El Maya

New weekend brunch sign out front? Cool! Called yesterday to confirm brunch hours? Yes! Showed up today (Sunday) noon to locked doors. Wtf guys?

Went here this past Monday. It was a freezing cold night, but a friend and I decided to brave the winter weather for an off the beaten path dining experience. We really liked El Maya. It’s definitely got that eclectic vibe going on. Besides the cutesy interior, we really enjoyed our service, the food, and the byob feature.
Details:
So, we split an order of ceviche as an app. It was pretty good. I liked the mango and the fish was fresh and nicely seasoned, but I think it was a little juicy/​runny. I’m no ceviche expert… thats just my thoughts.
I had as a main dish the piramide. Not sure it lived up to the hype. People made it sound amazing but for me it was just pretty good. I did love the rice and platanos were so good! I can eat a whole plate of just that.
My friend got Carne asado and really loved it. ot looked really good from my side of the table. Haha. A nice thing is the waiter/​owner asked how well done it should be. That’s what everyone should do but it doesn’t always go down that way.
Food came out promptly.
Then again, it was only us two.
Service was so warm and friendly. Felt like we knew the owner already. We especially liked the ice bucket for our byob drinks.
Would definitely recommend and try again.

We’ve been twice, and it’s been great both times! It’s BOYB, and instead of beer we brought tequila for them to make margaritas with. The shrimp molcajete was excellent! So was the piramide and the Camarones Alpistachio.

Came to this place on Friday. I really wanted to like this place. Really, I did… but the hype of eating here didn’t match my expectations. The server was super nice and attentive, the restaurant is cozy and warm.
Started off with mahi mahi ceviche which was delicious!
Also had the sopes 3 masa boats with chicken, one with veggies and one with barbacoa I think. All were delicious as well.
Main entrees were a bit short:
Had the stuffed chicken breast filled with squash and mushrooms with a red sauce over it. It was OK. Not bad but just not over the moon with the dish. It was a tad bland but the sauce was tasty.
My brother had salmon and he too said not «crazy good» but decent.
My husband and sister in law had the Envuelto which was skirt steak with sauteed spinach, cheese, mushrooms and arbol tomato salsa. The arbol tomato sauce was delicious but the meal per my family, was lacking something. The steak was tender but flavors were lacking. Maybe if the sauce wasn’t there, would the dish still be tasty?
Dessert: Delicious chocolate tamale and delicious flan but a dry pineapple cake. Not moist cake, just dry and crumbly.
BYOB is awesome
I gave the place 3 stars because there were a few delicious items while others lacked the marriage of flavors. Pretty much ⁵⁰⁄₅₀.
If in the area again I would come back and try the molcajete which seemed to have great reviews.

Very nice, tasty, upscale Mexican with super friendly service. Everything is very well put together here … nice atmosphere, food very well prepared, new and interesting flavors. All 4 of us looked like we had licked our plates because we ate every single bite. The salsa, by which I judge Mexican restaurants, is a little different than most and is delicious. I’m not sure what they do differently but it is sort of an orange color rather than the pulverized tomato variety. I ordered the Pollo Mole de Negro which was delicious with a rich sauce with just the right amount of spice and not too sweet. Others ordered the Molcajete which looked fantastic. Highly recommended.

Really great food at a really great price. Unique flavors compared to other places close by. Only challange is the limited menu… but everything we’ve tried so far has been really good.

Tonight, our return for number four visit, she had the Parimide and I had the Chicken of the Pueblo… both were wonderfully flavorful and satisfying. .the guacamole was fresh, despite this being the end of autumm. and we shared a special dessert: a chocolate cake that was amazingly rich and light at the same time. wow!
We are so happy that this terrific place is relatively close by. We think Jimmy, the owner and all ’round lovely and funny man, is an added treat!

