El Rinconcito de Santa Barbara Restaurant

Went based in the reviews, however the experience was not what expected. I am born and raised in PR, just moved to FL and flavor was way off from authentic Puertorrican food. I want to think that staff and chef was changed or that because it was a Thursday night the right chef was off. However it was not just about the food, but also the service, I wouldn't say it was terrible, but certainly there's an area of improvement. Service was slow, even though there was enough staff to take care of the 5 tables at the moment. It was sort of an embarrassment as I took an Italian friend (whom happens to be a chef) with me to show off the Puertorrican flavor and service, which was lacking. We ordered pasteles, alcapurrias and the sampler. This was ok taking in consideration that they need to be made ahead of time, to this I can give a 3 out of 5, why? It was overcooked, there for it dried out. The kitchen was in no rush with only 2 tables at that time. Entree was Mofongo with ajillo fish and a Mar y Tierra. For the price we were not expecting the best quality of meat or fish, however taste and cooking has nothing to do with this. Pescado al ajillo is not a garlic soup, is natural butter with garlic and a hint of salt. My fish was swimming in a broth that had a spoon of margarine and powdered garlic. Not a single sign of the minced garlic in this dish, beyond the fact that the fish was overcooked and was rubbery, hard and tasted like frozen food. Mofongo was lacking of moisture, platanos once again overcooked and not enough oil, butter or broth to make it soft. El caldo... Is the first time in my entire life I see that the add noodles to el caldo for the mofongo, plus it was full of sazón that it looked orange. Where was the sofrito in el caldo I don't know, but in it wasn't. Mar y Tierra, keeping it simple... Just a over cooked, dry lobster with an extremely Well done steak. Let's have dessert... Cuatro leches and a flan de coco, both terrible. Flan had a full dollop of some artificial coconut cream that made the flan extremely sweet. Cuatro leches was just something sweet with lack of flavor. I believe that people whom had reviewed this place before have poor exposure to authentic puertorrican food.