Maya

Grab a drink at the bar, grab some southern staples and dig in!
These guys really know what they are doing. No wonder they have been busy for years.

Maya presents a great date spot in Charlottesville: reasonable prices, great service, nice ambience.
The pimento cheese and braised pork cheek are comforting, you should not miss those.
The local trout is outstanding! It’s refreshing to see a non-​salmon /​cod fish on the menu around town. The New York Strip was great, but be clear on your order as the kitchen tends to overcook.
Over a handful of times visiting, I have always had excellent service here! The staff are helpful and very honest in their recommendations, often critiquing their own food. Let them guide you in the drink choices.
Cons: The bar inside rarely gets loud, but when it does you’ll find it hard to have a quiet conversation.

Great experience. I had fried oysters, the spinach & sprouts salad, and mac & cheese. All are fairly straightforward (non-​fancy) dishes, but all were exceptionally well executed. The oysters were perfectly fired and seasoned — often they’re heavy and greasy, but not here.
The staff is lovely. The portion sizes were generous without being ridiculous, and the wine selection was good.

I would like to start by saying I was SO excited about this place. The menu looked so good. The food was not bad it just wasn’t great. I had the crab cakes and my husband had the steak. Neither were anything to write home about. For sides we had Brussel sprouts, sweet potato fries, biscuit, and sugar snap peas… all just ok. We were not impressed. For the price of this place we expected more. We wish we had come on $ 12 Tuesday for ok food.

One of my favorite restaurants in Charlottesville! It has become my «date night» location of choice. Food is always amazing, the bar tender is one of the best in town, and I look forward to going again soon!

Truly creative southern cooking and great service. We sat at the bar and the people watching was fun as they balanced a few special events with diners. It was a Friday night and we got phenomenal service that was super friendly. The food was so good; the hardest part of the night was choosing what to eat because it all looked good.

I have nothing but good things to say about this place. I was doing vegan and I don’t do fried but they still did a great dinner plate from quinoa and oyster mushrooms that was not on their menu. Service was also very good. My friends enjoyed the NY strip.

Food:
Catfish & Collared Greens — delicious
Grits & Mac & Cheese — disgusting
Cornbread — average
Service:
Waiter & Bartender — great, very helpful
Hostess — not so much
Definitely not a place I’d visit again

What a Great Meal!
My husband and I had a fantastic Sunday evening meal at Maya. Ingredients are obviously top notch but the food was comforting. What a great combination. I frequently order crab cakes, so I know a good one. They were excellent. Husband had the daily special of salmon. Again cooked perfectly. Sides: don’t miss out on the collard greens. If given the opportunity to add ham gravy to anything say yes. It is heavenly. The cocktail list is creative and the mud pie is worth saving a little room. Our server Justin was great. Could not have asked for better service or a better experience. When in Charlottesville this will be a restaurant we will automatically return to.

My husband and I had a very disappointing experience here on Sunday, Feb. 14^th. The menu online looked interesting and had a Southern twist, yet also included many vegetarian dishes, which is a rare find in Southern cooking. I repeatedly checked Maya’s website ahead of time to see if they would offer solely a prix fixe Valentine’s Day menu, but there was no notation that the regular dinner menu wouldn’t be available as well.
When we arrived, the prix fixe was the only menu available, and didn’t include any of the usual menu offerings. All of the Southern inspired dishes were missing, and many of the dishes that receive the highest praise in reviews were gone as well. I asked if I could add on grits to my entrée, but was told the usual sides weren’t available.
The food was fine to good, but nothing special. Typical American fare rather than Southern. Particularly disappointing was the shrimp and lobster mac and cheese; we couldn’t locate one piece of shrimp or lobster in the entire serving. Overall, just disappointing and not at all what we expected based on the menu and reviews.
The prix fixe menu was $ 50/​person for 3 courses, pretty average. But their normal menu prices don’t even add up to $ 50/​person if you were to choose 3 courses, so the value simply wasn’t there.
There are so many other great restaurants in Charlottesville-​we won’t be returning here.

