Balderas Tamale Factory — Restaurant in Texas

The tamales were ok, boyfriend loved them. What I was most upset about was the service -- or should I say the lack there of.

Came in around 2 asking what time they closed and I was informed 3. Said okay, I'll go ahead and place my order for the tamales and will order me lunch, but can you please give it 20 min while I wait on someone before bringing? She said okay. Food was out immediately.

Guess she just said okay because she thought I was holding up her line by not signing the receipt. I told her I wanted to fill out my order sheet (hosting a posada) and that everything was already authorized. I would hand both my order ticket and receipt to her, so she could tend to her growing line. Guess she was waiting for a tip? Well normally I would have given one, but I sat at the counter for awhile before I was even addressed. And her attitude was not even nice. So, yeah, sorry, not sorry.

I asked for pork and she told me they were out. Fine. I'll get beef. The couple behind me, in Spanish, asked for pork. Guess what they got? Pork. I was upset because I didn't know all I needed to do was ask in Spanish to get what I wanted.

I'm wrapping up my meal and watching the door. It's dangerously close to 3 but yet a huge line comes in and then orders. No problem. English speakers got denied what they wanted, Spanish speakers got what they wanted.

I kept observing the behavior with my friend. As long as they're still serving people, we will stay.

4 rolls around and people are STILL ordering from her. No problem. Same as I noticed at 3. English? Sorry, we're out. Spanish, oh we're just out, would you like hot (insert animal) instead?

I tore up my order slip and will order up the road from where I live. I got over her stank attitude about not informing about the menu price change. I said, sure, fine, it's whatever. I'm trying to understand why my bill is this when menu said it should be that.

The longer I sat, the more mad I got.

Too bad. He loved the beef. Even moreso than the place we will now be ordering from. But I like customer service more, and unfortunately, Balderas didn't deliver.

I wish she had worn a name tag. I would have just reported her individually instead writing a one star review. Her name wasn't even on my...

First time visit recommended by a friend. Went for breakfast with another friend Saturday, and this was our experience.

Cashier didn't acknowledge us, we couldn't locate the menus and no one offered assistance or greeted us. Menus found we decide on the breakfast tacos. I ordered Bacon & egg and added cheese potatoes and beans making it almost a $4 taco. For the price and size I can definitely say I've had better but it was decent enough however putting shredded american cheese on a taco should be a crime. I expect a Oaxaca / cotija Monterey blend but not american cheese. It made it saltier than necessary. Beans were a good addition.

My real complaint is the tamales. I'm not sure why they have an up charge to mix and match when you can order them a la carte anways? But I ordered a half dozen which is normally $9.39? But because I wanted 2 of each it ended up being $4.50 for two, and thus 13.50 pretax for 6 tamales.

Had the quality and portion of these been good, I would not even leave this review. But they were skimpy, mostly masa and barely any filling, and some of the smallest tamales I've actually ever seen. For a specialized tamale joint, that's pretty lame. HEB has better in my opinion, and that's a last resort? I'd recommend Grandma's Tamales in OTS.

Since it was our first time we didn't know and were not advised salsas etc were open bar. So our to-go order included absolutely no salsa or napkins for some reason.

The service was inadequate, the food decent and the pricing is whatever works I guess. But they should indicate mixing and matching is an uncharge and maybe do that as a flat rate and it might feel like less of a rip off.

TLDR; Food mid, would not...

Never coming back to this place. They somehow mess up mine and my coworkers' orders all the time, and if it's not made wrong, it takes them 5x as long to make it as they quote you over the phone. They really need to improve on their customer service skills.. I ordered over the phone during my lunch break (only 30mins) and was very clear about my order. I went to pick it up, got back to work, and realized they gave me the wrong thing (due to their misunderstanding over the phone and not repeating the order back). So I go all the way back to get it fixed (while my lunch break is nearly halfway over at this point), and the lady said I would owe them $0.50 more to get the correct order, when it was THEIR mistake, which they admitted to, instead of doing the right thing and just making it right! For $0.50?! I tell them my lunch break is basically over due to their mistake and they clearly did not care or have any sense of urgency to get my corrected order out to me, considering it took another 10mins or more. By this point my lunch break is fully over and I still had to pay extra for their mistake. Do not trust this restaurant to have your food out in any...