MAIZ colombian street food — Restaurant in Portland

Alright! Texan here - visiting the area, and actually did so almost a year ago to the day with a friend and had left a review with them about this place. In 2023? Loved it. 5 stars. Today? Not so much.

For one, when I was here last year, was welcomed warmly by a young woman at the counter. Today, a different and younger woman not only didn’t welcome us, but also seemingly could not care less was short and curt with me and my wife.

Honestly, that’s fine, people have bad days and service industry is hard - plus, I’m not here to chat, I’m here to eat, but it set the mood.

I ordered the same thing I had last year, and had raved to my wife about. It was the pork, cheese, and pico arepa. She got a different one from their specialty menu.

Lukewarm meat. Cheese all at the bottom and entirely unmelted and also cold/lukewarm. Seemingly little attempt to mix the ingredients to create a consistent bite so the beginning was moderately warm meat mania and the end of the arepa was just cold unmelted cheese. Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but last year it sure was a heck of a lot better, mixed and melty!

The sauces were great like I remembered, but are the only thing that isn’t immediately prepared. Overall, disappointed from one year ago when I tried it and swore I would be back - a bit embarrassed actually as I brought my wife, who hadn’t come before, and hyped it up. A shame.

3 stars because I still left full, very large portions, and if you’ve had arepas you know they generally aren’t cheap so don’t let the price shock you away from trying in general - it’s specialty food in an urban environment.

Need to improve customer service and work on quality - the rest of the experience could be there and...

First time eating at MAIZ. Friendly staff! super casual: order at counter, get a number, sit wherever you’d like, lounge vibe.

Asked for a vegetarian option recommendation and went with the sweet mushroom and plantain arepa.

Received my food after about 15 minutes. Large portion arepa stuffed with plantains, mushrooms, and onions, with a side of spicy yogurt sauce.

The arepa was absolutely scolding hot, nearly too hot to hold and I was hungry so I dove right in after a couple minutes, but even then still extremely hot. The sauce was delicious, but super thick so I couldn’t really poor it on and sort of needed to scoop it out with my finger which was awkward and there weren’t any utensils. The sauce being so thick also meant that it didn’t seep down into the arepa but more sat on top. The arepa itself was tasty but under-seasoned and incredibly oily, to the point where there was a puddle of oil left after I finished. The temperature was probably the biggest issue and it really did not cool down much within the 30+ minutes I spent eating. Overall tasty but this particular arepa lacked toppings, seasoning, or any flavor complexity and was way too hot, way to greasy. Overall didn’t leave feeling super stoked about the meal. Definitely willing to try again and perhaps a different arepa will have me...

The food here is delicious and fresh. The garlic lover was full of flavor. The arepas are a must get. I could've eaten 3 plates just on my own. There are six different dips to choose from. We got the ajo and the spicy suerito and both were fantastic. I look forward to trying more menu items in the future.

This was my first experience with Columbian food. The cashier/server was very polite and provided suggestions since we let her know that it was our first time. She definitely took the opportunity to let us know what was popular and what her favorites were.

There is free one-hour street parking in front of the building - we were lucky to find a spot close by. We were actually pretty excited about it. We did see the parking attendant chalking tires, so make sure to keep it under an hour. We also found that leaving the parking space was a bit difficult due to cars stopped by the intersection. My suggestion is to park across the street (still street parking) on the opposite side and walk over. You won't have as much difficulty pulling out when leaving.

Overall this is a great small business to support that will provide a memorable experience for...