Mom’s Tamales

After watching diners, drive ins and dives we were so excited to go and try the tamales and chile relleno. When we drove up to the restaurant/​house, we immediately thought. omg! It looked nothing like this on TV. We still went in and ordered food. The tamales were not worth the 30 min drive. Well, there wasnt anything we are worth the drive. We sent pics to our family to make them jealous but they said, what the hell? You guys in TJ? I almost choked I was laughing so hard. To make me laugh even harder, 2 men walked in and said, really? Are You serious? Apparently they watched the same show! Bottom line… Not even worth a 10 min drive. Damn you Guy Fieri!!!

I was extremely disappointed with the service at this restaurant. I was not satisfied with the service that the owner provided. It is a shame. It is safe to say that I will not return.

Their tamales are excellent but their service at christmas was DISASTROUS AND INSULTING.
I ordered talmales 10 days in advance of Christmas but when I arrived there was a line with TWO-​HOUR (no kidding!) waiting time to pickup my reserved order. It would appear they do not value their customer’s time and suffered from gross incompetence.
I then asked them if they could call me when my order was ready and I would come down and pick it up. They said «no problem» and they would call me. Not only did they not call me but they would not answer the phone when I called. I went to El Pavo Bakery and bought the tamales. In short, if you really want to do business with them just don’t buy from them during the holidays.

Shame on my dumb self. Kept going after being burned so 3 times when the run out of tamales. Now a forth time after they post signs saying they are out until 11:40. Show up at 11:38 to find out the couple the walked in after us bought the batch. Not sure why they have signs that say you have to call in for orders more than a dozen if you can walk in place the order and screw the people waiting to eat at the restaurant. Well it won’t happen again. The only food on their menu worth driving up for is the tamales. The rest of the food on their menu is average. I won’t be giving my hard earned cash to a restaurant who doesn’t care about their customers.

Small hole on in the wall place, food is good I will go back. Tameles are really good only bad thing is that they ran out when I was there could not take any home.

From Mexican to Mexican, we can usually be picky on if a certain food is actually good or not. Especially tamales. We’re so used to eating would our moms make, that when we try someone’s else tamales we quickly disapprove. And I quickly approved these tamales. Very authentic and exactly how mom makes tamales.

It is not like going to a restaurant to eat, it is like going to a family members house. You are treated with respect, kindness and just plain happiness
I had the chilaquiles they were delicious. The beans and rice are on point.
The mole tamale was good, the masa was not hard or flavorless.
We drove 2 hours to come here, and I would come again. Next time I look forward to some red tamales.

Nothing to write home about.
We went in for their famous chili relleno. We placed our order and 15 minutes later were told they didn’t have any. We picked something else on the menu and 10 minutes later we were again asked what we ordered. Another 10 minutes passed and we were asked again what we ordered. We asked for it to go. It was not worth the wait. The A must be for the cleanliness of the kitchen.

If you like great tamales and the best mole I have found in the local Highland Park area, you’ll love this place.
I’ve tried many of their dishes and the flavor has never disappointed me. The physical ambience is rustic and quaint, but has a simple but effective charm of its own. Good prices and most patrons are return customers. You owe it to yourself to try it. Good Eats… Zapster2k of Monterey Hills.

A hole in the wall that’s simply AMAZING! Very cute and family oriented. Makes you feel like you are in your abuelas dinning room just waiting for the fresh hot tamales. Well portioned. You will not be disappointed.

Oh my goodness! This has to be one of the best tamales I’ve ever had!!! The place is very small and it closes early but who cares!!! Its best that you pre order your tamales before hand because they run out quick! It’s cash only so make sure you have it because there are no ATM’S around. Definitely, a must try!

This place is truly authentic and make their tamales with care. Too often I complain about dry tamales or tamales with not enough meat, but not at Mom’s Tamales. Flavorful moist tamales is all you get here.

Space– rough but spacious– draw backs no A/​C and no bathroom but they have hand sanitizer on each table.
Service– Great service from the cook’s husband. Sweet and humble man.
Food– We all had breakfast — Chilaquiles were on point with perfectly cooked rice and beans. Too much diced onion for my liking. They don’t ask for egg preparation preferences so you’ll have to specify unless you don’t mind sunny side up.
Tamales — pork tamale was just perfect. Moist, tasty and a perfect ratio of protein
and masa. The pineapple tamale was equally delicious.
Drinks — the coffee was ok and the horchata was very homemade and not too sweet. Free refills!

Called ahead and was able to pick up my dozen tamales immediately for $ 20. Don’t count on having all 8 tamales options available thought — they usually don’t have 1 or 2 of the meat options available.
Chicken mole was moist and my favorite savory tamale. The cheese spinach was made with Swiss cheese which was the more favored one among us, than the cheese and jalapaeno which came in a string cheese kind of deal. The pineapple tamale is a MUST TRY! It was subtly sweet, moist and almost like cake.
Unfortunate their tamales to go doesn’t come with any salsa. Or you pay $ 1 for a small cup of (green or red) salsa. They both had a nice kick to it so I would def recommend ordering them.

