Update: This restaurant is now closed.
A look at the Cantina South website gives you an idea about what to expect. At first glance, it’s upscale, but when you navigate the site, you find most pages (including – come on, guys – the menu) say “oops 404.” That’s sort of how my lunch experience was.
Located in the old Bogart’s location, the interior was fairly bright, open, and vaguely Mexican. I can imagine the outdoor seating on Johnson Street would be nice on a cooler day.
I ordered the stuffed pepper and a sierra mist. I paid $11 for one stuffed pepper – no sides, no chips – and $1.95 for the soft drink, which the hostess later topped off with water.
The stuffed pepper was good – pretty standard cheese, rice, and ground beef, on salsa verde – but it was not $11 good. For a restaurant that holds itself out as the “modern Mexican kitchen” and has such notable founders as Kevin Summers (formerly with Michael Dean’s, Bogart’s American Grill, Twisted Fork) and Bill Holt (Melting Pot, Red Hot & Blue), I really expected more.
My server was good, but I could not help but notice that a couple sitting near me was abandoned halfway through their meal.
Like its website (to say nothing of its Facebook page highlighting the waitresses, not the food), the best that can be said is that Cantina South has potential but is not there yet.