Tamales Place

Tamale Place is a food cart In Yen's Auto Service's lot. the address listed is the commissary location, a brick & mortar tamale maker. posted address is where the tamales are sold.offerings: tamales: cheese, pork, chicken, corn, vegetarian, salsa, sodas, sour cream. eats: cheese tamale (3.50), only option available during early afternoon-always curious about tamales, not many in Berkeley area-wrapped in a corn husk, it was longer and more narrow than Oakland's usual. surprised to see a long moist jalepeno on top., underneath is a thin vein of cheese that was solidified. had no flavor. the salsa was very spicy!-this was a few hours after buying it. masa was luke warm, didn't warm in up. didn't think it would matter except to make it more melty.*comparing this to other tamales, this is the least worthy.. no repeat.

This food stand is located in front of Yen's Auto Service. There is also a taco truck in front of Yen's as well. This cart is located near my job and I always wanted to come try their tamales. The first time I went, they only had cheese (I came after work and they were closing for the day). It was tasty and I didn't realize that there was a pepper inside and I ate the whole thing thinking it was a jalapeño and my mouth was on fire LOL. It was really good though! It needed that spice! I came back again two days ago to grab some chicken tamales for me and my family. We usually get tamales from MASA in Point Richmond and my sister only gets tamales from there. When she tried the tamales from here, she said that it was really good and that it is right up there with MASA. My younger sister who doesn't care much for tamales tried it as well and she actually likes it too! She's a very picky eater. These tamales are way bigger than MASA's and it's a good portion for the price. I came back today to buy a dozen for $35! They are usually 3 for $10 or $3.50 each. I ordered 6 chicken, 3 cheese, and 3 pork. The chicken and pork kind of look the same and I couldn't really taste the difference between them. They give sauces on the side and offer paper plates. Sometimes they'll be a man at the stand and sometimes a woman. They are both very friendly and I'm just glad I can support street vendors during these times. I love their tamales and the portion sizes. Very underrated spot in my opinion.

I wanted to give this place a four star review. Mostly because tamales are so hard to find and these are obviously homemade that I feel compelled to give them that one bonus star. To have a business focused on just one item is pretty incredible. But then it better be really good and these were good but not great. And overall the cost to tamale ratio is worthwhile. Also just a note, it is not located on market Street but rather on the corner of Gilman and San Pablo in the same space as the food truck Tacos el Rulas.FOOD: Inconsistent tamales. Hence the inclination for three stars. The two I had were wildly different in the amount of filling. My pork tamale had very little pork and too much masa. And while the masa was good it was t great enough to overcome the lack of meat. What little meat there was was good but all stuffed into one end of the tamale. The cheese tamale was more balanced but surprisingly little cheese. Mostly I just tasted the pepper. But at least it had cheese throughout. The salsa however was good. Wish they had red sauce though. SERVICE: Service was great! The guy was nice. Put everything together quickly. And offered salsa. One thing? All the tamales look alike so when he put them in one package I had no idea which one I was eating except by looking at the side. COST: Excellent! At the time only $3.50 for a pretty big tamale. $10 for 3. And $35 for a dozen. And a good variety of tamales. If you are craving a good tamale this is an option

In my opinion, these are some of the BEST tamales in the East Bay (and some of the best I've had in the USA). When it comes to tamales, everyone has preferences. I know what I look for in a tamal, given that my family is from northern Mexico. Though it may vary depending where the family is from. Mexican tamales are different in various regions. So encourage you to try these tamales and see if they are to your liking!!! The man at the cart is very nice, they accept venmo or cash, and the tamales include a salsa that I am ENAMORED WITH. Try these tamales!!!!

We have walked by several times and finally decided to try it out. They had several: vegetable, cheese, corn, pork, chicken. $3.50 each, 3 for $10, and one other bulk deal (can't remember). 0.75 extra for sour cream (in individual container in a ice chest), salsa is free. Fast, friendly service. We got the pork, chicken, and cheese. A little dry but remedied with salsa. Large portion. Cash preferred, but they can also take Venmo in a pinch.