Our original plan for this night was to go to Boma, however since DD wasn't feeling the best we asked concierge for a ressie here. They were only able to get us a 9:00pm one, but that was ok with us!
So we arrived at the restaurant pretty much right on time for our reservation. They checked us in and asked us to wait for like two minutes before taking us to our table. We were given something like a booth, which is personally my favourite type of table because generally there's more space than there would be at a regular table, and booths aren't too common here in Australia so it's just a bit of fun to sit at one!
The atmosphere of the restaurant is really nice. It's quite modern in its design and although it might be a little dark inside for some, I found that it just added to the mood. They describe themselves as "Nuevo Latino" and I think this is quite fitting.
Our server was Abdel. He was originally from Morocco but had lived in the U.S. for ages. He was perhaps the best server we had on the entire vacation. Abdel treated us like we were long lost family, talking to us about our lives in Australia and also telling us about his life, both in Morocco and the U.S. He made us feel very welcome.
To start with he brought out some bread, complimentary of course!
There were two types of bread served. One was sort of like a very crispy flatbread, while the other one was just regular bread. However, it had little bits of like capsicum or something in it. This didn't make it spicy or anything, but it proved that it hadn't just come out of a box from the freezer or something. It was served warm and was delicious. It also came with their house made Chimichurri. We don't really eat any Mexican food in Australia so we hadn't tried Chimichurri before, but it was really, really good! We tried it in a few other restaurants after having it here, but none of them compared to this one!
Here is a picture of the menu. As you can see, there are a fair few choices here!
DM chose the Ribeye Tacos ($24), DS chose the Shrimp Tacos ($24) and DD and I had the NY Strip Steak ($31). To drink DM and DS had Diet Coke, DD had Sparkling Water and I had Cherry Coke ($2.50 for the sodas, $3.25 for the sparkling water). DD also ordered a glass of the Blackstone Merlot ($9)
DD also ordered a side of Steak Mushrooms and Caramelised Onions ($8)
The food came out in a reasonable time after ordering. Here are the pics!
Ribeye Tacos
Shrimp Tacos
NY Strip Steak
And Dad's Mushroom side
Since my sister liked the Shrimp Tacos so much, I will let her write the next paragraph so she can explain to you how awesome it truly was
"I cannot stop raving about the Shrimp Tacos.
Seriously if i went back, and we did, i wouldn't look at anything else on the menu i would order them again, which i did
. The sauce (chipotle lime aioli) was simply amazing and the salad stuff and shrimp was perfect
My only criticism of the dish was the accompanying rice and beans, which were not well suited to my tastes. However others found them quite nice so..."
I told you she liked them!
As for DM, she was very happy with her Ribeye tacos. Probably a decent alternative to the Shrimp tacos if you're not a fan of fish.
DD and my NY Strip Steaks were excellent. It says it is done in the chili rub, but seriously the chili was very mild and was more of a subtle flavouring. The garlic yukon mashed potatoes were excellent and the brocollini, well, it was as good as brocollini could be
.
DD also enjoyed his mushroom side, but since the meals are fairly generous in size, there probably isn't a need for a side! Unless you are thinking of just getting it to share around, which is basically what we did.
Here is the dessert menu...
Basically you have to choose either the Caramel Flan or a Dessert Shot, which is just a very, very small dessert served in a shotglass. The Dessert Shot is probably a good idea for people who are really full and just want to try something or make use of their DDP credit, while the Caramel Flan is obviously more expensive and a larger serving. We all ordered the flan! ($6.99)
Our first impressions when we saw the dessert was just shock at the size of it! The picture may be a little deceiving, but it was a really large serving! And not only that, it was truly delicious! They had struck a perfect balance between soft and firm in terms of the texture and the coconut sabayon sauce was sweet and went very well with the flan. For me, and I think for my family, it was a perfect conclusion to the meal.
Even after dessert, and after paying the check, Abdel stayed around to talk with us. He asked us what other restaurants we were going to and said that we had made some really good choices with our ADR's. He talked to us at length about Morocco, since it's a place that we would really like to go at some time in the future. He was truly one of a kind, consider yourselves very, very, very lucky if you have him as your server the next time you visit the Maya Grill!
All in all, I am unable to find any faults in the Maya Grill. I was a little apprehensive before going simply because our reservation was so late, but we were never ever rushed and the food tasted great, so it wasn't like they had handed us over to the overnight junior chef or something like that
. While I said that the Pepper Market is probably best only for those with a car or who are staying at the resort, I reckon that even if we stay somewhere else in the future we will definitely make the effort to take the buses to the CSR and have dinner there. I think that the best way to put it is that the Pepper Market is good food, while the Maya Grill is excellent food. It's just that extra step that makes it worthwhile to make your way to the CSR to eat there. Of course there are probably other places across WDW that would probably be just as good that we haven't tried yet, but if you have tried most of the other places and want to go somewhere new, then this is it!
In regards to value for money on the DDP, I reckon that it is excellent. There are some pretty expensive items you can choose from so you can really make some money here! DD and my meals alone cost a little over $41 each pre-tax, so that's pretty good! If you're not on the DDP, I still think that at this place you are getting value for your money. Stay tuned for my second review of this place (will probably be a little while away) as on that night we didn't have the DDP so it was a fairly different style of dining, but still good!
Cost:
4 TS credits used - 28 remaining
Bill Total - $158.38 (avg $39.59ea) [BTW, these bill totals I'm doing are tax inclusive, I'm not sure if I mentioned that before
]
Running Total - $1024.45
NEXT UP: A quick morning snack at the CSR and then off to Fairfax Fare for lunch!
I'm really enjoying it. Can't wait to hear about Pepper Market. We are staying there in 9 days and have never stayed at CSR and have been nervous about Pepper Market. 
($14.99)
Everything was hot, fresh and delicious, and the servings were very generous. Even if none of our choices interest you, there are so many other things to try that I'm sure there must be something that can please everyone!
) Overall we were happy with the wait staff.
