Category: 
May 22, 2004
El rincon maya had been recommended to me by several people on my quest for authentic and tasty Mexican food in Barcelona; however, I must question their culinary judgement just a bit. The restaurant is a little hole in the wall in L’Eixample - better known for its fashionable fags. On first sight, I had to approve of its raggedy appearance heading the remembrance of truly great Mexican food having a bit of a rustic facade. The Mexican flag and Corona bottle décor really lend to the tacky appearance. The menu consists of many picky bits and everything is under about €8 for a main.
STARTERS
We began our feast with guacamole and nachos and, of course, the obligatory margaritas. The chips were nothing special as you might expect when ordering nachos. The cheese might have well been CheeseWhiz for all I know. The guacamole was slightly better. I suspect that there were real avocados in it which is a plus for BCN Mex where you usually tend to get some globs of green crap.
MAIN COURSE
Moving on to the main course we opted for Tacos Pastor – 3 tacos with chicken, a special Mexican sauce and pineapple (yes, pineapple), Enchiladas Verde and Enchiladas Chile Poblano. The tacos were mediocre wrapped in small flour tortillas, but lacking any excitement until I added lots of chilli sauce that wasn’t very spicy. The pineapple was a nice attempt, but didn’t succeed in carrying off the dish. As for the enchiladas, they were doused with sauce that suspiciously resembles canned verde and poblano sauces. No point in even continuing speaking about these two plates that came out lukewarm and were anything but great.
REDEMPTION FACTOR
Yeah yeah, sounds a bit harsh after all of my previous glowing reviews, but there was one positive aspect of my meal and that was definitely the margaritas. The little old man behind the bar was happily shaking away the margarita canister the entire time we were there – obviously everyone loves the ‘ritas here. I could have been content spending my evening eating guacamole and drinking the margaritas instead of wasting my time on the rest…and this is my advice to other visitors. If you are seeking a full on meal, forget it. If you are looking for a nice margarita and a snack at a cheap price, then go for it. Just avoid the poblano at all costs…
El Rincón Maya
“Auténtica comida Mexicana y coctelería”
C/ Valencia, 183 corner of Aribau
Barcelona
+34 93 451 39 46
Horaayy..there are 3 comment(s) for me so far ;)
Oops, someone posted a comment and I accidently deleted it. It was talking about Rincon Maya being authentic Mexican food - instead of Tex Mex. I can agree with this statement - the menu was authentic Mexican food menu - I was only stating that while the menu was authentically Mexican - the food quality was still poor. I’ve had amazing poblanos and moles and Rincon Maya was not one of the places that had them. On another note, I did eat at a little place up near my house that had a fantastic poblano sauce…If only I could remember the name…!
Sorry you did had a bad choice. It’s not only the food isn’t great but normally the little man has such a bad mood.
Good luck on your real mexican restaurant search. I am mexican and still can not found a real and nice one, but I must admit I know why. It’s so hard to cook a mexican food when almost none of the ingredients can be found fresh or at a reasonable price. Some restaurants import the ingredients but there are many things that are not allow.
You can try Mexico Lindo at La Forja, I had dinner once, it was correct and had good service. Avoid Maria Bonita.
Keep this food fashion.
L.
I found Rincon Maya pretty poor. Indeed its hard to find good mexican food around Barcelona. But as a Mexican, I must recomend “Esto es Mexico”. The only catch is that its like 30 minutes away from BCN on train, right next to Mataro, in Sant Andreu de Llavaners. Its the closest I’ve had to real mexican food. Man, I miss it so much!! Greetings!