The Tamale House

The service was fine, friendly and quick. The pork tamales were ok, the masa was a bit dry but were still flavorful and with the provided salsa were enjoyable. The cheese and jalapeño tamale was not very warm, and the filling left alot to be desired (the cheese was like a mozzarella string cheese). I ended up not even eating the cheese and jalapeño tamale as it was that bad.

I brought eight friends along to support this business because they had their trailer and the equipment in their trailer stolen recently and couldn't make tamales like they normally do. To be honest the MASA was dry the filling was small The beans were way different than any other beans we've ever ate.

I’m not sure if this business is racist or homophobic. The “owner” was so rude at the yesteryear pumpkin patch. He told me that he gets to choose who he gives what to because he is the owner. I wanted chips and cheese and I saw around 10 people order it after I asked for it and was told is was out. I asked again and that is when he told me that he chooses who he can serve too with the worst attitude… they were basically all white, straight presenting people. It was super disappointing, especially since this was the 2nd time we came up and had already given our money. We definitely won’t be eating here again.

Best Tamales in the Metro Area! Try the BBQ pork, you won't be disappointed. And the family who owns it are so nice. We accidentally left our leftovers and he ran out to our car to bring them to us. Today we just happened to catch them open on a rare Sunday AND they had Watermelon Water! Double bonus! So delicious!

We ordered tamales to be delivered to 3 different offices for a work lunch, and they were delivered on time, hot and delicious! They were also the most affordable tamales in the area and many coworkers were asking where they were from as they wanted to return. Nathan was very kind, responsive, and easy to work with. This is our second time ordering a large quantity of food from Tamale House, and they were just as good the first time. Would definitely order from here again!

Very good tamales and Very LARGE Burritos... Chips and cheese was just that.. "Chips& Cheese",. Chips seemed a little stale.. But the flavors of everything we had compensated for the chips... Small place #5 tables... You cream eat in, Or take out.

This place is off the chain 😩🔥 must try the BBQ pork. Their beans and rice are on point too for something so simple. After reading other reviews, I can say the masa was well proportioned with the meat. They apparently pay attention to reviews and make adjustments which shows good ownership/management. I've ordered twice this weekend because they were so good. My tamales weren't dry as someone else stated and there was plenty of meat. (Not saying they didn't have their experience and that this place can't mess up from time to time but def not my experience after this weekend). Keep it up!

Nice little restaurant with 5 tables. Excellent tamales. Friendly staff. Chips n Cheese was stale.

I LIVE for a family owned business... and dont let it be immigrants neither!!!! I seen this place while on the bus and had to try them. The picture of the son and family on the wall made the experience 10x wholesome... Now to the tamale, because I just be talking The FIRST BITE!!!! Beat my expectations. Ive been in-search of tamales since moving to PDX. No reason besides the LA native in me just love a good tamale and champurro (I apologize for the misspelling). I am extremely glad to have found this a place to get authentic tamales in the PNW. I came in late so what and they were sold out but will deff be returning

It's hard to find good tamales in the PNW. These were the better of what I've tried. Too large, much masa compared to filling and they were dry. Seems like they cater to the usual Portlander that has never had fresh homemade tamales. That being said, will still come back to get my tamale fix.

Best homemade authentic tamales I've eaten in this metro area! Three or four delicious choices. A bit pricey but so worth it!

I have been wanting to try The Tamale House for a while. Their hours say they are open from 10 to 7. I went once at 430 and they weren't open. I called and the voicemail said if closed they have sold out. So I tried going another day and went at 1030 in the morning and they were closed. Called and same thing. How are you sold out at 1030 in the morning? I wanted to try their giant burrito,some tacos and some beans. Darn. Guess I will stick with Taco Del Sol next door. They have pretty tasty food and are open from 5 am to 11 pm.

