Mama’s International Tamales

First time having El Salvadorian and it was pretty good. I was torn between getting the chicken mole tamale versus the beef chili relleno. Made the mistake of choosing the chicken mole. It was good but a little too dry. My sister got carne asada tacos (which were delicious). If I’m ever in that area again I would definitely come back and try something else.

best vegan tamale we’ve never had! best vegan tamale in LA! best vegan tamale in the world!
there are lots of other great things about this place, including, but not limited to the sweet hard working ladies who work there, always helpful, caring, generous and thoughtful!
we felt as if we were eating someone’s homemade food, and the committment to craft and excellence is evidenced on the faces of all the hardworking gals who work there and the concern that all the delicious food is enjoyed!
sweet restaurant environment across from the park.
AND
suggestion for a nomination for BEST OF:
best vegan tamale
best hybrid mexican/​central american café and food
best female run business
instead of wasting $ at cheap chains, why not support a small family business, hardworking, providing delicious, excellent food and served up like the family vibes!

Delicious tamales, puspusas and friendly staff. 3 delicious sauces to choose from. Nice tunes as well. Eat here, señor.

I have eaten at many salvadorean restaurants. None have the options like this place. The fact that they serve all vegan, vegetarians. A plus. Food tastes great. Service is great.

Very creative tamales, and a source for Salvadoran cultural foods like pupsas, curtido, and platanos fritos. The staff is warm and inviting. Where else can you get chicken adobo tamales?

I read some of the reviews and I have to admit I was curious but as much as I tried to make it before 4 I couldn’t, so today I finally made it and I’m about to see what all the fuss is all about.
Will I be disappointed? Will I be satisfied? Not sure yet as I seat here waiting for my first tamal…
I have built some anxiety over this jajaja, Is that healthy? Anxious over food? Who cares I’m about to satisfy that need. I might comment later…

They have great vegan tamales, pupusas, enchiladas. Very good vegan choices… so hard to find, but here they have it all! Flavorful food, that’s important.

One of the best restaurants here in LA I travel from Van Nuys just to come here and eat it’s worth the drive. The Workers are so friendly and amazing! Everything on their menu is delicious!

super delicious and the staff is friendly and courteous :)

Honestly this place has become my new obsession! Their Salvadorian HORCHATAS (made of Sunflower Seeds) are boooooomb and all their Vegan stuff is just off the top delicious plus I love how thy support local artists by putting up their art ah love this place!

This place is really cool gem I found for all sorts of Central American Tamales, the staff is friendly but I would totally call in and ask what Tamales they have that day since it always changes but very delicious here. I recommend this place if your looking for non Mexican tamales

Pros:
–Vegan options
–Spinach and mushroom tamale was good
–Reasonable prices: $ 2.75 tamales and $ 3.50 pupusas
–Friendly service
Cons:
–Limited tamales on a Wednesday afternoon at 2pm because they were still making them. Really?! They opened 3 hours earlier at 11am… Only 1 out of the 3 – 4 vegan options listed on their chalkboard was available.
–Vegan cheese and squash pupusa was downright nasty. On their website, it says they use Daiya. They definitely don’t. It was the old Follow Your Heart block cheese, ew. Super greasy.
I’ll stick to the tamales from now on. It seems like they have some great flavors (I really wanted to try the vegan mole). I’d call ahead to make sure they even have them since a lot of reviews mention that they sell out quickly, too.

My boyfriend and I loved their food! Everything was so fresh and delicious! Definitely try their pupusas and their mole poblano tamale! We can’t wait to check them out again soon.

LOVE the vegan and vegetarian options! The tamales are amazing! Allows me to enjoy foods from multiple Central American cultures, still maintaining certain eating habits. So far everything I’ve tried, I’ve loved! I really recommend the vegan mole tamales! So flavorful :)

This restaurant has been closed for at least a year and more likely 2 years. we only live 2 blocks from the closed restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious & excellently made. The staff was very friendly & helpful. we mourned when the restaurant finally closed.

One of my most favorite restaurants in the entire universe just because it is in the heart of MacArthur Park w/​community and the most innovative flavors of tamales. I go hear usually ordering just 2 tamales – my favorites being vegan mole and queso jalapeño. They also have this secret menu every now and then that the servers tell u about. I order frozen dozen tamales for the holidays, and its super easy to heat up. These holiday tamales come in even more flavors, such as soy picadillo and guava cheese. They prettt much have every flavor of tamal imaginable. Being a vegetarian, this is one of te best restaurants I know of.
The servers are also super sweet. Really grateful that Mama’s Tamales exists. Please continue supporting this amazing local business!

This is a great community establishment that dishes out quality tamales and a killer tortilla soup. I tried the pollo verde, the sweet corn, and both the pork and chicken adobo, and all were delicious.

I came late afternoon with a coworker. When I arrived, they had about half of the tamale choices left. Come early to get more options. Food is very yummy– their tamales and pupusas were both good. Recommended.

