Tellez Tamales & Barbacoa

Are you craving for some awesome tamales!!!
Well wait no longer San Antonio, Tellez Tamales are stocked and ready. Well I’m going to give you the lowdown, the services family and there variety is decent. They have three different types of the tamales; chicken, pork, and bean/​cheese/​jalapeño.
I know what you might thinking, if this place is so awesome why did you give it only 4 stars. Well let me explain. The two factors that made this awesome place lose a star is the size of the parking lot and the size of the establishment which has outgrown itself.
It is definitely time for a bigger place, Tellez definitely deserves a change to itself and its customers. Try a little bit of everything in order to know what you love in the future.

Five Stars for the Tamales… oh man they were so good. I arrived bright and kind of early but man was it packed. They had a police officer directing traffic and parking. I was lucky to get a spot right in the front. All I need to buy was 5 dozen pork tamales. I just wanted to go in and out, but I was wrong. I had to wait inline with everyone else that was in front of me. Everyone that was in front of me was dine in only. Ugh !! If only there was a tamale only pick up line. A tamale loves dream come true. Well my family from Texas and California did enjoy the Tamales. I would differently order them again but would not like to wait in such a long line. Next time I’ll plan to arrive when they open.

I recently had their menudo and it tasted like an abuela cooked it! It had that comfort, homemade taste. Flavorful and I could taste all the ingredients. Perfectly made! I also ordered a side of rice and beans for my toddler and I’m glad she didn’t eat it all (too big of portion for her) because I got to finish it and it was delicious! I definitely will be back

YES, YES, YES!!! I love this place, the food is amazing. Many choices, cafeteria style where your eyes do the picking. The people are sooooo friendly.
This is a MUST visit when in San Antonio.
If your a foodie? This is where you go.

Love this place. The tamales are superb. The breakfasts are as well.
The smell when you walk in is like home — Very comforting… just like the food.

I ate lunch here a couple of times when I first came to San Antonio and starting a new job in the area (Port San Antonio)… and had a few afternoons of running around to do. That was back in February 2013.
I only get ½ hour for lunch since then so I usually only go here for breakfast tacos (to go) VERY EARLY in the morning before work. Either a co-​worker or I purchase tacos for the both of us every couple of weeks. They are excellent, bacon&egg, country sausage & egg, and carne guisada are my favorites.
The TAMALES are DELICIOUS, every once in a while I bring them to work and hide them in the fridge to bring home… my wife appreciates that. We have even started our own Thanksgiving tradition of Tellez Tamales for Thanksgiving Breakfast… I just heat them up for an easy fantastic breakfast as I am very busy prepping and cooking the entire Thanksgiving dinner myself. I do this on Thanksgiving because I don’t have time to wait in the long lines that go out the door (even at 6:00 am) during the more traditional Christmas time tamale time!
Parking is the only problem, limited spaces.

This the real deal. If you’re here during the holidays the police will help you park and manage the line. The wait will be long but it will be with it. Skip the chicken stick with the pork

Very good tamales! The long line of customers support how good they are. The pork and jalapeño tamales are awesome!

Got up super early only to see that I was late! Well worth the wait. The tamales taste just like my mom’s. Plenty of meat and very tasty! The line moved quickly and the staff was friendly. The best tamales in SA. No wonder there are security guiding traffic.

I was looking for a place to purchase tamales. I was going to try different places till I found a good one. I had tried one place that makes them in Boerne and sets up trailers in random places in that area and was not pleased. Then this place, Tellez Tamales, was suggested by a friend. We ordered a dozen tamales to try and also ordered the barbacoa. The barbacoa was really good. But I took one bite of a pork jalapeño tamale and knew I had to go no further. Absolutely delicious!!! I went back into line (there is constantly a line, which is a good sign) and ordered 6 dozen to freeze for Christmas. My only complaint is that there is only one location.

THE BEST tamales in town. I’ve been coming to this place for years and any other place I’ve tried they just don’t compare to tellez. If they have to have a police officer directing traffic in the parking lot you know they are doing something right! They offer all kinds of options for breakfast and lunch but they are only open till 2, get there early!

Best chicken tamales in town. You have to be there very early for them. Haven’t had any other food from them yet. They are closed Sun, Mon, and Tues. Friendly staff too!

Best place i grew up in. Always went with my gma and gpa growing up as a kid and now planning on taking my daughter to it someday. I want her to taste the champorado and tamales like i did. Best place in usa and ive traveled alot so i know if u havent been to this place u might want to check it out.