My dad built a trailer for Tony, that now Tony takes to farmers markets and makes a ton of money off of. Tony now owes my dad 12k and hasn't paid it off. my dad drives by his restaurant every day on the way to work and saw that Tony now has a new wrap on his food truck, and a jet ski trailer on the back of his truck, yet he still owes my dad a ton of money. There is no paperwork to prove that Tony agreed to it, but Tony should own up to the amount of money he owes my dad.

Look I felt bad for the theft. I stop by to order 6 tamales. Young son was in the kitchen, doing his best. Got home with my fair and my purchase was sub zero in that nothing but a roll of dried out masa. I tried, I attempted to reach out but timefor this business to retire.

The tamales made my mouth melt in wonder these tamales are fresh and makes you feel like you're on cloud 9. never a bad experience perfection in the tamale world

Family owned. Love their pork and chicken tamales. We have been going here for years.

This is a small family restaurant, very inviting and the woman I assume is the owner was very kind and helpful. We came for the Tamales Family meal 69.00 12 tamales with rice beans and salsa. We got to the car and busted out a chicken tamale with green sauce so worth the drive as were from beaverton. I will be going back the quality of the tamales were 10 out of 10. Spicy how I like...

Nothing fancy about this place. Just good ol' home made type tamales. We have only gotten the chicken and the pork tamales. You can not go wrong with either one. They are super fresh and tasty. We pick up a dozen tamales which do not last long in our house. The owner is very nice and obviously working hard to make it through all the issues from the pandemic. Great place to come for something really good and help out a small business out. They do have a few tables, but would recommend take out.

Yo, this place has to chill out... Seriously you walking to this place it looks like a freaking factory I mean a warehouse I mean it looks like a tamale house. It looks like you could make a full-size house of tamales with all of the ingredients they had piled up in this place. I mean it was truly impressive they must've had 10,000 pounds of flour just waiting to be made into tamales. I grew up eating these things out of carts, my whole childhood because that was the food that came to you where I grew up. Now granted prices have gone crazy but their tamales are huge. I'd probably say 2 to 3 times bigger than the small ones I used to get for under a buck each so really truly it's a good deal for the damage. I guess it's the whole family affair and normally it's his mother making them but this time of year they're expected to put out about 50,000 tamales they said for this month it was just a guess and I could've fudge the number a little bit but I swear that was the number he said because we were in shock. Granted, we do know That the holiday season is a big big time for tamales in the Mexican community so it's definitely not a normal month but just to see the volume they did was six tamales later none of them made it home and I was probably 4 pounds heavier. Absolutely hundred percent some of the best tamales I've had in years

This place seems to have gone downhill over the years, which is sad. They didn't have all of the food on the menu, so we weren't able to get what we wanted. What we did order came out pretty quick, which was nice, though. The overall appearance was shabby, and if not outright dirty, just unkempt. The kitchen area speared cluttered, as well. I doubt we'll be back. Very sad.

I hate to leave one star reviews, and I never even tried their tamales. It's my family tradition to have tamales and fajitas for our Christmas Eve meal. This is the first year we are hosting Christmas, and after browsing all over Yelp, I chose the tamales house to buy our tamales. I called one week before, reserved a dozen of tamales to be picked up on Christmas Eve at 5pm, specified that I would like them hot, as they would be consumed right away. I confirmed with them that they will be open on Christmas Eve for order pick up. Now comes Christmas Eve, and I showed up at their door - it is closed. I called and no one answered. I was angry. I understand that you can choose not to open or close early on Christmas Eve, but for people who reserved tamales to pick up, how about a courtesy call to inform them that their order is cancelled? There I was, standing in front of the store like a fool at 5pm on Christmas Eve, without a back up plan. I will learn from mistakes (always have a back up plan if I host Christmas eve meal again, and never trust the Tamales house again).

Sketchy. I ordered food. But they overcharged us when picking up food. Would not refund the difference when I called them out on this. Does not seem like an honest business. Will not be coming here again.