Every dish is good. Very authentic Central American food. The agua frescas are also very good! It’s cute and ambiance is very mellow. I work nearby the owner and her sister have the best customer service. Always smiling and always so very polite. The only thing make sure to call ahead some 25 mins ahead for popusa take out. Their popusas are made fresh so expect to wait for them to be freshly off the stove. Love this place! Their whole menu is delicious and a mouthful of flavor! They also sell very cute souvenirs from Central America.

Love love love this place. The tamales are delicious. They offer a unique variety. It’s a welcoming, comfortable place to sit and eat. Very chill (except there’s no AC, so you have to make do with fans). And the price is right.

Stopped by to eat dinner before a dodger game. Everything was excellent. I had a tamale and a pupusa. Some of the others at the table had a frozen chocolate covered banana. no complaints from anybody. We had great service to top off everything. Thank you so much

So delicious! I had pupusas revueltas, they were so good I decided to take more to go with some tamales too. Pricing is very reasonable even though they fill pupusas up nicely with toppings. The atmosphere is nice and chill, unlike other restaurants where you hear loud bangs coming from the kitchen and ladies screaming.
They have a vegan menu too!

For any tamale fan, this place is a must. I came here for a late lunch and was worried they might be sold out but luckily they had several varieties still left.
I had the beef adobo and cheese/​jalapeño with a refreshing sweet chia drink. My friend had a revuelto pupusa that was perfectly savory, crispy, and cheesy. The lady working here even offered to bring us more spicy salsas to drizzle over our meals.
This place has an excellent vibe, with brightly colored tables, a cute used book cart area, and artwork on the walls that make it feel comforting and pleasing.
This is super accessible to the Metro RedLine too, but most of the time I order ahead of time and drive to pick up my tamales.
I will continue coming back!

This place is our new favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. The ambiance is comfy; eclectic and casual. They sell used books and cool Central American trinkets, and it’s a gallery for local artists as well. We take our baby there all the time, and he loves the friendly owner and staff, and all the interesting stuff to look at. AND the food.
Mama’s food is awesome. I want to eat there like every day. The tostadas are genius. Black beans on crisp corn tortillas with a fresh sautéed veggie mix, the best salsa, and greens, topped with a sprinkle of feta cheese. Serious flavor feast and healthy too. Even the simplest details are good about this food. Their beans and rice are fantastic and our baby yells «RICE!» shortly after being strapped into his high chair. And he eats all of it enthusiastically. We all do! The platanos with black beans and cream are the best I’ve ever had. Excellent enchiladas too. Can’t wait to try the rest of the menu!
Mama’s is across the street from Mac Arthur Park which is strikingly beautiful and has gorgeous views of beautiful 20^th century architecture, and deco-​era signs atop majestic 1920’s buildings. We walk through the park and check out baby ducks and rowdy geese in the lake, and the kids all playing soccer in the park. Palm Trees and swap meets. It’s the real Los Angeles.

I wasn’t as impressed as everyone else seems to be. I had cheese/​jalapeño and cactus/​mole tamales with the combo. The homemade cantaloupe juice was the best part of the meal, the sides aren’t noteworthy. The tamales were decent, but didn’t have me over the moon. They could definitely use some condiments at the table as everything is short on seasoning and rice, beans and tamales is a starchy base-​fest in dire need of some acid.

Lunchtime win!!! Day Three of a training nearby and we were desperate for good food for lunch. It was a bit of a jaunt from our training site but boy was it worth it.
I had the vegan tamal with mole, potato and cactus. Outstanding! I would never have guessed it was vegan, which is a good thing in my book. My friend also had a tamal and an enchilada, which were delicious (I sampled.) The rice and beans were delicious, too. I added the tortilla soup, which was a flavorful way to start the meal. The jamaica agua fresca was so good!
The atmosphere was so cute and the service was extremely nice. Thank you!

They open from 11:30 to 6pm not 4pm.
Unilocal has to change their time and map too because I totally lost on Monday. But the address is correct just the map showed me this restaurant is on 6^th street.
Also they close every Monday. So it’s good to know. They not only have tamale (Mexican food). They have Pupusas too.
I recommend pork tamale if you like spicy (green salsa) one. It was a little bit disappointed beef (red salsa) tamale. I will definitely come back for another pork tamales soon. They have hot sauce it’s very spicy and different from other places. That’s one of my favorites here too.

They were out of beef and chicken tamales due to the «holidays» I mean c’mon makes no sense. If you’re a catering company make sure you make enough food for your sit down customers as well. $ 25.50 for two orders of tamales rice and beans with vegan tortilla soup or salad. I get that it’s a different time and they’re trying to cater to vegans but authentic Mexican places don’t mess with that. All your beef and chicken are sold out and you’re offering me a soy tamale? Not to mention service is not the best. My boyfriend used to live down the street and he said service has never been their best quality. I definitely see that and after so many years you would think they would have better service.
She found 4 extra chicken tamales in the back somewhere. If they didn’t have anything with real meat we wouldn’t have stayed to eat. I won’t be coming back here with all the hassle it was to get some freakin’
Chicken.

