Maria Mia Mexican Bistro

This restaurant was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had. When we got there, the host refused to put two tables together for us, even though other groups had pushed multiple tables together.
Our waiter never introduced himself and was VERY unfriendly. He was giving us judge mental looks throughout our entire meal and kept forgetting to bring us plates for the Fajitas we ordered, straws for our drinks, and refilling our drinks.
At the end of the meal, we paid in cash, $ 30 for a $ 23 meal. After waiting 15 minutes for our change, he came back and told us that we had only paid him $ 20. (We for sure paid $ 30) he got annoyed and went back to the back for another 10 minutes.
When he came back to give us our change, he said, «I’m still sure that you didn’t pay your exact amount.» I got a little snippy with him and let him know that he must have dropped it since he was being unorganized throughout our entire meal.
He then proceeded to give another party at our table the wrong change back, and expressed his irritation towards us.
Hello? You are supposed to be waiting on us. Do your job and maybe you will receive better tips!!!
The food itself was overpriced and subpar– normal for something on the River Walk.
Having rude hostesses and waiters was unacceptable and made the experience in San Antonio quite negative.
I will not be returning again.

I decided I was in the mood for Mexican for dinner so I thought I’d try Maria Mia since it is so close to my hotel. I arrived right after a large group; about 20+ people. I was seated right away, but then it took a long time for someone to take my order; I assumed this was because of the large group, but after reading the other reviews I’m not so sure.
I ordered the «small» beef enchilada wich was awesome and way more food than I was expecting. My waiter, Jerry, was very friendly and really made up for the slow service. I will definately go here again if I ever get back to San Antonio.

Great tamales. Great spinach enchiladas. We r staying at nearby hotel and have been walking for five blocks. This is across the street is is better. We might be back tomorrow.

Stopped in for a drink after the river cruise. My $ 8.25 margarita was optional as was my husband’s $ 5. draft. Most annoying, however, was the fact our server didn’t bring back our full change.

This place is okay to eat! Nothing was impressive nor the service neither the food, but also wasn’t bad it was a little bit expensive for what you get. I would say if you are lazy and don’t want to walk or look for a place or you are in a hurry you might as well just go with it. Now if you are looking for something outstanding this is not the place.

Ok guys, seriously? I have never… Talk about the strangest experience. First of all, we get there (me a some friends) on a Friday at noon for lunch. We are seated pretty quickly, but after that, it was all down hill.
We order drinks and an appetizer which was over priced and not worth it, then ordered our food. 45 minutes later, a friend decides to ask the waitress if our food will come out soon and she replies «it’s not in my control» Wrong answer, Boo. It was a question, not an accusation. Hold the bus, beep beep. So we sit for another 5 minutes, food is finally brought out, and as soon as it hits the table there is a man running out of the kitchen swinging a kitchen towel yelling «FIRE!!! Get out!!!» That’s right FIRE!!! GET OUT!!! Da Hell??? We are then evacuated out of the restaurant. Point 5 seconds after getting outside, we are asked to come back in to eat and pay even though the restaurant is now full of smoke. It’s at this point, you would think, «nah! I’m good!» But my friend is literally sitting at the table shoveling food in her mouth like she better eat before her a$$ get burnt.
We return to at least eat a bite since we have waited over 45 minutes for food, again, over priced and not worth it. At some point, the wall to my right starts banging and when I say banging I mean the PO-​LICE knock. BANG BANG BANG! Like the fire right here or what guys?! Of course, I have no silverware, the waitress is no where to be found, and the friend across from me has no napkin. She steals a napkin from the table behind us, EW, and I go get my own silverware. We ask to speak to the manager who says «I just got here. I’ll take care of your meals.»
The waitress «Rude McPigtails» makes her final appearance with the check that is not «taken care of» but discounted by $ 5. Five bucks for making me wait for almost an hour, kicking me out, banging in my face, then asking me to come back in and eat in your smoke dusted catastrophe?!
Gotta say, it was the strangest and worst service I have ever received. You mean to tell me, your restaurant is on fire but you want me to run out then back in to pay for a smoky meal with your ride waitress AFTER waiting 45 minutes for the experience? WHACK A DOO. No thank you.

Came here the day of PAX South. The food wasn’t exactly to my or my friends liking. The portion sizes seemed big enough for two people and that was probably the only good thing about this place. There were birds flying everywhere and dropping twigs into our food and our waitress forgot about us and it took awhile for the servers to find our waitress. Took longer than it should have to get our check and pay.

Good food but the service sucks. Not a good place for a quick grab. Waited 15 minutes for my bill.

