Maria's Fresh Seafood Market — Local services in Pensacola

Mom in-law suggested this place and we decided to try it out. Don't be confused by the seafood market in the front. Enter thru the market door and turn right. The restaurant is in the back. The only downside I could find was that parking is a premium. We had to circle the building a few times to find a spot. The table tops in the restaurant are stainless steel for easy cleanup! Get a menu from the stand and order from the counter. They will give you and number on a stand to put in your table. The food came out quickly and was super hot! I got the choose 3 meal and had the Grouper, Flounder and giant gulf shrimp (all fried). It came with 2 sides so I chose the cheesy grits and collards. When I say creamy, I mean the most creamy grits I have EVER eaten in my life! The wifey had a pick 2 and chose mullet and fried oysters. She chose cheesy grits and coleslaw as her sides. We had a gumbo appetizer and oysters on the half shell. Half Rockefeller and half parmesian styles. For desert they have bread pudding with an amaretto sauce, key lime pie or a brown cow! The brown cow is basically an Abita rootbeer float! If you are in town, definitely give this...

I have been coming here for years but yesterday was the last time. The employee called my number out and made eye contact with me then just stood there for several seconds. She finally started to make her way to me but decided to stop and answer the phone instead. After she hung up she didn't acknowledge me or look my way again so I thought she had forgotten she called my number. Someone else called out the next number and I spoke up and said I'm 79 but haven't been waited on yet. That's when they pointed to the women that called my number out and said she would wait on me. About that time the phone rang again and guess who answered it instead of waiting on me . In the mean time the person who came in after me was waited on while I was ignored. Left and went to Joe Patti's instead where I received fast and friendly service. Although Maria's is closer to me, I'll drive the extra mile to Joe Patti's where customers are treated...

I buy seafood from Maria’s 3-4 times per week...I like to buy from Maria’s because it is less hectic than Joe Patti’s.. I arrived today and only had to wait for 4 customer’s ahead of me.. it took 20 minutes before a sales rep was available to wait on me... If the salesclerks had been extremely busy, I would not complain but there were just a few customers waiting to be served.. there were at least 6 salesclerks and it seemed all were busy talking amongst themselves instead of focusing on serving customers... I have noticed this in past visits also... I understand when they are busy with many customers waiting to be served causing a longer waiting time but I don’t understand the lackadaisical attitude when there are just a few customers waiting to be served. I don’t like to be in their confined sales area for any length of time due to Covid 19 and if this lack of customer service continues, I will take my business to Joe...