Mara’s Cafe & Bakery

This place is gross !! I got a chicken croissant! The chicken was processed chucks !! And as a side they gave me spoiled mandarin orange slices. Stay away !! Such a disappointment as we need a real bakery in Berkeley heights !!

Ok so food was pretty good… note, I did not get any baked goods, just a gyro. What I loved was that it was quiet, unassuming, and we brought our wine. I called before hand and asked if we could byo and they said yes. It is a really good place to go if you want a glass of wine and a sandwich or salad and quiet. I would go back. I’m interested to see how other things on the menu are. The gentleman behind the counter was more than nice and helpful.

I was very excited when Mara’s came to town. I love their location in Morris County. I was shocked by the decline of quality at this location. The cupcakes were served to us frozen. Really??? That is the last thing I ever expected from this place. I’m not sure if this is the same owner but WOW. I know the space is big and they might have to cut corners in this pricey area. Selling frozen cupcakes is not the answer.

Just hosted a child’s birthday party here and we were very happy! We were able to rent out the whole space for our party of 25 people. (Outside customers were allowed to come in for take-​out orders, but otherwise, we had the room to ourselves.) The whole café is very clean and spacious. We were able to set up our own music, pack and plays for the babies, and bring our own alcohol. Mara’s provided everything else. The food was delicious. We ordered two medium sandwich party platters which came with assorted sandwiches, chips, drinks, and pastries to serve everyone. All the food came out promptly when our party time started. Everyone had a great time. Kudos to Mara’s for helping us host a great party.

Id give this place a flaming bag of crap before i give them a star im a 15 year veteren of the culinary field and ive never senlen such a mess of a place. I worked there for 3 days and from what i heard on Unilocal and the employees there on rhe short amount of time is disgusting to me he steals the credit card tips from the front of house people and the customers by buying cheap product and using it till its way past its serve date. He over charges for things that are on the menu but when u get there he says dont use the stuff to expensive so just put anything else thats cheap and nasty in the product in giving to the customers. I simply asked for pay for the 3 days of me makjng HOMEMADE soups and whatnot and he couldn’t even do that xwhat a piece of shit you gotta be to do that to people well karmas a bitch and your place will be shut down soon enough. not to mention it’s filthy behind the scenes. I ate one thing and was throwing it up not even 10 mins later. He claims all house made product but its far from i wouldn’t feed this mans food to a dog thats on his death bed. So think twice before u go to this one in Berkeley heights… you’ll know who im talking about just look for the creepy asian man and his wife who just sits on their ass all day and stares at people. get off ur ass and make ur buisness better couldnt even get butter to butter a customers bagel (embarrassing)…so my last words are if ur looking for food poisoning i got the place for you MARAS CAFE in Berkeley heights .ps i had to give 1 star just to post ignore that star its more like a flaming bag of shit

Just plain HORRIBLE!!! Had the chicken focaccia with red peppers and pesto it was awful.
The pesto spread tasted like detergent, I actually felt sick after eating it, left a terrible after taste. Had a cannoli cupcake for dessert which was the worse cupcake I have ever had. The cannoli cream frosting tasted nothing like cannoli cream it tasted just like Betty Crocker frosting from a jar!!! Pretty expensive. Please don’t waste your money. I will never go back!

While this location is spacious, the few times I went there to do some work it was quite disappointing. This location was quieter than a library. I ordered a hot tea to stay on several visits, both when ordering the regular or large mug the water was only filled half way and it was not hot at all. I asked for a fresh full cup and asked for it to NOT to be microwaved. Nonetheless it still wasn’t hot. The service was definitely subpar. On a follow up visit I ordered the vegetable panini sandwich, few vegetarian options and I was really disappointed for the cost is over $ 7. The sandwich when assembled seemed to be a mush mosh of vegetables and portobello mushroom either drenched in oil or cooked in copious amounts of oil and then just stuffed on the bread, it was literally dripping with oil. Completely inedible. Unfortunately one bite and in the trash it went.
Follow up visit: Took a friend for a cappuccino, it was barely warm and tasteless. My daughter ordered a strawberry smoothie, sorry folks that was terrible too.
The only pros: spacious, ample parking, free wifi and if you need a spot to get some work done this is the place.
Cons: bad customer service, terrible food, mediocre beverages and not fresh baked goods with a high price tag.

