Dona Maria Tamales-Northwest — Restaurant in Las Vegas

I left a 5 star review a little over a year ago. I am sadly updating my review to a 3. When we first discovered Tamales we were blown away, but as of lately we are left disappointed and expecting more. A few months ago we stopped in 45 minutes prior to close. We walked in just wanting a quick in and out meal. The restaurant was completely empty and many servers were standing at the pass line. They all saw us walk in and promptly chose to ignore us. The hostess finally arrived with a stack of menus on her hands and a look of disgust on her face when she saw us. She started cleaning the menus and very dismissively told us that even though they were open for another 45 minutes because it was slow and no server wanted to take tables that we would be bothering them. We left annoyed. After 6 months from that experience we decided to give them another shot. We arrived at 12:30 today for lunch. The hostess working was a complete 180 from the last hostess and was very warm and welcoming. The runner/busser came to the table very quickly, assuming because there was only 4 other tables, with chips and salsa and took our drink orders. That's where it started to go downhill. My husband ordered one margarita for himself. We received and were charged for two. The complimentary chips and salsa were delicious. Bryan, our server came over and we ordered a small guacamole appetizer and when it arrived it resembled and tasted like baby food. I spent over 5 minutes doctoring up the guacamole with what I could grab that was on the table. A little table salt and pepper, a scoop of the salsa, and the lemon wedge from my water made it just OK to eat. We ordered our entrees, which consisted of the 2 enchilada lunch plate, one chicken one beef with rice and beans and a side order of shredded lettuce and Pico, a carnitas taco, a cheese tamale, and a small fideo soup. Bryan delivered our order minus the lettuce and Pico I had requested. We had no silverware and had to shout across the restaurant to ask for some, which we were met with how many do you need? Uh, well any I guess? The taco was delicious as well as the soup and enchilada plate. The cheese tamale was soaking wet when we opened it and was the consistency of grits. When we brought this to Bryan's attention we were told that that's how the cheese tamales come. He said The liquid is all the cheese, as we told him that we have had many tamales in the establishment including all varieties they offer and that's not how cheese reacts when it's in a tamale or when cheese is hot he kept telling us that's how they come. We just decided to stop arguing with him because we were frustrated and wanted to enjoy the rest of our meal. The cheese was in a lump in the middle and you could finger paint with the wet mush of masa surrounding it. At this point the restaurant cleared out and there was one one other person in the dining room. I had to get up and walk over to get Bryan's attention to which he still did not come over to the table. After once again having to shout across the restaurant to get him to come over we were able to get the check. $77.00 for maybe a little more than half the food being decent. I hate to admit that we did not leave a %20 tip. We felt that we have received better service from fast food drive thru windows than we received today. In a city with so many dining options it only take one bad experience to make people not want to come back. Now after 2 in a row months apart I fear we might need to find...

Well got back from Alabama, I just wanted good mexican food… We initially got chips and salsa- First off this Salsa was horrible- I only ate it cause I was Hangry- The salsa was straight up Tomato sauce no spice no pico- Fn Embarrassing to all Mexicans- no substance, the chips were bland straight out of Tortillas from the .50 cent store- Ordered the Chili Relleno burrito, green chicken tamale. Chili Relleno burrito 15$, looked like a Del Taco 3$ burrito, small no taste no substance no flavor with all tortilla. The chili outer shell an egg was harder than an ice cube almost broke my front teeth- The cheese was melted inside- cheese I dont know what kind they used but it was a disaster and tasted like fake cheese- Aren’t you supposed to use mexican cheese inside a chili relleno. Dont ever order this burrito- You Will be disappointed! the only good thing was the green chicken tamale. It was good but not great! Overall the place was huge, nice, but I will never be back here again.. Its not a true mexican food place- its a watered down version for people who don’t know what real mexican food tastes like- Since its still open I know who goes to this horrible mexicant restaurant. If you’re reading this Dona Maria’s, you should be ashamed to have any other food choices except for the Tamales. or Fire your cooks and get someone to authentic your cooking and make it better- Start by going to Robertos and trying some of their food against yours. Thats still lowballing it but 100 percent better than what you guys cook! Your prices dont even warrant a star for the quality of food you make. What an embarrassment! Sorry but this is the truth. I don’t see your business at that location successfully making it any longer unless the food quality...

Last week, I went with a group that has only recently been able to eat out again due to lock down. Most of my friends really enjoyed their meals--I normally eat very little of what I order at restaurants given that many restaurant foods do not agree with me and I join the group eating out, principally for their company. I typically will order something that usually not greasy so--easier to digest like a soup or simple salad. Unfortunately, the taco salad I ordered had quite a bit of fried parts (kind of like fajitas) in it and while the items on top looked OK, most of the rest that was hidden below was quite burnt. I just picked at the top parts that were not so blackened as I noticed the burned oily flavor after the first piece or two. It was my mistake to order it without being more careful to ask how it was to be prepared and perhaps I should have only ordered a cup of hot tea with no food. Again, I was the only one of our group who ordered the taco salad and everyone else was quite happy with their food. Even though I ate very little, my friends were not surprised because I rarely eat much because of my food sensitivities. This being said, the server was very prompt and pleasant and it is a nice quiet place with a lovely atmosphere. I made no complaint of the food, because with my digestion issues, my stomach is at fault and not the restaurant staff (it is hit or miss for me, so I typically would have try a place several times before I know what on the menu is OK for me to order). Because of the general positive consensus of the group, I would therefore be willing to try other menu items here...