I didn’t think I would like this place as much as I did and I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong. The food here was amazing (I gave them a pass on the strange salsa they brought with the chips).
We ordered the octopus and ceviche appetizers. So good. We vowed to get the octopus every time we come back.
For our main course we had the salmon and the chicken. Also excellent; we cleaned our plates.
Then we finished off our meal with the dessert tamale and the pineapple cake. Wonderful.
The service was prompt and friendly. The margarita mix was a little on the sweet side, but yummy. Do not come here looking for tacos — there are none on the menu.
Overall excellent meal and I’ll definitely be back.

El Maya has been a go-​to restaurant for me. Whenever my wife and I can’t decide on a restaurant, we often choose to come here because it’s consistently awesome and reasonably priced. You get Downtown Chicago quality food without paying the crazy prices.
I recently organized a party of 25 on a Friday at 8 pm, and Jimmy and the rest of the staff were over-​the-​top accommodating. The whole menu was open for the party to choose from. Waters were constantly filled. All of the food came out hot and at the same time. They had one hiccup where a steak was supposed to be grilled well-​done, but it came out medium. They quickly resolved the problem and brought out a fresh dish.
Also, all the dishes are priced within a similar range ($ 17-​$ 21 I think…) and it’s BYOB, so paying with 25 people at once was a breeze.
It does get loud in there with a full restaurant and a party of 25, but I don’t see that as a deal-​breaker.

The food is outstanding AND reasonably-​priced. The owner makes is so friendly and excited to have you as his guest.
We celebrated my husband’s birthday here, and (unfortunately for El Maya) we had the place to ourselves. The décor is charming, the interior spacious and festive. It is perfect for celebrations and just for great Mexican food.
We brought tequila and triple sec, and a margarita pitcher was prepared by the kitchen for $ 10. We also brought wine and they were nice enough to provide an ice bucket, corkscrew, and glasses.
The food was truly delicious and non-​cliché! You must support this wonderful place! Go now!

When I think of «going out for Mexican», drunk nights eating chicken nachos slathered in greasy queso comes to mind. This is not that.
El Maya, is a wonderful little restaurant. there are two sides to the restaurant and we noted they tended to seat older couples on one side and rowdier groups on the other. We brought our own booze and they brought us out a virgin pitcher of margaritas which we mixed ourselves. While very tasty, I would not say it was the best margarita I’ve ever tasted. Their queso fundito, on the other hand, was amazing. Gone in 3 seconds. I personally had the carne Asada which was tender and tasty. The retried beans were surprisingly flavorful. Everyone enjoyed their food and the fact that it’s Byob makes it a great pre-​going out spot. The only negative is there is nothing really on the menu under 17 for anyone trying to watch their budget.

Went for brunch for the first time today and all of the food was fantastic. The Chilaquiles were great, got to try the French toast as well and it was so good with their homemade syrup. It’s byob and fresh orange and peach juice were provided for mimosas, which was a nice addition. Service was good also.

Yep! This place is great! We had dinner here over the weekend. Definitely get the chorizo meatball appetizer… it was to die for! The guacamole was super fresh and house-​made. Service was great, too. We liked everything that we ordered.
It’s BYOB so we went next door to get some tequila and they made us pitchers. I would definitely return. Also, the price is super fair.

This restaurant is amazing! The service is always great and the staff always make sure you have everything you need (jimmy is the man!). We live in the area and it is our go-​to place without fail. The specials are very interesting but we stick to either Carne asada, pechuga de puebla, piramide or the envuelto. I’ve never known a restaurant to consistently have so much flavor in every dish and the steaks are cooked perfectly. The queso fundido is an incredible appetizer with goat cheese, it’s BYOB with NO corking fee.
We could not recommend El Maya enough!

I wanted to like this place more than I did. It’s good but not great. It’s nice that you can take tequila for margaritas. I got some kind of shrimp special that was very good, my date got some form of fancy steak fajitas. His was good, mine was better. The guac, which we shared, was good but not great. The space is a bit cavernous. There weren’t many people there when we were there. It is not a homey space. Probably would be good for a birthday party or such like (i.e. if you wanted to do a dinner for 8 people or something like that).
I’d give this 3.5 stars if I could. Not worth going out of your way for, in my estimation (which I did), but totally serviceable in the neighborhood.

