Maven

We were in town to visit Willamette University for my daughter’s college tour and made reservations for dinner at Maven. It was the perfect place to rest our weary feet and unwind with a delicious gin cocktail and then some local Oregon wines. My kids loved their mac and cheese and pappardella pasta and my husband and I thought the risotto was one of the best we’ve ever had. We also shared a flatbread which was good but not quite as good as the other three items. We barely had room for dessert but we rallied for the crème brûlée which was perfect. All in all, we loved this little gem of a French bistro and would come here again if ever we are in town.

A nice and cozy place — candles, paintings on the wall, comfy couches. The food was delicious and the service impeccable.

This is a classy little restaurant set in French style bistro serving all types of wonderful little food. Several types of pasta is served as a carbonara, mac and cheese, gnocchi and pappardella pasta.
Risotto with sausage and kale and ground hazelnuts.
There’s a prize or a burger made in combination of cuts of meats beef brisket short ribs and sirloin.
Small plates are available to like olives and onions delicate squash ravioli, pomme frites a grapefruit salad and a Brussels and pear salad with radicchio and prosciutto.
Several desserts including crème brûlée.
Its inside lighting is a little dark but sophisticated.

Really good service by friendly hipsters. Started with house salads and frites. House salads were good, fries were freakin awesome. Colleague had gnocchi and I had mac and cheese. Gnocchi was good but very dry, should have been some moisture from butter or something. The Mac and cheese was rich and flavorful. Small but adequate wine selection. Terrific atmosphere. Recommend!

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that you were dining in a sophisticated restaurant in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C., in Capitol Hill in Seattle or in SoMa in San Francisco. I dined there a few months after it opened, and it quickly became one of my favorite dining spots in town.
Compared to other Salem restaurants, some may consider Maven’s menu sparse. But the menu is well crafted and changes seasonally.
READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE:

Maven is sexy. All those mirrors and dim lights. Delicious cocktails. Close seating… (thus the four stars — sat so close to the guy next to me last night we may as well have made out)
Tasty food with a sort of south-​of-​the-​border spin on it. Fresh and delicious. Tasty martinis. Wine list limited, but works.
Fun to face the bar and watch the action (and inaction). The owner is attractive and warm and sort of coasts through the room like a movie star, which it nice.
We’ll be back again next time when we are in Salem.

My go-​to place for strong drinks and quirky food. Definitely one of the classier venues in Salem. Check it out!

Favorite restaurant in Salem, hands down. Friendly, elegant without sacrificing common sense, just delightful. Look at the photos to get a sense of how this place takes advantage of seasonal culinary treasures to create delicious and original dishes. Not to be missed!

Chronically understaffed as though they’re proud of it — and they shouldn’t be. Seriously, hire some more people to help out. I get stressed and get tired of waiting/​watching one bartender and one waiter/​waitress handle an entire crowd.
They make like two or three good things here — but they are good.
It’s not a race, Maven. And if it was — you’re not winning.

I’ve never written a review for a restaurant before, but Mavens was worth the time! The food was excellent and would compare to the best restaurants anywhere that I’ve traveled. We live just north of Seattle where food is prepared to near perfection at fine restaurants but there is a new standard now. I ate the pork Wellington and my wife ate the Mac and cheese which were both to die for. I will come back again and look forward to it.

When I got my first apartment, my parents said I could have the two twin beds and the dresser in my childhood bedroom, as long as I could find someone to truck it over for me. That and some hand me down plastic plates and pots and pans, and I was on my own. Fast forward, helping my son get set up in Salem involved us driving 600 miles up with a complete set of new Ikea bedroom furniture, some hand me down leather barrel chairs, etc. Spending two days assembling them and moving everything in. Who is the more progressive parent?
The good part is I’ve learned to like Salem, with all it’s quirks. We have been to Davinci’s several times as our reward dinner, but this last time weren’t as impressed so on the advice of Unilocalers, and since it was only 2 blocks from our hotel, we decided to give Maven a try. What a great pick! We were warmly greeted by the delightful Jen, who, it turns out was the owner, and at least this night, also the bartender and server too. It’s a long narrow room, probably seating a max of 30 or so — great old brick wall, tin ceiling, and artful use of mirrors to make it feel larger. We lucked into a not very busy night, but I would make reservations next time.
Here’s what we had:
Some very tasty PNW IPA that was just what the doctor ordered for a hot night and a divine cocktail that was purple and had a violet liquer in it that I’d never heard of. I don’t usually go for the fru fru drinks, but this wasn’t too sweet and I could have drunk these all night long. Jen also picked the perfect dry sauvignon blanc for me to slurp with dinner while T had another beer.
Oyster Salad: 4.5 we shared this simple green salad with a vinaigrette which was topped with 3 oysters, perfectly fried. In some ways I wish I had it all to myself, especially the other one and a half oysters. They were sweet, briny (hard to maintain sometimes if they’re fried) and just the right medium size.
Scallops: 3.5 They were served on a bed of room temp quinoa and corn with roasted beets. I loved all the accompaniments, which Jen had warned in advance would not be hot. The scallops were a little bit of a disappointment, though. They seemed to have been marinated in something which turned them kind of an unappealing brown color. While the slight wine and salt flavor contributed from the process was subtle and tasty, they were almost semi-​ceviche in texture and lacking in the good sear that I like on my scallops.
Steamed clams with chorizo: 4.5 These were very good. They had just enough heat from the chorizo and the mirepoix in the broth lent a fresh note that made us want to get a straw. A couple more of the delightful grilled toasts that came with it would have come in handy.
We passed on dessert, due to fullness. Throughout our visit Jen checked on us frequently and was so natural and friendly. I’m not one who necessarily wants to introduce myself to my server and become bff’s, but we felt appreciated as customer, that’s for sure.
Food: ³⁵⁄₄₀
Service: ¹⁹⁄₂₀
Value: ¹⁸⁄₂₀
Ambience/​Intang: ¹⁸⁄₂₀
Overall: ⁹⁰⁄₁₀₀ = A– =5

