Note: Please welcome guest author Angela Jenkins who is back from a recent trip to Walt Disney World.
My friend and I recently stayed at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort for a convention. We wanted a nice place to dine and relax after a long day of meetings so I chose the Maya Grill and made an ADR for dinner. I had a little anxiety about it due to some of the less than stellar reviews I had read about it. With any review, especially anything about Disney dining, I had to take with a grain of salt – I think people tend to write reviews if they think something is excellent or if something is terrible.
We showed up for our 7pm ADR on time and we were seating within a few minutes. Since we were seated so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to really look around, but from what I saw, it felt light and airy, and the theme felt like “upscale Mayan”, kind of masculine and modern, but very nice. Maya Grill is owned by the same restaurant group that operates the restaurants and Tequila Bar in the Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT, but this decor is decidedly more modern than those locations.
Our server was Boris and he was very pleasant and efficient. We didn’t know right away what we wanted, so he let us relax and look at the menu without rushing us. For appetizers we got chips and salsa with guacamole. For drinks, I got the Margarita Flight and my friend got a Blue Moon beer. The margaritas were fantastic! My flight included: Jalapeño, Pineapple, Horchata, Classic and Mango Blueberry Basil, all for $18. My two favorites were the jalapeño and the Horchata. The jalapeño flavors were so intense and good – chile and lime, agave nectar and cucumber… It practically jumped up and slapped me. But in a good way! The Horchata was a great compliment: sweet and cinnamony, like eggnog or chai, but light. If I had to order a whole margarita, I’d get the Horchata. The chips were thick, but crispy, perfect for dipping. The salsa was fine, but I was really impressed with the 3 ice cream scoops of fresh guacamole Boris brought us! It had few thin slices of pickled red onion that just set it all off.
Oh yeah, dinner…
My friend got the Chicken Enchilada Suizas, which she said was good. I didn’t try any because I was falling deeply in love with my Pork Belly Enchiladas. I’ve never had pork belly, but this tasted like a tender pork roast, but made out of smoked bacon. Oh my! The corn tortillas were nice and had really good flavor. The sides that came with it were the standard Spanish rice, which was ok, refried black beans, good, but not really memorable and a small scoop of corn soufflé which was the best of the sides – I wish I could of just had a bowl of that instead of the rice and beans.
My plate was $19.95 for decent sized portions. Our bill without tip came to $75.73. I don’t think it was a good value, simply because I have an idea of how much the items would cost if I bought them separately. However, if I was on the dining plan, I wouldn’t have minded paying that much. It was a nice splurge though because I loved my margaritas, my pork belly and my guacamole. Boris was friendly and efficient. I would consider eating there again if I was staying at Coronado Springs.
Angela Jenkins is a homeschooling mom of two tweens. (Also a nurse when not in Disney World, or planning for Disney World.)