Tamale House East — Restaurant in Austin

I've been here before and had better service, but today was pretty awful. The cashier/person you order from was texting on her cell when I arrived. She told me she just needed to finish her text and then made me wait about 5 minutes. At first I thought maybe it was work related. Maybe she's the mgr. and it was a S.O.S to staff or a to go order issue, but she then told me about her funny message to her man. She acted like we were best friends and that it was totally cool for her to be texting on the job. It is NEVER ok for you to make a customer wait while you text for personal reasons. In fact, it is a poor business model to allow employees to have their cell phones out in a customer service role. Moving on, I ordered a margarita and queso. I got the queso quickly and then waited 10 min for my drink. The bar tender ignored me and even though the cashier verbally told her I was waiting for a drink I'd already paid for... it never came. Another 5 minutes later I asked the bar tender if she knew I was still waiting. She did a few more bar back tasks and then at 17 minutes (yes folks, i timed it because i was pissed and amazed at the very poor service I was getting) she finally poured my drink from the margarita machine. She said I should order at the bar next time. So I did. I ordered another drink and a fish taco. The drink came fast.. yay... but the fish taco never arrived. 20 minutes later I had a feeling she hadn't placed my order. I was right. :( it eventually came out but at this point I'm pretty irritated. The taco is yummy... but the service all the way around was atrocious. This bartender clearly has no clue how to run a bar and the front desk staff does not know what it means to be of service. She tried to save face by saying it had been a crazy weekend for her, but she never appologized or acknowledged the bad service. She did not charge me for one of my drinks... but I am not sure if that was intentionall or if she just didnt ring it up when she poured it. A note to the manager and the owners. Do better. Train your staff. Give them this feedback. When you charge $17 for queso and a small frozen margarita you should be offering better customer service. You weren't very busy so there is...

If it could go wrong it did. Walked in and thought the place was super cute. Loved that they have a parking lot. Came in on a Saturday night and the place was completely dead. I sat at the bar and even though the bartender was in front of me, it took her several minutes to acknowledge me. After I started looking around, she asked me if I needed a drink. My fiancé and I ordered then I told her we were moving to a table to meet friends so I would close out w her. We had a party of 6 so moved to a table. After waiting several minutes with no one to greet us but seeing staff walk by, I asked someone if there was a server for us. We were informed we had to order at the window. Ok, none of us knew that. I ordered queso and after 10 min I went to the window to ask what was going on. They lost my order. Also, I told the guy i was going to order food shortly but he said I had to close out my order. Ok, card has been ran twice now. At that point we all ordered. The guy who took our order closed my card out after I ordered. Literally, my fiancé and I were standing right next to each other ordering. He didn’t even let my fiancé order on my tab. I walked away and my fiancé ordered and just used his card. So then our food came out w the queso that was suppose to be an appetizer. Also, the food came out within seconds of ordering. Clearly it’s all premade and just reheated. So gross! There was one order (my fiancé) that came out 10 min after ours. So when we were done eating his came out. The tamales were huge and pretty much Mesa. My meal was $20 for one vegetarian Mesa, one veg chulupa and a side of rice. Plus the queso and one beer ended up being $30! $30 for terrible rude service where they microwave your food! Plus u serve yourself! You don’t even have a waiter. Oh, then u have to get your own sauce from a community fridge. So gross! Other things to mention. All the staff seemed to be zonked out. It had a really creepy feel about it. Something was not right. The women, I believe the owner, was so rude!! I will never...

Wonderful atmosphere inside and out! Unfortunately I can't say the same for the food. I was quite disappointed! We had our daughter for the weekend and she really was craving some tamales on a whim and Tamale House came to mind. Mind you, we have never eaten here until yesterday. I spent way to much money for the food that was put in front of us. My husband and I are amazing cooks, and really pay attention to detail when we go out to restaurants. There plates had no presentation..no color!!! We started with the queso..I was very confused by the flavor and texture. My Daughter and I ordered a pork Tamale and a bean and cheese tamale.. the flavor of the Masa for the tamale was pretty good, the fillings need attention to flavor. My husband got the Fajita plate....not to good...the plate was super hot but the rice beans and fajitas on the plate were lukewarm at best. The best tasing things we had were their Fresh Chips and salsa. I wish I could say I would return with my familia, but you all definitely need help with the food on your menu. Perhaps a revamp on your plates, a new chef who takes pride in cooking and making your plates look appetizing .We had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Valera yesterday and just realized she was the owner, she is super super sweet and came to our table several times to ask how we were doing. She has left a lasting impression on me and I truly believe she deserves better from her familias restaurant that they have worked so hard to keep alive. You all have the potential to be amazing, and have a gem in east Austin. I would love for it to taste impeccable, see it flourish, and packed with people!! YOU ALL DESERVE...