Magaly’s Tamales

Had the machaca plate for breakfast with an Agua de Jamaica. Good was good, ok. nothing special. A bit over priced in my opinion. The food & salsas looked like they were from the day before. Not fresh.

There tamales are huge and make my stomach hurt! The chicken is super cut, not like a normal tamal.

Wow what a find this place is amazing. They dont skimp on the tamales. Their big and juicy, the food is packed with flavor and the prices arent bad at all. Apparently danny trejo best known as machete comes here. He said its the best tamales. And I agree ill definitely be back

Cute eatery with a couple of veggie options. I ate a vegetarian burrito and beans were lard free. I didn’t try the veggie tamales which they specialize in but there is always next time. Friendly and fast service.

I live in Las Vegas… very hard to find decent Mexican food. We were in town this past weekend and made a stop to buy food to take back. I am so happy with the results. I purchased a dz tamales which had the right ratio of masa to meat, not dry at all very moist and almost a creamy texture. Also purchased the albondigus soup another favorite. The broth not spicy but loaded with good seasoning. Meatballs had a little mint taste which brings out all the flavor .I left this place with not buying the Beas & Rice, can’t believe I did that
I knew this place knows how to cook as soon as you open the door, you can smell of the wonderful spices & meats, soups cooking. Huge pots cooking on stoves filled with tamales. A lady rocking out making homemade tortillas with a wooden press. Nothing fancy about the décor, have a little salsa bar for food with limes, onions, oregano for soups. If you want authentic Mexican food, this is your place.

Ya… their good. I heard about bout this place from Channel 7 i think during xmas doing a visit oh many tamales were being sold for the season. Came to check it out, i have now been here once very two weeks to pick up a dozen and take home. Good masa, good portion on fillings and over huge tamales. One tamale alone is good enough for lunch.

The tamales size justified the price. I found my tamales either too spicy on the beef and to bland on the chicken. Not too particular on going back.

Haven’t tried them since new owner and I did recently and a wave of depression came over me. I remember fond memories of going to this restraunt when it was Gourmet Tamales and was never disapponted. It was a family favorite. Now I am sad to say that if I am craving a corn tamale (or any tamale at that) not to come here again.
The corn tamale tasted terrible and dry. The others (beef) were mushy and didn’t hold well like a tamale should.
Do not reccomend.

Muy Bueno! Great food and customer service. My go to for breakfast and lunch. Mi esposa is always happy when I bring her lunch from this establishment.

Got three combo #1 beef tamale, beans n rice. Beans n rice could have been warmer and the tamale was more masa then beef.

It was Christmas Eve when I saw a feature on Magaly’s on Eyewitness News, morning edition. Seems that none of my friends made tamales this year, so I went there after work and got 18 tamales to take home and 2 to eat there. I got the queso and chile tamales to eat there and the first thing I noticed was the delicious masa. Not mushy, not too grainy or hard, not really dense. It had a lot of flavor. The cheese inside was okay and the chile was too thin, but I could have eaten the masa by itself with some salsa. I got chicken, pork and ground beef to take home.
I wouldn’t have gotten so many but they don’t really let you mix flavors. You have to get 6 of a flavor. I figured that I would freeze half of them to have over the next couple of months and my family would have the rest. My parents really liked them. The ground beef was really good. The pork was a little stringy but everything was flavorful. I made one for lunch the next day. There was a ton of masa with a tiny bit of ground beef. I like the masa but I did want some meat!
I will definitely go to Magaly’s again, but I don’t know if I’d go back on Christmas Eve when it’s all about getting out volume. On a regular occasion maybe the tamale makers will pay more attention to how much filling goes into the tamales.

It’s my first time to come here but I love the ambiance of the place it was so welcoming. I did enjoy the chicken tamales and would love to go back and try other food. They are in the old place of the San Fernando valley but I can already say their services are great.

Showed up on a rainy day to purchase some items to go a little before 7pm and the doors were locked so we decided to just wait in the car to figure out where to eat and all of a sudden they are letting people in to eat and so we got of the car to go try it again and the lady tells us it’s closed ??? This is ridiculous! I will never come here again i literally live a block away and always come here but never again so disappointed in this restaurant and staff members !!!

Quality over quantity! Well these use to be okay tamales but today they were just horrible rancid tamales we all threw them out! Aside from them being expensive they tasted disgusting, Never again will I purchase from this low quality place. The one star goes towards the champurrado it was good but the main entrée was not!

If you are in the mood for tamales but good tamales come here. Gallo Giro (however you spell) has nothing on these tamales.
I keep coming back for these yummy tamales. My personal favorite «queso con rajas» I also got to give it to them for there rice and re-​fried beans. delishhh! This is defenitly a hidden gem in San Fernando. I would recommend going early if you want to dine in. I’m an early bird and everytime we go out to eat breakfast is no later than 9:30– i find a table pretty easy — there is not much seating. We came for a late breakfast in the past, and the line was almost out the door– i think it was around 10sih. I was waiting for a table. Never disappointing.

Thought I’d give it a try after passing by so many times.
Inside there was plenty of seating and the menu looked diverse, but I just wanted to try thier Tamales, as that is the name on the door. To be fair I only had the chicken tamale and might return to try all the flavors.
In the end it was a decent tamale, what’d you’d expect for the price. If your looking for the best tamale you’d ever had in your life, this is probably not it. But if your hungry and want a tamale that’s in the neighbor hood you should give this place a try.

