The Tamale Factory

I go here for lunch pretty offten. Just tamales and not a lot of sitting room so take it back to the office! I love the cheese and jalapeño ones.

Tamales tasted great but horrible customer service. Lady was so rude to my friend, If you close at 9pm please adjust your business hours no reason to be disrespectful to your customers.

3 stars.
I love supporting small buisnesses and I was craving tamales, and I came here a year ago before closing and went home with bomb tamales.
We went to tamale factory at 3pm I believe or around that time. We got there and the table was dirty. (only table there, it is a tiny location) she was nice enough to clean it after hearing is say we were going to eat there.
Tamales
We ordered Jalapeño and cheese, pork, and a corn one. They were tasty, but would have been better if they were steaming hot. They were just warm, didn’t even have to blow it to cool off for my baby.
They don’t have high chair for baby, so probably not good to eat inside if you have small kids.
After my daughter made a little mess, (not gonna forget there was already crumbs of tamale on the floor and table when we got there) we picked up and swept up the mess with napkins and the ladies were just watching. Like damn you coulda at least offered us a broom to sweep it up with. Even though most people don even clean up after them Selfs. Probably won’t be back, I’d rather get tamales from the lady outside of food max on Tully.

Tried the chicken and pork tamales and they are um um goooood. I can’t wait to go back and try the other flavors. I wish the place had a slightly more welcoming environment as I would love to sit there and enjoy the tamales on the spot.

This place was dank as f***, and they even recycle. I’d show you a picture of my food, but I ate it all. It was only 5.60 after taxes, yes they take cards. They even recycle. That’s what I’m talking about. You can see the open kitchen. The person hand making tamales. It’s really authentic. Digging it.

I really enjoy the service and tamales here, but I was bummed out because online it says they close at 10 and I went there at 930 and the door was locked. The lady inside looked at me and gave me a were closed signal.

Yum! Stopped by this joint on a long walk to east ridge. It did not disappoint!
The menu is quick and to the point. Order the tamales of your choice and enjoy a delicious meal. They are consistent with the flavors and you can’t go wrong with any of the choices.
If you order to go you can get a nice cardboard container to walk and eat with. My husband does not eat tamales and when I forced one on him, he got mad at me for not making him eat tamales sooner from this place. Go figure!
We enjoyed the chicken as well as the cheese and jalapeño tamales. I don’t recall the price but let’s just say the husband was a cheap date! I try and be a nice wife and pay sometimes
I am happy to say I have found a restaurant near my house that I like! We will be back for more tamales as we walk around the new hood and enjoy some new adventures!

I love pork n chicken it was delicious my friends n go here every time they have best tamales

I preordered online for Christmas. Parking is scarce, like I had to drive around the building 4 times to find a spot. When I finally got a spot the line was super long, which is a good sign! Someone said they waited in line for an hour.
Since I preordered I got to wait in a much shorter line, yay me! When I finally got to the front they were all out of one of the items I ordered. Such a bummer! Because I really wanted corn tamales. I ended up with chicken, pork, and jalapeño w/​cheese.
I love their masa. The pork is super delicious flavorful and moist. The chicken was kind of dry, I probably won’t get them from here again. The jalapeño w/​cheese is so yummy, I actually think these are my favorite jalapeño and cheese tamales.
Overall, I’d definitely come here again! Hopefully, they’ll have my preorder items in stock next time. If not, I’ll just load up on jalapeño w/​cheese and pork since I’m not a fan of their chicken tamales.

Pro: tamales are big and taste good.
Con: you“ll be eating more masa than anything else. Over time, less and less meat is added to the tamales although the prices keep going up. Currently a dozen will cost $ 26.95. The jalapeño tamales will have one tiny piece and not much cheese.
I haven’t gone to the new location on Monterey Road. I’m hoping it’s better (a better, cleaner) location. I would give this place more stars but they’ll have to add more filling to the tamales than just masa. Sorry guys.

We bought a dozen pork and a dozen chicken tamales this weekend and were surprised and delighted with the results. We’ve been disappointed in tamales we’ve bought elsewhere in the past where there is a mere hint of pork or chicken and the rest is masa. In this instance, we found that the meat to masa ratio is perfect. The tamales are dense, yet tender, and just all around delicious. What was a surprise is that we prefer the chicken ones to the pork, exactly opposite to what we expected as we are big fans of pork.
The salsa that we purchased is very flavorful, but the tamales are tasty enough that they don’t need the salsa enhancement. They really make wonderful tamales. Service was friendly.

