Maria’s Sweet Somethings

I’ve been dreaming of the hot cocoa with cayenne pepper for a year now! I’ve also gotten ice cream and have always been very happy. The chocolate/​gift shop has some cool gift ideas and everything is priced normal — that’s to say, a little expensive, but it’s a tourist area, so it’s expected. Going back soon for the hot cocoa… did i mention the hot cocoa? Oh, so good!

This place is so cute! We are visiting from out of town and loved how the inside and outside was so well decorated for Halloween! We enjoyed delicious seasonal pumpkin ice cream in a small size that we felt was a very generous portion!
The only items for sale that were a bit pricey was their chocolates. The other day we purchased pumpkin chocolates and felt they were overpriced. This is the reason I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5.

So Sad! I’m sure that the Ice cream and treats here would have been tasty. But no wheelchair access. I was so disappointed!

Expected there to be more variety of ice creams and sweets but the first ¾ of the shop is purely Halloween merchandise. I love Halloween but not expecting this place to be full of the stuff. As it goes for ice cream there were about 12 different flavours to choose from which is about the same amount as you would get at a café. Didn’t see any sweets in the shop.

This place was an absolute unfortunate experience. Once we arrived the previous customer placed her order and requested a ‘doggy treat’ special. The clerk made the mistake to give more than what the owner considers allowed — thus was billed for the treat. The customer expressed her confusion at why was she charged for something she usually gets for free, the owner was completely rude and extremely unprofessional. She was very condescending, asking her staff if the knew the customer and undermined her. Even going as far as saying that she could give her the money back but that the clerk would have to pay for it. Mind you these are $ 4 small cups of ice cream! Meanwhile this conversation is happening I am standing with my fiancée in utter disbelief at what was going on. I was reprimanded and told I could only have one free taste of an ice cream and then proceeded to request that we paid our ordered even though we hadn’t received our order — as if we were going to leave without paying. She then proceeded to talk loudly about the previous customer for a number of minutes, as if she wasn’t in front of paying customers. She even went outside to confirm there were in fact dogs with the previous customer!!! At all this is fourth of July afternoon in Downtown Salem where there were lots of people walking by past her business. It is clear why the store is empty and full of useless crap — WE WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN!

This place unfortunately was just ok. They also don’t have a bathroom which was really disappointing. I got he raspberry ice cream which was so mild flavored it wasn’t really worth the calories. And my husband got their Oreo cookie ice cream, which had chunks of cookie in it so it wasn’t too bad.

Good ice cream. My son had a smoothy and said it was good as well.
They only accept cash. It is posted clearly and they mention it as you place your order so it was not an issue for us. But it must be inconvenient for some folks who want to pay with credit card.
Nice little ice cream and candy shop. Not outstanding or extra special but I think it has the best ice cream of the shops in Salem and it is only a short walk from popular witch attractions. So yes I would recommend it but don’t go out of your way for it.

Overheard the owner talking to one of her teen staffers in the most condescending way. I hate to patronize a business led by someone who seems so crabby!
Then you get to the register and they say «sorry cash only» and direct you to their own ATM machine that charges a $ 3 fee. Sure know how to maximize the profit per customer. What a racket and cash only for a retail business these days is insane… Unless of course you’re a fan of tax fraud. Sorry but we wont be back.

Very cute little ice cream place, with lots of candy, too. The black raspberry ice cream was really good! A little pricey, but their small was pretty good-​sized for a small. Close to everything.

I read the previous reviews, and some of the experiences folks have had with Maria, and I’ll admit, I was intrigued. After dinner, around 9:30pm, we noticed the door was open and the little white lights were on so we ventured in.
What an amazingly adorable little store! I felt like Tom Hanks in Big when he first walked into FAO Schwartz. There were chocolates to my right, and gifts to my left, and ahead, there was ice cream!
We scored with several delicious chocolates: dark chocolate covered pretzels, caramels, marshmallows, and peanut butter cups. We also couldn’t resist some cute knick knacks in their gifts section.
After our front of the store shopping spree was over, we ventured up the steps to the ice cream section. So many delicious choices! I settled on the peanut butter oreo and it was perfectly creamy and filled with flavor.
We did meet Maria and I thought she was awesome! She welcomed us and helped us pick out items and invited us to future events. Any store owner who is there at 10pm on a Saturday night is clearly attached to her business and is dedicated to its success. I will have to say I’m not sure how kid friendly that store is though, as there were several breakable things. Regardless, I live in Salem so I will definitely be back.

