Juana Tamale — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Update August 12, 2025:

Oh Boy, GET here ASAP for the LOCO POLLO CHICKEN SPECIAL. $15 to start plus tax and tip.

Update December 4, 2024:

Today's lunch was "The Big Juan", Taquitos de Papas, {potato} and a Side Salad.

'"The Big Juan" rivals itself to a Big Mac™️ and exceeds what the latter can do while at a similar price. The bun is sesame seeded, is bigger and comes with a superior beef patty and (cheddar?) cheese. Plus chopped tomatoes and onions. It's a winner.

Another winner is the Taquitos de Papas. {Potato!} They are hand-sized and come with a cream, sprinkled with cheese and are topped with red and green salsa and romaine lettuce. They are best when hot and the tortillas are crunchy!

Last is the Side Salad which has some of the ingredients above and comes in a container along with a house-made dressing that's in a container as well.

The food and the prices here are hard to beat, especially given the portion sizes. Give these worthy sleeper items a try. I've posted photos which are at the end of my Juana Tamale photos.

Update October 5, 2024:

The Breakfast Torta is a nice piece of work! Quite impressed with the hash brown that is crunchy and comes with a touch of salt. The eggs are fresh, you can notice that. I added chicken verde which had "pop" and held up real well as a late night snack.

Update July 11, 2024:

I've posted new food pics. The descriptions are below because Google isn't allowing me to put the descriptions with the pics. 🤷‍♂️

NACHOS: Cream, refried beans, chopped tomato, jalapeno slices. Comes in a #4 food container. Get the BOGO special. It's like a small football in weight and size.

DOLLAR DOGS: All beef. Fried and butterflied for even cooking. Use the in-house ketchup and mustard if possible, not the packets.

CHILI DOG. As above in part. The chili is all beef and wasn't thin or greasy. Can come with cheese whiz.

STREET TACOS. This is meant to be eaten standing up or on the go. The two corn tortillas soak up the braised pork and beef birra juices. (That's what I got.) Pair the pork with the pepper sauce. Pair the beef with the La Costena salsa negra of the Valentina "extra spicy" (not), hot sauce.

Buen provecho!

Update January 19, 2024:

Yo! The Homie Meal Menu is FIRE! (Typically, 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday & Friday.)

The HOT DOGS do not disappoint. They're fried and the skin has SNAP. They also have a slight spice like a red-hot. The bun is heated -- toasted on the outside yet soft on the inside. I added ketchup, sweet & hot chili sauce, and the supplied white onions and tomatoes that comes filled in a plenty large container. The bread holds up here, the hinge didn't break on the way home using the subway. GET THIS.

GET THE CHOPPED BEEF BURRITO. The tortilla looks freshly made instead of a factory item. The beef is quality, no gristle. It comes with veggies and has a nice "pop" with the pickled peppers that's not overwhelming to many palates. Now add one of the many available side sauces by the counter and you're GOOD TO GO.

Oh, by the way. The burrito weighs about as much as a small dumbbell and there is a LOT OF VALUE HERE.

Juana Tamale and Jennifer Zavala continue to impress.

DO NOT MISS OUT, THIS WON'T WRECK YOUR WALLET.

(November, 2022:)

With a day off, I decided to go on Veterans Day and wound up getting free churros.

Get the CHURROS. Crispy on the outside, warm jelly and cream on the inside w/ sugar-cinnamon dusting. It rivals authentic Mexico.

The BIRRA TACOS are bangin' and they are pesao (heavy) on the tasty beef that's somewhat cooked ropa vieja style. They're highly portable as takeout and come with dip, salsa, a roasted pepper and sliced lime.

The MEXICAN PIZZA was a hit. The supplied tortillas are freshly made --and in a traditional style. The pizza then gets doused in the above-style beef along with chopped tomatoes, white onions, a bit of refried pinto beans, cheddar, a creama (cream), and a roasted pepper. It deserves a pizza box of its own. 😁

A day later, I'm still eating and going on two meals and two snacks.

DO NOT MISS...

Pros: the beef in every dish is delicious, I highly recommend the birria tacos. The staff is friendly. All cons are fixable by management.

Cons: other than the beef, the food was only okay. The masa in the tamales had a strange consistency (maybe ground too fine?) the ramen was kind of flat flavor wise, and had very little meat (I’ve heard from other people that they actually got a lot of meat, so maybe I was unlucky), and they completely left the meat out of the second order (but still put the cheese in, so it wasn’t even the vegan ramen by accident). The staff wasn’t very helpful or welcoming. Besides being polite, the staff didn’t actually do anything to improve the experience. They don’t mention the automatic tip, ask for allergies, or operate at all away from the takeout counter. The place is completely take out, and if you sit at the table there’s no water, utensils, or helpful staff to make you actually want to eat there. The bathroom was kind of dirty, and it doesn’t help that they pile a dirty mop bucket and cleaning supplies in the corner. The high prices would be ok if you compared the place to Zahav or Suriya, which are just fufu Israeli and Lebanese restaurants (respectively), but they invest in beautiful decor, service, and a full menu. Juan tamale masquerades as a local neighborhood eatery, but charges like a fancy restaurant. There’s a limited menu, no service, no fancy, and there’s none of the warmth of a mom and pop shop. It’s cool that they want their workers to make a livable wage, but they skimped on a lot of things that don’t actually cost money, but do affect the experience.

Conclusion: Given their clear ability to make tasty food, the staffs’ friendliness, and their caring for wages of their workers, I think Juan Tamale has the potential to be a great South Philly staple, but only so long as they listen to peoples feedback (not the haters, real feedback) and adjust their policies...

I was craving for some queso birria so I decided to check this place out. I heard about this chef from JL Jupiter. I got so excited that the new spot is closer to home. There was a line outside, but the wait was short. After someone leave the restaurant the next person in line can go inside. We was standing in line to order and then saw a table was available and went toward it. The host asked to clean the table before we sit down, but left the bottle of soda that was from the other customer. I asked if he was done and he said yes, but he left the soda there. He said he doesn't know who it is. Odd how he clean the table, but just left the soda there that belong to a customer that left already.

After I placed my coat on the chair I decided to go back in line to order. I ordered queso birria tacos $21 and the Ramen with taco $18. They automatically charged me 20% gratuity without me knowing until I asked for the receipt and saw it myself. It was only two of us. I thought gratuity is automatically charge if the party is 6 people or more? They have a good selection of beers for a good price and the beer employee was nice. The interior design was unique and pretty.

As I enjoyed my beer waiting for my foods the table next to me said my name so I face toward them. The host gave them my ordered. So they asked if that was my name and if I ordered the same thing as them and I said yes. I was excited to finally try the Queso birria de res Ramen and Taco combo. The portion was too small for the price they charged.

Overall I felt it was overpriced foods, small portion, automatic gratuity with bad service. It was delicious though, but I...