My friend and I went to Mara’s for dessert and coffee. The place was empty other than a couple with a young child. I ordered regular coffee, my friend ordered a cappuccino, I got biscotti and she got the pecan square.
The cost was $ 11.30, I gave $ 12.00 and was given $ 12.70 change? I told the lady that she had given me the wrong change and showed her what was in my hand. She said that I had given her a $ 20, and proceeded to pull a $ 20 bill from the cash drawer to show me. Even if I had given her a $ 20 bill, my change would have been $ 8.70? Anyway, I insisted that I gave her $ 12, and she was giving it back to me with an additional 70c. She then said ‘oh yes’ and took the $ 12 back without so much as a thank you for being honest. Nothing.
Next we got our coffee. The cappuccino was OK, my regular coffee was cold. The cup was barely warm. I told the guy who gave it to me, he gave me a strange look as if he didn’t believe me. I told him to feel it. The lady who had given me the wrong change said that he had just brewed it? No way, and they could not have brewed a new pot in such a short time. Finally, after arguing, he took the cup from me and went and put it in the microwave! I could not believe my eyes. Even when I was given the cup back it stills wasn’t very hot. Needless to say I didn’t drink it. The biscotti and the pecan square were OK.
There were 3 people working in this empty restaurant, and they can’t even serve a fresh cup of coffee? They had no customer service skills, and were on the verge of being rude. I can’t imagine this place will last long with these kind of employees. I guess we should have realized why there was nobody in there. Never again!

Stopped in for lunch and enjoyed one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. Freshly made, beautiful bun served with fries and cole slaw for only $ 7.99. Will definitely return.

Everything at Mara’s is so delicious! They have great desserts but even better food! My two girls love going here because it’s family friendly and there is something on the menu for everyone to enjoy!

This is the third and last time we have tried Mara’s. I work in an office and we go out for lunch regularly (1 – 2 times a week) so salads from Mara’s seemed like the perfect option. However everytime we go the staff is unprofessional and unprepared.
I went to get dessert for a few folks, I ordered some cannolis. It took 20 minutes for the person behind the counter to fill simple cannoli molds and it was all over the box she gave it to me and all over the counter. I got lunch while I was waiting and was told a server would bring out my water and the server totally forgot to bring out water as well as neglected to notice that I had silverware until I specifically asked for it.
It says on all the materials that Marras delivers. However, everytime we call to ask, they say «we’re not delivering today.» The first time we tried to order lunch, they forgot to put chicken on a salad, which we were charged for — and forgot a side dish.
Today, we decided to give Mara’s one more try. On the menu it indicates you can get chicken salad as an add-​on, we asked for balsamic bleu salad with chicken salad. Instead we recieved grilled chicken. When we called the person on the phone said «Are you sure you’re not looking for the Marra’s in Scotch Plains?» When I arrived to pick up my food, no one greeted me and it took a full 5 minutes for someone to come behind the counter and acknowledge me. The name on our order was completely mis-​spelled. The person on the register says «Oh and there’s forks and napkins in there so you don’t have to worry.» In fact — there were none, which I did not realize until I got back to my office. To top it all off, we paid $ 10 for a fistfull of greens and about 4 oz of grilled chicken (Not chicken salad like we asked for).
I understand that when a place is new, it takes time to work out the kinks. But this location is unapologetically dis-​organized without any clear way of giving feedback, other than the customer seeking out to write to the manager.
I will not be returning to Mara’s.

I didn’t know this café has breakfast, lunch and dinner, so many options for the whole day, the food is delicious!

I actually liked this place until recently. The last time I went, as I was waiting for my food, I saw the woman working there clean tables, work the register and refill the baked goods case. Problem is that she did not wear gloves when refilling the baked goods — she used her bare hands to touch the croissants, the cupcakes, etc. to put them on the display plates. That is just unsanitary. If there was a baker that came out from the back with fresh goods (like in a bagel place) and did that, I would be less offended — but she cleaned tables and then went to touching the food! No thanks.

