The family was originally planning a drive to Fort Worth for some tasty barbecue at Heim BBQ but plans got changed. We still wanted to go somewhere different and seemingly good food and ended up going to Meso Maya (Dallas) since it's close to home.
Image one is the Carne Asada. Menu description is "wood-fired marinated steak, homemade sweet corn tamal, crema mexicana, charred salsa, queso fresco, black beans." The steak was good, pretty good. It wasn't really anything better than many other places I've had it (or similar style) like On The Border, Chili's, Matt's, Chuy's, etc. For today, it hit the spot because I was craving red meat that was properly cooked. The sweet corn tamal was pretty awesome. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a side or a dessert. Either way, I could've eaten six, ten or even more. The beans were good too. I'm more of a refried bean kind of guy but these black beans didn't disappoint.
Image two is the Herradura Salmon. Menu description is "tamarind-glazed scottish salmon, charred brussel sprouts, crushed piquin, chile guero-chayote puree." My wife had this dish. She really liked the salmon and brussel sprouts. I tasted the salmon and thought it was good but nothing overwhelming and exciting for my tastes. I'm not a huge brussel sprouts fan either but these were done well.
Image three is Pastel de Chocolate. Menu description is "moist oaxacan dark chocolate cake with fresh corn ice cream, warm chocolate rum sauce." This dessert was damn near awesome! I could've eaten the entire thing myself but alas I had to share it with four other people. What could have made this awesome was being filled with warm chocolate sauce akin to those lava cake types. However, get this if you want dessert here.
Image four is Pastel de Moras. Menu description is "skillet baked blueberry cake with mexican vanilla ice cream, blueberry drizzle." This dessert is passable. It looked and sounded way better than it tasted. The flavor could have been better and the cake was pretty soggy. It almost seemed like it was undercooked. None of us were fighting for the last bite of this dessert.
Now onto the restaurant and service. We were served by a server-in-training and her trainer. She was very nice but wasn't fully informed on everything about the menu. Not a big deal. I know learning the menu takes time. She was very personable and what she didn't know, her trainer was more than welcome to "highly recommend one of his favorites" from the menu. The only problem we really had was the attentiveness to our table in the sense of drink refills. I'm a drinker. I don't drink alcohol but I do chug my Diet Coke like drinking water. I like to have a refill pretty close to being almost done and DEFINITELY before I start having to chew on the ice! My other guests had to wait as well for their simple drinks of water and tea. This is unacceptable and I tend to base the server's tip on how well they keep 'the drink' flowing, at least partially. I'm also aware of how busy the restaurant is and allow some leeway. However, we were eating around 2 p.m. and the restaurant wasn't that busy at all. She still got a pretty good tip (20%) from me because that's the kind of patron I am.
The only really negative thing that was bothersome was a about fifteen minutes before we left. A family, maybe multi-family, with young children sat in the booth next to us and then next to it. Their five kids sat in the booth next to us and were loud and obnoxious. They yelled, stood in the booth and reached across the table all while their parents just fucking sat in the other booth. They were so loud sometimes that we could barely hear our own conversations at our table. If Meso Maya wants to be a higher-end restaurant like they seem to want to be, I would fucking rein that shit in but not a single manager was around to proactively settle the little heathens. If we weren't leaving, I definitely would have said something to the management and parents. I felt like when I've been to the local Cici's and the parental figures there allow their little fucks to run around the restaurant like they're at a fucking playground. Management doesn't want to say anything there because they'd probably get shot. Anyway...
FINAL VERDICT: It's worth a try. They have some variety on the menu and we will probably go back to try a few more things. I'm in no rush to do so because I just wasn't overwhelmingly awed but it definitely has some respectable taste and flavors with the food that if I can't decide anywhere else, I could hit this place up again.
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Image one is the Carne Asada. Menu description is "wood-fired marinated steak, homemade sweet corn tamal, crema mexicana, charred salsa, queso fresco, black beans." The steak was good, pretty good. It wasn't really anything better than many other places I've had it (or similar style) like On The Border, Chili's, Matt's, Chuy's, etc. For today, it hit the spot because I was craving red meat that was properly cooked. The sweet corn tamal was pretty awesome. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a side or a dessert. Either way, I could've eaten six, ten or even more. The beans were good too. I'm more of a refried bean kind of guy but these black beans didn't disappoint.
Image two is the Herradura Salmon. Menu description is "tamarind-glazed scottish salmon, charred brussel sprouts, crushed piquin, chile guero-chayote puree." My wife had this dish. She really liked the salmon and brussel sprouts. I tasted the salmon and thought it was good but nothing overwhelming and exciting for my tastes. I'm not a huge brussel sprouts fan either but these were done well.
Image three is Pastel de Chocolate. Menu description is "moist oaxacan dark chocolate cake with fresh corn ice cream, warm chocolate rum sauce." This dessert was damn near awesome! I could've eaten the entire thing myself but alas I had to share it with four other people. What could have made this awesome was being filled with warm chocolate sauce akin to those lava cake types. However, get this if you want dessert here.
Image four is Pastel de Moras. Menu description is "skillet baked blueberry cake with mexican vanilla ice cream, blueberry drizzle." This dessert is passable. It looked and sounded way better than it tasted. The flavor could have been better and the cake was pretty soggy. It almost seemed like it was undercooked. None of us were fighting for the last bite of this dessert.
Now onto the restaurant and service. We were served by a server-in-training and her trainer. She was very nice but wasn't fully informed on everything about the menu. Not a big deal. I know learning the menu takes time. She was very personable and what she didn't know, her trainer was more than welcome to "highly recommend one of his favorites" from the menu. The only problem we really had was the attentiveness to our table in the sense of drink refills. I'm a drinker. I don't drink alcohol but I do chug my Diet Coke like drinking water. I like to have a refill pretty close to being almost done and DEFINITELY before I start having to chew on the ice! My other guests had to wait as well for their simple drinks of water and tea. This is unacceptable and I tend to base the server's tip on how well they keep 'the drink' flowing, at least partially. I'm also aware of how busy the restaurant is and allow some leeway. However, we were eating around 2 p.m. and the restaurant wasn't that busy at all. She still got a pretty good tip (20%) from me because that's the kind of patron I am.
The only really negative thing that was bothersome was a about fifteen minutes before we left. A family, maybe multi-family, with young children sat in the booth next to us and then next to it. Their five kids sat in the booth next to us and were loud and obnoxious. They yelled, stood in the booth and reached across the table all while their parents just fucking sat in the other booth. They were so loud sometimes that we could barely hear our own conversations at our table. If Meso Maya wants to be a higher-end restaurant like they seem to want to be, I would fucking rein that shit in but not a single manager was around to proactively settle the little heathens. If we weren't leaving, I definitely would have said something to the management and parents. I felt like when I've been to the local Cici's and the parental figures there allow their little fucks to run around the restaurant like they're at a fucking playground. Management doesn't want to say anything there because they'd probably get shot. Anyway...
FINAL VERDICT: It's worth a try. They have some variety on the menu and we will probably go back to try a few more things. I'm in no rush to do so because I just wasn't overwhelmingly awed but it definitely has some respectable taste and flavors with the food that if I can't decide anywhere else, I could hit this place up again.
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