Highlands Hollow - Define "Taco"

To say this tour has started as expected would be a bold faced lie. Both stops one and two had menu discrepancies. Stop two also had salmon that I actually didn't hate, which is saying something. Neither had my definition of a real fish taco. I was expecting stop three, Highlands Hollow, to be a bit more tame, but it ended up with me questioning the very definition of the word taco.

Notice anything on that menu? Taco. Not tacos, but singular taco. It's vague, but is never plural. I expected a minor typo. I was wrong.

This is what I received. That's one taco. Sort of...

Presentation - I like the location and layout of Highlands Hollow. Great ambiance and decoration. We biked over today and it was windy as hell. My bad. The service was decent, slowed a bit by the large table next to us, but the server did her job just fine. Traditional side of rice and beans, nothing fancy. It did include a salad, which was pretty good. Middle of the road. 3/5

Aroma - Pretty mellow. Not a lot going on. Questioning this category. 2/5

Value - 1 taco for $11.95. Oof. It did include a salad and the taco was really big, but still, not at all a deal. 3/10

Fish - The shining star of this visit, lightly breaded (emphasis on lightly) halibut in small chunks, not one big piece like usual. Well seasoned, a good amount included and well dispersed, tasty and solid. Best fish I've had thus far. 7/10

Not Fish - The train derails here. That's a burrito sized flour tortilla you see. Not pictured is the large pile of mushrooms that I removed. I tried to eat it as is but no go, they were big chunks and numerous and just have no place in a fish taco. Without the mushrooms it wasn't bad at all. With them (and per the menu, so as judged) it was not good. Not even the guac could save it. 3/10

Overall Taste - Per the above, I have to judge including the mushrooms, which are overbearing and blech. I'm not a fan, maybe if you like mushrooms this is fine, but for me it was a deal breaker. 3/10

Bonus Points - Another place that charges for kids drinks, which is irritating.  A half glass of apple juice should be included in the ~$5 kids meal. Good sized and ok priced kids entrees, but not enough to warrant a point. +0

Overall Overall - 21/50. I pondered this score on the way home and how non-traditional this taco was. If traditionality was a category (or a word) it would have totally bombed. And thus it dawned on me, this was not a taco at all. This was a sort of fajita/burrito hybrid that someone rolled wrong. Judged as such it wasn't far off point. Judged as a taco I think the chef is high as a kite. I won't disqualify it, but it doesn't really belong in this contest and obviously won't win. Weird stop number three.

Might try and squeeze in two more this week, both fast food drive through style. Stay tuned.