Maria Bonita Restaurant

So is this place closed for good? I haven’t seen it open for a couple weeks now.

A friend recommended I try this place since it’s so close to my office. I got a Carnitas Burrito which was very good. It wasn’t the giant fatty you get at Anna’s or Boca but the beans and meat were tasty and the price was right. The place is spotless and you can now order from them through

I am a local patron of Maria Bonita and have been there about 5 – 6 times. On my first 4 – 5 visits, the food was very good but the customer service experience was strange and unwelcoming.
On my most recent trip, I ordered a burrito for $ 4.95 and a torta for $ 4.25. Upon reaching the register, I was charged $ 10.97 including tax. After verifying the item prices on both the menu board and the paper menus at the counter (total price should have been $ 9.66), I asked why I was being charged that amount. The cook brought over the owner who told me he hadn’t updated his prices yet, and besides the burritos were now «double» the size that they once were.
Rather than say «the customer is right» or meet me halfway, the owner didn’t budge and forced me to pay what were essentially arbitrarily-​determined, post-​order prices. I paid as requested and left quietly. It’s important to note also that the burritos in no way doubled, or even increased, in size!
In any event, I do not recommend going to Maria Bonita unless you are extremely hungry and there are few other places open at the time, or if you are price insensitive. The customer service experience is dismal.

After reading the reviews posted earlier, I feel like I need to retort:
The best Mexican food is not from California as suggested. It’s from Mexico. Maria Bonita is an authentic taqueria. Having lived in California, Texas, and Mexico, I can say that this place is 100% authentic. That doesn’t make it the best food I’ve ever eaten, but there’s nothing staged here. Just some honest home cooking.
As for too much salt, and lack of spice; I credit that to them trying to tone their food to New England tastes. I have a feeling that at home, these guys kick it up a notch. All food up here is bland compared to what you’d get in Texas or California.
They do mostly take out, but when I’ve eaten there, I have never felt the food was stale. I like their flauta plate, and they actually hand roll the flautas when I get there-​not ahead of time. As for food poisoning, I have never gotten it, and the place is very clean.
Their refried beans are great, and the best are the homemade chips. yummy!
Side note:
Don’t make special order requests. They’re not trying to scam you out of money; they don’t speak much English. The prices are cheap, folks. I once saw a woman trying to ask them for vegetarian beans for her dog waiting outside. She wanted me to translate that into Spanish for them. Please don’t do that, because I won’t translate that for you. I’m sorry, your dog ate lard that day and loved it.

Staff: A
Food: B
Atmosphere: B
Price: A
Overall: B+
This is a great little burrito stop. The owner is a nice old throwback, and the staff is always pleasant. My wife and I always order the chicken burrito, which used to be $ 3.50
I encouraged them to raise their prices, which they did. Now the same burrito costs $ 4.50, and it’s still an excellent deal.
The seating is sparse, they don’t have drinks on tap, and the beer is not very cold, but it’s beer. The salsa is homemade and average.
Not the best mexican food in the area, but the fastest and the best value.

Maria’s is a solid 3 star joint. Jarritos and Negro Modelos in the fridge. prices aren’t too bad. and the food is generally good. The fish tacos have been dry on occasion but otherwise delicious. I usually grab one of their plate combos with rice and beans to go. Definitely fills a craving but I’m not too picky when it comes Mexican.
The people working here are cordial. I’ve seen them really lively when the regulars come in. The owner (I’m assuming) has even greeted a child’s stuffed animal with a fond, «Hola!». Adorable.

I agree with Geoff R. Nice mom and pop place with more depth of menu than Anna’s, but Anna’s is more consistent and probably does better with the burrito/​quesadilla type items. But it’s close to my house, it’s pretty good, and it’s pretty reasonably priced. The chile verde burritos are quite good. The sanitation could be better, and the review about food poisoning scares/doesn’t surprise me.

Didn’t know what to expect.
I’ve driven past this place for years.
I had the fish tostada and a chicken burrito. They both exceeded my expectations. Both of these items plus a diet coke came to a grand total under $ 10. Not bad considering how satisfied I was afterwards.
Seems like this place may be most popular for take-​out. But its also a nice, quiet place to sit and enjoy a casual meal.

I have mixed feelings about purty lil’ Maria’s taqueria but there are three things that tipped the scale to better-​than-​mediocre amounts of stars from me: they serve beer, they are right down the street from me and the owners are a trip. I am a little bit of a taco snob and the fish tacos were decent. You don’t see them on the menu all the time and these were San Diego/​Yucatan style with fried fish and fresh toppings. My dad is a tamale expert and he really liked his Chicken tamales. I do like the refritos also, authentic– soupy beans are a good thing, espeically for breakfast. The specials look good and are cheap (will try the mole enchiladas next time) but although the beer selection is good– a whole range of Mexican beers in bottles– they jack up the price a lot. I really didn’t like that they had only lemons not limes. That’s way too Boston for me. But like I mentioned, the owner is a old hippie type Mexican transplant and recognizes the vegetarian contingent in Cambridge. And his son has a rubix cube.

