maria's

i would like to start this with referencing the high rating on this place. i use urban spoon often and find the ratings to be a great indicator of what people feel about places. that being said my experience was not up to standard. last night we went to maria's for dinner. the building was nice and clean and we were greeted by a very polite hostess. she was excellent at managing multiple people at the door and the minimal wait to seating was very smooth. we ordered both appetizers and dinners, the tostones, the meat stuffed sweet plantain and the cubano quesadilla were the most amazing things. dinners we had the chicken and rice along with a smothered chicken and shrimp. the food was fresh and flavorful, came out hot and enjoyable. if i could rate the food it would be a 5 outta 5, the problem was the service. it was terrible. it took 20 minutes from when we sat and ordered drinks (sodas) for them to arrive. my server alex was knowledgable with the specials but completely inattentive, took a half an hour from ordering our food to get our appetizers and 10 minutes from getting our appetizers to get a refill of our very empty glasses. to be exact our server never refilled our glasses, i had to ask the busboys to get refills which still took time. the servers would come around after the full glasses were dropped and were useless. from when we finished our appetizers to our meal was another 20 minutes and the drink refill delays were the same throughout the remainder of the evening. granted we were there for 2.5 hours, i had 3 glasses and the 4th arrived as i was getting up to leave. if i could rate the food separate of the service it would be a fairer decision: food 5, service 1. the 1 is for the hostess.

last night we decided to check out maria's, a charming looking spot for friendly service, and tasty mexican treats.
upon being seated, the chips and salsa served up instantly, weren't so great; fine but, not excellent and salsas are relatively easy to make great.

with an array of options we took a while to order and what we received was standard entrees found on most mexican menus. it was a nice night although thinking back i must say that the arroz con gandules had an odd cumin flavor or something and some of the rice was quite hard.
the chile relleno was great and the tostones were fantastic, with a dash of salt.

on to the shining star, the classic maria's red sangria; tropical, fruity, deliciously smooth red wine sangria, poured and packed with freshness and attentiveness is out of this world good, and perfect to wash down a good meal.

willingness to make items not on the menu is what puts maria's a little higher in my book, and would certainly go back for their version of sopapilla (not a menu item) and sangria... the enchiladas and tacos are basics and the lack of sour cream, without asking, sort-of disappointed me.

not a favorite but, certainly a good spot to check out from time to time.

excellent mexican, not a hint of spanish. you have to call it what it is, this place is mexican & latin american; it is not spanish. that said, it is pretty good mexican food, and pretty awesome sangria. the atmosphere is nice and the service was pretty good. prices are on the expensive side of reasonable (a single-person meat or seafood paella is $19).

worth a shot if like mexican, or you're in the area. definitely a nice change from li's standard italian stuff.

love maria's sangria!. you can't go to maria's and not have maria's sangria especial! it's the best sangria on long island! this alone keeps me coming back. that being said, i'm not a huge fan of the mango salsa, but others i know love it. however, if you go at lunch, make sure you try the sandwich mexicano - open face grilled steak sandwich with pico de gallo, avocado and melted cheese on toasted garlic bread, cut into bite size pieces with a yummy red sauce for dipping and served with homemade kettle style chips. definitely recommend!