Mayas — Restaurant in New Orleans

Instead of cooking Christmas dinner, we decided to dine out. I did a quick search to see who was accepting reservations on Christmas day (that wasn't attached to some big hotel charging $100 a plate), and saw that Mayas was going to be open. This place has been on my list of places for a while now, and I figured now was a good time to go.

This restaurant smelled amazing soon as we opened the door, the decor is lovely, I'm really into to the art they have displayed. The Christmas decor was really pretty, too. We were enthusiastically greeted, checked for our Vax card, and seated. The server we had was very knowledgeable, really nice, and professional.

Now, the food.... everything we had, from the complimentary chips and salsa to the entrées was delicious. Their salsa isn't a traditional tomato salsa, it's a sweet and spicy mango salsa that has a similar flavor profile to the dipping sauce often served with pot stickers in Asian restaurants. It's so good, they really should bottle it up and sell it.

We ordered the black bean and chorizo empanadas, let me tell you these are the best empanadas I've had in years. I used to buy my empanadas from a sweet El Salvadoran lady daily on my way to culinary school years ago, and aside from hers the ones at Mayas are the best. I had the Jamaican curried shrimp, and my daughter ordered the grilled chicken with black beans and rice with mango salsa, both meals were delicious. The servings were large, I ate all of my shrimp but couldn't finish the rice and veggies. My daughter took her meal home as leftovers she could have for lunch the next day.

I don't normally condone texting at the table during meal time, but I made an exception during this meal, because the food was so good I was texting my best friend about it and sending her pictures. We'll definitely be back. I highly recommend this restaurant. Make reservations, wear your mask, and bring your vaccine card. They are following...

I ordered a burrito with chorizo, but when it arrived, it had no chorizo in it. I informed the waiter who apologized and went to speak with the cook. He then came back and said, "sorry - but the cook said he put chorizo in your burrito." Since I had only take a few bites, I decided to give the chef the benefit of the doubt and assume that I had just not yet bitten into the chorizo that maybe it was all located in the middle (which is the worst), so I kept eating, but 2/3's of the way in, I realized there was certainly no chorizo to be found, but at this point I was already full, so I wasn't going to fight it. Until the waiter brought our check, I noticed an up-charge for adding Chorizo in my burrito - which made me angry. I asked my waiter if he could please take off the additional charge for chorizo, considering there never ended up being any chorizo in my burrito. He went back to the cook to ask, but returned informing me that "the chef said he put chorizo in your burrito, and so we are not able to take off the additional charge for chorizo". I politely pointed at my burrito (torn, eaten and without chorizo) and said, "but...the chef was wrong and maybe accidentally forgot to put the chorizo in, but as you can see, there is NO CHORIZO!" The poor waiter stood then anxiously, sweating. He was stuck between an angry customer, and I presume even angrier cook (most cooks are angry). He said he would pay for it out of his own pocket. Considering it was not his fault, I decided to forget to just leave and forget about the damn chorizo. I really hope that cook ended up finding a bowl of chorizo sitting on the table next to him, realizing he forgot to put it in, and went home feeling like an idiot. Bad...

Mayas appears to be in a category of its own... 'a melting pot of dishes and flavors from Spain, Portugal, South America, Central America, and Mexico, as well as Cuba and other Caribbean islands.' I found the menu quite intriguing and unique. If you've spent more than a couple weeks in NOLA, you start looking for alternatives to the standard Creole faire (wonderful as it may be, becomes redundant and not always that remarkable). I have not been impressed with the Latin faire I've had in NOLA so far, but Mayas is definitely exceptional. The menu is extensive...the most creative and varied Latin and Caribbean menu I've seen. The presentation was outstanding and artistic. For a cocktail, I had the 'Phenomenal Margarita, a nice presentation in a large goblet. For an app, the Ceviche Dorado, nicely presented. Then 2 of the Cuban Egg Rolls (like a Cuban sandwich, but in an egg roll wrapper. I could have stopped there, but was anxious to try the Paella, figuring it would also make for good breakfast leftovers. Very good, not like a Spanish Paella, but I like this yellow rice style at least as well although I would have preferred more saffron. The chef is really experienced here at Mayas. The food comes out fast, but looks like they took their time to make the dish beautiful. I highly recommend Mayas, the best Latin food I've found in...