Corazón De Maíz

J’ai vraiment beaucoup aimé!! Pas cher, et tout était très bon et authentique! Le service impecable, les serveurs ont été hyper sympa avec nous. À mon avis, le meilleur du market. J’ai commandé les quesadillas (le guacamole… Géniale) et après j’avais assez d’énérgie pour continuer le tourisme à –20°C! Certainement je le recommande. Il y a deux tables et quelques chaises dedans.

This is a cute little Mexican fast food spot inside Byward Market. It’s mostly for takeout, but there are a couple small tables for 2 as well as some counter seating. Service is friendly and fast, and there are several hot sauce choices too! I had a vegetable quesadilla. It was good, nothing to write home about and a bit too much cheese. The meat tacos looked better (they have chicken, beef, and pork). They have Mexican sodas in interesting flavours like tamarind. It gets busy at lunch hour with people working in the area! A solid option for a quite bite — decent food and good prices, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come back.

Very Disappointed. I had never been here but The guy working here said their burritos were large and filling. I’m 5’1 and 100lbs, their burritos were not filling at all! I could’ve eaten 3 of them to be satisfied but for the price of $ 9 for one it was pricey. I was still hungry after one of them. What’s worse is that they put only about 10 small cubes of chicken, then load it with rice — watch them make it you’ll see. Nothing is a worst feeling than spending money and learning after it was not good value and you should’ve gone elsewhere nearby

Best place ever. Soups are amazing, food is always fresh! Service is great! You are always welcome with a very good energy from everybody there. I personally love everything, my favorites are the soups or the day, Mariana is an excellent chef. Burritos, tostadas, nachos, salads… Everything is delicious. When is really cold outside, there is nothing like a tortilla soup in the table next to the window.

I was surprisingly disappointed by the food here. I adore a good taco and had heard great things about this authentic Mexican restaurant. Perhaps they were just having an off day, but my taco was stale and its contents were extraordinarily bland. The restaurant is very small and is more take-​away appropriate. If you want to stay and eat, there are around 3 two-​seater tables and a small bar. In all, a rather cramped and uncomfortable setting with food that’s nothing to write home about. I won’t be going out of my way to come back here.

Staff was friendly. The burrito was excellent, but could be a tad larger (I ordered the larger size). The various chili sauces were excellent and tasted fresh.

Even though I haven’t tried many authentic mexican restaurants, I knew this one was legit. The pulled pork tostada was amazing and perfectly seasoned. The homemade sauces are a must, as they compliment the pulled pork very well. I recommend the sweet chipotle as well the jalapeño sauce. I went to this place 4 times in one week and will definetely be going back again.

Excellent food, great portions and very good service!

Having lived in Mexico for a few months, I’m willing to endorse this place with a stamp of approval. It’s legit. I went with 3 quesadillas; 1 with chicken, another with cochinita pibil, and another with barbacoa. Got them to go with an authentic Mexican Coke in the bottle for about a $ 9 total. I put together some different sauces to go and all of them were delicious.
The staff is friendly and pretty much all of them speak Spanish (the line cook busted it out right away not even knowing I speak it too). I think she was a bit taken aback when this gringo replied in her native tongue.
The only two things that seem to suck here are the portions and the hours. My quesadillas didn’t come close to filling me up, which just made me want to go back for more. The only problem with that was the hours. They’re located in the Byward Market area where just about everything seems to close around 6 or 7. So by the time I wanted seconds, it was demasiado tarde. Que pena.

I had the pulled pork burrito and it was excellent. The pork had amazing flavor on its own. It got even better with all the fresh ingredients added to the mix. Refried beans, guacamole, lettuce, salsa, cheese and all the different hot sauces.
Very delicious and I highly recommend if you’re in the area.

Loved this place. Chicken tortilla soup was the perfect balance of flavors. Burritos are also delicious! !

Best Mexican food I’ve had in Canada, hands down.
Ordered tostadas, 2 pork 1 beef. Meats were wonderfully seasoned and moist. Great selection of sauces… my favorite was the chipotle.

Having been MIA from the Market (and the Rideau Center) for almost 4 months, I could not pass up the opportunity of eating again at a place where I know I’d get a fresh, hearty Mexican meal, for the same price, if not less, than if I had stayed to eat at the mall. My partner in crime didn’t seem too excited when I made the suggestion (he’s lived in the area in the past but doesn’t know about this place…) but quickly changed his mind when we started eating.
I believe he said, and I quote: «This is surprisingly very fresh…» «I should have gotten that Mexican soda that you got. That tastes surprisingly good.» «That was surprisingly very filling! Good call on not eating at the food court…»
I got the chicken burrito and the mango Mexican soda and he had the quesadilla (w chicken) and coke. As previously said, everything was fresh, prepared quickly, and consumed easily too, since it was so good! Service is friendly and more importantly guacamole is no extra charge (definite winner in my books). Seating is limited, so there’s a good chance you might have to take your food somewhere else. But for 25 $ for our entire order, there’s very little to complain about, really.
If you’re at the mall and want a quick lunch or dinner but don’t want to be stuck with the food court/​fast food options or maybe if you don’t have the time to sit in at an actual restaurant. think about Corazon de maiz.
Prepare to be surprised!

This little Mexican restaurant is so so good! The staff was very friendly and helped explain everything on the menu for my sister and I. All of their food is super fresh and tasted great. Over my past few visits, I’ve tried their chicken quesadillas, chicken burrito and their nachos. All were very tasty but my favorite were the quesadillas.
This place is usually fairly busy when I’ve gone and there are not many seats but you do have the option of taking things to go. Overall, a delicious place to eat with fairly reasonable pricing.

