We are so excited about all the restaurant reopenings currently happening at Disney World.

Recently, we’ve had the opportunity to revisit Tusker House Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom (for breakfast AND dinner), as well as get our seafood on at the newly-reopened Cape May Cafe at Disney’s Beach Club Resort (again for breakfast AND dinner). And we were there when Maya Grill at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort reopened and helped ourselves to a dining experience that Disney describes as “Nuevo Latino.”

Much like Mayan treasure, Maya Grill is a little hidden from guests — you’ll find it stuffed between the hotel lobby of Coronado Springs and the Casitas section of the resort. There have been some menu changes here, so how does it compare to our experiences at this restaurant pre-closure? Let’s find out… .

Atmosphere

When you walk into Maya Grill, you’re transported into the entrance of a grand Mayan pyramid, complete with high ceilings and moody lighting. The color scheme is mostly warm yellows, oranges, and browns.

The decor is what you would expect from a grand Mexican dining room — you’ll see a lot of Mayan motifs that include images of sun, water, and fire.

Seating includes booths, as well as standard tables and chairs. Tables are also pretty close together, so they aren’t necessarily set up for social distancing.

The restaurant space is HUGE and spans two floors — grand columns are scattered throughout both levels.

There was also live music when we were there — a guitar player — lending some nice atmospheric sound to our dining experience.

We’re dining at Maya Grill at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort tonight – they just reopened today! We’re enjoying some live music too. pic.twitter.com/GxCTcFIIPN

— AJ Wolfe (@DisneyFoodBlog) June 25, 2021

There are two levels to the restaurant (sort of). The “upper” level is really just ever so slightly higher (up a few steps), but there are some windows, which is nice. We were seated in that area.

But what we’re here for is the food, so let’s get to that, shall we?

Eats

Paper menus are available here, although there are also QR codes that you can scan on your phone to get the menu. A cloth napkin and utensils were also waiting for us when we sat down.

We started with drinks. There are several alcoholic and non-alcoholic Specialty Beverages to choose from, including Margaritas, Sangria, and Aqua Fresca. There is also an extensive Beer List, although don’t expect to see anything too unique here (unless White Claw and Bud Light somehow became exotic imports and we missed that memo!).

Wine drinkers have some pretty good choices, too, and wines can be ordered by the bottle or glass.

For those who like Handcrafted Cocktails, there are some interesting choices and flavors. You might notice some similarities here between the margs and some of the drinks at La Cava del Tequila in EPCOT (even down to the black ant salt rim on some!).

And of course, there’s a good selection of Tequila.

There are a variety of Starters available, including Empanadas, Quesadillas, Chips and Salsa, and more. There are also three salads to choose from.

The Entrees are pretty standard for a Mexican restaurant, although there are some new options here, including plant-based Chicken Enchiladas, a Bacon Cheddar Burger, and a Monterey Chicken Sandwich. And the Rib Eye here is now served in a taco (LOL, not like…a whole steak in a taco. That would be weird. It’s shaved ribeye!).

So what’s for dessert? Well, there are only three choices: Sorbet, an Impossible Cake, and Fried Baby Churros.

 

We chose the Traditional Margarita Flight, which includes La Clasica, Blood Orange, and Horchata Margaritas.

The La Clasica is basically a traditional Lime Margarita with a Salted Rim and Lime Slice. It wasn’t too strong, but tasted great!

The Blood Orange Margarita was pretty AND fruity. If you’ve had the blood orange at La Cava, this will taste familiar. It didn’t taste too strong or sweet but had a nice refreshing flavor most will enjoy. Our server said it was served with black ant salt on the rim but having dabbled in Disney World ant salts (yep. Totally a thing.) we thought this seemed much more like the telltale hot red/pink of the hibiscus salt. 

The Horchata Margarita was the hit for us — and this one we’re sure was served with a Black Ant Salt Rim! We loved everything about this!  The creaminess of the drink paired with the Cinnamon flavor that came through with each sip was really lovely.

The flight is also well-priced at $19, especially when you get three good sizes of margaritas to try that are a lot of fun.

We decided we wanted to get in on some chip dipping action, so ordered the Guacamole for $10.50. It was SO good, especially topped with Diced Strawberries. The strawberries may seem a bit odd at first but it’s actually not an uncommon pairing and went really well together. And the House Made Chips were perfectly fresh and salty, which is really all you want in a tortilla chip, right?

The texture of the Guacamole was smooth, and we loved that it had small chunks of Avocado, Cilantro, and Onion in it. It’s also a pretty good size, which makes it easily shareable!