I am pregnant and was craving a chicken tamale but was sadly disappointed with this place - My first and last time coming here. I ordered two chicken tamales and I opened them up to find 98% maza and maybe 2% meat and they were BOTH cold. It made no sense since he got them out of a "warmer" type pot. I immediately brought them back up to him and he tried to argue with me that they stay in that pot all day long and are warm, not cold. They were both very much cold and he asked if I wanted him to warm them up...Absolutely not, I cannot take the chance of getting food poisoning and just requested a refund and went right next door for tacos instead at Taco Del Sol...1000% better quality and the food was hot! Another thing that I found extremely gross is that the worker had a dog inside the restaurant and it was sitting on the bench at the same tables that customers have to sit at. I'm pretty sure the health department would never approve of that. I would NOT recommend eating here.

I don't know why people don't like this place??? I haven't had a bad experience at all. Food is great, they never seem to be out of tamales, and service is fast. I will say, if you don't know where this place is, you'll miss it. Maybe a bigger place? More/bigger signage?

Ordered via app, so I can't speak to the building. My carne asada was 100% meat scraps that should have been cast off by the restaurant. I ended up throwing it away after just a few bites, because every single piece of meat was rubbery fat, or gristle. My husbands chicken was so over-boiled and dry it was hard to choke down. And the enchilada sauce tasted like they used an entire bottle of cumin, and no other seasoning/spices. I really like cumin, but this was so much it made our mouths numb. Queso was good, as was the salsa. Everything else had to be thrown away.

Tamale perfection. Sweet corn tamales are my favorite. I love everything about this family run place. Every time I'm in Tigard, I now gravitate here. I almost forgot, their rice and refried beans are on another level. There is such an attention to detail.

Traditional style tamale similar to what you get at the Farmer's Market. The cheese & Jalapeño consists of a blend of Jack and Mexican (fresco?), the peppers are ample. I've had this cheese combo before and what usually happens is it turns rubbery when it cools. That is, don't expect the cheese to ooze out. A good-size tamale is only $3! Their menu is varied, service was FAST, the hot sauce/salsa is very good (no boring Cholula or Tapatio), but there's nothing exciting to drink. Owner lady is very nice.

These tamales are so insanely good. I will find every person who complains about the chips or service and fight them. A bbq pork, cheesy jalapeño, and sweet corn tamale, in that order, is the perfect three course meal.

I ordered on line and paid $31 but the restaurant was closed. I have not received any food or re-payment. Disappointed.

A low key, small restaurant that does one thing and does a great job of it. I've never had a tamale there that wasn't tasty, fresh, and loaded with filling. The chicken is my favorite.

Tamales are tasteless, with hardly any filling. Expensive for what they are, cornmeal doesn't cost much. Gimme a good tamale - but you're not going to get it here.

The best part of my meal was the rice and beans. They had an unusually smokey flavor to them that really set them up a high notch above any other I have had at other places. Nothing bland and tasteless about them. The second thing that I can say is that there wasn't anything in my meal that was too hot or too spicey for my tastebuds. Everyone is different, but just flat out "hot" peppers just numbs my tastebuds and then I can't taste any flavor in the food. For the tamales, I ordered 2 Chicken and 2 Pork and while they were a bit thick and heavy with the masa wrapping, their flavor was very good. Each was again, not just flavored with hot peppers, but rather with a good blend of seasonings. The meat was moist and they actually were better the 2nd day after they had sat overnight in my fridge.

These are the best tamales and the nicest people you could ever meet! We ordered tamales, enchiladas and the fixings for 10 people and it was fabulous. Go there!

My teenager is a tamale fanatic. He and I were out together outside of our normal roaming zone and came across this place and he understandably flipped out. I checked out the Yelp reviews, so we settled in and order two 2 tamale plates, figuring we would take the second one home for leftovers for him. That was a mistake. The tamales were HUGE (exciting!) but soooo dry and sooo bland. It was like eating twine wrapped in a sand cake. We were very very disappointed. I feel guilty because the incredibly nice owner asked us how our food was and we straight up lied and said it was good. It was not good. I hope it was an off day for them and that people aren't running around thinking that this is what a tamale is supposed to taste like.

