Tamales El Mexico

Unassuming cart outside of a liquor store but don’t be put off by this humble setting. Some of the best tamales I’ve had in town. The pork & beef are my favs. The filling is plentiful & seasoned just right & the masa is delicious.

El jefe was on the hunt for tamales that tastes like his mom’s. Our adventure led us to Tamales El Mexico. $ 2 tamales? Sure! Why not?
The tamales are cheap, fat and filling. I ordered the beef, pork and jalapeño and cheese. The beef and jalapeño cheese were good. The pork was alright, although plain. The masa was well flavored and moist. And, did I say that the tamales were fat? I typically can eat about 3 – 4 tamales, in one sitting. But, these tamales were fairly big and I was stuffed after eating two.
The only downside to ordering here is that you can’t tell which tamale is what, if you order a variety. The tamales aren’t labelled. El jefe got 4, but one of them was a «candy» tamale that he didn’t even order. So, there is some guessing going on, by both the cart lady and the customer.
They weren’t exactly my favorite Mexican grandma’s tamales. But, if you want to eat cheap, under $ 5 and are craving decent tamales, this is it. Be sure to bring cash.

Was craving elote with mayo, cheese and chile’ for awhile so I browsed online to see if I could find someone who sold them. I stopped by ‘La Fachada’ first and was told they don’t make/​sell them anymore.
Second stop was here and luckily they had elote and tamales.
An addition to the elote, I also bought a beef and chicken tamale.
Everything was wrapped to go and I enjoyed it when I got home.
Not the greatest but everything I ordered were GOOD. A good fix if you ever crave some good old Mexican Street food (but limited menu).
I will come back here again and get the pineapple and strawberry tamale with champurrado.
Yumm… :D

As a pseudo vegetarian, I can’t personally vouch for these tamales, but they get a good response when I feed them to other people.
Was on my way to visit a group that was stressed out and grumpy, and bought a couple to share. They were an excellent cure for a bad day, and everyone cheered up after eating. One tamal snob claimed that the masa was too dense, but that didn’t stop her from gobbling up her share. Everyone agreed that the chicken was the best.
At $ 2 each, these are a great option for a quick meal.

Can’t beat $ 2 for a good tamale. They have roughly a dozen different options. Grabbed a carnitas and a jalapenos & queso while I stopped to buy booze. Make sure they give you hot sauce because I didn’t get any. Nicely wrapped, but heavy on the masa. Masa was decent but a little over powering. The carnitas was very good. The jalapenos & queso hardly had any filling in it. It does the trick for a quick snack or to fill a craving, but the hectic parking lot and whacky characters causes a debatable stop if driving. Tough decision when there’s a mariscos truck 150ft away in the same lot. I’d recommend getting both.

Get a banana leaf tamal. You’ll probably go to heaven.

At 2 bucks a piece, these steamed morsels are great!
There are so many places around here and all over SD to get really good tamales and this cart has been here for years!
Is it my favorite… not necessarily, but its well worth it! Best to eat immediately. It doesn’t taste as good if nuked later.

wow! is all you can say when you find killer tamales. what makes a killer tamale for me of course is the fillings but the masa is even more key. more often than not it can be flavorless and dry not at T.E.M.. great flavor on its own that was hot with a firm creamy texture. combine the fillings and masa and you have a killer tamale.

Great tamales and a nice man selling them.

Looked at all the reviews on Unilocal and I went out to look for them since I’m so close by. Not what I expected, I personally don’t like carrots or potatoes on my tamales. Although they do come with a good amount of meat.

Good presentation, good size of tamales, well wrapped, BUT heavy on masa and lacking flavor. I only tried beef and pork.
Ok but not the best.

I saw the reviews on Unilocal and stopped by there this morning. I bought a chicken, pork, beef and jalapeño cheese and shared them with a co-​worker. These tamales are AMAZINING! I usually try to find someone that makes them out of their home to have at Christmas, but I am concerned about health regulations and cleanliness. My only complaint is that they are $ 2.00 apiece. I’ll let you know if they give me a bulk discount!

