Maria Maria Homemade Mexican Cuisine & Bakery — Restaurant in Tallahassee

While the food here is ok, there are far better options in Tallahassee. It pains me to say this as I really wanted another locally owned restaurant to thrive. But the food here, which is advertised as both authentic and homemade, tasted like neither.

It starts at the counter where you order. While the person at the counter could not answer a lot of questions or explain some of the dishes, he did get people from the kitchen who could. We asked if the food was all cooked in-house and was told yes. But that clearly wasnt the case. They announced that their tortilla maker doesn't work so they buy the tortillas (which, candidly, were not very good). I then asked about the eloté, or Mexican Corn small bite. They said they didn't have it and when I showed why? Was it sold out? They answered that they were not happy with the product that they were getting from their distrbutor. That stopped me as Mexican Corn essentially consists of roasted corn on the cob, mayo, spices and cheese. What could they possibly be buying? Frozen corn? Prepared Mexican Corn? Even frozen corn on the cob makes tasty eloté, so I'm baffled.

The taco all pastor was served in a cold corn tortilla. The meat was tasty, but was overwhelmed with a thick tomato sauce. The guacamole was good, but nothing special.

For an entree I had chili rellenos. This was advertised as a family recipe. It came served in a large bowl, where the 2 chili rellenos were completely submerged in tomato sauce (see the picture: only the stems were visible). Quite frankly, the sauce tasted canned, with absolutely no seasoning, and for some inexplicable reason there were chunks of potato and carrot floating in it. They certainly did not taste like they were cooked in the sauce, so I'm not sure why they were there. This was all very sad, add the chili rellenos themselves were good. But the beef that I ordered on top was nothing more than cooked, ground beef. I also had some of the chicken molé. The sauce was flat, also with no real flavor or depth and certainly no heat. Rather than using whole chicken pieces, the chicken was the same diced chicken breast served in their taco. And the meat was clearly not cooked in the mole, as it had not absorbed any flavor: the sauce was simply poured over the chicken.

We also received 3 tin foil packets of corn tortillas on the side: each had 2 tortillas folded in half. In one, the tortillas were broken in half as they were folded when they were cold and never heated. The second packet was lukewarm, and the third was incredibly hot on one side but cold on the other side, making me think that they are heating wrapped packets of cold-folded tortillas on the grill.

Finally, we tried the Concha, a Mexican sweet bread. We were told that this, too, is not made in house but that it comes pre-baked and they finish the baking on site. It was ok.

The food here is just ok. If you want real Mexican food, there are plenty of other options in town, including just up Monroe. If you want good Mexican baked goods, there is an amazing Mexican bakery a few miles away in Quincy (who also sell amazing home...

I had heard from a couple people how great and authentic this place was, so I took my mom to lunch here on a Saturday for her birthday that was in a couple days. She ordered nachos ($10), I ordered a chicken quesadilla ($7) and a mimosa ($5).

After about 10 minutes, we were informed they had no mimosas, so we had to ask them for a refund twice before they came back over and claimed they were having a special so they'd only give us half price back. They wouldn't show us or give us a receipt to check how much we'd paid to make sure I hadn't paid the full $5. It took 5 more minutes to get their attention to ask for a water, and it wasn't even busy. The water was obviously sink water and tasted pretty bad.

After 40 minutes of waiting for a small plate of nachos and 1 small quesadilla with zero sides (just a simple flipped tortilla quesadilla that you could make better at home), the food finally came. They also informed us they had no silverware, so they brought us some cheap plastic utensils. Both plates were ice cold and flavorless.

We had to wait again to get their attention (and again, there were just a few other tables there at the time), but when I asked them if they could microwave my quesadilla, they said they don't have a microwave. They couldn't even put it back on the grill/press to warm it up. They brought me a too-big go box for the small quesadilla so I could warm it up at home.

So - service was terrible, the wait was way too long, food was ice cold (and they apparently have no way of warming food up), they make you pay for things they don't even carry, and they manage to make Taco Bell look less expensive and more enticing.

I was going to take some coworkers here next week since it had been so hyped up for me, but after trying it, I have no plans to return or recommend it to anyone else.

I understand being understaffed, and none of the people who worked there were necessarily rude, but they just weren't willing to help or try to improve the impression...

Well I would like to say first that it is great to see new businesses start up in Tallahassee. I would have to say that the location is clean and well kept. The staff is friendly but do not know they’re own menu. My wife arrived ahead of me to get a good spot, since we’ve noticed this place has been busy. Well there is no table service. You order at the counter and sit. Looking at the prices and location you figure, “Why no table service?” That aside one of the team members asked if my wife would like to keep my plate under a hot lamp, but I ordered the Shrimp Cocktail, which is served cold. We noticed a few things served were not as “Authentic” as they claimed. The tortillas seem store bought and the beans don’t seem to be cooked traditionally. The churros are NOT made in house. My plate, the Shrimp Cocktail was not very appetizing, too much sauce, and I wish it would have been listed in the menu that it was all together in the bowl, I was under the impression it was served with sauce and vegetables on the side. I didn’t taste bad, just not what I expected. One atrocity I witnessed, the young man serving the food brought food and placed it on the wrong table the gentleman at the table lifted the plate to his face and said “this isn’t mine”, his wife pulled out her receipt and said “you see”. The young man went back to the serving station looked up the right table and then brought the food to the right customer, after placing it on the wrong table and everyone speaking over it. That is bad practice. I would say the staff is courteous and small but needs to be properly trained on handling food. In all, I believe there are better Mexican restaurants in town with closer authentic flavors then Maria Maria. I would try Maria Maria again, I just hope there staff is trained better and hopefully cook...