Well I have to say that I was very impressed with this little restaurant. Coming from California is very difficult to find authentic Mexican food up here in Oregon. These tamales were delicious and they were authentic tasting tamales. We are looking forward to coming back. We want to try the rest of the menu. We had the chicken tamales. The owners are so friendly! Wish I took a picture!!!

Worst tamales ever. They put absolutely the minimal fillings they can get away with. If you like 99% masa then go for it. Otherwise, stay away from this place!

Great food and customer service. Very friendly atmosphere! I will definitely be back again.

Killer food. The service was top notch. My toddlers manhandled their chicken tamales. We love this place and 10/10 will be coming back. Possibly tomorrow. Don't judge me.

Omg!!! Best tamales in Oregon, in my opinion! Coming from Southern California had a hard time finding good tamales.... look no more! The tamales are delicious with lots of stuffing of chicken, pork, or cheese & jalapeño. Rice & beans are delicious as well. I highly recommend this wonderful place in Tigard!

I absolutely love their tamales, would give 5 stars but it's 6pm, they're closed when they're supposed to be open until 7. Update: they apparently ran out of tamales, which is completely understandable, they are, afterall, delicious!

Thank you Paco, and Yelp for leading me to this oasis in Tigard..... Hubs is from Texas, and he loves him his tamales. I've toyed with the idea of making them here from scratch....but now I don't have to. The Tamale House has incredible tamales, and I can't wait to throw my man a party and have it catered by The Tamale House (don't tell him, though) mind you, this is a hole in the wall in a strip mall, so it's not for those first dates where you want to impress.....but..... Best. Tamales. Ever. And a nice family environment. I love that Magdelena and Tony let their young daughter play all over the restaurant (erasing the special board in lieu of pretty flowers) and that they sent the grandma out to 7-Eleven for ice when Hubs requested some for his soda. This is a family operation. And you can taste the love in every bite. I suggest the BBQ pork tamale, as it was a fabulous twist on an old favorite. The chicken was also nice. I have to go back and try the rest of the menu items, but for $2 a tamale....I'm hoping to plan a party around The Tamale House!!! Thanks Magdelena and Tony!! Well Done!! Take a Bow!!!

Wow, what a find! This small unassuming little storefront serves up the most delicious tamales around. We tried the pork, chicken, and cheese & jalapeno tamales; they were out of the bbq pork but it sounds like those are a winner too. The tamales are made fresh every day, and had a nice meat to masa ratio. I liked that there was some green tomatillo sauce inside the chicken tamale; that kept it from being too dry. The pork was my favorite one - what excellent flavors! At $2 each, these are a great bargain too. The chips and salsa were good - chips weren't homemade, but the salsa was. It was HOT too, way hot but way way good. We chatted with the owners while we ate and learned that grandma makes the chile rellenos (and probably the tamales too), and that they make the salsa fresh everyday, but that it comes out different every time. Tony says it's too hot, but Magdalena said it needs to have that many chiles for the flavor to come out right. However it turns out, it's delicious but can vary in spiciness. The restaurant is very small - only seats for about 10, but it's bright and cheerful and the owners are delightful and made our experience awesome. Tamales are one of those things that take time to make right, so I'll let the experts at the Tamale House do it for me, with love.

Small mom & pops hole in the wall. The wife and husband are very friendly. Only about 15 chairs or so. Looked clean but some of the vinyl chairs seemed a bit sticky in places.... It lives up to it's name. The tamales were fantastic! Some of the best I've had. 5 stars! Only tried the chicken though. Wanted the cheese and jalapenos but they ran out. We liked them so much we went back several hours later after running errands to pick up 10 more for dinner for friends and family. At $2 each it's pretty cheap, but they are a bit on the smaller side. You probably need 2 to fill you up. The salsa was also very good. 4 stars. After being disappointed time after time looking for good Mexican this was a refreshing experience. The beans tend to be a bit more watery than usual but still decent. 3 stars. The rice was actually pretty good. A nice little surprise. 4 stars. Now the bad.... The carne asada was not so good. 2 stars. Better than some of the other places around greater Portland metro but still "bleh" compared to so-cal carna asada I'm used to. I don't know what it is but I cannot find good carne asada in Portland. It's the staple I used to use to do side by side comparisons of various Mexican restaurants but it's so generally bad in Portland area that I must find something new....

