For the past week I’ve been hearing a rumor that a restaurant called Maria’s Cantina, which already has a location in Southaven, plans on opening a Downtown Memphis location in 5-6 months. I’m told that the space on the ground floor of Barboro Flats, at Main and Gayoso, is where they’re looking to put it. Since I work nearby in Horn Lake, I decided to visit the Southaven Maria’s yesterday at lunch and give the place a try.
I found a reason to like the place as soon as I walked in the door and saw a Memphis Flyer rack. Flyers are near impossible to find south of the TN-MS border. For that reason alone I’ll be back, especially on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I don’t know how much the possible Downtown location will resemble the Southaven location, but I’ll describe what I saw: Large, open dining room, long bar in the back of the restaurant. I counted 10 beers on tap, including Dos Equis Amber and Lager, which are staples at most every Mexican restaurant. I didn’t see PBR. There were three HDTVs at the bar and an additional one in the dining area. There was a 2010 Golden Tee Live in the bar area.
Large chalkboards indicated that they have live music on the weekend – one of my favorites, Aquanet, performed last Saturday. They have a happy hour from 11-7 and there are also game day specials.
Menu consists of nachos, quesadillas, “build your own burrito,” and about 20 different Tex-Mex entrees. Entrees are in the $10-15 range. They also have a kids’ menu, and of course a margarita menu. Unlike most Mexican restaurants, they don’t provide complimentary chips and salsa. Based on a recommendation, I went with the chicken chile relleno, and paid an extra dollar for the Mexican dirty rice with it instead of the saffron lime rice. This is what came out:
It was unlike chile rellenos I’d been served at Rio Loco and most other Mexican restaurants… this thing was HUGE and was stuffed generously with chicken, topped off with dollops of salsa and sour cream and served on a bed of rice and black beans. It was excellent and more than enough food to fill me up.
As I was finishing up my meal, the manager came over and introduced himself. I wondered if maybe he’d recognized me from my blog, but no – he’s just familiar with all his customers and he didn’t recognize my face, so he wanted to come over and make sure my first time there was a good time. Restaurants where the managers have that kind of relationship with their customers tend to do very well – especially Downtown.
I hope the rumors are true. It would be huge for the Main Street Mall to have this restaurant. Would generate tons of foot traffic and would be good for all the business on the mall.