Cantina Los Mayas

So unique and so delicious!! The menu is unlike any other I've seen, and the thing is that they are so, so nice here. The owner himself chatted with us and checked on us, he recognized my friend who has frequented their Clement St. location and he made us feel very special! Also, he was working hard right alongside the rest of his staff making sure everything was running smoothly, you wouldn't have even known it was his place.

We had refreshing cucumber cocktails and small plates: the crispy panuchos, the whitefish version of the ceviche (incredible!), just-made guacamole that arrives in a molcajete with a trio of house salsas, and the fried fish tacos. Everything is made with such care and attention to detail. Some things can be a little on the spicy side, so if you're sensitive to that you can ask. I can't wait to come back and try more things here!

I went on a Thursday a little before 6pm. It was already bustling! There was a line out the door by 7pm. I managed to snag a seat at the bar with no reservation when I arrived. The vibes are cool, though a bit hectic. They were playing a black and white movie on the bar screen but no closed captions on the first movie. There were some on the second film. It's crowded and people are all talking but it's not overwhelming. The food is excellent, the servers are hardworking, and I appreciate all they have to offer like the Mexican wine list. Well worth a visit.

Cocteau sin Alcohol
NA Margarita - Passion Fruit
I love a salted rim! The drink itself is sweet and fruity. The NA mixer has the slightest similar quality to tequila. It's a nice treat.

Chips and Dip
All the dips are tasty in their own right. My favorite is the darkest one. It has the most unique flavor. The reddish and green dips are a bit spicy, just to note. I like all the dips.

Ceviche Crudo Peninsula
The mango puree is so refreshing. Tart in areas, but this works with the fish. This ceviche is part of the Happy Hour special for Thursday between 5pm-6:30pm.

Branzino Frito
The fish with the habanero cream sauce is hearty and absolutely delicious. There was one scallop and one shrimp and they were so good! They come coated in the sauce. The difficulty with this dish comes with the bones. If you can manage them, this dish is well worth the order.

Can not recommend this place enough!!
Food: the food was absolutely delicious. We ordered a family style dinner and ordered a bunch of different items to share. Everything was so amazing. So flavorful and tasty.
Service: our server was so amazing. We came in a group of 7 and he was very accommodating and patient as we ordered and asked questions. He was very funny and made the experience so nice.
Ambiance: the restaurant was really clean and nice. Plenty of seating for small and large groups.

We happened to be near this new restaurant (where sushi bistro used to be) on Balboa Street. It's a clear WOW! On every level.
Food is freshly made, absolutely delicious!
Service is very personal and warm...like you've come home for dinner.
Ambiance is amazing. They did a great job recreating the space.
The pictures tell a thousand words...

Cantina Los Mayas is a great spot for a group dinner! They have a private room in the back that can hold up to around 20 people. The room is very bare bones, but the incredible food and service made up for it.

We tried a bunch of things and loved it all! Super fresh ceviche, jicama and pork tacos, flavorful seafood skewers, mole chicken, chips and salsa and probably more that I am forgetting. The meal also ended with the most delicious churros. Heaven!

Service was awesome. It was a long meal but it was nice to relax in between courses. The meal also came with a wine pairing, which basically meant that they kept the wine flowing all night long. Can't beat that!

The food is incredible. I'll go into more detail, but if you're wondering, you're going to have a delicious meal.

I was planning a large group dinner (10 people), and came across Cantina Los Mayas and decided to reach out. We essentially finalized all details via e-mail, and they were professional, helpful, and so, so accommodating of our requests, dietary restrictions, and more. They have a semi-private back room that's perfect for this sort of thing, and we had a blast.

Most importantly, the food was outstanding. We had several courses, and everything from the immensely flavorful homemade salsas to the phenomenal ceviche peninsula to the panuchos (damn!) to the jicama tacos to the seafood skewers (banderias pilche) and the kicker, the mind-blowing churros to finish off the meal...it was all delicious.

There were a few minor hiccups that day due to some miscommunication between the person I dealt with via email and the staff in the restaurant that day, but everyone was so cool about trying to make sure we had a great time that it was impossible not to.

I don't live on this coast, but I'm hoping to be back someday soon. Thanks all!

Came here to celebrate a graduation. Had a reservation for 4 people at 630 pm. Arrived 30 minutes earlier, which wasn't a problem. Got seated shortly after checking in with the host.

Reviewed the menu and noticed we received two different menus. One was for the Dinner menu and the other one was the Especial menu which includes an appetizer, entrée, and dessert for $45 per person. However, if you order from the especial menu the whole party has to order from it.

So, what we order:

Food:
- Molcajete 5/5
-panuchos 2.5/5
-mignon 5/5
-cochinita sopes 5/5
-asada tacos 5/5
- sampler dessert 10/5 (the best dish)

drinks:
-margarita 3.5/5
- uno mas y me voy 5/5
-cant recall the name but it was like an horchata alcohol drink 4/5

Overall, the food was really good. The service was great! The ambiance was nice. They had music playing but not too loud. Nice place for a date as well.

Excellent food! They start you with chips and three types of salsas: salsa verde, mango habanero, and a seven-pepper salsa. All are spicy and delicious. The mango habanero almost tastes like butternut squash with its creaminess, and was our favorite. The seven-pepper is dominated by smoky ancho peppers with a little bit of cocoa that reminds you of mole.

Though they specialize in Mexican wines, we had the Progreso cocktail with pineapple and elder flower flavors. It was not very boozey and could have used a little more alcohol. But it also had a hint of habanero to give you a bit of a kick.

For the main dishes we had the Quesadilla de Maiz and the Banderias Pilche. The quesadilla was the only vegetarian main dish, though our server said they are working to add more. I am sure they will be just as great. The quesadilla was made of corn instead of a plain flour tortilla. It complemented the vegetables, pickled onions and oaxaca cheese perfectly. The other dish was skewered shrimp, scallops, octopus, onions, and peppers with a papaya, pineapple and habanero sauce - also excellent.

We had also ordered the Sikil Pak, a traditional Mayan dip, as a side. It was served a little later than it should have been. It was a hearty dip of squash, smoked tomato and smoked pepper with ground pumpkin seeds and chives and habanero topped with shreds of hard boiled eggs and pepita seeds. Unlike the other items with habanero, this one did not have much heat to it.

Lastly, we got the flan for dessert. The syrup had a darker, more robust flavor than other flans we've had. The flan itself was also denser. A few blueberries and blackberries with a sprig of mint finished the dish. I do wish they had put just a little more syrup on it, but I'm not really complaining.

The service was good for a busy Friday night. Our server wasn't always around but was assisted by several other staff who were just as knowledgeable about the food.

While I wouldn't describe the restaurant as loud, we found the acoustics poor. We had a difficult time hearing each other or the server, albeit, none of us had loud voices.

As mentioned, they are working to add more vegetarian mains dishes. Many of the small plate appetizer (which we did not have), however, can be made vegetarian.

Hard to tell how good this place is! We first ordered from them about a month ago on a lark and it was absolutely delicious! We were stunned on how much we loved the food. We liked it so much we were telling neighbors and friends about it. Then tonight we ordered again, almost the exact same menu, and it was... ok. Maybe a little less than ok. Not great honestly. A world apart from the first experience.

We will try again in hopes that tonight was an off night. But yeah. Hard to tell at this point.

What a hidden gem in the Inner Richmond!

Amazing food, service, and ambiance.

And they're famous for being the only restaurant in the country that has an all-Mexican wine list.

I've never had wine from Mexico before, but as a self proclaimed wine snob, I loved their wine!

Can't wait to come back :)