Tuesday, July 10, 2012

French Fry Diary 391: Maya Grill, Coronado Springs Resort


When planning our most recent excursion to Walt Disney World, a short family vacation (The Bride, her folks, her sister, her husband and their son, the last of which was seeing the magic for the first time), The Bride wanted everything to be perfect, and that included the meals. We got the Disney Dining Plan so that made some things easier, but we still had to pick the restaurants.

The Bride and I had stayed at Coronado Springs once before, and that was where we were all staying this time. When we had been there before we had a wonderful romantic dinner at the Maya Grill, the modern Latin-American restaurant at the hotel, so I suggested it for the whole family this time. The Dining Plan would handle it so no problems with price. It was a big hit.

We were also joined this night by a cousin and his ladyfriend who live in the area so we had a full party. Our waiter Berk delivered fast and quality service, although the bro-in-law didn't think so, but personally I think that's his problem. ;-) The atmosphere was great as a solo guitarist played simple acoustic tunes in the atrium, some oldies, some traditional, even some new stuff.

Thanks to my catastrophic pickiness with food, the menu was a bit daunting. I did find something good, but I am sure they would have provided whatever I asked for. This is Disney after all. I settled on the Arrachera, a Mexican prepared flank steak, that's a sirloin steak served with Yukon gold potatoes, and vegetables to me and you. You know me, I exchanged the vegetables for fries if they had them, and they did.

Our meals came rather quickly, I was impressed, the bro-in-law wasn't. But the conversation was good, as was the company, so perhaps I just hadn't noticed how much time has passed. The steak was very good, the mashed Yukon golds with garlic and other not-so-fun foreign objects (edible, don't get me wrong) not so much. It was a good thing I also got the fries.

The French fries in question were steak fries, just standard frozen steak fries. They were baked, not fried, and had that soft and hot potato-ey consistency inside the semi-crisp shell. Good and simple. Sometimes simple is best.

Dessert included a variety of things including the chocolate mousse shot that I got, as well as the coconut flan The Bride said was to die for. It was a terrific night out, and one of the best meals I've had in a while. Two thumbs up to the Maya Grill.

2 comments:

Heironymous said...

What? The MG doesn't have the yucca frites anymore? See what happens when you don't go to a resort restaurant in 12 years. They get rid of the yucca frites. Which, if I remember correctly, were served with their Peruvian roasted chicken or the grilled fish of the day (which was always Mahi-Mahi). They used to have a mean fried plantain dish that we also loved. Your "fries" probably came from the Pepper Market Grill which is the QS restaurant nearby (if I remember the locales at the CSR.)

Unknown said...

The Maya Grill might well have had yucca fries but I didn't get them. If we go again, perhaps we'll try them.

Pepper Market reviews are forthcoming, and it's notable that these were not the same fries.