Almost didn’t come here when another reviewer («elite», I know, grain of salt) wrote a rather scathing description of the chips and salsa. Now when it comes to Latin American cuisine, especially Mexican, the chips are the opening act and should set the tone for the rest of your experience, food-​wise. The other reviewer went in with the wrong expectations, and didn’t allow herself the openness required to be pleasantly surprised by the chef’s interpretations.
What I found was the chips were high quality; crunchy, not salty, kind of like the El Milagro brand, and certainly not for everyone. Some people like greasy, salty chips and that’s OK. The salsa was subtle. It needed a little salt, which I added, and had just enough spiciness to where I wasn’t guzzling water after every dip. I wound up eating a lot of it and asking for more. Was it the best I’ve had? No. But that subtleness in flavor became a theme, and was expressed in every dish we ordered.
Service was good, but not outstanding. Prices were a tad high, but justifiable. I highly recommend the carne asada. I personally ordered the molcajete, which was very good, but I kept thinking «these are basically expensive steak fajitas», and found myself wanting sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes to go along with it. I put the salsa on it, and that seemed to complete the dish a bit.
By the end, the experience was memorable. Do I like louder dishes? Yes. But I like the quality and consistency here, so I’ll for sure be back.

Oh how I’ve missed perfectly cooked baby octopus that isn’t rubbery and flavorless. The guacamole was delicious and we devoured the carne asada. And bonus points for being BYOB with a liquor store located conveniently down the block!

Fasten your seat belts kids. This place was amazing!!! I came here on a Friday night with 3 of my friends. I had driven by it many times, but never gave it much mind. It was recommended to me by my realtor.
The restaurant wasn’t very busy at all which was a plus. It’s BYOB. You can bring your own tequila and they will use their virgin margarita mix and make you pitchers of margs. Idk what their mix is but it was delicious!!! Our waiter had the perfect ratio of tequila to mix. I definitely got pretty tipsy without realizing it.
As a vegetarian, I was nervous about the menu because it has mostly meat items. However, I asked the waiter what he recommended. He suggested the enchiladas minus the meat which is what I ordered. The enchiladas were delicious! We also ordered guacamole which was good because obv guac is amazing.
Overall, great food, great BYOB, and not crowded!

So I was so excited to try this restaurant out because my brother kept raving about how amazing it was. I came here with my parents and immediately was disappointed by the free chips and salsa that was brought out to us. The chips were stale and the salsa was literally canned tomato sauce with like 100 garlic cloves blended in it. Then, we ordered the ceviche, which was so disappointing. The flavor of the spices was so overbearing, it completely masked the flavor of the shrimp. For my main dish I ordered the steaming molcajete, which was literally all onion and two little pieces of steak thrown in the mix. For dessert, I ordered my parents the chocolate tamal, this wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great. The texture was like sand in your mouth but the flavor was good.
I would suggest skipping this place and trying some other Mexican restaurant in the city. Completely NOT impressed by this place.

The bf and I came here on Tuesday night to use a Groupon. Initially we were the only ones dining, but towards the end of our meal two other people came in the restaurant. I’m astounded that this place isn’t more popular, because we had a great meal and great service, and we’ll definitely be back!
We had the following dishes, which were all delicious:
–Pulpo Yucateco: octopus and potatoes in a smoky red sauce, served with toast
–Molcajete: skirt steak, cactus, green onion, and molcajete salsa served in a hot stone bowl with tortillas and black beans on the side
–Enchiladas: 3 tortillas stuffed full of moist chicken served with 3 sauces (green salsa, red salsa, and mole)
–Torta de queso: ricotta-​based cheesecake with ice cream and fruity sauces. Surprisingly, this cheesecake was more like regular cake (light and fluffy) rather than like NY-​style cheesecake (dense and creamy).
Appetizers are $ 7 – 9. Main dishes are $ 15 – 20. Desserts are $ 6 – 8. This place is BYOB. You can bring your own tequila to add to their virgin margarita mix.
The restaurant has a warm ambiance with its brightly colored interior. Further, there’s enough space between tables so it doesn’t feel too crowded or hard to navigate.