La Palapita de los Tamales — Restaurant in Valladolid

The food was average. The tamale with chicken was decent, but the tamale with pumpkin was dry and tasteless. On the other hand, the guacamole was quite good.

Two waiters served our table. At first, the taller, younger waiter was very professional. Later, the shorter, older waiter took over, and things went downhill. He was distracted and chaotic—he even brought us another round of tamales after we had already finished the first. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak English, so we struggled to explain in broken Spanish that we had already eaten. He also kept clearing our plates and drinks before we were finished, which gave the impression he was annoyed we were taking up the table, even though plenty of other tables were available.

When it came time to pay, he told us that card payments weren’t possible and aggressively insisted on a tip. Thinking we had no other option, we used all the cash we had to settle the bill. Only later did we notice a card terminal sitting at the bar. The waiter pocketed the tip very quickly, which made us suspect he didn’t want us to pay by card because the tip might have gone to the owner or had to be shared.

Overall, it wasn’t the worst place, but this one waiter completely ruined the...

After reading the reviews for this place, and seeing it in the lonely planet guidebook, I was really excited to go and try the food - especially the tamales.

We went one lunchtime and it was closed, so we returned the next day.

We sat down, the welcome by the staff wasn't particularly warm or welcoming,and we took a while reading the menu. After deciding what we wanted, we were told they only had 2 of the tamales available - OK, no problem.

I ordered a tamale and my partner ordered tacos.

When it came, the tamale was disgusting. Not fresh, it had been chilled or frozen, then recooked in oil that was too hot. It was Crispy and greasy on the outside, and freezing cold- almost icey- inside. It was dry as anything with no sauce too. I couldn't eat it because I was worried about food poisoning.

The waiters spoke no English, and our Spanish wasn't good enough to explain it was still almost frozen inside - so I just didn't eat it.

My partners tacos were dry and tasteless with no fresh chilli sauces or anything to go with them.

Very, very disappointing. Street food for a fraction of the price is waaaay better.

Eat elsewhere. They also...

Worst experience ! Got scammed by the wrong bill and scammed by the avocados dip.

Be careful, check your bill twice! We clearly only spent about 150 peso on our bill, but staff bought the bill for 365 peso without listing how much each dish , only name of each dish and total. I asked him to write it down each dish how much, he immediately took my bill back and give me another one for 225, still more than I remembered. I asked what is 70 peso for ? He said it was the guacamole he gave us earlier ( he offered us and the way he offered to us, sounds like either free or cheap ) so I asked him to show me where in the menu says guacamole cost 70 peso? It was small as well. He said it was not in the menu. That really pisses us off. My main dish grilled pork only cost 80 peso ( salty , thin like bacon and chewy ) and that guacamole without any meat cost almost same. I told him thus is no good you should tell me how much it costs before offer to us. He just said sorry.

Worst experience! I think he might did wrong bill thing and offer the guacamole to many travelers and get away with it. Be super careful if you really want...