Fiancé and I went in on Friday night around 7:30 pm. We were seated right away which was nice.
We started with their poutine, It was ok but nothing to rave about. A single serving of boardwalk style fries topped with a little bit of feta cheese, dill pickles, a little bit of jalapeño for spice (should have listed this on the menu for people with allergies as this is not something that is normally in poutine) and a small bit of lamb sausage gravy on the bottom of the dish. The whole dish needed salt and it really needed more gravy. I’m sure the lack of gravy was to keep the fries from being soggy, but there wasn’t near enough to go with the fries.
We waited almost an hour after our appetizer before we got our entrees. Fiancé ordered the tenderloin special medium. It came out very well done and inedible. We waited forever for the waiter to come back so we could get a replacement. I was done eating by the time they brought the second attempt back, which was still overcooked steak, but now came with under cooked carrots. Fiancé ate it anyway as I had already eaten my meal and we didn’t want to wait any longer. We also had to share silverware because the waiter never brought any back with the new plate.
While we waited for the waiter to come back so we could get our check and leave, another restaurant employee dropped an entire tray of wine glasses on the back of my legs, cutting me in a few spots and getting glass all under my chair and our table. I never got an apology, never got an offer for napkins to wipe me legs, nothing. The waiters response was to offer us free dessert. Unfortunately, he took my order and walked away, never even asked my fiancé what he wanted.
Our table was up against a half wall by a walkway ramp in the backroom. Several times waitstaff (our waiter, backwait, food runner) would reach over the half wall, reaching down in front of us to put down/​pick up plates and food. How incredibly rude. Walk the additional 10 steps and stand beside the table to assist us.
After all this, they still charged us full price for everything except my small little sliver of oreo cake. 100% ruined our Friday date night. We never even saw the floor manager.

Food took very long to get to the table and it wasn’t even a full house! Still delicious.
I had the short rib appetizer with Brussels sprouts and Mac and cheese, and highly recommend all three. My mom’s baby back ribs were tender and flavorful.
We ordered $ 5 of cornbread for the table… 2 small prices that had clearly been reheated because the tops had been burnt. It had great flavor, but was disappointing that it wasn’t fresh; definitely not worth $ 2.50 a piece.
We finished with the upside down pumpkin cheesecake which was fantastic! Would come back, but is pricey for what you get.

Good service, good food/​drinks at a reasonable price. I like how the restaurant has a bit of a southern flair. The duck breast special was delicious and I like that you get to choose your side dishes (Brussels sprouts are amaze). Definitely will return!

Based on the spectacular reviews on Unilocal,we decided to have dinner at Maya on our first night in Charlottesville. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed with the food.
The restaurant seemed very promising, as the outdoor patio was bustling with activity. The interior of the restaurant is a bit dark (or some would say, «cozy»), and we were seated at a table upstairs. There were a few other tables with patrons, with a particularly rowdy group who obviously had a bit too much to drink. They were singing and talking so loudly that as they left, even our server muttered, «good riddance!».
While Maya bills itself as a Southern restaurant, there was definitely no soul to their food. We ordered the Pan Seared Crab Cakes, which were served with a jicama, red cabbage, and candied ginger slaw, and chose buttermilk biscuits and brussel sprouts as sides. While the crab cakes and brussel sprouts were quite tasty, the biscuits were a major letdown. Even in the dim lighting, the biscuits were pasty white (I call them «albino biscuits), and were very dense, not light and fluffy at all — fail! We also ordered the Certified Angus New York Strip paired with the cornbread and whipped potatoes. As with our first entrée, the steak itself was fine, but the sides were quite lackluster. The cornbread can be best described as a tasteless yellow brick, and the whipped potatoes could have used a bit more butter. We were both shocked at how poor their Southern side dishes were.
We decided to pass on dessert, due to the mediocre food we had just tasted. Our experience at Maya was underwhelming and we won’t be returning.

This might be THE best food in Charlottesville. This was only my second time eating here, but the food is the star.
The service was on the level of just okay, but the food more than makes up for that.