Been coming here for a while now needed to giv them a review. Came in tried there crunchy tacos. Oh yummm. My sister had there shrimp tacos. Said there the best she’s ever had. The have this sauce they put on it OH so good. Also tried there carne asada quesadilla tasty. Bought some tamale for my kids they enjoy them.

This establishment has pretty decent food, with good prices. We had the tamales, Chile relleno, and carne asada burrito. Their rice is great, and the burrito had good flavor, it was also only $ 6. The downfall is that they have no air conditioning, or they don’t use it. The tamales are worth getting and taking home for a group. I’d visit again.

What a horrible tamale. How can you even call it a tamale. You could call it a corn husk full of masa
I am horribly let down. Spent $ 35 on tamales to take home to find them Almost completely empty only one quarter of the tamale had beef or chicken in it maybe a spoonful at most I posted a photo. Looks authentic when you walk in but don’t get fooled
I got ripped off. Better tamales at Costco or food 4less. I would never ever get a tamale here again
Do not recommend at all.

Magaly’s is located in downtown San Fernando, a charming, twilight zone town where time stands still somewhere in the vicinity of 1959. Catty-​corner across the street from Magaly’s, there is an appliance repair shop where half of the window display is dedicated to random objets d’art of common knickknacks seemingly dating from the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s. The other half shows a display of old fashion washers from the 1940’s. Most of the city of San Fernando seems to reflect this lean towards a yearning for the days of 60 years ago in a homey, genteel, kindly manner.
In my search for the holy grail of the ultimate TAMAL, I found it in the City of San Fernando around 1990 in downtown San Fernando either on Truman or San Fernando Road. A salt & pepper coifed «Abuela» was sitting on a bench, and next to her was a large, silver olla with a lid. I went up to her, and she only spoke Spanish. «?Vende Ud. tamales?» «Si, son ricos.» «?Cuanto?» «Un dollar.»
I bought two tamales & took them home. They were the best tamales I have ever had. The Salsa de Chile Colorado had a little heat, but even more the salsa had the taste of the chiles as well as seasonings such as ajo, touch of albahaca, black pepper and a good meaty fond de cuisine. There were shreds of moist, meaty, soft pork in the deshebrada style.
The masa was moist, soft with a pleasant mouthfeel, and seemed to be infused with a touch of flavourful lard & a deeply flavoured chicken broth which she might have obtained after feeding her family & using the chicken bones for broth. (If she did, this was a great concept of waste not, want not. As our world population grows, & resources become scarce, more of us wasteful Americans will livte this way.) I went back a week later to the same spot, but that Abuela was never to be seen again even when I went back a number of times. I had reached my holy grail only to have lost it. I have yet to find such an exemplary TAMAL again.
There is no specific feel to what era Magaly’s belongs along Maclay Avenue, but it’s low key brick building and not too obtrusive outdoor designs don’t seem to mar the general leitmotiv. The interior is plan & basic. You go up to the counter to order & pick up. Someone will seat you if you plan to eat there.
The staff is friendly & fast. I got the ½ dozena of the Tamales Frios (cold) since I was going to take them home. Also the cold tamales are slightly cheaper than the hot, and you get a slightly better deal on half a dozen. ($ 10.85)
I ordered the Tamales de Salsa Verde, Tamales de Salsa de Chile Colorado, Tamales de Queso y Chiles Rojos;
1) The Tamal de Salsa Verde was the least interesting of the Tamales. The sauce which is mostly a mixture of Tomatillos & some kind of green chiles, thickened with some corn starch and lacked a rich tasting broth. The thickened sauce was slightly, unpleasantly sour & was the predominating flavour profile. The masa was fine with the right amount of salt, oil/​lard, and the texture was on the dry side & had substantial heaviness.
2) The Tamal de Salsa de Chile Colorado was spiked with a thick red chile sauce that had a meatier broth taste with possible seasonings of ajo, black pepper, maybe even a touch of canela. There was a generous portion of shredded pork. The masa this time seemed to be more in synch to the flavours in the filling. Although this is not the ultimate Tamal, this Chile Colorado version was good.
3) The best of the three was unexpected. I liked the Tamal de Queso & Chiles Rojos the best at Magaly’s. The entire masa seems infused with a white cheese that permeates the masa with a Umami that is full of dairy, creamy richness. The masa here is again rather heavy & substantial, but this seems to be the Magaly style.
Included in the order are a salsa verde & salsa roja. The salsa verde is mostly tomatillos but, to me, seems to have a finish that tastes like cloves & worchester sauce?! which is not unpleasant but unexpected. The salsa roja seems to have the pleasant smokiness of some Chipotle chiles.
Since the Tamales, by definition, is a high carb comestible. I decided to make an accompanying salad of chopped purple onion, Ruccola con Folie Argente Verde (Italian green salad herb) to sprinkle over the steamed tamales. The bitter, peanut oil fragrance of the Ruccola was a good contrast to the heaviness of the Tamal. Overall, the tamales at Magaly may not reach the Olympian heights of that Abuela on Truman Street, but it was a good effort. 3+ Unilocal stars.
PS The Abuela’s tamales were $ 1 in 1990. Counting in inflation, that $ 1 tamal is probably close to $ 2.50 now. So for some of you who complain that $ 2 is too much for a tamal, go buy the $ 1 Tamal of today. Now you’ll be complaining on how little meat there is in it, and how small they have gotten.