Just found this spot. I've been in the area a million times but have never noticed this place. There's really nothing that sticks out about it. Had a few extra minutes so I thought I'd stop in and have a pupusa. I have to say it's probably one of the best I've ever had! They really put an ample amount of filling in theirs. Which is really nice as some places hardly put anything in them. They were also very generous with the coleslaw and sauce. The young man that helped me at the counter was super nice asking how hungry I was to steer me to the right papusa for me. Apparently some have more filling than others. I ordered the pork, bean and cheese. Very good. I can't wait to go back and try other stuff. read more

Decided to check this place out for lunch since it's close to my job and it seemed to have good reviews. I ordered 2 pupusas de revuelta (mix of cheese, beans, and shredded pork) and the empanadas de platano (banana). The pupusas were really good and surprisingly not greasy at all which was great! The empanada de platano was what surprised me the most. It's a bit squishy and when you take that bite it just melts in your mouth. It gives you this banana bread type of taste which I loved! I would definitely say try out the pupusas and the empanadas! After reading the reviews and taking to some friends that had been there before they all said that they take a while with the food. I called and ordered for takeout at noon and they said it would be ready in 20 mins, but I arrived at 12:45 and my food was ready. Once I paid and got back to work my food was still really warm and delicious which was a huge plus! There is a parking lot across from the restaurant and street parking available too. I will definitely be returning to Maria's Restaurant. read more

Marias Restaurant - Empanada de platano - Mexican Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Best salvadorean food in Bay Area. Their menu is super extensive and pupusas are delicious. Wish they could deliver at home.

This used to be my go to place whenever I felt like Homestyle Salvadoran food but this last visit was very disappointing. The service as always was great but the food has really lost its luster. For many years I have ordered the same thing...a braised pork rib with salad, rice, and beans. They usually serve it was a couple of fresh hot pupusas but this time there were none. The salad was limp and tired. The only fresh item was a sliced avocado. So five star service with two star food....I give them a three but will try Maria's again next time I'm in the area.... read more

Great food, we had pupusas, platanos, curtido. Good service. Nothing fancy, just darn good food.

Love their pupusas and rice. Super cheap too, pupusa, rice, sour cream and chips and salsa for $5.00! read more

Marias Restaurant - Yummy pupusas - Mexican Near Me - San Mateo, California

I made and order they told me 20mintures and been waiting for and 1hr already and they gave me the order wrong this place..

Service is really slow, been waiting for over an hour, other tables haven't received food either .

I got the chicken ranchero to go. Fantastic food ! Server was a really really nice guy ! 4 stars fir the food and an extra 1 fir the server ! Highly recommend! read more

Maria's is very good. We always get the bean and cheese pupusas and corn tamales. I've been here many times and have never had a bad meal. read more

Really enjoyed this place! I've tried other pupuserias, but this one was the best by far. We ordered the Pupusas Combinition plate and the Antojos platter (a mixture of Salvadorian dishes). My favorite was the calabacitas and cheese pupusa, and my husband liked the chicharrón pupusa and empanada. It was a lot of food, so we took home the leftovers. They were nice enough to give us something to take some curtido home. Service was not all that fast, but i expect a longer wait time if I'm ordering pupusas. read more

What fantastic food!!! Wow! Hot, homemade and very reasonable. Fantastic quality. Absolutely delicious papusas.

This is sad that I'm writing this review today, when this place first opened it was amazing! I'm talking about good home made food, very traditional and authentic. The pupusas were like being in El Salvador eating them fresh out of a grandmothers hand. The pastelitos were cooked to perfection and all the ingredients were fresh and well made. One of my favorites to order was "Sabor Salvadoreño" it has Yucca, chicharrón, plátano, pupusas, tamal and a pastelito! Obviously a plate to order when really, really hungry! Or enough to share between two people! But that was years ago. Now the service has gone down, the pastelitos were over cooked and greasy and even the taste of the drink (ensalada de frutas) is all out of a tampico bottle. I'm sad to see it drop in value but I hope they will see where things are slipping and go back to old ways! read more

I love this place! My hubby and I had -chile rejeno (stuffed bell pepper) with cheese, was delicious, -we shared a pupusa plate with beans and rice and it was very tasty, not greasy at all -a burrito, which was fresh and full of meat ( we picked beef). Prices are reasonable and portions are huge :) We 'll definitely come back! read more

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The Caldo de Res had no flavor and the meat was dry, the portion size was smaller than before. It used to be very good. The customer service was not good either. Disappointing. read more

I was searching for yummy Salvadorean food and found this spot. Solid eats, my favorite was the pupusas (with a rice masa option), fried yucca, beans, and platanos. Service was great. I loved that they had soccer games on while I ate. Our family will be back! read more

Got in the restaurant Talked to the cashier and he said to sit down that someone you go to my table. So I sat wait for more than 15 minutes and nobody went to my table. The was a girl that was grabbing the plates from the other tables, but she didn't say anything. read more

