Maria Cafe

"Visited Maria Cafe in Upwey one midweek lunch for the first time. Had heard about its Mexican based menu and decided to give it a try. I ordered the Beef Birria Tacos which was actually 3 tacos filled with crispy chunk beef and Oaxaca chees. This comes with a bowl of tangy spicy chilli sauce in a bowl. It taste just fine and flavoursome. Problem was that the 3 cooked tacos were served upon a paper napkin on the plate. As you cut through the tacos the napkin gets soggy and becomes part of your meal. Remove the napkin first! My partner chose the Benny: chorizo and pecorino croquettes with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. It was also very tasty but also soggy leaving the sourdough bread with not much crunch. Good effort overall maybe I suggest tweaking the final stage of the dishes to make them even more appetising. Will certainly be trying them again"

"Having eaten at Lorna in Ferntree Gully, we thought we’d try the sister cafe, Maria in Upwey to see how it compared. We dined in for lunch on Sunday at 1pm. The cafe was busy, but adequately staffed. The venue was well presented, light and offered plenty of indoor and outdoor dining options. The Industry Beans coffee was great and the table staff were friendly and accommodating. With a Mexican inspired menu, we both opted for nachos (one vegan & the other was a beef breakfast version). Meal service was slow and unfortunately our dishes missed the mark, lacking in execution and presentation. The nachos were generous-sized, but were served in deep bowls, resulting in lots of soggy layers underneath. Personally I prefer nachos with crunchy corn chips that hold their shape, so you can use the corn chips to scoop up the toppings. Perhaps the chef could consider using less layers spread over a larger surface area (plate or platter) as this would result in a much nicer eating experience for the customer?"

"Enormous thanks to the staff of Maria for a wonderful breakfast experience! We already knew how amazing the food and coffee (especially the coffee!!) was at Maria and their menu always is so popular with anyone we take here. Our last visit was no exception and everyone had an amazing meal. Yesterday we were a party of 8 adults with a 4 yo and a 4 mo infant having a birthday breakfast. The staff were so busy but did such an amazing job catering to us all, and also helping us manage a cake we brought to sing happy birthday to one of our group, finding time during a very busy period to clear plates and bring us fresh plates. The staff went above and beyond to ensure we had an amazing experience and big big big shout out and thanks to all of you!!"

"The coffees here are great. The Pour Over (Geisha Cerro Azul) was aromatic, sweet and well balanced - a little pricey, but really good. The Espresso was also wonderful and well balanced. Their Mexican Hot Chocolate was one of the best I've tasted - rich and sweet (but not too sweet!). We also ordered a Pistachio Rose Drop which tasted nice. It was sweet and nutty. We didn't order any main meals this time, but looking at the tables beside us, the serving sizes were really big! They also looked really good (especially the waffles), so I will have to come again to give the main meals a try. The cafe had a nice ambiance and the staff were super friendly and lovely. There is also a little area in their cafe selling local products such as coffee beans, hot chocolate powder, candles, etc."