We visited this place after viewing the positive reviews on Unilocal.As a resident foodie, and child of a great Mexican food upbringing in South Texas, it’s very hard to find quality «true» South Texas flavor. I should have known how good this place would be, just by their marketing of Big Red. Upon entering you are greeted by the delicious the smells of corn and spices. I choose the Menudo. I’m always cautious in ordering it, because so many people mess it up. It wasn’t as good as my Mom’s, but it did not disappoint. The tortillas are, well, awesome! I also had a few tamales. Again, not as good as my Mom’s, but very good. I also had the Tripas. If you have ever ordered them, you tend to not get your fill. This was not the case. I very rarely give a restaurant 5 stars, but my expectations were more than met.

I’ve been wanting some to give this place a shot since a couple of weeks ago when I visited to find our new home. Someone in a donut shop overheard my «tamales story» which I will spare you of and reccomended Tellez to me.
I’m so glad he did!
I thoroughly enjoyed my tamales plate, although next time I think I’ll skip the plate and just get tamales. My husband enjoyed it as well although tamales are my thing, not his.
When leaving, the owner stopped my husband and asked how the new cook was. Since we are new here, we didn’t know any different but we were impressed that he was out and about and getting his customers opinions. A HUGE THUMBS UP TO HIM!
For less than $ 13 we got two tamales plates, a taco, and two bottles sodas. Seriously, the cheapest meal we’ve ate since we got here.

This place is my go to for some awesome tamales and barbacoa. In my opinion some of the best the city has to offer. The price is a few bucks more than you might be use to spending but the food quality and taste speaks for its self. Their flower and corn tortillas definitely have that homemade taste you look for in a Mexican restaurant.

Why has it taken me so long to write a review? I thought I did this long ago…
The best of the best hands down my favorite tamale. My husband and I searched for years. We even gave up and tried to make our own for a couple of years. We did ok but just couldn’t get the masa right which is a big deal to making when making tamales. The ratio of masa to filling is perfecto!
We were first introduced to Tellez in Dec 2011 at the 1^st Annual Pearl Tamale Fest. We bought a dozen at several booths but kept Tellez business card for a future visit. Six months later we took our friends visiting from Sweden to Tellez for Tamales, Barbacoa & Big Red. They loved it all and felt that was the best experience of real Texas cuisine.
Now it’s a regular stop when we are on that side of town with an occasional special trip kind of place. Tellez is so worth it!
Jalapeño Pork is my favorite. If the are out, get regular pork then grab a container of salsa for dipping. Add an fresh avocado. Although the San Antonio tradition is Barbacoa & Big Red, it is spicy Tamales & Big Red for me… Yum!
This past December was my first experience getting holiday tamales. I’ve been hearing the were no longer taking orders so I called to check it out. The message said they were out that morning before noon but they will be open at 5 AM with limited availability. My husband and I decide to check it out on Friday before Christmas. At 5 AM the line had about 120 in front of us. It took about 45 min to get out but I got my jalapeño pork to share with friends! Well, maybe… maybe not… Ha!

If you need a tamale fix and your mama and tia are dragging their feet because the process of making tamales for ALL the family is so long then go to Tellez Tamales & Barbacoa.
We decided to have an office party and a co worker said she wanted tamales from this place. Who in their right mind would get up at 4am just to buy tamales when the place opens at 5am? Well, that would be me and about a hundred people ahead of me when the doors opened. There was still a line of about a hundred people behind me when I completed my purchase. Granted I am buying around the holidays when interest in tamales goes to a much higher level.
Well, I bought four dozen on Sunday morning. On Monday, we had our office party. We all zapped Tellez tamales in the microwave and completed our plates with rice, beans and chili. Man, it’s no wonder Tellez wins various awards for best tamales in the city.
Their tamales had flavorful masa, a good portion of filling and weren’t greasy like tamales can be if not done well.
Yes, it was definitely worth it getting up so early for buying tamales at Tellez. Would they beat my mama’s homemade tamales? I don’t want to risk my mom cutting me out of my share of homemade family tamales. I’m going to say «no comment».

Thanks Unilocalers for the discovery! I had the chicken and pork tamales… wow the most delicious tamales I had ever eaten. In my opinion, the chicken was better than the pork. I ordered 4 dozens to go to bring back to Houston.

Everyone in San Antonio knowa this is the best place for Tamales. I live in Dallas and have to rely on my San Antonio Parents to bring lots of frozen tamales up to Dallas for us when they visit becuase DFW does not have anything close to great tamales, not even good tamales
Give Tellez a try if you love tamales. You won’t be dissapointed.