Cafe Maria

After a long bike ride along the D&R canal towpath in Frenchtown, NJ, we decided to grab a bite to eat and found a restaurant just a 7 minute drive from the trail. The food was delicious—my meal included mozzarella sticks and a meat lovers personal pizza. The mozzarella sticks were supersized, which was a pleasant surprise and definitely a highlight. The restaurant had a small but ample eating area, creating a cozy atmosphere. The service was good overall, and our waitress was both friendly and attentive, which I appreciated. However, I did feel a bit rushed at times during our meal, which surprised me since the place wasn’t particularly busy. I think a slightly more relaxed pace would have made the experience even better. Thank you for the delicious food and welcoming service. Overall, it was a great experience and I look forward to visiting again. If you have any recommendations for other menu items, I’d be happy to hear them. Best regards, Franco

A very good Brooklyn pie. I ordered it with pepperoni. There couldn't have been any more than 12 slices of pepperoni on the whole pie. Industry standard is somewhere around 3 to 5 per slice. I'll be back but I hope they start putting more pepperoni on their pie.

Host and chief both were friendly and welcoming . We ordered bruschetta, eggplant rollatini and shrimp scampi. I loved the bruschetta which was so flavorful unlike the usual bruschettas of new Jersey city area . The scampi was of lemony flavor which a different experience and was delicious. Ample parking area available .

The business is one you have to watch for right near the corner store. I found the staff attentive and friendly.There’s ample parking in this busy Italian n pizza restaurant. Lots of outdoor seating to enjoy nice weather and your food choices. They offered some nice looking desserts and parfaits! I had a Sicilian slice which could have been a bit bigger .. what they sold seemed to be popular with the locals several came out with 3-4 pies ! A wide array of food choices were offered ..Why not go and try it!

Absolutely love Cafe Maria, the staff is great, the food is great. It’s wonderful for lunch or dinner. We’ve ordered from here so many times when we do take out. Maria’s salad has got to be my favorite. I get it almost every time we come or order. Would definitely recommend to friends and family! Thanks for all the great food!

Thank you so much to Giacomo and staff at Cafe Maria. We had my baby shower there this past weekend and couldn't be more pleased -- the food and service were both absolutely amazing! If you need a place to host a private party, I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant! Thank you for making the day so special!

I went here on New Year's Eve and these folks were so accommodating. The service was excellent and the staff friendly. The atmosphere was tasteful and classy. The entire place was well decorated for the holidays. Cafe Maria has a very nice dining room and the restroom was clean and modern. The food all looked amazing. I want to go back and try some entrees. As it was close to closing time, and I had another gig to attend nearby, I grabbed my Jersey standard of 1 mushroom and 1 pepperoni slice and a Coke! Awesome NJ pizza! I definitely reccomend Cafe Maria Ristorante dinner or for slices!

Walked in and found the dinner special NY strip steak over saffron rice topped with bruschetta amazing. Came with a side salad and fresh bread all for $22..great atmosphere

Best buffalo chicken pizza and calamari love cafe Maria better than any pizza place in Flemington and that's just me being honest asf I will only get buffalo chicken pizza here they do it best

Cafe Maria is our go to place for all celebrations. The food is consistently good and service is great! A real family feel and a wonderful place to celebrate all kinds of events. Shirley Conti

Cafe Maria is a nice Italian restaurant hidden in Frenchtown. We went there one night with relatives because I wanted pizza. The atmosphere was cozy, and it wasn't too busy on a Thursday night. Our order consisted of the calamari, pizza (two types), and tiramisu. The calamari was amazing. It was coated in a light and crispy batter that was very much like a tempura batter. The Maria special, and the Brooklyn style thin crust pizzas were okay. I've had better. Finally, the tiramisu. If nothing else, the tiramisu here is a must. It was exactly what a tiramisu should taste like; semi sweet chocolate, a hint of coffee flavour, and creamy marscapone.

I went there a couple of weeks ago with my friend and it was the most tastiest delicious food I had in along time ! I would recommend Maria's Cafe to everyone I know. Staff are so very personable ! GO TO MARIA's CAFE you will love it !!!!!!

This is one of the very few restaurants where I have been dining in since the Covid pandemic. Visible precautions are in abundance inside the restaurant and the outside seating area is very pleasant too. Masks are worn, tables are few and very spaced out, personal sanitizers are everywhere. And the food and service are still great. Congrats to the lovely family that owns and operates this establishment. Looking forward to going back for a safe and delicious meal.

Great staff, really friendly. Food was just ok. Better pizza and Italian in the area in my opinion. Their desserts were excellent.

This is our go to place for family celebrations. They do this awesome thing where they turn off the lights, you think the power went out & then they come out with a lit cake. So wonderful! The Maria's Signature Portobello Mushroom is LITERALLY the best thing I have ever tasted in my life! The servers are very accommodating and sweet!

Great food and service. Love this place. Their sauce is the best and they offer takeout and in-house dining.

