MAIZ Mexican Food — Restaurant in Sydney

In a quirky indoor–outdoor courtyard with a retractable roof, Maiz Mexican Street Food delivers Mexican dishes that stretch beyond tacos and burritos all the way into brunch. Breaking your fast might see you tuck into sopes (thick corn tortillas) topped with black beans, braised cactus, amaranth, and goats cheese crème acida ($19) with some sliced avocado ($4) if you like. Cocktails are an all-day thing with a gentler morning list offering up hibiscus tea-flavoured Jamaica Mezcalitas ($19/each) with orange and chilli salt rims at the serious drinker end, and the same Nuestra Soledad mezcal lengthened with blood orange soda in Gaviláns ($16/each) at the lighter end. I preferred the evening list where poblano margaritas ($22/each) and spicy Tommy’s reposados ($23/each) with muddled jalapeños vied for attention.

Best thing I put in my mouth was a colourful aguachile Rojo de Pez espada ($24) where Ulladulla swordfish tangoed with raspberry and hibiscus leche de tigre and ancho chilli. If things get too hot, reach for the pulque ($16) either on ice or in cocktail form as el ombligo de la luna ($17). The fermented agave drink is soothing in the same way Korean makgeolli is. Small dishes—like enamel cups of esquites ($5/each) and green chorizo molotes ($7/each) filled with free-range pork and served with 7-chilli mayo. and pink picked onions for relief—out-perform mains. Confit duck as enmolada de pato ($27) in a pressed tortilla with a macadamia-spiked mole read well but was a bit one-note. I preferred Fremantle octopus in adobo on tostadas ($38) with caramelised charred pineapple salsa and Oaxaca cheese.

Helados Mexicanos ($6/each) of the day was a mango pulp ice block with a candied chilli ancho surprise, sprinkled with morita chilli. Salt-fermented strawberries and a foamy vanilla chantilly impressed against sweet corn sponge cake ($14) which also makes a dressed down brunch menu appearance with mascarpone and honey with seasonal poached fruit ($12). Dessert in a glass, in the form of Nixta corn liqueur ($12) with pepita oil and cinnamon or a cafe de olla (clay pot coffee) based Dios Mio! Carajillo ($20) wrap up a meal here nicely: one that included plenty of cocktails without an...

IF YOU ARE VEGAN OR HAVE FOOD ALLERGIES, DO NOT COME HERE! The food is fine, but the servers are not knowledgeable on dietary requirements, including nut allergies but especially vegan food. I am vegan but my partner is not, so we ordered based on dietary requirements and specified multiple times that I was vegan. The person who showed me what the vegan options were was really nice and easy to understand. When the first bit of food came out, I asked what was the vegan one was and the server had to go back to the kitchen and ask, and then come back and tell me. When the second lot of food came out the same thing happened. It is a given that servers should know what food is given to who when dietary requirements and food allergies are involved, instead of placing the food randomly on the table and going back to the kitchen to ask and coming back to tell us. The third lot of food came out and I assumed by now that they knew I was vegan. My partner was served my vegan meal and I was served the non-vegan meal which had fish in it. The fish was hidden underneath the cucumbers and vegetables so it was hard to tell until I had a few bites and realised that I ate fish. I then panicked and got worried that it could have had nuts in it. Thankfully it did not because I am anaphylactic, but obviously as a vegan I DO NOT want to be served fish, my partner wanted the fish. I had notified the server very nicely about what happened and she blamed me straight away, and then went to the bar person to gossip about me. The bar person then pointed and laughed at me behind my back, but my partner saw. Now think of a situation where I might have been ALLERGIC to fish, they would have served me that meal and caused a medical emergency. Dietary requirements should always be taken seriously and the bare minimum is that the food should be placed in front of the person who ordered it. Or AT LEAST, when I asked which one was vegan they should have knew instead of having to go back to the kitchen and ask. All in all, this is a major food safety risk and for the price you pay it’s a given that the server should be aware of dietary requirements. I was extremely upset and disappointed after I realised I...

As a vegan and waiter, it was a very bad experience. The main waiter helped my friends to pick proper vegan tacos while I was on my to the restaurant. She was kind and wanted to help them since she was a fellow vegetarian When I got to the restaurant, a different waiter came and did a mistake with the serving of the food to my friends. Me as a waiter, that can happen sometimes so that’s not a big issue. Then another waiter came with my vegan food. I saw it had something looking like “pulled pork” and asked if this is vegan. She didn’t hesitate with saying “yes”. In that moment I thought maybe it was “Fable” because it’s pretty realistic to animal meat. I took a bite and I figured out that was not vegan and grabbed some paper and went out of the restaurant to spit out the food because I was trying to be respectful and not make a scene at the restaurant. I was very sad with tears in my eyes making this a horrible experience for me. The main waiter went out and came to me and apologised a lot and was very kind to give me something to drink for free. She was a very understandable lady and she really felt sad for what happend. I really appreciated her kindness, specially because she understood how sad this was for me. This was very unfortunate because the restaurant itself was beautiful with good Latin vibes. However, they need to be very careful with what they serve specially for people with allergies, vegan or vegetarian food. I hope you guys can take this as an important feedback and really work with the staff by giving them proper lessons about the food and work with a good system for the waiters, by who takes care of which tables or dividing it by sections. And ofc, have good communication specially when it’s...