La Maya Hellertown
June 2, 2026
In the vast culinary landscape of rural South East Pennsylvania, using the old adage needle in a haystack phrase rings true on many occasions when you are attempting to find food that doesnt fall under the category of tavern, Italian or diner.
I get it. The area is replete with my fellow working class folks who enjoy simple meals, but we are definitely witnessing a gentrification of areas once home to acres upon acres of farmland. Sprawling fields of agriculture being gobbled up by subdivisions of McMansions as far as the eye can see.
We find ourselves venturing outside of Bucks County to seek out food that doesn’t usually fit into the categories I just previously mentioned. Hellertown is a charming little borough in the Lehigh Valley county of Northampton.
Founded in 1742, Hellertown consists of a modest downtown that is home to a number of restaurants that continue to draw us to this charming hamlet. Typical Mexican restaurants where we live simply don’t exist or they aren’t very good. This place was highly recommended. We made the choice. Off to Hellertown we go!
Even though the place has a feeling of slight appropriation and a tad hipsterish, we do appreciate good food made with local ingredients. All in house liquor is PA made and it’s a scratch kitchen so we entered the vestibule with an open mind.
The bar and dining area is shotgun designed that seats around forty guests. It is well decorated and unlike typical Mexican restaurants.
Perusing the menu, we were greeted by an eager server who was definitely trained to steer us to fan favorites that he highly recommended. Having never dined here before, we put our faith in his hands and chose items from the menu he suggested.
We first decided on two cocktails. La Moda Mexicana and the Coco Pasion. Both delicious.
Our server suggested their most popular appetizers to start. The ceviche and guacamole and chips. We enjoyed the flavors of both dishes though they could have been simplified a bit so they could be navigated easier. The seafood on the ceviche was cut extremely small so we fumbled when trying to make it’s way to our mouths and the two large tortilla shells didn’t work well when breaking them apart as we dug into the guacamole.
We moved on to one of our favorite appetizers. Enfrijolada is Queso Oaxaca, corn and wild mushroom stuffed tortilla, bean sauce, habanero crema, and queso fresco. We found the flavors unique. It was a fantastic dish.
We shared the Pescado a la Talla which is butterflied grilled branzino, marinated in salsa verde, topped with red cabbage slaw, morita salsa, and verde cruda, served with house-made tortillas. It was delicious though we probably wouldn’t order it again. The amount of bones I encountered made it difficult to navigate and the micro greens made it difficult to identify the random bones as well.
We enjoyed our visit. Despite some of my mixed reviews on what we chose, we will definitely return. Their menu is extensive and veggie friendly which our dining companion really enjoyed as well.