Maria’s Mexican Fast Food — Restaurant in Goodland

My brother and I stayed in Goodland on our way back to Denver from the mid-west on a motorcycle tour. We decided to try Maria's for dinner mainly b/c our other choices seemed to be mostly fast food from a variety of different chain restaurants. We were slightly hesitant to eat there b/c there were no cars in the parking lot and no one in the restaurant at 7:00 p.m. (We later concluded that Maria's has a substantial take out business.) Even though Maria's bills itself as fast food it really wasn't in the sense we think of true fast food restaurants. I ordered the Machaca plate - roast beef with eggs. I was blown away. It was fantastic. The roast beef had been crisped up and then mixed with the eggs. The beans were very flavorful and the tortilla that came with the meal was clearly made fresh at the restaurant. My brother had the taco plate and his taco shells had been cooked to a perfect crispy/crunchy. Again these appear to have been made at the restaurant so were fresh and flavorful . He devoured his meal in no time. Portions of both meals were more than plentiful. While my hometown of Denver has plenty of Mexican restaurants I wish Maria's was here b/c I would go...

This place is terrible. I've eaten there twice and both times were bad. I only went the second time because I thought maybe we were both just having a bad day. Nope. Service was bad; we were kept waiting for about 10 - 15 minutes for someone to take our order at the counter. I rang the bell 3 times. Then, when they finally came out the back, the guy was rude and tried to serve the family behind us even though we were at the counter and were clearly there first. They were expensive...$2.50 for 1 lame little taco (and he said that was cheap!). No sides, no frills...just a sad little taco. Their burritos were inedible and top it all off, they don't serve green chile. The ONLY Mexican restaurant I've ever been to that doesn't serve green chile. Do yourself a favor and drive past this place and go to Tequilas on 17th and Broadway, or the hotel across the street. Great food and service at both of these places. Even Taco Johns is better...

This place is absolutely fantastic. Nothing to write home about in terms of decor or ambience which is fine, but it is very well kept and clean. The food on the other hand is just stellar. I stopped by on my way home to Denver from Wichita and was starving and could not have been more pleased with what I got, which was a couple of carnitas tacos, one carne asada taco, and an order of chips and guacamole. They were out of lengua which was disappointing, but what I had made up for it. The tacos were huge and loaded with freshly prepped meat, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, etc. The flour tortillas were stellar too. The freshly fried chips we’re also really good and came in a separate container topped off with melted cheese and super tasty guacamole all over which was an interesting way to serve it that I ended up enjoying.

Regardless, if you have a chance to go, please do and...