Friday 6pm. Its hailing and I have just been in a 3 hour IEP meeting for one of my kids. (Work kid). Tigard. No plan for dinner. Starving because I had a bad lunch I didn't finish. Hmm. Tamales? Ok. I know better than to expect a Tucson-like Tamale in Tigard but I thought it's worth a try.The best tamales I ever ate were handmade by the Pasqua-Yaqui mother of a college boyfriend of mine. I think she ground her own masa with a rock and grew her own chiles and made her own cotija from her own cow's milk. Yeah, like I will ever have one like THAT again. Sigh. Too bad he didn't work out. But this little place isn't bad. I went for a family deal: 18 tamales (6 each chicken, bbq pork, and cheese jalapeno), with rice and beans for $45.The guy waited until some other customers left to offer me salsa explaining if they'd heard him he would have had to give them some. While I should feel happy and grateful that made me grumpy.I think all the customers should be offered free salsa. The tamales were pretty good. Wrapped in corn husks like they are supposed to be. BBQ pork was our fave. Rice and beans were yummy. Salsa had a little heat. We wished for chips. I think we'd go back. It was ok. Definitely a hole in the wall place, not glamorous and few tables, but friendly enough and a little bit like home. A little.

Wowee, am I glad that my Mexican friend took me here! I had been on the hunt for a decent, authentic tamale for almost a year. He told me that these were as close to authentic tamales that he could find, besides his own mother's cooking. The place is a tad odd on the outside. This doesn't change when you walk inside - random paintings and colors, unmatched chairs: all things you would expect with an authentic Mexican food place, right? Right. The menu had a lot to offer: tacos, enchiladas, burritos, chili rellenos (green peppers stuffed with queso fresco and fried), and - of course - TAMALES. I wasn't about to leave this place without trying everything I could. Plus, it was all so cheap! I had 2 tamales (at $2 each), an enchilada, and one chili relleno. The pork tamales, wrapped in the corn husk like tradition, had a tad more masa (corn, essentially) than anticipated, but they were still so magnificent and fresh - especially with some of the hot sauce on top. Are you drooling now? I am. The cheese enchilada was kind of small, but it was everything you could ever wish for. It was fiiiilled with gooey cheese and drenched in tomato-y, mildly spicy enchilada sauce. I wouldn't trust my judgement on the chili. I had it about a half hour after it had come out of the kitchen, so it was kind of cold. But the green pepper was stringy and stuffed with plenty of queso fresco. I don't recommend eating it cold. It'll be weird. If you're hungry for some authentic Mexican food and friendly service, come on down to The Tamale House!

Wow - first time we went we had the tamales - of course! They were 1 hit and 2 misses - the jalapeno cheese ones were excellent and the pork and the chicken were total misses - 2 BIG strikes when that is the name of your restaurant. Tried to come back because the homemade salsa was delicious and guess what - they were closed so we went to Taco Del Sol (almost next door) and loved it. BAD business idea to be next to another similar restaurant but have way crappier hours. So we try yet again (we live close) and this time succeed in ordering some enchiladas and some more of the great jalapeno tamales & take home some salsa. We wait a while and then they come out and tell us (like 10 mins later) that they were out of the salsa and the tamales! Sheesh. Really?!? How hard would you like me to try to come to your restaurant? Seems like the priority here is the farmer's market booths that they operate and not the restaurant. Why have a restaurant then?? Tell me your hours are better and that you don't run out of all the really good stuff before I get there and I would come back. UPDATE: NEXT MORNING AFTER I WROTE THIS REVIEW: I really thought about my experience as compared to my only other low star rating on yelp to date (Cafe Allegro) and decided I had to bump this up to at least a 2. Wish there was a 2.5, but alas there is not. Maybe they will improve their hours and supply of Jalapeno Cheese tamales & homemade salsa. Again, I changed to 2 stars because some of the food was actually good.

