taqueria maya

we made the trek across the river north to taqueria maya. fortunately we had a light traffic day up around king's automall. all we can say is wow, finally not the standard americanized mexican food. service was fast & friendly, the food was excellent. barbacoa, carne asada and tongue tacos, yum, yum, yummy!!! taqueria maya is a keeper.

**update...update...update**

back again, round two, and guess what? it was just asgoodas the first time. added in a shrimp burrito, cheesey, tastey.....uhhhhh....yum!!!

good food and guacamole. goodauthentic mexican and a few different salsas if you like it hot. i like the burritos, wrapped and charred on the grill. i had a margarita and it wasgoodalso.

it was just ok, i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it either.. service was good, the atmosphere was nice, kinda felt like eating in someone's home more specifically at a basement party that had huge tvs, bar and free foosball table which i liked, but there food was just ok. we liked the salsa, my husband and i had the same dish, a pork taco and enchilada that was delicious but our chicken tamale was terrible. my mom had 2 beef tacos and a chicken taco, and she didn't care for her meal either. we love taking home leftovers and the biggest way you can tell if a customer liked the food is if they eat everything off there plate and/or take home the leftovers in my mother's case she left most of hers tacos on the plate knowing it wasn't worth taking home. chicken was sooooooo dry and chewy and the chicken in the tamale was dry and the tamale itself wasn't flavorful or moist. and the reason we got the chicken anything was because the waitress said she liked the chicken tacos and other chicken dishes. in my opinion, chicken is the easiest meat to fix, but if you don't season it well and know how to keep it from drying out then it can mess up the whole dish. i won't even start on the beans and rice because that should just compliment the meal, and let's just say that dish could use some work too. i am a connoisseur of delicious food and 2 specific items when it comes to authentic mexican menus that should be done well for me to give it 2 thumbs up... chile relleno and tamales. those are deal breakers for me to recommend an authentic mexican place for someone to go to, and because i didn't like the way one of them tasted i'm afraid to try the other. also, in general, for me to recommend a place for someone to go to i need to love my whole meal not just part of it. so far, in cincy, there are only 2 restaurants that do those menu items well, taquiera mercado (in fairfield)and mazunte taquiera mexicana (in madisonville/oakley). my advice to the owners/cooks would be to go try those restaurants and get some inspiration and another idea of whatgoodauthentic mexican food tastes like, because those guys do it well.

verygoodplace / advice to new owner. for years this place has been as mexican as tequila it is, the best street mexican food in cinci, no competition there!.. my advice to the new management and owner is try to stick with the basics, the original, do not try to change the menu adding 'other latin food" just becouse! this place is mexican street food and is the best, do not try to sell 'boricua food" (puerto rican) there becouse is not the targuet and you are going to lose the focous, and most important, the fenomenal cooks that make this happens should be always mexican, pls do not try to replace something that is sogoodwith some mediocre latin food just becouse the new owner/s are from somewhere else.

the guacamole for years has been made from scratch, fresh and unique, pls do not put that nasty pre-made guacamole!!!!


-----16 may, 2011-----

authentic mexican street food. love this place! small, fresh food, nice people runing the place, awesome food, we've been in mexico a few times and this is the closest street flavor you can get.
the tamales, quesadillas & fish are highly recomended.

real deal. best mexican food and salsas. the service isgoodtoo.

mexican food from scratch. small diner like restaurant with to go counter located directly before the kings automall complex, across from kings toyota new vehicle and next door to "play it again sports". ordered the three taco combo for $8.99 (suerda, al pastor, carnitas). included rice and beans. the difference between this mexican restaurant and other local "mexican" restaurants based on my one meal is the fact that everything is made from scratch and is mostly authentic. the suerda taco was awesome. it's grilled steak and onions chopped coursely, gently placed between twogoodquality corn tortillas and topped with chopped fresh onion and cilantro. the al pastor taco was just okay and not as flavorful and the carnitas taco was very good.

this restaurant also offers pozole (a hominy and meat stew), ceviche (a lime marinated seafood dish served over a hard flat corn tortilla and topped with avocado slices, cilantro and onions), and other not so locally known specialities that are commonplace in mexico, including beef tongue and tripe tacos.

on weekends, mexican food enthusiasts can enjoy menudo (a tripe based stew), goat soup and other specialities that are verygoodif done right. i haven't tried them, however, at this restaurant.

one of the best things about this restaurant was the fact that everything i ate seemed to be made from scratch. the rice included strips of red bell pepper and onion and the refried beans were made from dried beans and mashed by hand, not by food processor. the texture and taste difference between this restaurant and other run-of-the-mill "mexican" restaurants was noticeable.

my meal included both a red and green hot salsa which were both made from scratch and verygoodand authentic.

overall, i really like this restaurant from a authenticity, taste and value perspective.