Some Disney World restaurants aren’t just about the food – they’re also about experience. And for us, Maya Grill at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort falls firmly into this category.
We’ve eaten here several times now, and it remains one of those restaurants we always return to. The food is good, the portions can be impressively generous and the atmosphere is particularly special – helped enormously by the live Spanish guitar music played every evening.
And there’s another reason we like Maya Grill: it’s often be possible to get a table as a walk-up.
While we wouldn’t rely on this – particularly during busy periods – it’s good to know there are places of this quality if you’re scanning your app, wondering where to eat of an evening.
But every time we’ve visited (including at busy periods such as Easter and summer), the restaurant has had availability when other Disney restaurants can be considerably harder to get into.
It makes Maya Grill a useful option if you’re looking for somewhere to eat without having to secure a reservation months in advance.
Getting to Maya Grill
There is one slight drawback: Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort isn’t the easiest Disney resort to reach if you’re not staying there.
Unlike some of the resorts around the parks, you can’t simply hop on the Skyliner or monorail. If you’re not a guest, you’re essentially looking at a Disney bus or driving yourself, so give yourself plenty of time to make your reservation.
Despite the inconvenience, we think it’s worth making the journey.
Maya Grill: Mexican lakeside dining
Coronado Springs itself is a beautiful resort, and Maya Grill has an atmosphere that feels quite different from many of the other Disney dining options.
The restaurant is a huge space, with a spectacular Mexican pyramid-style structure forming a dramatic centrepiece.
If you can, ask for a table near the windows overlooking the lake. The views across Coronado Springs’ spectacular Lago Dorado can add another dimension to the meal.
The downside to the enormous space is that it can sometimes feel just a little vast, particularly with the lighting. We think some different lighting choices could make it feel warmer and more intimate.
The live Spanish guitar, however, does a lot to create the atmosphere. It’s difficult not to relax when you’re sitting down to dinner with that music playing in the background.
Is Maya Grill open for lunch?
At present, Maya Grill only operates between 5-10pm, so it’s not open for breakfast or lunch.
However, table-service dining plans are accepted at this restaurant.
Looking to explore more of the excellent restaurants at Coronado Springs? Read our review of Toledo – an exceptional Spanish-themed fine dining spot on the top floor of the Gran Destino tower. While we love Maya Grill, we think Toledo is the best restaurant at Coronado Springs.
Or if Mexican food is your thing, make sure you check out the San Angel Inn Restaurante in the Mexico pavilion at Epcot – it’s a place we always recommend to our friends. While Maya Grill offers family-friendly fare, we think the atmosphere and more refined dining experience at San Angel just about pip it.
Maya Grill food review – what was on the menu?
We started with the tortilla chips… and it was quite a portion!
There were so many that we were very glad the restaurant was happy to bag them up for us to take back to our room. Otherwise, we might still have been sitting there eating them all night.
They were freshly made – so extra light and crispy – and served with a salsa and a queso blanco (cheese sauce) on the side.
It’s a generous start to the meal – although perhaps worth remembering when deciding how much room to leave for everything that follows.
For our mains, there was a something of a chicken theme.
My husband chose chicken enchiladas. These were rich, cheesy and full of flavour, topped with crispy onions and served alongside fried plantains.
There was a lot going on here, and the enchiladas themselves were very satisfying. Our only criticism was that the plantains made an already fairly rich and substantial dish feel slightly heavy. A lighter side would probably have worked better for us.
That said, if you’re hungry and want something comforting and substantial, this is a good choice.
My brother opted for chicken quesadillas. These were almost the complete opposite of the heavier enchiladas.
These were petite little tortilla mouthfuls, served with a light, zingy salsa, bowls of refried beans and lime crema, and a light vegetable-infused rice.
It perhaps isn’t the most exciting dish on the menu, but we thought it got the balance about right. It was satisfying without becoming overwhelming, which isn’t always the case with Disney portions.
If you have a smaller appetite, this would be our recommendation over some of the more substantial dishes.
Maya Grill kids’ menu
Maya Grill offers some child-friendly dishes for kids who may not be fans of the slight kick you get with Mexican food.
These include basic tacos, filled with mince or grilled chicken, grilled chicken breast, flour tortillas with cheese or chicken strips (tenders, as they’re known in the US). Dessert, when we visited, was a chocolate brownie – our son was a big fan!
However, the restaurant is really accommodating if your child sees something on the adult menu they like the look of.
For instance, my son is a fan of the fish tacos at Maya Grill. They come with Napa cabbage, charred pineapple salsa and chipotle aioli, but we always ask for those additions to be left off.
The good news is that Maya Grill has always been very accommodating when we’ve asked for changes.
This is worth mentioning generally because the restaurant has been very helpful with dietary requirements and adjustments whenever we’ve visited. If you have particular needs or restrictions, it’s definitely worth speaking to the restaurant rather than simply assuming that something on the menu won’t work for you.
What are the vegetarian/ vegan options at Maya Grill?
One of the dishes I particularly enjoyed on a previous visit was the vegetable fajitas, so I was disappointed to discover that they’re no longer on the current menu.
As with several of the meat dishes, they were enormous!
The filling included broccoli, corn, peppers and onions, along with shredded pepper jack cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream, all waiting to be piled into the light tortillas. You could add guacamole for an extra $2, which I did… because what are fajitas without it?
There was almost too much to fit inside them.
It was really delicious – although, as with some of the other dishes at Maya Grill, the portion was generous enough to become a little overwhelming. But I love fajitas, so that wasn’t necessarily a complaint!
The removal of this dish is more significant for us because the vegetarian and vegan choices at Maya Grill now look considerably more limited. On the current menu, I can only see some chipotle mushroom tacos, some salads and some starters that look as though they might be meat-free.
As someone who doesn’t eat meat, I’m not entirely sure what I’d choose on our next visit in March if the menu remains unchanged.
The steak version of the fajitas (ordered by my dad) remains on the current menu, so losing the veggie option seems a strange omission.
They were every bit as generous and colourful, packed with vegetables and all the accompaniments you need for a seriously satisfying fajita feast.
Hopefully Disney will revisit the options for non-meat eaters before then. It would be a shame for a restaurant we otherwise enjoy so much to become less accessible for vegetarian diners.
Dessert had to be churros.
They’re something of a speciality here, and it’s not difficult to see why. These were delicious little fried mouthfuls filled with cajeta – a Mexican caramel-style sauce – and served with chocolate, berries and ice cream.
It was a lovely way to finish the meal.
Even my son, who can be rather wary when it comes to trying unfamiliar foods, was won over. That’s probably as good an endorsement as we can give them!
Maya Grill – family-friendly Mexican food
Maya Grill is a restaurant we genuinely enjoy returning to.
The combination of the Mexican-inspired surroundings, the lake views, the live Spanish guitar and the good food makes it feel like more than simply another Disney restaurant.
The portion sizes vary considerably, so our advice would be to choose accordingly. The fajitas were ideal if you have a large appetite; the quesadillas are a better option if you don’t.
The restaurant is also accommodating, so if you have dietary requirements or simply want to make some changes to a dish, it’s worth asking. This is particularly the case if you’re vegetarian or vegan, as options look a bit limited now.
But overall, we really love Maya Grill. It’s easy, tasty Mexican dining in a relaxed setting, and that live Spanish guitar music makes the experience feel genuinely special.
For us, it’s one of those Disney restaurants that’s well worth knowing about.