We stopped at Cafe Maria last night for the first time and it was fantastic! The staff were very nice and attentive, the atmosphere was cozy, and our overall experience was excellent. They offer delicious fresh bread with an aromatic and flavorful dipping oil. For dinner I had the Chicken Parmesan with a side of Penne pasta. The chicken was cooked to perfection, mozzarella cheese was melted perfectly, penne pasta was cooked al dente and the marinara was well balanced and tasty. My husband had special called Fabio Chicken that was full of fresh vegetables, a white wine sauce and angel hair pasta topped with mozzarella cheese. This dish was excellent and full of spring veggie flavors with a hint of lemon and white wine. My advice.. give Cafe Maria a try! You will not be disappointed.

Great service, huge sandwiches, pretty good pizza. Try the penne vodka pizza if you're feeling like a delicious carbo-load!

This cafe was quite enjoyable. Customer service was great, food was awesome and the tables outside over look the beach! I recommend the egg tortilla and Portuguese French toast was amazing!

Great restaurant. Delicious pasta and salads. I recommended.Staff are very friendly and try to To serve you the best way possible.

Great personal pizza and dinner for takeout. Need to enforce masks for order pickup. I have seen someone each time I have ordered from them pickup without a mask.

We decided to have a luncheon here for my son's Christening and it did not disappoint. The owner, Giacomo, is extremely friendly and accommodating. The food was delicious - my favorite was the eggplant rollatini - it was excellent!!! We also enjoyed appetizers - (the Calamari was outstanding), sausage and peppers that everyone gobbled up, chicken francese, and penne a la vodka. Our serving was darling, and she definitely had her hands full as we essentially took over the entire dining area. I would definitely book another party here, and would love to come back and try the pizza.

I lived 20 minutes from NYC for 50 years before moving to Hunterdon County. I always believed that GREAT PIZZA was only in the tri-state area, but was wrong. Cafe Maria's pizza is THE BEST PIZZA I have EVER had, and I am a pizza addict! Excellent and friendly staff, very fair prices and damn good pizza!!!! I'll never go elsewhere!!!! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!!!!!

Outstanding dinners! Cafe Maria is known more for their pizza. However, we go there specifically to eat their dinners. We have never been less than delighted with their entrees, especially their pasta dishes. The lasagna is to die for. My wife loves their Nonna's Special. We have now established this as our go-to place for Christmas Eve dinners with our family. We could not be there this past Christmas Eve, so we had them make our meals to take away. Yummy!

Great place. Best pizza in earth. AWESOME service.Glad to be local to enjoy their good foods...

The penne vodka sauce was thin and tasteless and the chicken with it was chopped in very small pieces and did not have a grilled taste. Very unappetizing to look at. I lost my appetite. The pizza mediocre, crust tough also. Disappointing because the service was great and it is a cute place, bright, airy and inviting.

Ambience: quiet, very subdued. Last visit was on a holiday, the place was nearly empty, so maybe my experience is skewed. Service: efficient, polite, wouldn't call them super friendly. Food: always good. Takeout pizza is really good. My calamari could have been soaked for desalinization a wee bit longer, I think. Didn't stop me from devouring it and growling at anybody who asked to try some. Prices are just a *tiny* bit higher than other local Italian restaurants. But then again, the restaurant is definitely nicer, so I think the higher prices are valid. Menu is excellent, plenty of variety without running the risk of having food that is not prepared correctly (which tends to happen with larger menus.) Portions are satisfying, which is always a good thing for me! Now I'm thinking I'm about due for a Cafe Maria takout pizza :-)

I have been ordering take out and dining in at Cafe Maria for a very long time. I am sad at how bad it has gotten. Our last attempt of take out was this week. I am crossing it permanently off my list. My recent order was literally inedible. Over $40 for one dinner which was soaked in garlic. A sub that looked like it fell on the floor was was picked up and thrown back together. And a salad that had fake seafood on it instead of the advertised lobster. They actually used imitation crab meat as a substitute for the lobster. I use to order pepperoni pizza here every week but several years ago they switched to cheaper pepperoni and it is greasy and oily and soaks the crust with oil. I suggest Napoli's or Dukes for local italian.

This is Two of Best Italian Food in the Area at the moment. They should hook up with a local winery to sell Vino. The Sicilian Crew will put Little Italy to shame. This place will be hard to beat ....a great contest with Marinellis

Average food, spotty service. We ate there on a Sunday night, so no discounts. It was relatively empty in the dining area. Relatively quiet, so when its not busy I would have expected better service. I had Penne pollo, pasta w Vodka Sauce, mushroom and peas. I've had this same dish at Alfonsos (deliciosa!) and Panatieris in Flemington, and this one was nowhere near as good as the others. It did not have enough flavor and I had to dump on Parm cheese to make it taste good. My daughter had the chefs special, which was a shrimp dish and she said it was average. Only my daughters friend liked the portabello mushroom sandwich. I've had their pizza for take out and I've always liked their pizza. This was the first time dining in and probably the last. Food at other Italian eateries in the area is better. Service was spotty. It was adequate but not stellar considering the place was relatively empty.