See my review for «Luciano Ristorante Italiano.» Conveniently located near the Hyatt, this place serves average Tex-​Mex food that is not exactly budget-​friendly. The guacamole was yummy but the rest of the meal did not leave an impression. Our server was nice but really tried to push one of the more expensive items on the list. We politely declined. If you are a fan of pigeons, try your luck here. But I would recommend that you wear ear plugs, as the staff, every twenty minutes or so, will use two menus as if they were cymbals to scare them off. Heck, it almost scared ME off!

It was our first time on the Riverwalk and it was so COLD! (so unusual for San Antonio). After our boat tour ride we were freezing and walked into the first restaurant we found. It looked visually appealing and it was warm inside so it fit the bill. Our waiter was very nice but we could barely hear him (and he couldn’t hear us) because the music was so loud. We ordered an appetizer that never came because (we think) the watier never heard us although he seemed to acknowledge what we said. I had a chicken chalupa with beans and rice and it was tasty. It wasn’t amazing and authentic Mexican food but it was tasty and cheesy and enjoyable to eat. My aunt had a chicken enchilada which she enjoyed and I tried a bite of it and it was tasty. My kids didn’t eat their cheese quesadillas but that’s not unusual because they are so picky (I took a bite of them and they tasted fine). So, the food was good, not great, and the service was ok but would probably be better if they turned the volume of the music down. I did like all the festive Christmas decorations they had up and the lights.

Yay! My favorite Riverwalk restaurant. Don’t know if that is saying a lot, but in the sea of other places, this one stood out for me. Don’t think it would be my go to restaurant away from the Walk, but I would definitely go again if I were there.
I had lunch with a number of colleagues. I ordered the Loyola Tacos. I would do that again any time! They were superb. The brisket was good and the BBQ sauce that came with them had a good kick to it. On the side was rice which was as good as I had and Charro Beans. I wanted Black Beans (I’m not a big fan of Charro Beans), but this is what arrived. So, I ate them and they were instantly the best Charro Beans I’ve had. They are not the normal bland, meaty ones that you find everywhere. These were actually seasoned up and a bit different. I could have had more!
There were many more things on the menu that I wished that I had tried. I will sample them again when I come back to a future meeting along the RiverWalk.

Maria Mia is among the rarities — a restaurant along the San Antonio Riverwalk that is actually worth going back to.
Unlike most restaurants located where there is a constant supply of tourists (so that worrying about repeat customers is optional), Maria Mia serves up quality Tex-​Mex food in a lively ambience. The waitstaff are friendly and efficient.
Maria Mia is located along the river more or less at the foot of the Marriott Rivercenter. This is not in the thick of the Riverwalk’s restaurant row, but it’s a pleasant walk along the river and well worth the walk.
We will go back to Maria Mia for more.

My husband and I just ate here. We read so many good reviews about the BBQ Brisket, that we went there for that alone and it didn’t disappoint. We got the Brisket enchiladas. They had a slight smoky flavor, were plump full of brisket and the sauce on top was a bit of a cross between bbq and enchilada sauce.
BUT, even though we came for the brisket, I am so very glad that we decided to try the fried ice cream. We devoured that thing. It has a thick gooey rum sauce that was fabulous and then it is laden with lots of whipped cream, raisins, nuts and of course ice cream and a lovely cinnamon sugar fried tortilla shell. My husband rarely agree on desserts, but we both loved this!

We are in town for a convention, and I had such an amazing lunch on Tuesday, I’m getting dinner to go tonight (i.e.:repeat customer… and I live in Pa!)
Great, sweet-​tart margaritas (SO STRONG!) and amazing food. Service on the slow side, but very friendly.
Vegetarian friendly dishes. I had the Espinacas, and they were delish! Hoping I have a similar experience this evening.

I was in San Antonio for a conference. Since I was staying at the Marriott and this restaurant is right next door along the riverwalk, I decided to try it. I was really excited for some good texmex but was kind of disappointed by what I ordered. The food was just okay. The portions are HUGE. I ordered a large veggie quesadilla and a side of rice and beans for takeout. It was easily enough food for 2 – 3 people. The veggie quesadilla didn’t have as many veggies as I was hoping for and it was more cheese than anything, which made it pretty greasy. The guacamole that came with it was very good though! The rice and beans were fine but nothing special. Go here for large portions and good prices. The location is great and their outside patio seating is a great place to people watch and enjoy the good weather. More of 2.5 stars in my opinion.

