The Tamale Man — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Do yourself a favor and sort by new. You will notice many reoccurring themes here. What you are charged does not match the prices on the menu. If you point this out his canned response it so claim that those are the old prices. Looking through the reviews it looks like he has been using that same line for years. The reason he doesnt give a receipt (which is also frequently mentioned) is because he writes himself a giant tip days later hoping customers dont notice. Be prepared for a single tamale to eventually cost you like 50 bucks

My experience was apparently very typical. I asked for two chicken tamales and he claimed that they did not have any. They only had the super tamale. After telling him thats not what I wanted he got really aggressive. Again, this seems like a fairly common experience. He continued to push and talk over me TELLING me what I wanted. The Super Tamale plate. It was described as "life changing". Bought two and handed over a 20 and then he asked me where the rest of the cash was. Well you didn't tell me how much it costs now did you? Over 40 dollars for two tamales. When I said that was ridiculous he asked if I was too poor to eat there. The tamales, while large, were incredibly disappointing. I'm a white guy but was brought up in a hispanic family. These were by far the worst tamales I ever had. Almost all masa and obviously reheated...the inside was still cold

You can also search for the word "racist" in reviews and you'll note that he frequently treats people of the wrong skin color in a fairly hostile fashion. My gf speaks fluent spanish and he was actively talking about some of the black people in line but he wasn't aware that she understood what he was saying. I didn't learn about this until after I left. Many of the recent five star reviews lately are people who just want to show social media they went to the "Tamale Man" after it blew up on tik tok to try to make their lives seem interesting to followers online. Its a scam y'all. The guy is nothing more that a bully and a racist fraudster taking advantage of people for their hard earned money. And that's all he is ever going to be. Its not a coincidence that there is a new complaint every single day about someone getting scammed in the reviews here. Honestly I feel like there is enough evidence to warrant an actual criminal investigation and get this guy sued into oblivion by the IRS for tax evasion.

Its also fairly obvious that many of the five star reviews here are fake. The accounts frequently have no other reviews and they don't leave any comments. Sad and pathetic...just like the tamale man

Added a few screenshots from some of the hundreds of complaints from customers who have been scammed by this guy. This was the original tiktok video that made this...

I am forced to change my assessment of this shady place. So, once again, the customers are stuck waiting for the business to open, some having waited for hours already, and 2 employees arrive at around 12:00. Some of my fellow patrons asked them when the business opens, and they ignored these questions. Cue a 2 hour long wait, and the place finally opens at 2:00, though I cannot say whether this is the normal opening time or a weekend specific time, because no one, not even the owner (I assume he's the owner), would tell us.

Speaking of the man I assume is the owner, I don't know how he is still in business with the way he runs it. First off, the hours posted online are very much incorrect, and second, the menu he has in his shop is a lie, or at least false advertisements, at least for his claim to fame, tamales. I intended to get 3 of them, but he claims they did not have regular tamales, but 'super' tamales, for a cool 20$ as opposed to the priced 5-7 depending on the filling. He pushes this mandatory upgrade, and after standing in line for 3+ hours, I regret to say I caved and purchased one tamale, because there is no way in hell I am gonna get 3 after waiting for so long. The wait time alone spoils the experience of this business, and the attitude of the owner is even worse. Like I said, I do not know how he is still in business. I was 4th in line, and everyone before and after me complained about the wait, and the owner just said, 'Thank you, you are blessed, thank you.' Literally could not care less that his customers were unhappy, could not care less when people straight up told him they would never come back. I heard some of the customers claiming that the business' reputation on Yelp was so abysmal, so negatively ratioed that the owner stopped letting people post reviews. Thankfully it seems he has no such influence over Google. I cannot with good conscience suggest this place: I think the food is good, but it is not worth the wait or the rudeness. I now give one star solely due to the businesses treatment of the customer. It is like we are catering to the business, rather than the business catering to us. I can almost guarantee every single one of the 2 dozen people in line with me today will never return to The Tamale Man, and I can't blame them. Some of them came from miles away, only to be greeted with such rudeness and pushiness. Completely unacceptable way to...

DON'T GO HERE! I repeat don't go here unless you don't have a mind of your own. Or if you like horrible taunting and rude customer service. Or if your main reason for going is to ONLY order the Super Tamale meal. Because that's the only option you'll get to order.

There's no free will to order other choices even though there's a giant menu. I've never experienced anything like this. Worst customer service ever.

I didn't even get to order because the owner/cashier was so aggressive. I've never experienced anything like it. He was so forceful trying to get my party and I to order only some kind of super tamale that apparently cost $21 or only order a meal that also specifically cost $21. Very odd...

He wouldn't allow you to order anything else on the menu. He kept saying that he didn't have other items or the certain things were only available if you ordered the super tamale. They were out of other size tamales but if you wanted a medium sized tamales he would make you a meal for $21. Also he was extremely rude for no reason.

He continuously changed the prices on everything that didn't match with the prices on the menu. Then anything you state you wanted that wasn't the giant tamale apparently wasn't available.

He also spoke to us in a very condescending tone when you declined to order what he was trying to force you to buy which is only the super tamale.

I can't tell you what the food taste like due to my party ending up leaving without ordering anything due to the owner/cashier's aggravatingly aggressive customer service skills.

Also he was very patronizing it was so uncomfortable.

It was a very unpleasant experience we had to end up walking out unfortunately.

Please do better and treat customer respectfully.

If anyone suggests any other good tamale places please comment.

Ty for your time hopefully this comment helps someone. Best of luck if...