Mayan Family Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Lacey

Exceptional Food, Genuine Service, and Unmatched Value — Authentic Mexican Food, Impeccable Service, and Unbeatable Value

If I could give more than five stars, I would.

Mexican food is my favorite cuisine, and I’ve had enough of it—both at home and while dining out—to know when a place is doing it right. This restaurant is doing it exceptionally right. Thanks to my best friend’s family (her mother being a truly gifted home cook), I’ve developed a deep appreciation for traditional flavors, and I can say with confidence that this food was far more authentic than what you’ll find at most modern spots claiming to serve Mexican cuisine. While I enjoy many restaurants, this one stands a step above the rest in both quality and care.

Most places today serve a Tex-Mex hybrid, which can be great, but this wasn’t that. The flavor profile, ingredients, and preparation all reflected a level of authenticity that’s hard to find anymore. And more importantly — this wasn’t food that had been pre-prepped or reheated. I know enough about traditional cooking methods to recognize the real thing, and this was it. You could taste that everything was made fresh, not just assembled in the back and rushed out to the table. It had the timing, texture, and warmth of food that was lovingly prepared as we ordered.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was just as impressive as the food. The space was clean, welcoming, and thoughtfully arranged. The seating was surprisingly comfortable for a smaller restaurant — no cramped booths or hard chairs. The lighting was perfect: warm, but not too dim, and bright enough to read the menu without squinting. The bathrooms were spotless and well maintained — a small detail that often says a lot about how a business is run.

The staff? Wonderful. They were kind, respectful, and impressively attentive without ever hovering. Our drinks were refilled regularly without us needing to ask, and each time they approached the table, they gave a polite heads-up to avoid interrupting our conversation — a subtle but rare skill.

My nephew, who is 28 and an Army veteran, ordered a few alcoholic beverages (three total), and the staff handled everything with professionalism and care. They checked his ID, and later made small, polite conversation to gauge how he was doing — a thoughtful and responsible touch that made me feel like we were in good hands. This is the kind of skill well-trained wait staff develop to ensure responsible drinking and guest safety, and it showed a level of care that far too many restaurants overlook these days.

The price point? Honestly, better than expected. For the quality of food, the portion sizes, the service, and the entire experience, the value was outstanding. I’ve paid much more for far less, and left nowhere near as satisfied.

My only real complaint — if you can even call it that — is that the restaurant is about 60 miles south of my home in Seattle. But the next time I head that direction, I will be making time to stop in again. No hesitation.

If you're looking for truly authentic Mexican food, excellent service, comfortable surroundings, and an experience that leaves you planning your next visit before you even leave the parking lot, this is the place. Don’t...

This make me sad to write but I will NEVER EVER eat at Mayan restaurant again. This used to be one of my favorite restaurants where we celebrated many family parties. After working a long Saturday, 3/16/2019, my sister and I went to enjoy a late lunch / happy hour. We got there right at 3:30 and we're seated in a booth and asked if we could order some appetizers from the happy hour menu on our table. We were told we would have to get up and move all of our things to the bar if we wanted to order off that menu even though the menu was on our table in the restaurant section. We picked up all of our things and moved to the bar. I'm a deacon at my church and a mentor to recovering addicts and cannot be drinking but the manager sent our waitress over (who was practically trembling) to tell us we could not order anything off the menu for happy hour unless we ordered alcoholic beverages. So I explained to them that we do not drink alcohol and showed that it doesn't say anything on the happy hour menu about not being able to order unless you order alcohol can we please just order a soft drink? She had to go as the manager and came back trembling again and said he said okay. So then we placed our order and she brought the food and said my manager wants to talk to you. By this time we felt so unwelcome, so discriminated against, so awkward that we couldn't even enjoy our meal. We waited and waited and the manager didn't come so I went up and asked him about it and he followed me back to my table and told us that the owner can't afford to sell happy hour food to people who are not drinking alcohol and he is going to change it next week on the menu. He went on and on about it and I said I feel very unwelcome here very discriminated against this is awful service and he brought us boxes (we had just started to eat) and our check threw them on the table and walked away. Then one of the customers from the bar started yelling at us saying "why would you sit in a bar if you're not going to drink" and the manager started laughing. It was absolutely humiliating. The poor waitress looked on in horror! We could box our food fast enough. We paid our bill and left. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE...

The location and atmosphere were good. It's located right off the freeway. I didn't have a problem with parking but it's limited up front. The place was very clean.

I was seated and waited on almost immediately. I had chips, salsa, and a drink within a few minutes. The food was delivered within 10 minutes of ordering.

The staff was amazing. There were several people checking on me. It was rare for them to walk by and not ask how I was, it everything was ok, or if I needed something. They were extremely nice.

The salsa and chips were good. It had good flavor. It had a nice sweetness but also the right level of spicy that left you wanting a drink but no overwhelming.

The queso fundido was basically American cheese dip. It was good but not what I hoped for. It would be great for movie or game night. However it should have been a lot thicker and served with tortillas instead of chips.

The fajitas were ok. The veggies to meat ratio was way off. I had enough meat for 3 smaller fajitas. Typically my wife and I share and we would both be full. Here I was by myself and just had enough. The chicken and steak were on the dry side. The veggies were cooked all the way through to where they were soft which was great.

The price was too high. The meal with drink and appetizer was $50-55.

The meat and price drove down the experience. I wish the meat was not cooked quite so long or maybe so fast and there was more of it. The price was...