Montezuma's Revenge

Maya

The name "Maya" conjures up thoughts of delicious South American food. The best Argentinian beef or Chilean sea bass, hell even high-end tacos. What doesn't come to mind is the quasi-upscale, quasi-southern cuisine that Maya quasi-offers.

When you walk in, Maya looks like little more than a bar. An imposing row of drinks dominates the room with only a few booths for mingling. But after a little exploration, Maya reveals many other rooms which offer space for actual dining. There were signs posted that live music happens on Fridays on Saturdays. We were there on a Friday night. I heard no live music, but hey, I might've been in the wrong room.

In sum, the ambiance is almost totally unmentionable - not good, not bad, not...noticeable. Onwards to the food.

There are roughly 5-7 appetizers, another 5-7 'dinners' or entrees, and about 10-12 sides. Each dinner comes with 2 sides, which to a first time diner seems to imply that the chefs don't know what tastes good with what. Unfortunately, this conclusion is mostly true.

Of the appetizers I can only comment on the quail. Stuffed with a walnut and mushroom stuffing, served over some sort of mixed veggie and a thick butternut squash puree sauce. The best part was the veggies. The squash had absolutely no seasoning, and for those that have had butternut squash, you'll know that it needs salt and pepper to bring out the flavors. Otherwise, it's not only bland, it's a palate killer. It coats your tongue and makes anything else you eat, well, taste crappy. The quail, butterflied but not particularly easy to see under and over all those veggies, which led to more than one mouthful of bone.

Onto the dinners. The special that night was the Wahoo - not Wagyu has I had originally heard - but still appropriate for the area. It was pan-seared out of extinction, which left it dry. The beef tenderloin was the perfect temperature and doneness, and really I don't have any complaints about it except the $30 price tag. It was not a $30 piece of beef. Finally, the 'famous' ribs. Again, cooked very well, but again, the sauce - in this case, BBQ - just didn't work. It lacked punch, oooomf. Everything just felt like it was being served at a computer programmer's convention in chaffing dishes.

We didn't stay for dessert - and frankly, neither should you.

On leaving, I turned to my friend and had this conversation with her which pretty much summarizes the restaurant.

"I spent as much here on me as I did at Mas for the both of us."
"And we had drinks at Mas."
"And the food was better at Mas.'
"Next time...let's go to Mas?"

-M.