The Tamale Place — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Short version: Amazing food with no wait and great pricing.

This restaurant is best known for its tamales. That's why it's called what it is. They cook up tamales in the morning and have a TV at the front of the line with all the tamales for the day. They premade them because it saves time and tamales don't cook super fast.

Food: The tamale options are amazing. Every time I've been in there they have had 20+ options of tamales. They have small ones to giant ones. Just look at the price and it'll give you an idea of size. Be warned, go early and order what you want because once they're out of a type, they're out for the day. So if you go at 11am you have all the variety. If you go at 1 you might be limited to 10 options that aren't always the most popular. They're still great tamales but you might be stuck with the spicy ones or the odd combos.

Decor: This place isn't fancy. It isn't top notch. You have basic tables and chairs with a small soft serve pop machine by the counter. You go here for the food not the atmosphere.

Overall, I will always pick this place over any other Mexican restaurant when given the choice. I wish they were closer to downtown but they're worth the 20 minute drive from work for the food. Also they cater. Get it. Amazing food and great prices. It'll...

I have tried this place in both locations with the same results. First of all— the tamales are big because they use a lot of dough ( masa) in their tamales. There is barely any meat at all and I tried many different versions of tamales there. My husband and our family are from Mexico and expected much better quality tamales. The people who are giving this a 4 star or more, obviously don’t know what a good tamale is supposed to taste like. I usually love the dough( masa) , but there dough had no flavor whatsoever! Please tell me which tamale there is good... I spent a lot of money ( because all that dough isn’t cheap) on a variety of them. But we had a hard time getting anyone to eat them , so we ended up throwing them all away. The customer service on the Rockville Rd. Site, was exceptionally good. I had a younger gentleman wait on me and he was very helpful and told me that their tamales were made fresh daily. He really sold me in believing their tamales were delicious! I must of missed out on the good ones, because the ones we purchased were no even edible and tasted like they were old. We were very disappointed, to...

I uncovered this place entirely on accident, with coworkers insisting we visit a new place every Wednesday (New Place Wednesdays). Since then, I've been back a LOT (enough to say I've honestly lost count), and frequently advocate for it as the lunch destination - borderline ad nauseum. I've tried other restaurants' tamales, but this place handily beats then - hands down; quality of their food is honestly impressive; I believe they make their own chips too (not 100% sure); either way though, they are similarly good. The owner is not at all who you might expect; his name is Vladimir. It would be like an authentic Russian food restaurant, owned & operated by a Sanchez, or a Pablo. Not that there should be anything, at all, wrong with that; it's just totally unexpected. He is a very nice, and down-to-earth guy though; the way he interacts with customers, and still prepares food, despite having a nationally-recognized restaurant, says a lot about his character IMO. Regardless; I'm pretty-well convinced that these are the best Tamales in Indiana at least, but maybe also the entire...