Maya Cuisine Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Maryland

Want to expand your taste palette? stretch your $? and avoid the heavy feeling of a spice too many? Maya Cuisine’s Thalis—may be the answer.

The reincarnation of the former Shangri La restaurant in the same area appears to be soulful, if not for the mind certainly for the body.

We chose the Thali—A Hindi word which means a large plate, whose meaning has now expanded to encompass a meal served in a large plate with many dishes served in “katoris” — small bowls. In short at the Maya this translated into a smorgasbord of 5 curries, nan, rice, and a sweet dish all for under $25.

I chose the nonveg thali—lamb rogan josh, the mutton soft and tender, chicken tikka masala, flavorful but not too overwhelming, dal makhani (black lentils) spinach in ricotta, chick peas, and a Samosa. Now thats hard to beat!

In the Veg thali instead of the lamb and chicken we had puree of eggplant and cauliflower with potatoes.

The staffing appears to be a bit thin, but so is the case almost everywhere these days. So with a little patience, a good appetite, and a willingness to give your taste buds a more expansive range, you will walk away feeling like you are walking away from a culinary conquest..

A...

Treat all guests equally! Decent food, terrible services( specially to those that are not white). Went here on Holi, which was a Monday. Looked pretty busy inside, but so what? It seemed like the owner or manger was the main waitress. She was very courteous, attentive and open to all the customers, besides us. She was nice when we first came in, but things changed quickly. When more customers started coming in, we disappeared. Waited for our check for a while, while she attended to the patrons who I suppose were regulars. Gave them their check right away, checked in with them.. also gave them free lassi’s. Look, I don’t care about a free lassi. I could care less. The fact that I had to walk to the bar to pay my bill was enough for me. We spent a decent amount( $120). That should account for a check in or friendly hello?

Bottom line. Dress to impress to get service. I literally wore a sweatshirt and didnt care. I know now that I need to dress up since I know I won’t get decent service. It takes a few seconds to ask a guest if they are ok.

Treat all...

Wow!

The best butter chicken I have ever had in my life.... So so so good! The chili chicken was also good, but the butter chicken really stole the show! :) The only reason I docked a star is because of the price. We had a Groupon for this place and that made it more affordable, but the butter chicken is normally $15 and you only get a tiny tiny amount. The chili chicken was similarly priced but it came with literally triple the amount. Not sure why the proportion sizes seem so random, but it wasn't a big deal as we were both full in the end since I gave my boyfriend some of my chili chicken. If he had just had the butter chicken he definitely would have still been hungry though.

We came for dinner and are wondering if it's more price efficient to come to the buffet. We definitely want to come back though! Staff were super friendly, and wow, that food though!!!!! 4 thumbs up!!!!!! If we are ever in Bethesda again we will definitely...