Maria's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Moline

I would give negative stars if possible. First to note: I grew up in the QC and now as an adult, my family and I have always been patrons of Maria’s each time we come back to the QC to visit our parents for weekends and holidays. Of second note: My parents regularly frequent Maria’s on their own when us kids/grandkids are not home, to where their usual waitress, Yolanda, knows them and their favorite meal very well, and my parents greet her by name.

So we’re home for Easter weekend now and went to Maria’s to eat tonight. There were five adults and two children. I snuck away from the table near the end of our dinner to tell Yolanda I wanted to pay for the whole table. I began to pull out my credit card, and she informed me they only accept cash. I was surprised by this change but said “of course, yes, I can pay in cash” and pulled out a $100 bill. She said she didn’t have the total computed, so I told her it was fine just to bring me my change at her earliest convenience.

She came back to the table and said she needed more money — that the total was $108 and some change. I told her I didn’t think that could be correct because all meals were in the $5 to $9 range, and even if all 7 individuals got a $10 meal, plus tax, our total would be in the $70 range.

She said she’d go check on things. She came back and said “the machine told me wrong,” and that our correct total was $75. So now it was an even $75 — I found it odd that the change disappeared, and I knew that amount was still too high. We asked her how much tax equaled and she said “10 something” (shady that they’re taking cash only and now can’t give us the exact tax percentage they must charge, which is certainly not as high as 10%).

So my sister grabbed a menu and we added up everything we ordered, and then computed in the tax. Our total came to $63 and some change.

They tried robbing me of money and were unapologetic. Yolanda grew agitated and used escapism to try to remove herself from the situation, including pointing to a lady sitting at the bar around the corner and saying it was that lady who told her what to do, and that she only worked there.

I politely asked for my change based on the $63 total, and then walked back to the table to leave her a 20% tip, although it took everything in me to show kindness to a restaurant and/or waitress that willingly tried taking advantage of me. My gut tells me that because I pulled out a $100 bill, I was targeted. Makes me sick that we were treated this way.

Two things I took away from this experience: 1) tonight was the very last time my family will ever patronize Maria’s and 2) if I was the government, I’d be auditing their cash-only business, which seems to make up any number that sounds good and call it “the tax” — on top of undeniably overcharging patrons from listed menu prices.

UPDATE Waking up on Easter Day, I’ve now connected the dots. Tax in Moline, Illinois is 8.5%. So Yolanda (or perhaps the lady at the bar who may have been directing her) assigned my entire $100 as our table’s subtotal, and added tax to that. That’s how they arrived at $108 (and the change amount I couldn’t remember). So they just wanted to keep my $100 for themselves and then lied every which way about how tax was higher and claiming it’s more for flour tortillas versus corn, all to explain why I owed them a significant amount more than I actually did. The entity of and people operating Maria’s are THIEVES. May karma take...

Never been here before, but wanted to try something new. My friend and I walked in behind a group of people, the group was greeted but we were ignored. We didn't know if to seat ourselves or to wait. After we were standing waiting for a while and still no one said anything we sat ourselves. There was a table behind us and in front of us. They were both being helped and the table behind us was provided with menus and they were asked if they were ready to order. The lady walked right by us and threw 2 menus on our table still not saying a single word to us. Both tables continued to get service while we were completely ignored. No drink order, no "I'm sorry I'm busy it's just me working I will be back to take your order in a minute." Nothing. There was another lady working she looked at us a few times and saw we had not been helped but still neither waitresses said a single word to us. We sat there for about 10 minutes before deciding to leave and eat somewhere else. We called the restaurant and talked to the owner, the one who gave us the menus. She did not apologize. Instead she said that she does her job great and she's a great waitress and that she did nothing wrong. She asked that what was it we wanted from her. Then she hung up. By far the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant. If I could give - stars I would, doesn't even deserve one star. Never going back and I'll continue to tell friends and family of...

I have dined at nearly every "mexican" restaurant in the quad city area and Maria's is the top when it comes to authenticity and quality. I ordered a large combination which consists of a tostada, rice, bean , taco. and enchilada. Portion size was decent and It came with a salsa that was spicy yet tasted of fresh garden tomato, cilantro and spicy peppers, was some of the best salsa i've had. Beef was of better quality than La Rancherita and shells were traditional style fried tasty goodness. Enchilada had a very distinct cheese flavor that made it unique and delicious. Though not the cheapest place you get what you pay for and Overall A+...