I when there order Pupusas and hot chocolate. They give me this molasses the it looks like chocolate but tasted very sweet like I have to ask for a coffee but coffee taste like water. They give you creamer they don't give you sugar I don't understand why. I know right now is a very difficult time but please try to server good food. Especially when I know is a Restaurant Salvadoreño and is on my neighborhood. In general very disappointed experience. read more

Used to be a nice place. Went there today and it was 96 outside. The place looked very run down and it was at least 87 in there. When I ask the wait staff if their air was on, they stated it is, but they set it very high and it rarely comes on. We, at that point walked out. Most people eat out on hot evenings, but walking into a place as hot as it was in there made me think of the cooks sweating over hot stoves preparing your food. Sorry, we got up and walked out. I'm sure we will not be returning. They obviously don't care enough about their employees to make them as comfortable as possible, so why would they care about their customers? read more

Delicious pupusas (cheese my favorite) Love the food but it takes a while to be served. Be patient. It's worth it. read more

I love finding these out of the way places with solid food. Maria's is a combination Salvadorean/Mexican restaurant. They have many entrees and they do the requisite pupusas. We had ordered the asada and costillas de puerco plates and some pupusas, but they gorgot the latter. The asad and costillas were very good though and to bolster the meal, the frijoles and rice were also very good. Those things are usually afterthoughts but it's good to see them pay attention to the quality of the sides too. It's very much like having someone's home cooking. If they only hadnt forgotten the pupusas....4.25 stars read more

So I'm off work, it's 2100 and I'm hungry. Been craving for a good burrito for the longest and I mean a long time. I haven't found a good place yet in the peninsula besides this place on Grand ave in SSF. Anyways back to my hunger story. It donned on me that there is a few places for Latin food in San Mateo near where I take my dry cleaning to. Ok this is getting too long, here it is. I chose this place cuz it seems like it was quiet and that I can get my food quick. I get in check out the menu and couldn't find a burrito on the menu, maybe cuz I was so hungry k had overlooked it??? I mean the sign says Mexican and Salvadoran so I assume they had to have burritos. Ok ok I'll get to the point now. So the worker said they can make me a burrito. I said ok cool. I ordered a grill chicken burrito, wet. Everything but sour cream. Cool. I pay the guy and its $9.78. A Lil pricey for a burrito but oh well I'm starving and I don't care cuz the worker was really accommodating. So I waited 13 mins for my burrito, 13 mins. Guess it's not quick but not too long. Finally I got my food. It came with a bag of chips and some green salsa. Since it was a wet burrito I couldn't eat it while driving but I'm only 7 mins away from home. I could try to wait. Home. I jumped straight to the burrito. First impression was WHOA!!!!! What did I get? A massive burrito, at least one and half pound. Maybe two even. I didn't care cuz I dug in it and half way through I notice the chicken was a grilled chicken breast meat. No Latin flavor but the rice and other items were tasty. Matter a fact the burrito wasn't even hot let alone warm. Again I was hungry and they were closed so I couldn't call and complain. I bit the bullet and finished it. Sitting there on my dinner table stuffed and content but would've been better if the burrito was hot. I said I have to go back and try but again. So 3 stars for the price, temperature of food and wait time. Other than that the place looks like a cool place to sit down and eat. Great customer service for my one time experience. Will update review upon my next visit. Btw, I love burritos so I'm a big anal and picky. read more

Worth the money.. everything was delicious.. drove from Santa Cruz to San Mateo just to eat lunch here.. worth it.. :) read more

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Pretty good Salvadorian restaurant with great pupusas. I get the queso con lorco made from corn or rice . It's served up right with with drag curtido and salsa rojo ( not spicy ) . When I am craving pupusas or anything from El Salvador this place hits the spot . They have all the beers from El Salvador too and it's also a great place to catch a soccer game . read more

Place is kinda of quiet, clean, bright and has 2 TVs. The restaurant also has high ceiling so the place is very comfortable. The food is freshly prepared. The menu is authentic and more than just the burrito and tacos you will find at a Mexican restaurant. Quality is comparable to Chevy & Celicia's. Price is well worth it. read more

This seemed like a super hole-in-the-walk restaurant with some pretty good food. We had dinner here kinda late (a little before 8pm) and we were the only ones in the restaurant. Came here because I was sick and craving a good Caldo De Res and it did not disappoint. It was pretty flavorful with big chunks of beef, potato, corn, carrot and chayote. My boyfriend and I also tried two pupusas, which can be ordered a la carte if you would like, and those were pretty tasty. Overall a pretty welcoming, cozy little spot. read more

