plastic sheets! There were booths and cheap tables and thats about it for the "decor" It was pretty sad. The music was certainly not authentic and featured semi-hard rock that was pretty annoying given the rest of the decor.

We were left with a big plastic tub of perfectly salted chips and cold salsa out of a jar. If the salsa had been warm, I would have loved it. As it was, the salsa was ice cold and didn't warm my heart. Since I was driving, we drank water. I asked for a hot tea, which they advertised on the menu, and was brought a cup of warm water from the tap and a lipton tea bag on the side. It was such a sad cup of tea. I have to tell you, as a tea drinker, I think we get shafted. Restaurants are well schooled in serving lattes, esspressos, and other coffee drinks, but when it comes to tea, the servers invariably put semi-cold water in a cup and serve a tea bag on the side...what is up with that? Tea bags need to be placed in the cup and HOT water poured overtop of the tea to let the flavor out......I was WAY disappointed.

Dinner for me was a Chicken quesadilla..I wanted to compare it to my favorite chicken quesadilla at 3TIDES. Didn't compare. For the same price, I received four wedges of quesadilla that had only pulled chicken and mexican cheese, no vegetables or onions or anything...the texture was squishy and not very appetizing. Greg had a chicken, meat and cheese roll up dish that was alright, but not the best.

We left feeling unsatisfied. We thought though that we might go back and give it one more try, perhaps with friends.

Enjoy,
seth