I’ve never been shy in saying that Sabor is one of my favorite restaurants in Santa Clarita. The quality, flavors, service, and atmosphere all come together perfectly, and I’ve always had a great dining experience there. So when I heard that the owners were revamping the Don Cuco’s Hacienda space, I was really excited in thinking that it would be a more accessible Sabor.

Located on Camp Plenty and Soledad, I headed over for lunch a few days ago, and found a condensed menu, and a restaurant called Flavor California Mex. Offering typical small bites like taquitos and combos like tacos and enchiladas, with a couple of non traditional items, I was eager to order a few dishes to get a feel for the new spot.

Soon the traditional chips and salsa were brought to the table, but we wanted to try the guacamole.

While it was not made tableside, it tasted fresh, yet was lacking salt and lime. It wasn’t bad, just not very good.

We enjoyed the taquitos appetizer plate, which was enough for two people to share and one of the best things we ate.

The second appetizer we ordered definitely had a nice presentation, and was advertised as spicy tater tots, yet were much better than expected. Resembling potato balls with a bit of spice, I couldn’t stop eating these. I actually enjoyed these a lot.

The al pastor taco plate was priced at $10 and we joked about how many tacos would be included. We thought for sure it would be more than two tacos, but we were wrong. Despite the portion, I will note that the tortillas seemed to be handmade, but the flavor was lacking on the meat, and most of the plate was left untouched.

The enchilada / blue corn crispy taco combo was priced at $12.75. The price seemed a little high for the portion, but tasted okay, except that we didn’t care much for the rice and beans, and we were glad we had ordered a couple of appetizers so we could leave full.

Sometimes I don’t know when to quit, so I ended up ordering the deep fried ice cream lollipops. I love deep fried ice cream, cold on the inside and warm on the outside, so I figured the meal would at least end of a sweet note. Well, the outside was cold, very cold. The allure of deep fried ice cream is that they are made to order so the outside is nice and hot, but these seemed frozen and tasted like they had been in the freezer. Plus they were served on top of jelly, and just didn’t work at all.

To say I was disappointed in Flavor is an understatement. I wouldn’t mind paying those prices, had the food been up to par. The outdoor patio is nice, and the restaurant itself is very big, but I was hoping it would be something new and exciting and more in line with the ideals that Sabor has brought to Santa Clarita.