Tamaly Shop — Restaurant in Vancouver

I finally made it to this place today. The food had some flavor and was ok, not great. I only gave you one star because the chicken mole tamale 🫔 had thick though, however, it had some flavor, but not the best. And especially, after I had the birria dish (about three days later), I had to edit my review. One thing I would recommend is, making the though a bit thinner. As they are, they would be better if they were to be accompanied with a side dish, such as pico de gallo. I just found them a bit dry, but as I said, they had some flavor. Also, you can add more mole on top, more than you already put on them, they need to be slightly drenched in that mole sauce. The tacos were quite big, tasty and with Mexican rice in them. The chicken mole was more enjoyable in a taco, rather than in the tamales. I ordered chicken mole, Azteca (vegetarian ), and lamb tacos, I liked them all and I would have them again, but after the birria disappointment, I’m not returning here. My food had no cheese or cream because I’m lactose intolerant, but some food items are served with either one. The atmosphere was great, colorful and very Mexican! There are Mexican products to take home, such as food, aprons, shopping bags, and even art made by local Mexican artists. I got a traditional Mexican apron and I love it. 🥰 Ever, the food server and cashier was extremely helpful and friendly. He is a great salesperson, I ended up buying some snacks to bring home, thanks to him! He needs a raise. Just saying! He is young and with a great attitude. The bathroom was also decorated with beautiful art and colorful, not to mention, very clean and smelling good. It grosses me out when the bathroom at restaurants are dirty and smelling like urine. So overall, my experience was okay (until I tried the bland birria, see edit below), l will not return to try other items on the menu. Paid parking at the front, but I’m not sure that there is free parking at the back. The best part was the traditional café de olla, Mexican style coffee with cinnamon and sugar in it…which I make every day at home. Thank you Ever, for making me feel very welcomed. EDIT: (June 10th). I returned on June 5th to try other dishes. But this time I got so disappointed!! This tiny Birria dish was $21.50 and it’s served with three tortillas! I arrived hungry and left hungry, after spending $30, including $4.00 tip. Altogether, with a soda, I spent $30.25. Not impressed and I am not coming back, ever! I could’ve had a burger (good burger, a pho soup), for much less than that and would’ve left with a full stomach. You (the owner) have put the last nail on the coffin. Mexican restaurants are becoming so ridiculously expensive. Seriously! You charge $21.50 for a little bowl of broth with a couple of teaspoons of shredded meat and three tortillas? Wow! I let your friendly staff know about my disappointment and they tried their best to make it right. They offered me a tamal, but I already tried them on my first visit and I didn’t like them, they are NOT Oaxaca tamales. I’m a native from Oaxaca and that’s not how they are made. Your tamale masa is so thick, no baking powder? The masa isn’t fluffy, like it is supposed to be. They have me a little discount )15% off, but still, it didn’t compensate for the lack of flavor and size of the ‘birria,’ if we can call it...

I'd been wanting to try this place ever since they first opened and finally managed to make it over there. My daughter and I went there for brunch on the day of their anniversary celebration. We were a bit too early to enjoy any of the festivities but actually, it suited us better as we don't really like being in crowded places.

Featured here: Tamal Plate Quesadilla Taco Horchata

I chose the Mashed Potato and Jalapeno tamale for my Tamal Plate. Sometime last year I had bought some Tamaly shop frozen tamales from Renzullo Market and I was quite satisfied with them when I had them at home; these were so much better than the frozen ones! Tamal Plate came with a small cup of Cafe de Olla which was a sweet coffee beverage. I was told that I could have it refilled if I wanted, but I chose to just have the one cup. I'm usually not a coffee drinker but I loved the Cafe de Olla! It was sweet with notes of cinnamon in it. Oh, our server was kind enough to let us sample the "Dirty Horchata" which was an Horchata with a Cafe de Olla shot. Sooo good!

The Quesadilla Tacos were pretty much what they sound like: Taco sized quesadillas.They were the cutest looking quesadillas we've ever seen!

My Tamal Plate meal was wonderful but I was slightly disappointed as it's written on the menu that all brunch items are supposed to be served with homemade pan de dulce ( a Mexican pastry ) and my meal did not come with this. I mentioned it to the server and she couldn't seem to understand what I was talking about at first. When I pointed it out to her on the menu, she apologized and said they didn't have that pastry at the moment. She brought me 4 cookies in place of the pastry. While my daughter and I enjoyed the cookies I would have much preferred to have the pan de dulce pastry that was written on the menu. Hard to imagine that they would have run out of it so early in the day, and can't think what other reason there could be for them not having it when it's an item that is supposed to accompany any brunch item (of which there are quite a few) on the menu. On the day of their anniversary celebration too, I would have thought that they'd make sure to be well stocked on all items.

Aside from the missing pastry we very much enjoyed our meal here and I am now in love with the Cafe de Olla drink!

Service: Good Parking: Paid parking on the street Location: 2525 Main St.,...

Tamaly Shop now has their own market on Main. It's a casual New Mexican restaurant that also sells a small selection of Mexican pantry items (mostly sauces and seasonings) as well as their own prepared foods. Very good vegan choices! It has the quintessential atmosphere of a Mexican restaurant with upbeat Latin music and colourful decorations. The staff is very friendly, and although it's counter service in that you order and pay at the counter and seat yourself, the service is more attentive than most counter-serve places - the woman working checked in with all the customers to make sure they were enjoying their food. This time, I tried the mashed potato with jalapeño tamal in the Mexican bento box. The bento concept is fun and the tamal was delicious, as were all the sides. They served it with a small bowl of pickled vegetables which I really liked - they worked well as a topping for just about any of the components of the box. I had an adelita for dessert which was a great treat - the concha was fresh and soft, slightly warmed up but not so hot that it melted all the ice cream, and the presentation was nice. I think I've tried all of the aguas frescas and they're all excellent - bright flavours, nothing artificial. Horchata is my favourite, but out of the fruity ones, I like the cucumber with lime the best. It looks like they have a few on rotation to serve by the glass in the restaurant, but all are available bottled if the one you want isn't featured. The only thing to improve on in the restaurant is the use of disposable cutlery and plastic cups. They have proper plates and mugs for hot drinks, so it would be nice if they could also provide silverware and cold drink glasses. It looks like they have more reusable foodware now than they did when they first opened though, so maybe they're still in the process of transitioning from the food stand operation. They do still sell their packaged and fresh tamales at farmers' markets around the city, and the tamales there are delicious too, so give them a try if you see them! I had the mole with tofu and blackberry cream cheese tamales at the stand - the mole tofu is my favourite savoury tamal so far, and the blackberry cream cheese tamal makes a unique and delicious dessert (or I could see this...