This place is da bomb! I almost missed it as I was walking about with so many food options to choose from. And not to mention all of the delicious aromas in the air. The nose was definitely guiding me around. But I am glad I ended up choosing Corazon De Maiz.
I ordered a beef burrito — it was big and juicy and tasty and wrapped perfectly. I hate it when the burrito is wrapped poorly and falls apart on you. Not this time, it was very well put together and stayed together until the very last bite.
My mom ended up getting three tacos — the chicken, beef, and pork. She only finished two and was stuff. She thought they were very tasty. I ended up getting the chicken one and agree, it was quite good.
I also had a delicious lime green soda drink from Mexico or somewhere. It was fizzy and sugary and great. Thumbs up!

Siendo de Mexico les certifico que sabe a comida mexicana. Incluso usan ingredientes y marcas mexicanas. Tienen salsa de habanero de verdad! Cochinita, barbacoa, guacamole, frijoles, tortillas, pico de gallo.
Todo muy bueno!
Y de postre: pulparindos y mazapanes de la rosa.
También podrán apreciar la ultima fiesta.

I freakin love this place. As close to Mexico as you’ll find in Ottawa. The food is fresh, tasty, authentic and they’ve got an awesome range of salsas.
Plus the staff are great and the price is right.

Awesome Mexican food! Authentic, great selection of hot and verde sauces. Had the 10″ beef burrito, with real juicy, tender shredded beef and great toppings including beans and pico de gallo.

The burritos were filling and tasted fine. Would’ve been a 4 star except… they asked me if I wanted meat and I said yes, only to notice the extra charge on my bill after I paid. Neither the server nor the cashier mentioned that it will be extra. NOT COOL! I think charging more for meat is completely reasonable, but not if you don’t inform the customer. That seems a bit sneaky to me. (Same with when restaurants automatically apply 10% gratuity charge and never tell the customers hoping they’ll tip again accidentally. I NEVER return to those restaurants) Maybe some customers don’t mind, but service is very important to me.
For that reason, I could only give a 3 star, assuming it was an honest mistake.

This is one of those little booths inside the Byward Market building. I’ve walked by it a couple of dozen times and never noticed it. Hubs found it somewhere in his electronic travels and added it to ‘the list’ and we made it there this past week.
Here’s what I noticed:
— Everyone that works there is happy and looks like they like being there — and not just with guests. You can see they smile and chat and treat each other kindly just in day to day interactions.
— Those in the know eat there. A local TV personality was in there eating lunch which tells me the local workers like the food — always a good sign.
— The food was made with fresh ingredients — everything we tried was great.
— Surroundings are simple but cheerful. Basic utilitarian tables and chairs. Spots of cheer (like the table covering) add life.
— Quirky music selection — like an accordion cover of Cheap Tricks «I want you to want me». Fun!
I had the tortilla soup — it was heaven and the chunks of fresh avocado were like butter. Yum! Also had quesadilla’s (beef) which were so juicy and tasty. I don’t even know what anyone else ate, I was so focused on my own food. I do know whatever they ate, hubs and the son were both happy.
One thought — go ready to do take out. Seating is limited. If you get a seat, it’s a bonus. Biggest table will sit 4 and it will be squishy. Table for two or a single at the counter is most likely what you will be able to find.
Will I return: Yes — great stop when you are in market area. affordable.
Will I recommend: Yes.

I decided I am dead sick of winter and I am now in denial it is not summer yet. Therefore I decided to grab some tacos and Menchies tonight. I’ve been dying to try this place for a while now as El Camino was a pretty huge disappointment for me.
Corazon De Maiz is small, and easy to miss amongst all the different restaurants on Byward Market Square. Despite that it was completely packed. Awesome! I was greeted with a «hola!» by a very friendly lady, who appears to be named Marianna. This lady is the real deal. She was speaking Spanglish to all her customers and seemed to put love into her food.
I was extremely hungry so I ordered 3 veggie tacos and a tortilla soup. I found out the tortilla soup has chicken in it after I ordered it, duh. But the veggie tacos were fantastic. The ingredients were really fresh and the salsas that you could use were awesome. I can’t remember which I used, a green one and a red one but whew, my mouth was on fire. The 3 tacos, tortilla soup and jarrito came to $ 16, and it was a lot of food!
I can’t wait to some back! Tomorrow maybe.

This place gets me going. It’s the place to go if you’re craving authentic Mexican soft tacos. When I visit them, I always take 3 pork tacos to go. For just under $ 9, it’s a very good deal, and a tasty one.
The tacos all come with a laddle of black beans, pico de gallo and guacamole. For a little extra (¢50), you can get crema (sour cream) and queso fresco (fresh cheese) so make sure you read the blackboard and take a look at the toppings section before whining they don’t put nothing in their tacos. Besides the pork, which is actually cochinita pibil (I overheard the person behind the counter explain that in Spanish to some Mexicans that were behind me) the other offerings are chicken, beef and grilled vegetable.
You can also get lots of other things there like burritos, tostadas and quesadillas; I have yet to try all that. They also have a choice of soups (überdelicious tortilla soup and another one that changes daily).
After you order and pay, and before you complain that their food is bland, make sure you get some of the house-​made salsas!!! They have chipotle (spicy), moritas (medium spicy), habanera (deadly spicy!), salsa verde (mild) and my favourite: garlic & jalapeño (a little spicy).
The other thing I like is they serve their tacos on corn tortillas which are a lot tastier than flour tortillas. It is a pitty however that they don’t make the soft corn tortillas (and regular flour tortillas) on premises (they use commercial ones, I think). If they did that, I’d gladly give them 5 stars! I also don’t think it would make the wait longer since they have to preheat the corn tortillas on the grill anyway.