Casa Maiz Restaurant — Restaurant in Hialeah

I revisited Casa Del Maiz in Hialeah today, 12/16/2015. I visited the place when it first opened it's doors. They don't have a posted menu with prices, like most honorable restaurants do, for starters. I ordered a breaded kingfish (they charged $10) just for that. Then they said for $2 more you can pick two sides. I selected "chinese rice" as one of the sides, but was then warned, "that side costs an additional $2". I ordered it because that's what I wanted to sabor today. I chosed mixed boiled veggies for my second side. The wife ordered "arroz moro" which is rice with black beans, "ropa vieja" (shredded beef) and "yuca". With 2 bottles of water and one desert. It all ran about $30 total. The food was all cold. Saving gas and not raising the temp on those commercial food holders cause this. On top of this, the food had no flavor. We sat indoors in a corner and we were constantly buzzed by flys at our table. The flies were all over the glass windows next to our table. Just as we were finishing one of the bottles of water, a fly traps itself in the opened container. I recapped it and used the other bottle, keeping the cap on at all times. I forgot to mention I did order a house-made tamale and it tastes "acceptable", but it lacked sufficient pork pieces in it, as is traditional in these Cuban-style tamales. I don't believe there's anything "good" or "inviting" to bring me back to this place, four or five visits to it and the quality of the food remains bland beyond compare. Visit Palacios de Los Jugos (any of their locations), La Carreta at International Mall, Sergios, Havana Harry's in Coral Gables (awesome new-spin on Cuban food) or the Latin American (the Coral Way 24-hour location is my favorite for the last 17 years) and you'll see consistency in awesome-tasting food which is served "HOT". If these managers at "Maiz" don't change things, they'll soon go out of business without a doubt. The flies alone, I have heard, if found near the food, can close the place by health inspectors.

Awesome Cuban food, tasty Argentinian meats outside on the sizzling grill and the service both indoors and outdoors is 5 stars! How good you ask? The pan con churrasco! There I said it! It does the job every time! It truly is a ridiculously good tasty churrasco! I always load it up with everything... lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and of course the very important chimichurri sauce! If you go indoors my go to is the arroz imperial! The variety of food inside is vast and it's set up like a cafeteria style for servings. A couple things to note before making a trip here to Casa Maiz is there will be traffic. The establishment is surrounded by construction that just never seems to end in Hialeah. There is parking available on site but it's usually packed to maximum capacity too. There is some very few parking spots located along the street. Also if you go around lunch or dinner time, and especially the weekends! Expect long lines, and the place to be slammed! This is a spot that has just been getting more popular as more people find out about it!

Went with the family they have an outdoors grill for the sandwiches and steaks and an indoor cafeteria style counter for the hot food. We ordered pan con lechon (pork sandwich), steak and the ternilla. The pork was 'reheated' in an aluminum pan on the grill after being in a cooler and they charge for every topping you want in the sandwich. The steak was paper thin, not only that but the steak sat on the counter getting cold while the pork was being reheated. My mom ordered the ternilla, which tasted nothing more than pure adobo. My sister told the counter girls that we were still trying to decide what to get and we were told (with an attitude) to move away from the counter because we were not ordering anything. The sodas were $2 per can. When we were ready to pay the cashier was nowhere to be found and when she finally appeared she had the nerve to ask how much we were gonna tip. Overall.... nasty food, terrible customer service and expensive. If anything they owe me for the gas I spent driving there. 😂