I have visited Cafe Maria many times over the past few years and have found them to be merely adequate. To give credit where credit is due, the staff has always been friendly and welcoming. The food, on the other hand, has never really impressed me. I only order food from there when I am desperate and have nothing decent to cook at home or it is an inconvenient time to travel to a farther pizzeria. If I did not have three young children at home to take in the car with me I would not hesitate to travel to Frenchtown to get my food instead. On one occasion I dined in and ordered eggplant parmesan, one of my favorite dishes. Now, I am NOT a picky eater by any means and even if I do not really like something, I almost always will eat it anyway. The eggplant was so salty that I could take no more than a few bites. More often than not, I will order a salad or pizza. The pizza is fine nothing spectacular but not bad, however, to excel as a pizzeria in New Jersey, your pies should be far more than adequate. The salads are not bad either. I am a huge fan of their garlic salad, if only it could be consistently made. Sometimes the salad is terrific and other times it tastes completely different.

The antipasto has something that tastes like bologna and the pizza is just okay. Not impressed because when I arrived for my order, I felt like I was bothering them. It was not busy at that time.

Our go-to pizzeria. Great pizza, try a rice ball (yum!). They just teamed up with a local winery so now you can buy bottles there, which is great since I always forgot it was BYO great variety on the menu. Soups, salads, burger, steaks, hot and cold subs... And amazing Gelato!!!!!!

last night I called in a take out order and 1 of the "specials" was grilled swordfish,,,,,,I ordered that for my friend along with an order of mussels,,,and a cheese ravioli....I did not try the swordfish thank God,,,and we both ate the mussels,,,.........by 8PM,,my friend had violent vomiting and diarrhea,,,he had a classic case of food poisoning,,,,,you would think that they would really inspect the fish they are serving,,,,I guess when you order a fish dish in a pizza parlor,,,,,expect the unexpected..

Very nice place. Pizza one of the best in the area and I am from NY! Gorgonzola chicken pasta from the regular menu is excellent as is the sausage pasta on the Monday night pasta special menu. Can't beat that deal! Very very good food with bread and a salad for under $10!! Staff is friendly and accommodating! Worth trying!

Great place for lunch. I live/work pretty close so it's really convenient to pop in and grab food to go, as well as bring in a client for a nice sit down lunch. It's quick , friendly & the food is fresh. Air conditioned dining area, TV in the order area so I can catch the soccer scores.

Friendly local Italian cafe that has been family run for ages. Best breaded chicken wings for miles and nice calamari too. We took a party of 8 and were very well looked after. BYOB.

Awesome pizza! Consistent and delicious and a bargain at the price. The riots Ted garlic is divine! Next I am going to try dining in.

Very cute decor and a friendly environment. Their Monday night pasta specials are a great value but on other nights it does seem to be just a bit expensive. Their bread is amazing and so is their pizza! I would recommend Cafe Maria to anyone, whether just picking up a pizza to eat at home, or looking for a good place to get pasta (especially Mondays from 4pm-9pm).

Have been there several times. We went for my birthday we were 6 they were very accommodating and even closed the lights and everyone sang Happy Birthday and got me a piece of cake with a candle. Can't wait till Ed go again!

yo this place bumps. deadass the best pizza around town. i fuck with the buffalo chicken.

My boyfriend and I had a very nice dinner the other night at Cafe Maria. We have eaten there together once before and had enjoyed it. He is a huge pasta fan and enjoyed a very nice serving of stuffed shells. The presentation was quite nice. My eggplant parmiagiana was good but could have been served a little bit hotter. The bread basket they serve is wonderful. The bread is warm and there are three different kinds. Very generous amounts too. The atmosphere is quiet, which we do like. The wait staff is very, very friendly and attentive. When we enter the restaurant we are always greeted welcomely and when we leave we are wished a good night. The cost of the meals is reasonable. Definitely a place we will go back to.

Authentic Italian food... Italian family owned and operated. Every time my brother visits from out of town, we stop in for real jersey pizza. We're warmly received by the owner, who remembers us by name... it's become a custom. The 'Pasta Nights' are a good deal, and have lots of options.

Have been eating at Maria's since October 2014. Food is served fresh and delicious. Pizza is crisp, excellent taste. They have such a variety it is almost hard to choose. Delicious food!! On Monday and Tuesday they offer a $8.95 pasta special.

Nice place, good food. Nonna's House Special is awesome. Good place to stop on the way home from work.

Great everything. My whole family and I loved it. The food quality was very good. We all adored the pizza. Especially the specialty ones. The service is nice. The owner, Giacomo, is very friendly and gave us pizza frite, which is fried pizza dough with sugar on top. He knows us now and when it's not so busy, he'll saunter over to our table and have a brief conversation with my mom. They are both Italian. The environment is very clean, and has a comfortable atmosphere. Over all, I recommend this restaurant. Thanks for reading!

Great people! Always friendly and willing to listen to my sometimes complex orders. Great burgers and hoagies. Nice place to grab food.

So so food and bad service. Their "special" was misleading. Due to the mediocre overall experience and poor customer treatment, will never go back again!!!

We used to get pizza from here often. We were a huge fan of the buffalo chicken pizza however within the last year this place has really lost its quality of food and service. It is BYOB so that's nice I guess but it's just not what it used to be.