Casa Maria

My husband and I have been frequenting this charming produce stand/grocery store for at least 20 years. Staff is always friendly, helpful. The owner does the wholesale buying early am so produce is fresh. Recently, they began offering cut ripe fruits - quarter slice watermelons, quart size containers of ripe papaya and pineapple chunks, reasonably priced. Hard working family. Now on Saturday & Sunday, one of the family tends a taco stand just outside on 23rd street side, offering freshly grilled chicken, beef & pork chunks in tacos with their own fresh salsa for $3.00. Quesadillas are $8.00. Both excellent. They also offer fresh Mexican horchata, watermelon juice, and pineapple for $3.00. Can even sit at a table to eat onsite.

"Without music life would be a mistake" ---Friedrich NietzscheI love Whole Paycheck err Whole Foods now owned by Amazon more than any other gluten-free sattvic vegan localvore or paleo pescatarian yet one of the joys in living in the SF Bay Area is the ethnic markets.The Lonely Planets Cities books lists NYC as the second greatest city behind Paris & San Francisco is number seven I believe behind Istanbul. NY & SF are the only two cities in the top ten cities on planet Earth. I think Los Angeles or Chicago is around 40 something on the list.I lived in the City of Angels more a bunch of suburbs spread out than a proper city like NY, SF, & Chicago. LA is car-city built around the freeway where gridlock traffic is a way of life unless you are taking the blue bus from Santa Monica to Venice. Not to hate on Los Angeles as that is where I developed a daily yoga practice in 2003. It where the Doors, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, Black Flag, Henry Rollins, & countless other of my favorite musicians either lived or are from.I have family in Chicago & it is nicknamed second city after New York. It is a proper city. It has cold winters next to Lake Michigan yet in the warm months it is up there w/ NY & SF as top "city" in the US.Instead of giving an essay on the top cities or mass of suburbs in the US will keep it a bit one pointed...NOW....It is easy to enjoy Whole Foods yet the Mission is known for the Mission burrito which is world famous. There are debates of who started it yet many places have great veggie burritos which I order gluten-free vegan w/ veggie burrito in a bowl packed w/ veggies w/ guac or avocado w/ mild salsa w/ corn tortillas on the side.I recommend El Farolito, Papalote, & Pancho Villa Taqueria to name a few for low key, affordable, filling & amazing veggie burritos complete w/ made in house salsa.If you are in the neighborhood & live here in the SF Bay Area or have a kitchen in your guesthouse visiting from out of state check out the Latino Market Casa Maria. They have all you could ever want for DIY burritos or Mexican cuisine at home. From local made fresh as you can imagine corn tortillas to the biggest flour tortillas to roll a king or queen size burrito.I recently picked up 10 limes for a dollar, some mangoes for smoothies at home, & more,You can use tomatoes, onions, limes, & fresh cilantro to make up your own salsa. Experiment!Support Whole Foods yet think outside the box to shift paradigms to support your local Latino Grocery Store.

Normally I have patience to wait for things, but this is different. I was trying to pay for three things early in the morning. No one was in the premises other than me and the people that worked there. I went to the cashier stand, and the owner/manager was there and was behind the counter, just standing there, refused to acknowledge a customer, and talking on his phone. I stood there for about a minute, waiting for him to do something. Eventually he took my money which I placed on the counter, but he didn't get bothered to ring up the three items I'm trying to buy, and proceeds to continue to keep talking on the phone for another minute or so. while holding my cash on his other hand. And this went on for about a minute and at that point I felt so disrespected that I returned all the stuff I'm trying to buy and asked for my money back. The owner gave me this confused look like he has no idea how rude he has been to me. So he has time to take my money, but not enough time to tell the other person on the other line to give him a second to ring up the stuff I wanted to purchase?This wasn't the first incident that I experienced this at this place, too, after years of being a loyal customer. I'm not saying you should not buy stuff here, their offerings are quality, but don't expect to be treated like a proper customer here when the owner/manager is in charge of the cash register.

Small store but I found out that they have pan dulce here! I decided to get two conchas for $1, but they also offer three pan chapins for $1. Although they take EBT, there's a $2 minimum to use it. Saw a coffee dispenser as well. The bread was decent but not particularly memorable.

I live right around the corner from Casa Maria, so it's my go-to whenever I'm out of fresh produce and in need of some fresh ingredients. The workers are all super nice and have a greeting for me when I'm there. The selection is always great and changes with the seasons.Also, I'm not sure that there's a separate Yelp page for this but they have an excellent taco stand on Sundays from 11 AM - 6 PM. The tacos are $2 each and are piled high with meat. I always get carne asada and chicken. There are also grilled onions and peppers, as well as the standard cilantro, pico de gallo, radish, lime, and raw onions sides.

We recently went back in with a friend. We had not been in there in a while because of prior rude experiences. Again, the same rude treatment. If you can't say please or thank you when I hand you money, or can't respond when I say hello, then I don't feel good about giving you any of my hard earned money. We don't owe you our money and you are not doing us a favor by selling us a carton of milk. From now on, we are heading to grocery outlet next door...even there, they have manners. Sorry, but pleasant goes a long way when you are taking peoples money.

When we lived in the Mission, this became our go-to produce store. Casa Lucas produce was just too crappy, plus you had to deal with the smell of dried baccala and sour milk. And they never had any asparagus, artichokes or mushrooms - WTF? We live in California, people!Casa Maria had great produce, a large selection, and great prices. I'd ride my bike there and come home with enough garlic, peppers (so many kinds!), squash, lettuce, potatoes, eggplant, citrus (lemons 6 for a buck), berries - you name it! Plus they had a good bulk selection of dried beans and several kinds of rice. Factor in the fresh tortillas and rolls, and you are set for the week.

This is my principal spot for produce. Every time I make a run, when they tell me that I owe $4 for a week's worth of deliciousness, I almost feel guilty. Uber cheap and generally high quality.Note - I did buy a block of cheddar cheese here once and found it to be moldy enough that I had to throw it away when I got home. I am not made squeamish by a little mold on cheese - this block was just in really bad shape. So beware - when you venture outside Casa Maria's wheelhouse of fresh fruits and veggies, inspect before you buy.

The waiter Mateo was really rude and confused from jump. We were trying to figure out we're half of our order was and he just kept saying it was coming and it NEVER came. Me and a few other people in my literally never received our food or only got half of our orders. Then the manager who tried to claim she was the owner came and got smart too threatening to call the police for NO REASON when they were the aggressors (racist much) 0/10 would not recommend!!

They have the best tacos and tamales! The staff is very friendly! They were about to close and they let us order last second. Thank you!!