But we weren’t done with chips because we also ordered the Fiesta Nachos for $14. These also include those wonderful House Made Chips, along with Pickled Jalapeños, Diced Tomatoes, Scallions, Poblano Cream, Monterey Jack Cheese, Mexican Crema, Pico de Gallo, and Sour Cream. And our nachos had Chili on them, too, because we’re extra.

The flavors here were on point, and with the chili, this could easily have been an entree (and it’s sharable). They were also super cheesy (you know how important that is to us) and there were LOADS of toppings. The chips did get a little soggy on the bottom, but it’s worth it with all that cheesy goodness. (Sometimes those cheesy-soaked bottom nachos are the best though, right?!) And hey, we still had the basket of chips that came with the guacamole, so we used those, too — no shame in our game!

We grabbed the regular Chicken Enchiladas. These are made with Corn Tortillas, Chicken Tinga, Salsa Verde, Mexican Crema, Cotija Cheese, Black Beans, Onion Straws are served with Fried Plantains. There was also a Sliced Radish on top.

These were SO loaded with cheese, we couldn’t help but be happy about it. And that Cotija Cheese literally melted into everything — YUM! We found the Fried Onion Straws an interesting addition, but we didn’t feel like the enchiladas needed them.

Oh, and those Plantains? PERFECTLY sweet and fried just right. But we only got three lil bitty pieces! More plantains, plz! This was a really tasty dish, but when it comes down to it, we’re still not entirely sure this entree is worth $26 (especially considering you only get three plantains!). This felt almost more like an appetizer to us in size.

Next up was the Sizzling Beef Skillet. But they accidentally brought out the Chicken Fajita Skillet, so we ended up with both! The skillets are both served with Bell Peppers, Onions, Black Beans, Rice, Pico de Gallo, Lettuce, Sour Cream, Monterey Jack Cheese, and Guacamole. Basically, all the hits you’d expect in a sizzling plate of fajitas.

They come with four small Flour Tortillas as well.

Although both were good, we loved the sizzle on the Sizzling Steak Fajitas. We also felt the portion of meat and veggies was good on both skillets.

We had plenty of meat and veggies to pack into our tortillas.

The Rice, which had plantains mixed into it, was pretty delicious. The Black Beans had that yummy Cotija Cheese on top, and that added even more wonderful flavor to them. SO good. Unlike with the Chicken Enchiladas, we felt this entree was actually worth the money ($27 for the beef and $25 for the chicken).

For dessert, it was a no-brainer because it’s all about the Churros. They’re served with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce.

And, well, we have a confession — these are the best churros we’ve had at Disney World! Say what? Seriously. Hear us out. They were so SUGARY, fresh, and warm — like everything a good churro should be. And then that caramel sauce — we can’t even. But also that ice cream blew us away — we wish we could get it in a cone EVERYWHERE at Disney World.

This dessert was worth $10 and almost worth making the trek across Disney World to Coronado Springs to get it.

Nosh or Not

Grab a table at Maya Grill if…

• You’re staying at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and don’t want to leave the resort for a decent meal.
• You have a craving for standard Mexican restaurant-style food.
• You’re looking for Mexican food but just can’t score a reservation in EPCOT or Disney Springs last minute. Maya Grill usually has last-minute availability.

Skip Maya Grill if…

• You’re not staying in the Animal Kingdom area — if you don’t have your own vehicle, your only way here is via rideshare or by taking a Disney bus from a theme park or Disney Springs.
• You want more adventurous Latin-inspired food that isn’t just tacos, fajitas, and empanadas.
• You’re on a budget. This isn’t exactly the cheapest Mexican food on property — you could always just go to La Cantina de San Angel instead for similar (albeit not QUITE as good) food.

Overall

Although Maya Grill does offer some pretty delicious Mexican fare, we’re a little disappointed that it’s not quite as “Nuevo Latino” as its description merits. There’s nothing new here at all that you can’t get at other Mexican restaurants, although we did like the addition of plantains in the rice and strawberries on top of the guacamole. So fruit. We liked the added fruit .

However, we do have to say the Churros almost make it worth it, along with that Dulche de Leche Ice Cream. Plus, we usually ARE driving, so it would be easy to pop in here when we just want dessert and a drink. But you do have to ask yourself if you really want to travel so far just to have some amazing churros (and the answer might depend on your mood at the time. And your commitment to churros!).

But if you’re staying at Coronado Springs, Maya Grill is a solid bet for a good meal, and that would make it convenient for that resort’s guests. But for everyone else? Well, that’s for you to decide.

Check Out Our Review of The Newly-Reopened Tusker House Restaurant!

Have you ever eaten at Maya Grill? Let us know in the comments!

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The post Review: We’re as Surprised as You are Where to Find the BEST Churros (Seriously.) in Disney World! first appeared on the disney food blog.