Any trip to Mahabaleshwar would be incomplete without -
Strawberries with fresh cream - there are several shops/restaurants in the market place area that serve this
Corn pattice - apart from restaurants in the market area, the road-side restaurants also serve this.
It is also worth trying out local strawberry ice cream in Mahabaleshwar coz it has pieces of fresh strawberry in it.
Place to stay:
For a place to stay, the best way would be to stay at MTDC and you would get an ST bus from swargate from Pune or even from Mumbai. Reservation for the MTDC can be done online and payment via credit card. Just carry the printout of the reservation receipt with you and there you are! Sometimes there is a schedule of load shedding due to which there is no power for some time during the day. Apart from this the service etc. is good.