Nice little candy shop with ice cream in Salem within walking distance of everything.
The milkshake was perfect, but they only accept cash. I will try something else next time and possibly edit my review.
Nothing terribly outstanding here, but very enjoyable.

Maria’s is a charming little sweets shop that was lit up with orange Christmas type lights. We had a cupcake and frozen hot chocolate which was very good. I read the other reviews about Maria but she was more than friendly and welcoming. maybe because my companion is also Greek ;). I even saw Maria offer a local tour guide a free hot chocolate. I just think the other people who wrote bad things about Maria probably acted like annoying tourists! Cute place!

This store is oddly set up. There was a lot of Halloween paraphernalia, mixed in with some sweets. The employees were off having a conversation of their own, while we browsed around and didn’t really leave their post. I did purchase my witch hat headband here, which was cheaper here than the other stores & vendors.

The icecream was amazing. Blackberry with yogurt and chocolate. I would suggest getting the baby cup, more than enough icecream, and pretty affordable. The service was a bit off, but there were two kids behind the counter so maybe they were new? The only issue I had was I asked for a taste of the icecream and before they gave it they sternly said, «there is only one taste per person.» Umm… OK? I was almost thrown off by that and left. I just thought that was rude how they said it and really? What do you think I was going to do? Try all the flavors? I am giving three stars to be nice, because I can not do two and a half.

Where do I even begin with the blatant RUDENESS we experienced here this past weekend?
While exploring Salem with the family we decided to stop by this place and buy our daughter an ice cream. The initial experience was nothing to write about, the kid that served us was friendly and although 1 scoop of ice cream cost about $ 4, I wasn’t going to complain.
We sat at one of the 4 tables out in front of the store and my wife and I drank our coffee (from next door) while the kiddo ate her ice cream.
Emerging from her cave was a big beast who we will call «Maria». She stomped towards our table and in a grizzly voice she informed us that they sell coffee and water in her store and that the table we were sitting at belonged to her customers. My wife politely informed her that we had just purchased an ice cream from her store. She stomped off…
A few minutes later she stormed out again, approached my wife and told her that there were tables (over there) in front of the coffee shop that we could have sat at. WTF, broad, we bought ice cream from you!
We packed up our stuff in complete disbelief that a store worker could be so irrationally rude! She either hates kids, hates people in general or hates her miserable life. She is an angry beast though, so watch out!
The ice cream is expensive, it’s nothing to brag about, the store has a bunch of random crap in it and that broad has no place in business or customer service.
We will NEVER come here again and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone!

I mean yeah my truffles were yummy but $ 3:50 for one? Really. I do not pay that much in NYC were I live. It was totally overpriced. And the staff could have been a bit friendlier, or attentive.

This beautiful shop reminds me of a shop out of Harry Potter. Its made up of two floors. The first floor is a chocolate/​candy shop with a large deli case filled with handmade chocolates. On the floor they have a collection of artisan chocolates as well as gifts for your loved one. They usually will carry Dagoba organic chocolates as well as other artisan dark chocolates that are all good for the vegans. They also occasionally carry high quality honey and maple syrup.
The second floor is an icecream shop. I haven’t tried their icecreams, but my boyfriend says that the chocolate chip is decent. I have tried both their lemon and raspberry sorbet (vegan friendly) and they are delicious.

Tasty ice cream but the pricing and lack of seating and restrooms leave a little to be desired. Doesn’t stop me from frequenting this place though!

I stopped here during my day visit to Salem, eager to experience some ice cream goodness.
Although the staff was warm and friendly I will not be back. The ice cream was TERRIBLY disappointing, especially for the price. I do not mind paying an arm and a leg for the right dessert but this was just ugh!
I had the oreo cookie ice cream on a waffle cone. My ice cream had freezer burn, the many, many ice crystals ruined the texture. Gourmet ice cream is supposed to be SMOOTH and velvety. NO, just no. I didn’t even finish it.
I will not be back the next time I am in Salem.

Maria does not deserve your business. She is rude as the day is long. Maybe her other employees are nice, but she is someone who should NOT deal with the public.
I went in there w/​my friend’s 4 year old son and we ordered two ice cream cones. He got a kiddie cone and dropped it as he was walking down the stairs. I looked at her and she immediately said in a very rude tone, «You’ll have to buy another one if you want to replace that.» WTF? It’s a kiddie cone (1 small scoop) and the store was not busy. Her attitude cost her a lot more than replacing the scoop for free ever will.
There are plenty of other great ice cream places around town. Only go here if you want to pay someone to be rude to you.