Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas

These tamales are incredible. We get them at work through their catering program. They are the perfect texture, come with the perfect sauces and taste incredible. Always get excited when I know they are coming.

I’ve never been to the cart, but have hade Alicia’s tamales catering a couple of times at work for dinner. I always get excited when I see we’re having tamales from here because I not only love tamales, but these are also some of the better ones I have had. I absolutely love mole sauce, and the mole poblano tamales are probably my favorite (I loved the fact that they were made with chicken breast too). The mole sauce may be a little on the sweet side for some, but I found it to be delicious and the chicken was fresh and nicely cooked too. Second favorite is probably the cheese tamales– the oaxaca cheese is a little salty and chewy and goes really well with the masa. As you got closer to the green pepper in the tamale, it did get a little spicy but definitely tasty. The pork ones are good, though not my favorite (interestingly, pork is usually what I get at Mexican restaurants). In addition to the delicious tamales, their rice was really tasty and had a ton of flavor. Normally not a fan of rice, but I really liked theirs. Great selections of salsa too, and it makes the tamales even better. Can’t wait to visit them at a farmer’s market one day and get some more tamales.

Carinitas tamales were excellent. The cornmeal was perfectly moist.
Drinks were very sugary (it will be up to your preference).

Okay, so my dad has been on a hunt for some really good chicken tamales for awhile now so I was at the Treasure Island Flea Market today and there she was awwwww for some reason her stand kept calling me over there, so I walked over and got a Pork tamale with a cup of Mango ice cold juice. I found a place to cop a squat and let me tell you the first bite was OMG so good the flavor was there, the masa was moist, the meat flavorful, I did not even take a breath I just kept eating it, it was so damm good. I just wanted to drink the sauce that was poured on the tamale in a glass it was so flavorful damm I want more. I took the chicken one home to my pops and he had just eaten but I said dad you gotta try this so he took one bite and I did not hear anything only silence he ate every bit of them and did not blink an eye. All I can say is god bless you Alicia they taste like if my grama made them awesome job keep up the great work cooking with your heart and it shows and you can taste it in your food. thank you, thank you so much for the best experience today it was so worth breaking my diet… LOL

Food stand at outsidelands.
Elote — ²⁄₅ — Spicy sauce too sweet. Cheese was all powder either no crumbles. Could have used some butter.
Overall, «I’ve experienced better.»

The Tale of Alicia’s Tamales and the Elevating of ‘Meh’
San Francisco epitomizes the melting pot that is America, brimming with a decadent array of bright cultures and brilliant cuisines, each striving to lend their own unique flavors to the urban stew. Alicia, as many before her, came to the Jewel by the Bay with a dream; she yearned for the chance to stuff her customers with the love-​filled pockets of goodness that are the Mexican Tamale. Her dream, she would soon find, was destined to languish, thriving yet lacking vim, on the vast shores of the San Franciscan savorscape.
Her true saving graces were location and careful attention to target audience. Focusing her attention on Downtown and on music festivals, Alicia took full advantage of the 9 – 5 lunchers and the ravenous, trapped, and likely inebriated masses of audiophiles. Her products, by their crude standards, were welcomed and received with great voracity; but, to the palates of San Francisco’s more discerning denizens, her culinary capacities were in need of refinement.
The rice was likely the highlight of the meal, cooked well, with a mouth-​feel that was neither repugnantly course nor mushy. The sauces were similarly delightful, with rich flavor profiles to match their equally vibrant colors. But, that’s where it ends. Her tamales, an okay attempt at entering the overcrowded ranks of Mexican restaurants in SF, could not be noticeably distinguished from the frozen-​then-​reheated, mass-​produced tamales of Costco fame — each with an overgenerous helping of maza, paired with stingy, dry portions of filling. Whether meat or cheese, they simply lacked the symphonic harmony of savory, piquancy, and sultry, essential to all tamales.
My recommendation to Alicia: wait in the heart of the Mission until visited by the itinerant angel of Mexican tamale goodness that is the Tamale Lady, sample her wares, and learn her secrets. Only then will her tamales truly elevate from ‘meh.’

Oh man, super delicious. Alicia’s catered the event at Nerd Nite a couple of weeks ago and I still think about them. I made the mistake of ordering two, mainly because I wasn’t anywhere near prepared for how hefty these delicious tamales would be. I always thought they were small, but apparently I was going to the wrong places to get my tamale fix.
I picked up the carnitas and the cheese tamales. The carnitas was definitely my favorite. So juicy! So moist! So wonderful! I’d always wanted to make tamales with one of my best friends, but I think she times it so that none of her guests even have a chance to make an offer to help. Clever. But that’s okay, because Alicia’s tamales are amazing, and I hope to get some catered to the office for a game night sometime. Seriously good comfort food.