I cannot believe this place has gotten ratings above 1 star. It just doesn’t seem right. Either I went into the wrong Maria Bonita on Mass Ave, or the people who had the good recipes packed up and left for California… Where all the good Mexican food is. Here’s how I’m gonna break it down (in order of the way the food hit my mouth):
Salt: Whoa too salty! Oh wait, that was a chip.
Chip: Too salty! I can’t taste the chip because my tongue hurts.
Salsa: Ew. Bland. No cilantro. No jalapeño. Who made this? A person with out taste buds? And why are you a consistant brown-​green color?
Rice: Mexican rice with… Crunchy rice? I don’t understand.
Beans: Hmm, you’re okaaaay. Not flavorful, just edible enough for me not to murder my husband’s coworker who recommended Maria Bonitas.
Chile Relleno: WTF is up with this funky orange red sauce? And you’re CRISPY? What kind of cheese is in you, anyway? Is it actually Cheese? Is it cheese prepared from a mouse’s teat? Why is it so curd-​y?
Although I described a lot of colors here, the entire meal was incredibly drab, like when you wash all your clothes in hot water without sorting them.
Needless to say, I picked a fight with my husband over this place, and swore at him that he never got to choose a restaurant again in his life. I should have known though, especially when the guy preparing the food scratched his armpit with an un-​gloved hand, and then began preparing someone’s take out order. I took my temperature as soon as I got home. Mostly because the kid who was there screamed, «Papi, I gotta pee!» and then ran to the back.

Highly recommended. I live close by and have been eating Anna’s since 1995 and still do. BUT this place has a more authentic feel, from the staff to the recipes. The meats are by far much more tasty and the depth of the menu is much greater. Try the Chile Verde Burrito, in my opinion the best thing on the menu.
I have also really enjoyed their different Mexican breakfasts after a night out.

I wish I were able to give this place a better review, as it is a «mom and pop» shop and adds some liveliness to a pretty quiet part of town, but I just can’t with good conscience recommend that people come here when there’s plenty of other decent Mexican within a mile (an Anna’s in Davis, and Anna’s in Porter, a Boca Grande, and Jose’s).
I lived two doors down from Maria Bonita for a year, and having walked by at least a couple of times a day, everyday, I think a big part of the problem here is that it’s never busy, and they’re open very long hours. As such, their ingredients are prepared first thing in the morning, and sit around all day, waiting to be put into just a handful of burritos that are ordered. It’s just not a recipe for quality or tasty food.
The last burrito I had there contained dried-​out bland rice, and cold pinto beans. Blech. Definitely not burrito nirvana.
Oh, and pretty gross, but I have on almost every visit seen folks touching money (which we all know is about the dirtiest thing we carry around on us all day), and then immediately touching food, gloveless and without having washed hands. Double blech.
After several visits during the year I was their neighbor, I now have called it quits with Maria Bonita. It was a questionable decision to go in there when I lived on the block, and going there now, when it would require a long walk or getting in the car, would be utter stupidity.
Their two stars, btw, come not from the food at all, but from a nice bottled beverage selection (Mexican beers and sodas), and relatively friendly staff.

Simple no-​frills Mexican. Not bad, but tended to be bland and *too* simple. I did love the chips and cilantro-​y salsa, which are the best I’ve had in Boston. The homey atmosphere was a big plus, and the prices were reasonable.

Authentic Mexican food in Boston is hard to find. Maria Bonita is a great little place that offers food created lovingly by Cesar. It’s incredibly cheap, and he often has a rotating menu that changes weekly. I recommend the carne asada quesadillas and the rolled tacos. Tasty!

Booooooooo! I thought I would finally try this place, since I’ve passed it enough times. I got a couple of burritos, one for me and one for my compadre. I tried to order a chicken burrito with rice and beans, which didn’t seem to work, so then changed it to a rice and bean burrito with chicken added. That seemed to do the trick. They didn’t ask what I wanted on anything and sprinkled a microscopic bit of cheese on the tortilla as it heated and I figured they were probably going to add more… but no. They proceeded to heap rice, beans, some chicken (that had peppers mixed in), and plop some salsa on top, then wrap it up. Oopsie, my compadre no likee salsa… so instead of getting just the chicken burrito I ended up having the one with salsa and getting them to make another without.
Okay, now on the menu it says burritos served with rice and beans. Which I tried to point out to the señorita, but suddenly there was a language barrier. I got charged full price for the burrito plates then charge extra for rice and beans. Can you say… el rippo offo? Si! So in my mind I am already deducting stars for this before I have even tried one bite.
Now to the bite: Blah… very blah. You know when you go to someone’s house and their mom is like… I’ll make homemade burritos!(not from Old El Paso). Well, they taste like that. Totally homemade flavor… or lack thereof, I should say. Salsa — boring, chicken — boring, rice — boring, beans — eh. Nothing had noticeable flavor, no spice, no wow, nothing. I can do better at home. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention… some people are pretty careless when it comes to making other people’s food, but I hold high standards and would never serve anyone something that I wouldn’t eat myself. I’m like the anal chef, everything has to be perfect. Unfortunately Maria does not hold the same high standards since I found… well I’m not sure what a chicken pooper looks like exactly, but I think I found one! Couldn’t finish eating I was too grossed out.
Also, I was the only customer and instead of taking my order and actually working on it, the lady behind the counter decided to make her husband coffee. Donde esta el servicio de cliente? Maria… NO es bonita!