So many great things to say about this restaurant;
The food was absolutely amazing! So fresh and flavorful. You can clearly tell that this meal has been cooked to order and cooked with care.
This is a very cute restaurant! Rather small but has a lot of character.
The waitress here was very friendly and sociable. One thing to add was that the restaurant got crowded really fast and they were not ready for a rush this size (there is only one waitress and one cook.) the waitress compensated for the slow food by being very attentive and constantly checking to make sure that we were comfortable.
The prices were rather high but the experience was definitely worth it; the food was absolutely amazing and we were well cared for.

Took some friends here for a little birthday celebration. The drinks are expertly prepared. The food is innovative and flavor-​forward. And, best of all, Jen, the owner, made us feel special and welcome. A wonderfully urbane little gem in the middle of sleepy Salem.

Wow! Didn’t know it would be this good. I had the special (scallops skewered on Rosemary). The taste was amazing and I ate every last morsel. The. We had a pot de crème. One of the top ten desserts I have ever indulged in.

A couple whiskeys and a Pork Tenderloin Wellington resulted in pure euphoria.

I finally found a place in Salem with genuine genius in the kitchen and behind the bar. Unfortunately there are too many line cooks in Salem that are simply in love with the word «chef» and do not live up to the title. The kitchen staff here has proven they know what they are doing.
I will miss this place for now, but it will definitely be my first stop when I’m back in town. Jen and Briana are doing an impeccable job raising the standards in Salem and offering a truly exquisite dining experience.
Thanks again for everything.
Bart L., again you are probably used to having your dinner ready by the time you roll down the window and count pennies. Servers forget to take tickets back to the kitchen. It happens man, nobody is perfect.

Maven is a real gem of a restaurant and my only complaint is that it’s located in Salem instead of around the corner from me here in Portland. I would call it a fine-​dining establishment with a sort of speak-​easy, east coast ambience. The menu is creative while remaining grounded and everything is well-​executed. Everything we ordered was outstanding, from the Farmer’s Market salad served with fried oysters and fired myers lemon, to the Pork Tenderloin Wellington and the Chilean Sea Bass served in a sort of bourride style with a flavorful and spicy broth. Cocktails and wine pours delivered great value, dessert was fabulous, and service was friendly and attentive.
This is a restaurant that is doing everything right and they should be proud of that. Entres ranged in price from ~$ 17 for a pasta to $ 27 for the Pork Tenderloin Wellington. These prices are justified by a general excellence. A must-​visit for food lovers living in or traveling through Salem.

Come to Mavens if you’d like to wait 5 years for your food…
I’ve been to this spot twice now… Wow are you consistent… Consistently crappy…
Came in with my gf — sat up at the bar — we then were given the drink menu… We had to ask for a food menu… After about 15 min of us ready to order the server finally comes back to us to ask if we would like to hear their food specials… Ok… Sure… He literally speeds thru it so fast I can barely understand wtf he’s saying… Thanks robot bartender… We end up ordering the risotto and the olive app… As well as our drinks…
They took a little while to get to them… But hey, it’s better late then never…
So now we play the waiting game… We waited 15 min for our olives… Yes olives… How long does it take to put olives in a little bowl… We then waited 45 min to get our risotto — the portion was toddler size — at a whopping 16 bucks… this is what we waited for…
In conclusion mavens is not worth the wait not worth the money. The only thing I can say I enjoyed was the building the space and ambiance inside — other then that it’s to pretentious plus lacks good service.

Kyle’s the best server I’ve had in Salem so far. The owner was very approachable and friendly! The food was amazing of course! Cauliflower soup was great and the smoked salmon salad was awesome!

Excellent food and service. Great wine selection too! A little breezy next to the door, but not overwhelmingly so once most patrons quit coming in and out. We arrived around 6pm and was half filled. Mostly 2-​top tables.
Bar is nice and inviting area. Lighting is good, liked the décor. Albeit the menu may appear small — lots of great options. We shared the daily flatbread (cremini mushroom, bacon and arugula) was fantastic! Also shared the braised pork shoulder, also fantastic and great flavors! At first we thought — oh wait this can’t be enough… But it absolutely was plenty for us 2. The polenta under the pork was deliciously buttery — why does mine never taste like this? ;-)
Service was also really good! I don’t know how that girl could rehearse all the daily specials like that — I would have an epic fail!
Go here! It’s pricey but totally worth the cost!