Hot damn! I would pack up my house and kids after just one bite of these bad boys and move them right up to San Jose California. Omg, the masa is out of this world. So good and perfectly moist just enough of everything. I had the jalapeño which has cheese inside as well. Now I don’t know about all of you fellow Unilocalers out there but I love tamales with a lot of masa and these babies delivered oh yes they delivered. They are steamed in corn husks and that’s it. No paper or foil or anything. Just husk and pot just like grandma. One tamale is $ 2.50 and there is a line to get your grub on but it was worth every second. I almost liked that there was a line because it made the final product even better! You can pay extra for cream and salsa but I don’t think it needs it or anything. Not a grain of salt not a thing! I will be back for sure. Um um um

Probably my favorite place to get authentic tamales. Very inexpensive as well. I usually get the pork but i believe there are a variety of different meats to choose from.
Its a decent sized parking lot, as for the inside of the place, nothing special here, just a nice clean kitchen with the nice ladies in the back cooking the tamales. This place is also good for pot lucks as you could buy in bulk. Cash only, and its pretty hot inside. If you love tamales check this place out.

Atole delicious drink I’d definitely recommend ⁹⁄₁₀
Chicken tamale ⁷⁄₁₀ chicken is pretty good, little bit on the plain side
Pork tamale ⁸⁄₁₀ flavorful good spice

Their tamales are the worst tamales I’ve ever ate. I will never buy from them again. Not to say that they have no flavor they don’t cook them completely.

I should start off this review by stating that I do not like tamales. My sister does not like tamales. I’m pretty sure my ancestors did not like tamales. Point being, I come from a long line of people who do NOT like tamales; mostly because I am originally from a state where tamales come from a plastic bag in the back of some freezer in an American grocery. The masa is solid like a brick and the fillings are almost nonexistent.
I LOVE tamale factory. Yes, it’s in a super sketchy neighborhood, and I would not go there after dark (though I would be severely tempted). However, these are the best tamales I’ve ever had; even my tamale-​hating sister loves these little bits of culinary bliss. In case you think I’m suffering from hyperbole brought on by finally tasting a decent tamale, my picky Mexican roommate even likes these.
This is a little hole-​in-​the-​wall that is strictly for take out. You put in your order ($ 2.50/tamale for corn, pork, chicken, or jalapeño with cheese or $ 26.95/dozen mix and match). pay (they take cash or card), and the lady dishes out some tamales from these large steamers right behind her. You can also order extras like salsa; though, I can’t speak to the quality of the salsa (I’m sure it’s excellent). I always use Tapatio instead. The masa is soft, hot, and indescribably-​delicious while the fillings are substantial with a good masa to filling ratio and very very tasty. I usually get the chicken and pork and these are seasoned well. My mouth is just watering thinking about it.
I am a little sad that the price has gone up (it used to be $ 2/​tamale or $ 22 for a dozen), but it’s a mom and pop store and there has been inflation, so they have to survive somehow. I’ll still come here to get my tamale fix!

I didn’t think the chicken one will be that great but it’s the BEST TAMALE HERE.
The sweet one isn’t in the style I like so i’d skip out on those next time.

We found the Tamale Factory through the Tamale Festival a couple weeks ago.
I perhaps had eyes bigger than my stomach in that I ended up getting a full dozen — all of which were piping hot and delicious. Once we entered the store we didn’t have to wait and the tamales were packed up quickly by the friendly woman at the counter.
They were definitely cheaper at $ 2.50/ea, $ 26something for a dozen than at the festival and we were really pleased both with the flavor as well as the masa.
All in all we’ll definitely be back!

Minus one star for the price. Its 2.5 $ for corn with a little meat filling. Thats a tad much in my opinion.
The place is a wall-​in-​the-​hole sort of joint, in a not so well lit neighborhood.
But the food is great ! I tried everything they have on the menu and its fantastic.

My Sister-​in-​law has been raving about this place for years. Apparently this location was once the famed Lucy’s but has since changed its name to The Tamale Factory. Lucy’s is close by though. Anyway, we were in the area with them and they wanted to stop in and grab a dozen to take back to Nevada in the morning. Sure why not!
Location is in a rough part of San Jose so if you’re not a local, I’d recommend coming during the day. It was about 4:30pm Sunday and there was plenty of parking in the old divey strip center. The restaurant is very small so don’t plan on eating there. It’s strictly a «To-​go» kinda place.
The menu is small and simple which is great. We decided to order some to take home too. 3 pork, 3 chicken and some salsa. In and out and on out way in no time. Two hours after we ordered them, the tamales were still hot!
Okay, so ill be honest. I’m not a fan of tamales. Most places have to much masa and to little meat. Well not here. Oh my goodness these were hands down the BEST tamales I’ve ever had!
Both the chicken and the pork were super yummy. Moist, tender and flavorful. I really liked the salsa too but I warmed it up a tad to pour over my tamales and it was spectacular.
The only real reasons this place didn’t get 5 stars from me is the shady location and the fact that their credit card machine wasn’t working. I never carry cash but for someone I had a $ 20 in my wallet. Phew!
We’re already planning our next visit later this week when our daughter comes home. After telling her about this place, she’s mad we didn’t save her any but excited about making her own trip.