Cozy American restaurant with southern flair and a beautiful summer time patio. I’ve had a few meals here now and every time I’ve been happily satisfied.
My boyfriend and I have ordered the Cornmeal-​crusted Fried Oysters with house Cornmeal-​crusted with house rémoulade, the pork tenderloin, the previous season’s special which had rabbit, the shaved brussels sprouts with bacon and onions, among a few other items. The fried oysters were nicely breaded and maintained it’s natural flavor even with the breading. Being die hard oyster folks, we did like that detail. The pork tenderloin was tender, juicy, and very flavorful. I choose the fingerling potatoes and collared greens as my sides and enjoyed both very much.
Overall, the serving sizes were fair, the food was of high quality and prepared with a nice intentionality that we both appreciate. We felt that it was a great place for a leisurely meal and good service.

I have had the pleasure of dining at Maya a handful of times and always on Tuesdays. They have a great $ 12 special menu on Tuesdays, where they offer a choice of four different entrees and two sides. I have always had no problem finding a table either inside or outside on the patio in the warmer months. The service has been okay, some times better than others.
I have mostly stuck to the twelve dollar menu, but I did try the pimento cheese fritters on a visit, and you shouldn’t pass them up! On the twelve dollar menu, I most often go with the blackened tilapia, which has always been very flavorful and moist. I have also tried the chicken fried chicken, which is fantastic, but I wish they would give you more ham gravy! For sides, I always go with the collard greens and the sauteed green beans – both are excellent!
Maya is a very nice budget-​friendly date night or night out with friends on Tuesdays!

The food and service at Maya are wonderful. A true test of good service is going on a busy night… my husband and I went on Valentine’s Day, and the service and food were both excellent. We’ve had the same waitress 3 – 4 times, and she remembered the wine we ordered the first time we went on our second visit… impressive! Another time when we went, we were probably one of the last tables sat that night (a group of 6 of us), and we did not feel rushed at all when we were the last table there, which was appreciated. It’s hard to go wrong with the menu. I would be happy just getting all sides! Yum.

Definitely worth the hype in Charlottesville. The ambiance is fabulous, from the great, private dining room in the back, to the cozy bar, to the romantically-​lit tent covering the outdoor patio, you can take your pick for the feel you are going for based on your company.
My trout was amazing, especially when paired with the collard green side. I was a bit disappointed that the brussel sprouts that were served were shredded and not served halved or whole like I used to. I honestly really wish they had written that on the menu.
I got an extra order of greens and a size of grits for my daughter and mashed them together for her. Delicious! She loved them, but be forewarned that the collard greens are a bit spicy so they aren’t for every toddler.
The drinks were delightfully-​made and everyone else we dined with enjoyed their entrees as well. Dessert was a bit of a disappointment, however. I am a big crème brûlée fan, so imagine my happiness when I heard of their white chocolate crème brûlée option! I was so sold on it, I skipped the pineapple upside down cake option that also caught my eye. Seeing my enthusiasm, the rest of my table also ordered the crème brûlée option as well. When it came out though, I saw that the dish was mad small and far from deep. The pomegranate seeds on the top completely negated the sweetness instead of politely balancing it (just too, too sour) and the crème brûlée itself was lackluster. I thought it was just me, but everyone at my table who ordered the crème brûlée was disappointed as well. If I were to come back in the future, I would definitely eat here, but either skip dessert altogether or get another option and give them another chance.

Be advised that the front door is a trick. So is the side door closest to the front door. You must actually enter through the BACK side door. I almost left and went to another restaurant just out of frustration trying to get in alone.
When I approached the bar, the bartender just looked at me. You’d think I’d be greeted with a, «Hello» or «What can I get for you?» Nope. I purposely stared back just long enough for it to be uncomfortable, still waiting for her to say something, then finally gave in and asked for a menu. Geez.
Ordered the trout, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. It came out fairly quickly, and all were decent, and apparently local ingredients. Also ordered the carrot cake for dessert. Okay, but not incredible. Laughably small portion for $ 7.
Other than that, the ambiance is kinda nice. Cozy. Intimate. Warm. I like it. The menu is good… lots of things to choose from, all of which read appetizing. The food overall is good enough, but not amazing. Might be more amazing if there were more of it on the plate.
I’d probably give Maya 4 stars if the service were less… weird.