I was out at Flea Market on Treasure Island this past weekend and Alicia’s was there.
I got a vegan tamale. Really good. Heavy on maize shell verse filling, but I didn’t mind because it held together well. Sign said there was cactus in it, but I didn’t taste cactus. I think it was green beans, bell pepper and garbanzo beans. They drown the tamale in a red and green sauce, which normally I don’t like to add a lot of sauce and run my sodium up, but the sauce had a great flavor, so I’m secretly glad they did add it cause that is not something I would have had added if I had know, but it was good.
I got one tamale. $ 4. Decent portion. It was a good snack. If you want a meal, get two. They had a decent variety of options.

Got a chicken and a veggie tamale at Carnaval. So good.

alicia’s tamales are delicious (every single one devoured immediately when catered via chewse, which is also awesome and has fantastic customer service) and owner alicia is wonderful. innocent error in delivery address, but she more than made up for it by immediately delivering asap in about an hour and, even after a full refund, sent us a full sheet of flan. alicia’s tamales is now on our regular team-​lunch rotation.

Alicia’s tamales brings all the boys… and girls to the yard. Hella bomb! Everyone in our office was raving about them when Cater2me hooked us up.
I’ve only had tamales maybe like three times in my life, but these were amazing! The cheese one was simple, but delicious. The pork was so juicy and melted like buttah! Tamales were moist too. They also serve them with a bunch of delicious sauces — hot sauces and a thinner guacamole and rice. Needless to say there weren’t any leftovers! I think they sell at farmer’s markets and such, so if you see them, definitely get your carb fix on with their delicious made with love tamales.

Just based on the Elote — Mexican grilled corn — pretty delicious and tasty. However prices are a bit steep, $ 4 for grilled corn with cream, cheese, and hot sauce. I’m glad to have at least tried it.

Excellent Tamales,
We just received catering to our work, and are a vegan establishment. These are amazing, some of the best vegan food I have had. The red sauce adds amazing flavor, and the vegetables on the inside are cooked to perfection.

So what do I get at a tamale stand at Off the Grid: Fort Mason?! That’s right! Elote! I love Mexican street corn, so when I saw people walking away from Alicia’s Tamales with elote, I had to get one.
Their Elote is described as Mexican style corn on the cob with mayo, cheese and chili for $ 4. The corn is boiled, mayo is added, then cheese and chili sauce. For me, the cheese they used was a little too strong for the corn and didn’t blend well with the chili sauce. The sauce was tangy and seemed to fight with the nuttiness of the cheese. It would have gone much better with chili powder instead of whatever Mexican style hot sauce they used. The corn however was boiled and cooked nicely and I did indeed eat the whole thing since I do love my veggies!
Although I didn’t like the elote as much as I thought I would, I’m glad I tried it since it looked delicious! I’m just not sure it’s worth $ 4.

We picked up 3 tamales from Alicia’s at the Eat Real Festival 2014 so we wouldn’t have to cook dinner. Yup, this is the way to do it! Tamales are the perfect «to-​go» food.
They get points for authenticity. They’re wrapped and prepared just the way I’d imagine home-​made tamales to be. The masa is soft and fluffs easily, even after re-​heating.
Of the three tamales we tried, I thought the veggie one was the best. It had terrific roasted red pepper flavors, beans, and corn. DH enjoyed the pork one, which also had great flavors. The only one that was a «miss» was the white meat chicken one. Maybe it would have been better fresh, but it was kinda dry and bland. DH still ate it though.
Sauces, both red and green, were top notch. They packed them with care into little cups. They are a must-​have item when eating tamales. I enjoyed the red sauce with the pork… added nice fruitiness and tanginess.

Pozole at Eat Real Festival in Oakland! Had to have it two days in a row and took a Tupperware for take out. Yeah, kind of a fan, you might say. Keep cooking, it’s filled with love !!!

Tamales great, spicy salsa pretty good but oh man that rice. FUCKING delicious as all hell. So good.

Note: Review is for their catered food.
So, I have a corny confession to make: I love tamales. And, up until I tried Alicia’s, I hadn’t found any in the Bay Area that hit the spot quite like the ones I’ve had in SoCal, be it due to taste or texture.
Now, while the texture of the pork and chicken tamale fillings could still use a bit of work, the texture of the masa itself was perfect. And while the pork tamale was okay, the flavor of the chicken tamales was excellent, especially when smothered in that green sauce of hers.
Going with a solid 3.5 because they could still be a bit better, but they’re definitely the most enjoyable ones I’ve had in the Bay so far!

So much cheesy goodness! The vegetarian green chile ones were esp. delish.
We stopped by at the Haight off the grid and frankly this tamale cart was definitely the highlight. Super fast service too, tamales served piping hot.

Elote on the menu caught my eye. Alicia’s Tamales had a cart at SOMA Streat Food Park with five kinds of tamales ($ 3.50 each), elote, and agua fresca.
* Elote ($ 3.50): Boiled corn on the cob covered in sour cream and finely grated parmesan cheese, then drizzled with Tapatio sauce. Grilled elote tastes better and this one was missing elements like chili powder and lime juice. The use of parmesan is not traditional but I liked the saltiness of the parmesan cheese and how it contrasted with the sweetness of the corn. The corn was quite sweet. The saddest part was the lack of chili powder. The elote wasn’t as tangy or spicy as usual plus it tastes better when grilled.