I wanted to like you but boy was I disappointed.
After walking a good few miles around downtown we decided to eat here because 1) we were extremely hungry and 2) we thought they validated parking. If you are wanting authentic Mexican food, this is not the place. This is very much Tex Mex. The chips they offered were standard; not overly salty or super greasy. I enjoyed the salsa that came with the chips.
I had ordered the small Smoked BBQ Brisket nachos. Take my advice and just don’t. When you think nachos you envision a plate of chips topped with stuff. This small nachos was 6 chips piled with mainly beans and cheese. The beans made the chips soggy thus difficult to eat. The brisket itself actually wasn’t that bad. A friend ordered the Chicken Mojave burrito and was disappointed. There was no flavor and lacked chicken basically making it a pricey bean and cheese burrito. Another friend ordered the Chicken Fajitas Quesadilla and she had no complaints.
The service was decent. The served rarely checked up on us but when she did she made sure we had refills. Other than that, not so much interaction.

I must say, compared to some of the other tex-​mex places on or near the riverwalk this one had the most flavor. I mean how can you go so wrong with tex/​mex but some of the others were so wrong?!?
Food was good– a friend and I shared the Alamo (crispy chicken taco, cheese enchilada, and pork tamale) and the queso dip with ground beef because we wanted to try and little of everything. We ate it all.
Service was a little slow not sure if it was because it was the lunch crowd. We sat out on the riverwalk and at times I felt like he forgot about us so we had to flag down other waiters to help us.
I’m not sure I’d sit outside again since there were a lot of birds and poop.
If I ever go back to San Antonio, I might come back and grab a drink.

As far as I can tell, this place doesn’t care about their customers. It’s either that or they only car about certain customers. My wife and I were looking dor a place to, set up shop and order some appetizers and drinks. We wanted to sit outdoors and this place was one of the few that wasn’t completely crowded.
When we were being seated, the hostess was about to sit us at a spot with a perfect view of the riverwalk. That is untill another waitress said something ro the hostess and she placed us in the middle of a crowded area. We sat for about ten to fifteen minutes till I got up and told the Hostess that we haven’t been waited on. We waited anothe ten minutes before giving up and. Leaving irritated.
Bad service is one thing, but no service? To make things worse, the table we were originally going to be sat at was taken by two business men. These guys had already been served their alcohol and appetizers by the time we got up and left. Guezs this establishment didn’t see our money as good as theirs.

I ordered the mango salad with shrimp to go. I loved the different textures from the salad greens, mangos, jicama, avocado, tortilla chip strips, and red bell peppers. I would have enjoyed it more if they had a slightly lighter salad dressing as a vinagraitte, rather than a creamy dressing. Regardless, the creamy dressing still tasted delicious. The shrimp was slightly too salty for me, but I liked the seasoning on the shrimp. They also provided a small side of chips and salsa with my takeout order.
I docked the review because $ 5 for shrimp is pricey, especially since the shrimp are small. Also because I found a huge chunk of the outer shell/​peel still attached to my avocado.
Honestly, I look forward to dining in next time and try the other selections on the menu.

Very Good Tex Mex on the Riverwalk!
We chose this place because it was on the riverwalk and halfway between our hotel and the Alamodome. Located beneath Fogo De Chao and connected to the river center, it is in a great location. After reading a lot of reviews about bad service and good looking and tasting food, I decided that they probably know about their service issues and are working to fix them. It should be fine, as long as the food is good.
It was raining, so we sat inside. There weren’t a ton of people there, but it was fairly populated. The décor was your typical San Antonio Riverwalk restaurant, which was perfect.
Our server was great. He came right over, greeted us, took our drink orders and was great the rest of the night. He was attentive, checked on us and was even funny. He brought extra this and that when we asked and was great the whole night. So, no more talk about the service. It was great.
The complimentary chips and salsa was great. It’s the same chips that they serve all up and down the river walk. It’s almost like they all get them from the same place. But these were warm and crispy, which was a plus. The salsa was very good, flavorful, spicy and warm! I love warm salsa.
I ordered the beef fajitas for my entrée. My wife ordered the fajita platter with a tamale. The meat was seasoned well and tender. The onions and peppers were perfectly cooked. The rice was typical, but the beans were very good. They came in a separate bowl with a very flavorful broth. It was almost like a delicious cup of bean soup. And did I detect a hint of bacon? Really good! My wife really enjoyed her meal as well. Great tamale! The fajita meat and veggies came on the side just like your typical fajitas. It was just a one person-​2 tortilla fajita portion. But with this option, it allowed you to have a couple of fajitas and one additional item. In her case the tamale. If I had to do it again, I would have done this too.
The margaritas were large and kinda strong. But they were REALLY expensive. When were done, we noticed the bill was $ 80! Half the bill was the margaritas and half was the food.
Oh well, the meal was great. The service was great. The restaurant was cute. I would definitely come back if I needed to be at the alamodome, as its about a 10 – 15 minute minute walk from here.