Love them for breakfast, the best chilaquiles. The only tamales I like are the pineapple. The rest are okay. The menudo is delicious!

So I saw this place on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and was really excited to go and try each and every single one of their tamales. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be but a few of them are actually pretty good. I tried the Mole Tamale, Cheese and Chile, red Chile Pork, green Chile chicken and the sweet ones. It was hit and miss for the tamales with meat in them. Some had a good portion of meat, and some did not. The best tasting ones where the pork and the other ones were really just «okay». All in all, I would go there again just for the Pork Tamales. I will say the people that were there were very friendly and very nice, the restaurant was clean and inviting…

Mom’s Is a 1^st class tamale joint and IT SHOWS!
Now pulling up to the place your not gonna think much. The building is funkadelic and is not on major street. You’ll enter the funky red screen door into this garage type of upstairs patio. Don’t let this stop u from entering cause it’s a wonderful place for dining.
You’ll start off with homemade chips which are crunchy and taste fresh. The green sauce is good but has tiny kick to it. Now the tamale list is filled with choices. FRANK went for the pork one and was not disappointed. Hot & Fresh and perfectly spiced. I dug my fork into and watched the steam of freshness rise from my tamale and then dug out the goodies. Was happy I ordered another. The asada street tacos I ordered tasted fantastic. As simple as these tacos are they have to be perfect to enjoy and damn it rocked. Tortillas, meat & blend of onion & cilantro flavors exploded on my taste buds. Tummy is happy happy joy joy!
Thank you MOM for the great grub!

This was one of my «dinner drive-in’s and dives» road trip stop’s in May this year…
These tamales were perfect!
Moist, great flavor, good size!
(Love the spinach and cheese)
Drop right pass them many times, never went till I saw them in triple «D».
You have to go!

This hole in the wall is fantastic! Unfortunately they only accept cash but my class instructor told me about this place and we went for lunch!
I“m not really a fan of tamales but there’s just never enough stuffing for me! But I trust my instructor’s taste in food. Here’s what I had:
CHIPS & SALSA — Complimentary
I love it when restaurants make their own chips! I couldn’t stop eating them! They were clearly fresh and so crispy. The 2 salsa that came with it is quite spicy but good! Oh man so good!
TAMALE — SPINACH & CHEESE — $ 1.67
This tamale has the most stuffing I had ever seen out of all my tamale experience! I was so happy how they don’t skimp on that! It doesn’t look all nice and appealing but it was quite delicious and moist. I’d add a bit of the salsa that came wit the chips and it was so good… adding that kick. I couldn’t really tell what kind of cheese was being used but it was nice.
HORCHATA — $ 2.50
Your standard yummy horcahta that hits the spot on a hot summer day! Ahhh!!!
The service was great, he was so nice and I had a great time eating here for lunch. I think we were lucky because it was not at all packed. I want to come back and try all the other tamales!

Apparently, this place was endorsed by Triple D as one of the best tamale joints in LA. Not!!! My recent visit says otherwise.
I’ve driven by this place numerous times driving to and from Dodger stadium. After seeing them on Triple D and receiving high praise for their tamales, I quickly reserved an hour into my busy weekend for a road trip to Lincoln Heights. The restaurant is situated in an unassuming and shady part of town, which reminded me of some of the best authentic Mexican tacos and tamale joints growing up near East LA. The barrio style atmosphere and hole-​in-​the-​wall ambiance definitely brings a family homestyle element. Upon opening the screen door and walking up some small steps, I was quickly greeted to a tiny no frills, enclosed dining patio. Not particularly impressive, but it was clean, unpretentious and cozy.
Our gracious server handed us the menu and offered up some complimentary homemade chips and salsa. The green chile had quite a kick, but was fresh and very delicious. The tamales are inexpensive can be ordered individually ($ 1.70) or as a combo ($ 6.75 includes rice and beans). Not sure which tamales to order, we went with most of the popular ones like the chicken mole, pork, spinach & cheese, pineapple and green chile chicken, including one order as a combo. In addition, we got several carne asada tacos and a bowl of menudo. Our favorites were the spinach & cheese and pork tamales which were both moist and quite tasty. Unfortunately, I found the green chile chicken tamale to be a bit dry and bland. And the filling to masa ratio was bit skimpy. Both the pineapple and chicken mole were good, but nothing memorable that would warrant me to order it again. The flavors were to subtle and dull.
As for the tacos, very below average tasting. The tortilla didn’t taste fresh and was stale. The carne asada was salty and needed additional squeeze of lime and dousing of hot sauce to enhance the flavor.
Fortunately, the menudo was on point and delicious. Accompanied with all usual accoutrements — oregano, dry chiles, onions, cilantro and lime. Excellent savory broth and tripe was tender.
For this foodie venture, we ended up shelling out $ 26 which was’t to bad and service was favorably decent. However, the food wasn’t as memorable as I anticipated. Most of the time food looks great on shows, but honestly some of the restaurants that have been featured on Triple D have been overhyped and underwhelmed, including Mom’s Tamales. When in doubt, stick to East LA for good tamales.
Tip — Only accept cash.
Parking — Street only.