Mayahuel — Restaurant in Sacramento

started with the Asi Sabe Mexico, translated to ‘That’s Mexico’ on the check, a Watermelon and Cucumber Cocktail made with Blanco Taquilla, Lime, and a Tajin rim served in a short glass. It was light and refreshing on the first sip but very cucumber heavy and continued to linger well after. It was too much cucumber and I did not finish the drink. I returned 3/4ths of the drink when I ordered something else. It was $11 and was included on the bill. (I know businesses are struggling with staffing and financing so I did not say anything- I was happy to know it added to the bill and tip the server received)

I switched to a Paloma. It was served in a pint glass with a salt rim. $10. Delicious!

We started with a small Guacamole for $9.99. It was made with nice chunks of avocado. It lacked a bit of lime but was very fresh. It was served with a side of Salsa and fresh Tortilla Chips. The Salsa was very good and if you only want the Chips and Salsa they are $3.75. We got a refill of chips and we’re not charged for them.

For dinner I had Chile Relleno en Crema de Epazote y Camarón. $18.25. A poblano pepper stuffed with crab and shrimp. I substituted the white rice for the Cilantro Rice and I think that was my mistake. The Cilantro Rice was very good but more wet like a Risotto. The dish was topped with a very tasty cream sauce but might have been over powered or lost within the rice.

One of my companions ordered the Carne de Puerco en Salsa Verde. $18.25. They said the Pork was cooked perfectly and the Salsa Verde had a strong lime flavor. They also substituted the white rice for the Cilantro rice. We both agreed the dish might have been better as designed on the menu with the white rice. They also had the Asi Sabe Mexico and agreed it had a heavy cucumber flavor. They did however finished their drink.

The last of our party ordered the Tacos Poblanos de Arrachera. $16.95. Steak Tacos in blue corn tortillas, with sliced and grilled poblano peppers. They said they were good but wished the flank steak had been salted further. They ordered a Passion Fruit Frozen Margarita with a salt rim and said it was delicious! (Price unknown as we split the check)

This restaurant gets a lot of praise and maybe My expectations were set my too high because everything on the menu was a traditional Mexico dish. Overall...

This place was selected for a Tuesday (6/25) evening get together for a group of 8. I personally have never been here before and was very much looking forward to it. Based on reviews, it sounded like it shouldn’t disappoint. But did it? Here’s how it went:

The dining hall is super inviting with artwork on the walls. There’s a full bar in the back which is where our table was. We were seated upon arrival since we had a reservation. Our server was nice and was able to answer all our questions.

Our drinks arrived within 10 minutes upon ordering. The drinks were very good. My spicy margarita was on par with other highly rated margaritas I’ve had in other areas. Our food order took probably about 15 minutes or so to be served hot from the kitchen. My enchiladas turned out very good. The one with green sauce tasted the best. Other folks around the table enjoyed what they ordered as well. Some of us did order the Vertical Tequila - 3 0.5 oz 1/3 shot of Blanco, Reposado, and Anejo. The Blanco and the Reposado tasted the best.

Service was mostly good. Our server did disappear at one point and we needed to ask for him to order dessert.

Our dinner for the evening with tax and tip came to about $85 which included two drinks, dessert, and the main course.

So how did Mayahuel score? Here it is: Ambiance 5/5. Service 3/5. Food 4/5. Drinks 5/5. Value to price ratio 4/5. Overall experience 4/5.

While Mayahuel didn’t disappoint, it didn’t exceed expectations. The food was good but not amazing. The drinks were very good and on par with other high end drinks I’ve had. The service fell short of expectation. We did feel ignored at times and had to ask for our server. He disappeared for some reason. Expect to pay a premium for the dining experience. Make sure you’re with good company to make it worthwhile. Over all, it was enjoyable and can recommend dining here.

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I would have loved to give a higher review, but alas I have to be honest about our experience. This was a surprise birthday dinner for my grandmother. We were so excited to have dinner at Mayahuels. I have been telling my grandmother about the amazing authentic Oaxacan food they serve. Once we arrived for our 6pm reservation on the patio we were so pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere. It was such a lovely day and the weather, patio and music were perfect. The service however was very sub-par. We waited quite a bit to put in our order, our food arrived before our drinks, our drinks took almost an hour to get to us. Not a single server came over to refill our waters once. And when our drinks finally came I went ahead and ordered a second round right away in fear they may take just as long. And sure enough they did! I had to go and fetch our server to figure out where our drinks were. It was a little ridiculous. If our server had come over to our table to check on us at least once, he would have noticed we had not yet received our drinks. But he did not, our food was brought out by a different server and when I asked him about the status of our drinks he said we would have to check with the server. I had to go on a manhunt in the restaurant to figure out what was going on. Our only response was there was a little backup at the bar. But since we at been waiting for our drinks for almost an hour we had been watching the bar, the bartender was happily flirting with a couple of girls who were very drunk and had received two drinks each, two shots and other people were served who had arrived after us, all in the time frame it took for us to receive our one drink. It was very frustrating and sort of ruined the experience. The food was amazing as always but the poor service and VERY late drinks overshadowed the amazing cuisine. For a place that is supposed to not only be known for their food but also their bar, we were...