Tamales Doña Tere — Restaurant in Texas

I like to visit certain places a few times before reviewing them to make sure service and food is consistent. I also pre-judge the food by how busy a restaurant is. As the name indicates, the best menu item is the tamales. The selection and sizing is great. The only downside is the damn near $3 tamales are mostly cornbread w/very little filling. Ive tasted the chicken, mole, and beef. The flavor and seasoning hasn't been consistent throughout my 3 visits. Now they have an updated menu but it seems the food got more bland with each visit. In summary:

This place is always empty. You never have to worry about a line here. I frequent the UPS next door which always has a line, lol. But, at Tamales you may see one or two filled tables at most.

As stated in another review, the food is definitely overpriced for the taste and quality. Great Mexican food isn't hard to find in Texas...you just won't find it at this Tamales.

Bland. Bland. Bland. I think this place has a no-sodium policy because the only thing that has any flavor...

DO NOT EAT HERE!! DO NOT EAT HERE!!!!!! LEAVE WHILE YOU CAN! RUN 🏃🏻!! Only put one star because I have to. Otherwise, I would put nothing. The first time I came here the service and food was great, and little by little it just kept getting bad. At this point, it's the worst. Waited a year before returning thinking that quality of service AND food would have improved, but it's still terrible. The rice was old and hard, the coffee had a weird chemical taste, the tamales were just maza. I honestly don't know how this place stays open. How are you going to have an establishment and not have the prices on your menu??? Easy chance for a ripoff as they will charge you as they please. I guess what they want is for you to never come back, and they have...

I wanted to like this place. I went in super friendly and with an open mind. Unfortunately, the service was lackluster the decor was fine but the quality and price for the tamales was ridiculous. Each tamale was about $3.75, I had gone in hopes of buying a couple dozen tamales but was quickly disappointed at the value of their product. The tamales were big but they were mostly masa and lacked flavor, they were also dry and bland. The little meat inside the tamales was dry, overall a mouthful of dry dough. It was a true disappointment as I normally only have tamales during the holidays as culturally that's our custom. I guess I will continue to buy my tamales outside Fiesta and Home Depot as those tasted better than these and you get a lot more...