Riviera Maya

• 5036 S. Westnedge Avenue
• Portage, MI 49002
• (269) 382-6901
• No Known Website
• Menu

When J got home from work yesterday, she asked if I wanted to go out for lunch.  I never turn down lunch.  The other option was a frozen pizza, so I was all for getting out of the house.

Our initial plan was to check out a new place in Oshtemo Township, but we found upon arriving at this new place that they are not open for lunch yet.  That’s fine…we’ll try again soon.

As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I mentioned maybe hitting up Burdick’s.  I’m always in the mood for Burdick’s, but J said she was thinking Mexican.  I asked if she wanted to try out the new Mexican place in Portage.  We looked at the clock and I figured we had enough time before I needed to go to work.

Riviera Maya opened within the past month or so in the building near the Speedway near Old Kilgore Road and Westnedge.  A lot of things about Riviera Maya will look familiar to most Kalamazoo area residents who enjoy Mexican food.  The restaurant is very similar to the Los Amigos restaurants.

We were met by a host who took us to a table in the large open dining room.  The dining room has a really nice feel to it.  The tables are surrounded by high back wood chairs and dark wood floors.  The centerpiece of the restaurant is a large pyramid right near the center with sand surrounding it for the kids to play with.

The large menu is pretty typical for a Mexican bar and grille.  J started out with a Mango Margarita while I, since I had to go to work yet, stuck with a Coke. 

Once our drinks, and a basket of chips and salsa, were delievered to the table, we started looking over the menu.

I went away from my typical order of a handful of tacos and instead ordered the Huevos Rancheros.  The Ranch style eggs are topped with a very spicy ranchero sauce and served with rice, beans, and flour tortillas.  I was a little surprised at just how spicy the sauce was.  It was delicious spicy, but I was glad I had a full glass of Coke nearby.  The eggs had a little bit of a crispyness to them with a slightly runny yolk that mixed in with the red sauce.

J ordered the Vegetarian Plate #1 which comes with a chalupa, a cheese enchilada, and refried beans.  This is a pretty typical order for J at Mexican restaurants and she seemed to like this one as well.  At one point, she said we would probably eat at Riviera Maya quite a bit if we still lived off Kilgore like we did when we first moved to town.

For L, we ordered a cheese quesadilla off the kids menu.  The plate came with rice and refried beans.  We gave L the quesadilla first and she went to town on the flour tortilla.  After eating most of the quesadilla, she started reaching over to L’s plate to eat the refried beans, so we gave her a fork to see what would happen and she kept going back for more of the beans.  She was a mess when she got done, but she really seemed to like them.

The bill for the three meals was a little over $27.  Like the aforementioned Los Amigos, you pay at a register on your way out.  So far, I’ve heard a lot of comments comparing the place to the other full service Mexican bar and grilles in town, but really, don’t all restaurants that serve a specific cuisine have similar menus?  Most sports bars have similar menus.  Italian places have similar menus.  Mexican places are naturally, going to have similar menus.  I liked Riviera Maya.  It’s not really a stand out type of restaurant, but it is another solid Mexican joint.

Chips and Salsa

Margarita

Huevos Rancheros w/Refried Beans and Rice

Vegetarian Plate #1