Maya del Sol

We went to dinner at Maya del Sol in Oak Park.  We had seen it mentioned on both Chicago's Best and Check Please and decided to check it out for Natalie's birthday.

Ropa Vieja

Before the waitress came to give us her recommendations we had already pretty much decided what to get and actually 3 out of the 4 dishes we ordered were her recommendations as well.

Tuna Cevhice

Platanos de Ropa Vieja - this dish was actually the one that wasn't the waitress recommendation - but actually Natalie enjoyed it the most. We have had ropa vieja dishes before and enjoyed them and this was no different. Ropa Vieja literally means old clothes - which is kind of weird - but it is a tasty version of shredded beef. This was served with plaintains, queso fresco and pico de gallo.

Tuna Ceviche with avocado and watermelon.  This was a small version of a typical tuna ceviche.  Honestly we have had better ceviche, especially during our recent trip to Miami.  Some of our favorite ceviche in the Chicago area has been at Frontera Grill and New Rebozo (also located in Oak Park).

Fish tacos - with blackened tilapia, avocado mayo, pico de gallo and cabbage. They were what a good fish taco should be, light and fresh.  Nick was hoping for a bit stronger tropical flavor from the mangoes, but the dish was satisfying.

Fish Tacos

Cochinita Pibil - marinated pork shoulder. This dish specifically was mentioned on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. The pork was excellent and we would both recommend it.  But it could have come with some different accompaniments.  It came with a lot of black beans which we couldn't even finish.  And is also came with 2 different sauces, one of which was a habanero flavor which was way too spicy for even Nick to go back for a second taste (it was so overpowering it killed the flavor of the meat).  You could put all of these ingredients together on a corn tortilla but maybe a rice side and another more mild sauce would work.

Since this was a part of Natalie's birthday celebration, we were comped a chocolate mousse cake.  It wasn't available on the regular dessert menu.  It was fairly standard but a nice finish to the meal.

Cochinita Pibil

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Maya del Sol has what they call a "risk-free policy" - they encourage you to go outside of your comfort zone and try something new to eat.  If you don't like the dish you can send it back to the kitchen and they will take the item off of your bill.  None of the menu items seemed super adventurous to us.  We wouldn't have been taking a big risk to try them. (Also keep in mind that we have been to Latin American restaurants many times before so it isn't new to us.) There was a dessert that sounded weirder (that had avocado mousse in it), but since we got a free birthday dessert we didn't order anything else for dessert.  So we didn't get to exercise this policy, but if this is new cuisine to someone it is a good way to try something like a ceviche for the first time.

Final thoughts on Maya del Sol:
Food - overall good food.  We had a couple of home runs and couple of base hits. We've had this type of cuisine before though so it wasn't novel to us like it might be to others.
Service - good service, nice touch to have the risk free policy.  They also own a limousine which can take you home if you had too much to drink.
Atmosphere - we got there early enough on the weekend to enjoy a table outside.  After Piccolo Sogno, this is the second nicest patio dining area we have been to in the Chicago area. It is very large outside and festive.  Also there is a large fire pit for when the weather gets cooler and they offer customers individual blankets if it is cooler weather outside. The inside seemed nice as well but try to dine outside if you can.