Finally a Mara’s close to Chatham. Coffee and desserts are still really good. Will definitely come back

Sorry to say that Mara’s has earned the one star review that it has received on Unilocal.And I really wanted to like this place. I wish I had read the reviews before we went there.
On the positive side, the place is clean and the tables are spaced sufficiently far apart so that wheelchairs can easily be accommodated. And the French fries were good. Unfortunately that’s where our positive experience ended.
We asked for the pulled pork sandwich that was showcased on their FaceBook page, on 06÷16÷15, as Summer Specials. The first person at the counter was confused and referred us to someone else. The second person said that the pulled pork is only available for tailgates. She double checked with the chef who concurred. We showed them their FB page, which doesn’t mention tailgating. It specifically states the pulled pork burrito, pulled pork sandwich and summer salad are «summer specials». The response we got from the person at the counter was «Oh, Great…», followed by a dramatic eye roll. Geez, Mara’s, sorry for unconvincing you by asking for food that you showcased on your FaceBook page.
Hub ordered a hamburger. It was OK. The fries were good. I ordered the special ham & cheddar cheese panini with mustard. It should have been called a mustard panini. I love mustard, but this sandwich was slathered, oozing, dripping with mustard. I scraped off more than a tablespoon. The 1 thin slice of ham was thrown on there, so it was half on/​half off the bread. One side of the sandwich had tomato, the other did not. If there was cheese in there you couldn’t tell because it was hidden in the mustard. It was not edible. There was no pride of workmanship/​taste coming out of the kitchen. This sandwich was sloppy, soppy, and drowning in yellow mustard.
I am so disappointed, I had high hopes for this place but we will not return.

I regret going here. I picked up a cheesecake from Mara’s for a family event. The cheesecake that I was given was frozen and was told that it will be good to eat in a couple of hours. I was shocked. If I wanted a frozen cheesecake or dessert, I would pick it up from stop and shop for half the price. To make matters worse, the quality of the cheesecake was about the same quality as the stop and shop frozen dessert aisle. Not worth even close to the $ 25 price tag. Will never go here again. This place should be embarrassed to charge these prices for such substandard quality cakes.

I so wanted to like Mara’s…I am a huge fan of the Denville location… but unfortunately this place has a lot to work on.
Positives:
Big, new, plenty of parking and very friendly staff.
Needs work:
Gelato and cakes/​pies!
We went on a Friday night and the place was dead… seriously it was warm out and there were about 3 people inside. That should have been a sign to us. Their cupcake selection is impressive. They seemed fresh. Their cakes were covered with plastic wrap which tells me they don’t sell well. So I picked my favorite, Dutch Apple Cheesecake… what a let down. The cheesecake wasn’t fresh and very chunky but not in a good way. Like it’s past its prime. Very chalky too. The crust had fridge burn… ugh! The gelato wasn’t much better. Freezer burn. Yuck!
I get they opened recently and are probably getting out their kinks but it’s an established name.
We left disappointed and are not sure if we would return to this location. We will drive out of our way to go to the Denville location.
Good luck if you go here.

Save your money and eat somewhere else. The restaurant is very clean and new however the food is awful. I came with my sister and mom, my sister ordered pene vodka in which she took one bite and that was that. I had ordered a chicken caesar wrap which consisted of one piece of chicken, lots of lettuce, and tons of mayo. After eating this I felt terrible. I support local business but after my experience at mara’s I assume this place will not be in business for very long.

40 mins for lunch and waiting. Waiting. Waiting with my cup of terrible «hot» coffee. Three drive bys with «2 min» response and «we are very busy». Yes. You are new and very busy but trust me not for long.

Went to check the new place out last Sunday. Very large and clean. Fairly nice presentation in the display cases. We had one group in front of us with one person ordering for the group and had one server assisting. There was another server behind the counter but he moved to the back for some reason and it appeared that there was a manager who was more concerned with looking at something in the back between the kitchen and eating area than the front. After waiting for what seemed longer than we should have we decided to leave as the wait was not worth our time. As a new business it’s important to understand why a potential customer left without spending any money. Hopefully the owners will make adjustments to the level of service/​staffing so that other potential customers have a different experience than we did.