Looking for some Tamales for a party so we stopped by this place (based on previous Unilocal reviews). The place is literally a cart in front of a liquor store. Although the place is small the tamales are excellent! We tried one of the beef, pork, chicken and cheese. If you’re in the area stop by — you won’t be sorry!

Holy Tamales Batman… This place has some Great Hot Tamales!!! Located inches away from El Cajon Blvd market. Tamales are moist, meaty and tasty…
There is usually a lady or a guy selling the tamales and both are really nice. They can help you if you need a large party order of any tamal you have in mind. Great Rajas con Queso, and Chicken. I haven’t tried the pork or beef.

1.50 a tamales is a great deal. The masa was done right though because of the cheaper price, there’s less filling. The cheese and pepper is blah, since the cheese is chunky. But the chicken, beef, and. Pineapple were great.
So if you need a quick tamales fix, this is the place to go. A cute cart in front of autozone and a liquor store

Very yummy!
I asked if the Rajas con queso were vegetarian and she said yes, she makes them with vegetable shortening and the meat ones with lard.
I really like them and for $ 1.50 a tamal, now that’s a bargain.
They also cater and have more than tamales.
They offer tamales oaxaqueños as well as champurrado and of course the traditional tamales.
The menu there is:
*Traditional tamales:
–Pork/​Puerco
–Beef/​Res
–Chicken/​Pollo
–Pepper and cheese? Rajas con queso
–Pineapple/​Piña
–Corn/​Elote
*Tamales Oaxaqueños:
–Beef and Pork
*Champurrado/​Mexican masa hot drink
*For catering: Birria, tacos and more.
Also in their business card says Pupuseria Nery Salvadorean and Mexican food!
The lady’s name’sElizabeth.
There’s als another address on the business card:
2479 Broadway Av. Suite A
San Diego, CA 92 102
Also offers wholesale for parties and events.

Been to this tamale stand twice. It’s pretty good, the size of the tamales are great but could be more meat inside. I’ve eaten the beef and corn tamales. The corn ones are GREAT!!! While the beef ones are just ok, I’ve had better but have had worst also. My husband has tried the chicken ones a just love them! The tamales are good price and they sell the mexican corn too which is a plus. I would recommend this tamale stand! But I still looking for my TJ tamales that has olives and potatoes in the beef tamales, still haven’t found a place that makes them like this yet.

The very best Tamales were made by my friends Mom. big shout out to Sylvia S. of IB but sadly she has now retired. So based on ratings on Unilocal I set out in search of good tamales.
After sampling one while I was there I bought two dozen which included Pork, Beef & Cheese/​Jalapeño. They were very fresh & moist; a little heavy on the masa but for me I love that. Generous portions of meat and they had a good flavor; my family was very pleased as was I.
They may not be Sylvia’s but they are a good substitution and we will be back for more. High recommend trying them!!!

I LUV this place! I get my tamales from carrito sanwichero on University Avenue & 39^th Street. They are the best tamales in SD and I’ve tried various places. I get pork with green salsa, nice and spicy, and the chicken in red salsa. Both are good and only cost $ 1.50 a piece.
The meat vs. masa ratio is acceptable and they are not stingy with the meat. They taste even better after the clubs at 3am.

Some places I Unilocal I’ve only been to a handful of times. I’ve eaten about a million tamales from this particular stand. Because location is everything.
The fact of the matter is that her tamales are pretty good, but not outstanding. Heavy on the masa, light on the salsa. Now that a more convenient and arguably superior competitor has opened across the street, my loyalty has been severely challenged.
But I still like coming here, and the main reason is because one of the saleswomen is *always* snoozing on her chair by the cart. I don’t know if she’s just tired from tamale-​making all day. But I wake her up as gently as possible, and she sheepishly smiles and looks blankly at me before mumbling something incoherent, presumably in Spanish. Even when she’s awake, she’s a little bit asleep. I get my meat tamales (don’t order the pineapple here, they are pretty weak) and she retreats to her chair.
So help a poor, sleepy Mexican woman out, alright?