I have wanted to try the place for a while. The food is ok, the service is fast. The place is quite small but not crowded when we were there. My wife and I both liked the bbq pork tamales. The chicken one was 2/3 massa and one third fairly bland chicken. I ordered the chips and salsa, hoping for something special for $2.75, sadly I was disappointed once again. The chips were not made there, at least not today, and in my view, what was served as "salsa" would be better described as a mild hot sauce- no chunks of tomatoes, onion or cilantro to be seen. I am glad I tried it and I would have another bbq pork tamale some time. I probably wouldn't go out of my way and I won't order the chips and salsa again. (Of course, when you read the other reviews, it seems that there is a wide disparity of opinion on what "good salsa" is. )

There tamales are always moist and delicious! We love stopping by for a quick bite to eat.

Best tamales I have ever had . And these people are by far the nicest people I have experienced in a take out setting . They were so sweet and even made me special tamales because they ran out and they even stayed two hours past closing because they wanted to make sure I had Christmas dinner . Please go here if you want kind interactions and the best tamales of your life.

Owners are friendly and I guess I go a lot because they remember me lol Decent meat to mass ratio... Family fave is cheese and jalapeño but they are all pretty darn tasty

Tony, it was nice meeting you, The tamales here are huge,flavorful and amazing. They are a good deal and I'm grateful we moved nearby. See you soon

Hours always vary. Came here both monday and Tuesday at 10:30 and both days have been closed. Hours say Monday through Saturday 10-6 Tuesday lights were on inside and tables outside but door was locked. Its a hit and miss

Ok, they must put crack in their tamales. Because every time I eat, I'm always stuffed, and yet always want to eat more. And then I leave, and later want them again for my next meal. First, I love the fact that it's family owned. Second, I love it even more that the recipes were passed down from one to another. Third, I love tamales! Fourth, I love that they have several variations of tamales. All of them are great! Fifth, I love tamales! Sixth, their salsa is fantastic! It's spicy, flavorful, fresh... it's good! Seventh, I freakin' love tamales!!! To be quite honest with you, this review is more based on just their tamales, as I haven't ever tried anything else. I mean, why go to a place called Tamale House, if you're not gonna get tamales? That's like going to place call "All Beef" and getting the fish. C'mon now!!! So go to either location (Beaverton or Tigard), and get some flippin' tamales. Added bonus, the family is amazing too! P.s. I meant to take a picture, but couldn't wait... because I love tamales!

Best cheese enchilada we've ever had. Friendly, quick service. This is now our go-to for Mexican food.

The jalapeno and cheese tamales are just amazing!!! Usually when I eat tamales, there is too much masa, and it's dry and bland. Wow, not these! Even though there was plenty of it, I was wanting MORE Masa because it is just incredibly flavorful, soft and delicious! I could eat it by itself! That is what makes am amazing tamale for me! The only reason why 4 stars is I also had the carnitas plate. Was okay. Alot of the pork was too hard and chewy to eat. I like mine more juicy. Rice and beans like most. Next time, only tamales! I have had many tamales in my day, but these really are the best!!!

I haven't had tamales this good since I left Tucson. Best place in town, not to mention their rice and beans are also on point!

This is possibly the worst Mexican restaurant with the worst Mexican food in town and in my life. Sanchez taqueria has the best Mexican food in town and much better tamales than this one. House of Tamales food has too much garlic and less authentic Mexican food, and I honestly don't know why they won in 2011 if they were that good, and if this was the way they made it back in 2011 it makes me wonder what kind of tounge they had back then.