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Pio Maya - Highly Recommended
40 W. 8th St, New York 10011
bet 6th Ave & MacDougal St
Phone: 212-254-2277
After traveling to Durango, Mexico for a friend's wedding, my eyes were opened to how good Mexican food can be. The richness of the meats, the freshness of the ingredients - just spectacular stuff. I still think the pork taco I had at the wedding was by far the best pork dish I've ever had. Coming back to the states, I wanted to satisfy my Mexican food fix. Unfortunately, a lot of Mexican restaurants are Americanized. You know what I mean - the abundance of cheese and sour cream on the tacos, the 5 day old head of lettuce. To my surprise, we stumbled upon Pio Maya, which in my opinion recreates the flavors of Mexican cooking. Fresh ingredients and rich flavors. I go here about once a month and highly recommend it. Overall, I give the restaurant a 90/100.
My Menu
Pork Burrito - Highly Recommended
Chicken Taco - Highly Recommended
Rice and Beans - Highly Recommended
Tortilla Soup - Not Recommended
Other Dishes I've had
Half Roasted Chicken - Highly Recommended
Beef Taco - Recommended
Mole Con Polo Tamale - Highly Recommended
Dish
The key to this place is all the ingredients are very fresh. All dishes have a nice contrast of really rich meat flavor with the bright freshness of the lettuce, onion, and jalapeños (fresh, not jarred). The pork dish is spectacular and exhibits all of the qualities that I mentioned above. Pork meat is so rich and flavorful without being dried out. The tacos use double fresh tortillas (I think corn) which add tremendous flavor to the meats, lettuce, pico de gallo. Rice and beans are also phenomenal here. Rice is flavored with what I'm assuming is pork fat. These were the dishes I had last night. Other dishes I've had (within the last month or two) are the half roasted chicken which is ridiculously good - super flavorful and moist. Beef taco which is good, but not as good as the others. And the Mole Con Polo Tamale which again is ridiculous.
Overall Restaurant Experience (95/100)
- Food 9.8/10 - Great Mexican flavors
- Service N/A - You pay for the food and pick it up yourself. However, the people behind the counter are insanely nice.
- Atmosphere 8/10 - Tiny hole in the wall. Not dirty by any means, but not nice either. People behind the counter are Mexican, which is a good sign at a Mexican restaurant, and you can see their tiny kids every once in a while.
- Price 10/10 - Way cheap for the quality. A burrito is $6.75 that is super high quality. Tacos are $2.25
This place, along with Mamoun's, proves you can have amazing food in NYC without paying a lot of money. Mamoun's used to be my go to place for cheap eats, but this has definitely taken it's place. It's like having really good Mexican home cooking available to the masses. Go now - it's that good.
