With all the stellar reviews, I was probably over prepared for my experience at Maria's Frybread & Mexican Food. This small neighborhood Mexican restaurant in central Phoenix offers a standard taqueria style menu with the notable addition of fry bread options. They are located on 40th & Thomas in the strip mall on the southeastern corner with the large FRYBREAD sign in the window.
I am a fry bread junkie. There is just something about a deep fried piece of warm and chewy dough surrounding sweet or savory options. I know the troubled history of the bread and its unique status among modern Native Americans, but I can still appreciate its place in modern cuisine. Maria's was listed very high on Yelp for this, and I always appreciate my Mexican food when visiting Phoenix.
The interior of the restaurant is typical of most taquerias in the Valley, but the service was especially warm and friendly. My order was taken and served quickly, with a fry bread taco with red chili beef. I was rather disappointed with the overall choice. The fry bread is more like a sopapilla lacking the chewy and pliable texture of native fry bread, but even as a sopapilla it was rather bland. The red chili beef was also rather mild compared to many other places in Phoenix.
The chips and hot sauce were as warm as the staff which was nice, but it is hard to overlook the fry bread especially since it is part of the restaurant name and advertising. The mild flavor of the red chili beef would be expected at home in Sacramento, but seems especially mild for the Phoenician palette. I am glad I tried Maria's, but there are just too many misses to recommend coming back.