OMG!!! The BEST Tamales I’ve had at a restaurant that didn’t come out of a home kitchen! Cause we all know nothing could beat homemade juicy masa fresh tamales with tasty stuffing but this was equivalent to that! And their pupusas!!! Awesome and so full of flavor! Highly recommend the Revuelta with cheese, beans, and chicharrón.

They ran out of tamales at 12pm! My coworker and I had to resort to eating 2 pupusas at a tamale place, no bueno I say. The worst part was that they told us there were no more tamales and that someone had just bought out all the tamales, but a few minutes later, the table next to us was served tamales. They were part of some charity partnership thing doing some work with Mama’s, but really? Way to rub it in our faces; so while we were eating our sub par pupusas (I wouldn’t advise getting the pupusas, skin was too thin and didn’t have enough substance; tasted real mushy), there was a table next to us chomping down on several varieties of tamales. sigh…

Mama’s Tamales also known as Mamita’s Delights is a total GEM in downtown LA.
On my way to Langer’s Deli on 7^th and Alvarado I stumbled upon this traditional style Salvadorian restaurant. They are located just West of Alvarado on 7^th st.
Walking in from the decorations and ambiance I could feel the authenticity. They are very popular for their Pupusas, which I tried the pork and cheese. Mouth watering good! The sauce was super flavorful too, not spicy as to take away from any flavor.
The server also recommended the Pan con Pavo, basically a Salvadorian version of a Turkey sandwich except WAYYY better (see pictures). The turkey is shredded and braised, and you can tell this takes a long time because the turkey was moist, tender and über flavorful.
To wash it all down I had their home made Tamarindo aqua fresca. Any place that takes the time to make from scratch all their sauces and aqua frescas is A+ in my book!
I was sooo full yet so impressed I ordered a dozen tamales to go. For breakfast this morning I tried their Pork Verde tamale. Masa was perfectly textured with flavor, pork juicy and tender, and verde sauce just the right amount of kick.
I also ordered the spinach and mushroom, black bean, and beef adobo tamales. Can’t wait to try them!
I’ll definitely be back! Thank you Mamita’s Delights!

I love this place. Small, modest and family owned & operated. It was my first time here.
One of the owners was my server. She was so attentive & nice, letting us try things before we ordered them. Although they didn’t have the tamales that were recommended from Unilocal,the ones they offered were great. (Black bean & herb, pork & green sauce, jalapeño cheese). I highly recommend the squash & cheese Pupusa. It was the best thing I ate there. They even make homemade candy and offer an entire vegan menu.
I will be back soon to try more tamales :)

Mama’s tamales taste okay, but contrary to their name, this ain’t your Mama’s tamales because they are doing way too much fusion shit here. I mean seriously, kimchi tamales and chicken adobo? For a second I had to make sure I was in the right restaurant and not some Roy Choi-​inspired bastardfication of Latino food. Whatever happened to just chicken or pork?
Anyways, the tamales they offer change daily and when they run out, they run out. Also they close early with business hours between 11 AM and 3:30 PM Tuesday through Saturday. So you may want to call ahead to make sure they are open. Hell, if they are closed you can always go to Langer’s a block over.
By the time I walked in at 12:30 PM they had half the chalkboard menu of the day’s tamales crossed out. With diminished choices I ended up getting a combination platter consisting of two less popular tamales and a tortilla soup. I also ordered a strawberry-​flavored agua fresca.
The tamales I ordered were the plantain leaf wrapped chicken Guatemala and a Filipino-​inspired chicken adobo in a corn husk. The chicken Guatemala was an interesting tamale that consisted of shredded chicken, peppers, and raisins in a thick masa (corn-​based dough). It was a good tamale but the plantain leaf did nothing to add any notable flavor accents that a corn husk could not do. The chicken adobo was okay, but lacked any depth. Nothing much to say really.
The best part of the meal was the tortilla soup, which consisted of a large bowl of soup, in what I believed to be chicken stock, that was served with fresh tortilla chips, peppers, and cheese crumbles. However, it was slightly bland so I requested lime wedges that added the necessary tanginess that made the soup taste better. Then again, lime makes all Mexican food taste más bueno.
The strawberry-​flavored agua fresca was good and the fact that my friendly server Carlos kept refilling it was an unexpected surprise since most Mexican places don’t refill your agua fresca for free. As for the salsa verde and salsa roja that accompanied the complimentary chips, let’s just say that I have had better.
Call me ghetto fabulous, but people that know me know that I’ve never been one to shy away from eating Mexican street food (even in Tijuana) and it’s because of this that I hesitated when I had to pay $ 2.50 for a tamale when I can get a more authentic tamale on the corner of Wilshire and Vermont most mornings for a buck… that is if the Sheriffs and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health aren’t patrolling.
So at the end of the day, the prices combined with the lack of parking and mediocre food were a bit of a downer. Perhaps if they took away the complimentary chips and lowered their prices a little I wouldn’t feel as gipped.
* BTW, I found out that Mama Sandi no longer owns this restaurant.
** Maybe they should call this place Not the Mama Tamales Café.
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Pictures:
My Full Meal
Tortilla Soup
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Blast from the Past Video — Dinosaurs TV Show «Not the Momma!»