Maria’s Taco Shop

I’ve been a regular here for years while going to school and have always had good experiences. Maria is the sweetest and has a very loving outgoing personality. The food is always amazing and reasonably priced for what you get !
I’m currently on a diet and I talked to her about a month ago and today she went above and beyond to make me a special dish to cater to my diet plan. I LOVE this place !

«Though the truth may vary
«This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore»
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Quick Review™
+ Great location within striking distance of multiple buildings (A, B, C) on campus. Parking is free. Food OK.
+/​-​Food OK. You aren’t asking anyone to freeze this and ship it to you via courier service if you are across the world.
— Breakfast menu could be expanded and competitively priced (although, they have no competition, which may be the problem). Limited desserts are not good.
Employee of Excellence™: María. Anyone named María at a taco shop is definitely going to be an employee of esteem.
In One Sentence™: Consistent, cheap — although not exactly inexpensive — calories conveniently located in B (or is it C?).
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This might be the very embodiment of cheap, Mexican-​inspired-​Southwest-​based dive. One always wishes it were better …
It pains me to relegate María is just an average three-​star. We’ve been through so much, María!
There really is nothing else around here (walking distance) and with the bizarre sudden appearance and even more rapid disappearance of Smashburger® across the street at Charleston Festival, it might be Maria’s or certain starvation (if one did not bring food) unless you have time for the exceptional Moko (
) across the street or upstart Sofrito Rico at Campus Commons (
). Chipotle® sucks (
.
I digress.
I am not going over all the plates I have had here. I’ve had too many. (Check the check-​ins.)
What I will do is exhort you to not try the desserts because they are no bueno. And anyone who knows me knows that I love my sweets. No bueno, amigos. Tacos are alright. Burritos do well in a bind when you have very little time to be wasting.
They need food trucks on campus to elevate the food racket around here. Go grab one of your campus senators by the collar and demand they introduce an item for the next agenda meeting calling for food trucks to be invited to campus.
Until then, we have María’s.
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Rating: Three-​stars, «A-​OK.» (Chipotle® sucks.)

You’d think that a college campus would have higher standards for their students. No!
It’s not all that bad, I did eat it since I was hungry.
But really, our food was dry, tasteless, and far from authentic. Eat before or after class.

I’m writing this after getting food poisoning for the second time from this place. First time, shame on them, second time… I’m warning you don’t eat here.

Ordered chicken fingers and fries on special for $ 5.95. The chicken fingers were the kind of chicken you find in a $ 1 McDonald’s chicken sandwich. The fries were completely tasteless. No salt. For the price, Jack in the Box or Farm Basket is much much better. Will not eat here again.

Unilocal 100 Challenge * ⁵⁶⁄₁₀₀
My girlfriend (s) and I like to come here for lunch during our break from Art Class on Fridays.
Quality of their food fluctuates depending on who makes it. My friend prefers to not have onion on her veggie burrito (our usual order) yet sometimes, the staff unconsciously adds some in anyway. We’ve had oily burritos, some with too much cilantro (*cringe*), some with too little taste, some stuffed with fistfulls of cheese. Churros are occasionally coated in so much sugar that we’d have to scrape them off in the trash.
Only uppity to Maria’s are their ‘free refill fridays’ where we take advantage of the opportunity and get ourselves a couple servings of thirst quenching horchatas. Watch out once again with who prepares your food because the horchata quality can range from super bland to too much cinammon.
We’ve still got about 4 weeks to go before the semester ends. Guess that’ll be how much longer we’ll be checking Maria’s out, unless we get another friday class in fall.

The food is really good here, and depending on the plate you get, you can get a lot of it. My boyfriend usually gets a ton of meat and stuff on his plates; the cheese enchiladas though, not so much. My friend gets a burrito with just beans and cheese, and it’s a LOT, so I guess I will have to do that since the price is lower, and there is more food. Every meal comes with a drink, and it costs something like 50c to get a refill.
The beans and rice are my favorite part though! So good! And the enchilada sauce is just right for me.
They also have Churros! Yay! Those are really great and crispy, with a soft center and oh so yummy!

This place is just terrible. Maria and her crew are all very polite but Maria is extremely money hungry. She’ll charge you a dollar for a small amount of guacamole. That’s another thing, the quality of their food is AWFUL! They charge more than Roberto’s for the same exact thing, and it’s DISGUSTING. I’m not sure if its because they prepare the food now here, at CSN, or what, but the food is just a huge let down and the price is just ridiculous. Which is unfortunate. Obviously, we’re all poor, college students. I can’t afford to shell out 8 dollars for a meal that’s just going to give me diarrhea later.

Simple Southern California style Mexican food. The ladies working the counter are super friendly and they have a good array of vegetarian options — much appreciated!
This place usually has a pretty long line going as its located on the CSN Charleston campus and is undoubtedly the most delicious thing to eat on campus. Because of this, the food can take a little longer, but they do make everything to order!
They have a 99c menu but the items I’ve seen from that menu are very small. They also offer fresh fruit frescos and horchata. The salsas are obviously homemade. Overall, good cheap greasy food. I approve!