After major ranting about this place, my husband brought me here to have some popusas. He said they were even better than La Santaneca in SF which I highly doubted. Well we got here and after a couple minutes they took our order. We waited about 35-40 minutes for our popusas. I got 2 and my husband got a popusas combo. They were not that bad honestly they were actually pretty good. The horchata was a bit burnt though. So I'm done with the first one and onto the second one when as soon as I make a hole in the popusa Theres a nasty looking hair in it!!!!! Gross!!!! Completely lost my appetite! My husband had eaten 2 by then but couldn't force himself to eat the last one. The hair was short like a man's hair and I only saw men waiters and cooks. I had read a review that said the same thing as I preferred but decided to give it a chance. What are the odds right! Pft! Well I head for the door as I couldn't even look at my plate without wanting to puke and they still wanted to charge full price for the order! Are you kidding me! Lack of customer service! My husband ended up payin for his meal and our drinks. Never shall I return here. I suggest you do the same unless you want hairy food, then by all means here is your place! read more

Great food, awesome service! Everything tasted authentic. Victor was very friendly and attentive. I let him know I was vegetarian and he provided a veggie pupusa which tasted fabulous! read more

The pupusas here are amazing ! Love this place ! Came here with my mom and we fell in love ! The food was extremely tasty and full of flavor. It does get busy here, but one of the servers I think his name was Ivan was so accommodating. He gave A+++ service ! If your looking for a great place to eat some Delicious Salvadorian food in the area, this is the place !!! Love !:) read more

I really like this place, very nice and friendly! A little pricey, but very good pupusas.

The service I received here is great! I know a little about Salvadorian and Mexican cuisine and since I am always indecisive about what to get, I asked the waiter for help. He confidently recommended pupusas which did not disappoint. I'm gonna always come back for it. I also pointed out to him the drinks other costumers have which looked new to me. He informed me what those are plus their health benefits and offered me free sample of each. I am impressed! Before I left, I asked for his name because he deserves a shoutout. Ivan Garcia, thank you for your awesome service to your costumers! I was honestly having a bad day when your excellent service made it bearable! You're awesome! Be blessed. P.S. The restroom is very clean. read more

Service was good, steak encebollado and Refried beans excellent. Beans servings too small, Pupusas ok, la masa aka dough not original corn. Too bad because the ingredients are good. read more

I'm a serious pupusa snob. For many years the only pupusas I ate were made by my friend's mother. Think tiny little El Salvadorean grandma whipping out enough pupusas to feed an army while watching her novella. For years I've searched for a local pupusaria, for the gaps when my pupusa supply was dry. As she got older grandma's visits got shorter and now she is permanently in El Salvadore. I kept trying pupusarias and nothing in the area came close. Had to head to the Mission District for anything even close. Then the same El Salvadorean friend dropped off some pupusas to me. I thought "grandma's back!". No! It was take out that she had bought from Marias Restaurant! They had me fooled! It tasted EXACTLY like what grandma made. I got to check the place out for myself today. 2 thumbs up! I'll be back to try the whole menu. We ordered the pupusas platter and also the platanos. Everything was awesome. 3 pupusas with beans & rice plus the salad and tomato dressing for less than $10. The pupusas were a good size, full of filling (not too much masa) and not greasy. I will be back often! FYI - I live near downtown San Mateo and think of San Mateo on the other side of 101 as a black hole. I never go there. I will go there often for pupusas now. read more

If you can get past all the misspelled words on the menu (literally from cover to cover), you won't be disappointed by the pupusas. Not the best I've ever had (I'm dating a Salvadorian), but the best I've had in the peninsula since I moved here in August of 2013. Don't get the Horchata. It tastes like the cheap powder at Mexican stores. Don't get the atol de elote. The right taste is there, but they give you half a cup of corn kernels, when it should all be blended. They don't give ice in the water. I don't see what people are raving about, really. read more

This place is absolutely delicious ! Nice people and a beautiful clean atmosphere:) I love the bean and cheese pupusas . read more

Marias Restaurant - USA+ El Salvador =yummy - Mexican Near Me - San Mateo, California

Their pupusas are so wonderful! I'm glad I finally found a place! The only thing is that my boyfriend had a bad experience when he went by himself. Unfortunately, he ordered before 3 other parties, but waited 40 minutes to get his food, and he's pretty sure it's because he was the only white guy there. Great food, but let's not discriminate against each other, please. read more

The people are very nice but the wait is forever, you have to ask them for a refill and the food is not that good. I got the huevos rancherros which were okayish but my friend got a dish and he was quite sure that it was frozen food which they just heated. He was very disappointed. So to sum it up I cannot recommend this place to anybody. Cheers read more

Friendly, welcoming staff. Amazing food...we all had the Pupusa combo and were very impressed.

Went to eat some pupusas with my family for dinner and we thought they were delicious, everything was great. We had some pupusas from there before but didn't wanna come back again because of the poor service they had but yesterday this young lady was great, always smiling and very attentive is very good having a good meal when you have a great service. Definitely coming back again and hoping the food is good as yesterday and also hoping the service is as good as yesterday too. read more

Limited choices and slow service. I live in the neighborhood so was hoping it was going to be a regular go to. Maybe comeback for breakfast