La Popular Tamale House

I was immediately drawn to this place because it grabs your attention as soon as you walk into the farmers market. Kinda hard to miss and the ladies are wrapping up tamales right in front of your face!
Unfortunately, by lunch time they had sold out of pork and pork jalepeno so we settled for 6 japaleno chicken and 6 beef. Chicken was a little dry and the tamales were very dense. The beef were more enjoyable but I really loved the hot and mild sauce.

Overall, mediocre. I ordered two soft tacos on corn tortillas with easy cilantro and easy onion. I got two soft tacos on flour, enough cilantro for a side salad and large onion chunks. The chicken taco was fine — after scraping off the cilantro — but the «shredded» pork was chunks and not shredded and the palm-​sized chunk of fat was gross. Beans tasteless and rice was dry.

We love tamales at my house, so we went for a dozen (half chicken/​half beef) to go. You can also eat there.
The guy at the counter was not as friendly has he could have been…
The tamales had a good flavor, and they did not really skimp on the meat, which is always nice.
Eh…stop in if you are there, but I would not make a special trip.

– Ups –
* Great location
* Friendly service
* Tasty, spicy salsa
– Downs –
* Food is incredibly salty
* Tortillas were hard and dry
**************************
Feb. 19, 2016 — 3 p.m.
UPDATE: I sent in a report via Square’s feedback about the saltiness of the food. La Popular apologized for the experience, thanked me for the feedback, refunded the charge, and have invited me back for a free meal. Maybe it was just a bad day. I’ll give them another shot and update the review when I do.
**************************
Feb. 19, 2016 — 1 p.m.
It’s great to see what they’re doing with the Farmers’ Market in Downtown Dallas and I’ve been excited to try the new restaurants inside. Until today.
Went in for lunch and ordered the Taco Plate to go from La Popular. After some friendly advice from the cashier, I chose pulled pork for one taco, shredded chicken for the other, served on flour tortillas. The plate also comes with Mexican rice and refried beans, a zip-​loc baggie of tortilla chips and a side of red salsa.
Arriving back at work, I dug into the beans first. Dead stop. They were incredibly salty. Tried the rice. It was pretty good with a little pico de gallo on top. Picked up a taco — the tortilla was hard and a bit stale. Took a bite of the shredded chicken and another dead stop. It was like someone had fed the chicken salt until it died, brined its corpse for a month, boiled it in salt water, added more salt, then served it on the taco.
So I grudgingly turned to the pulled pork taco. Took a bite and BINGO! They did the same thing to the pig! Poor briny Babe! It would have been less salty if they had just given me a salt block. What really bites is that this was a to-​go order, so I didn’t have time to take it back and ask them to sort it out.
So there I was, left only with the salsa and tortilla chips and couple of spoonfuls of Mexican rice for my lunch — beans, Babe and Chicken Little in the trash.
Maybe they just had a bad day or a new chef. I don’t know, but I sure hope they get this figured out soon. I’m on my third glass of water.

Idiots — the place needs to get there crap together — out of everything — took our order wrong– gave us a plate covered in foil for a to go order which then leaked all over me– you will b getting my dry cleaning bill– won’t go back and I don’t suggest u go — they were incompetent

Great pick if you’re spending an afternoon at the Dallas Farmers Market. It’s inside the little attached building and not hard to find. There is usually a young man at the counter who is super helpful when it comes to deciding what to order and getting your order right. I was really in the mood for a taco or burrito but how could I not order a tamale from a place that is known for its tamales? He suggested the sampler plate so I could have it all. The best of both worlds! This colorful plate came out promptly and consisted of: one pork and jalapeño tamale, one sweetened pork taco (topped with cilantro, salsa, onions and sweet cabbage) and sides of beans (topped with shredded cheese) and rice! It doesn’t get much better or much more indulgent than this! Everything was undoubtedly delicious and fresh. I particularly liked the meat which was seasoned to a unique perfection… I think I might have even tasted cinnamon in the marinade. Amazing!
Best of all, you get a FREE (and equally delicious) churro for checking on Unilocal.So what are you waiting for? Go. And check out the other local vendors there while you’re at it.

I get super excited when i find meatless tamales. they are very rare! I decided on the bean and jalapeño, but they did also have veggie. The guy was nice enough to give me half a dozen with 3 veggie and 3 chicken, said he normally can’t do this. I wanted my brother to try their chicken though. Everything was so good and delicious. I know next time I am there I want to pick up the veggie ones. I have one more tamale left from the 3 and I am already excited to dig into that! HA!

Good location and good service, however I cannot agree that these are the best tamales in Dallas. There was way too much masa and they were a bit dry. I prefer tamales with more than a thin layer of meat or else it’s like you’re just eating the dough. I tried the chicken and pork and both were the same. Maybe it was an off day or maybe I am just too biased towards my parents tamales, either way I probably won’t be back.

Order taken by two young fellows… and when I say young, I mean they should be playing in the playground, not handling a cash register. I ended up just getting a churro, which tasted like cold cardboard.

The grub is decently priced, service quick and friendly… BUT, the tamales were so-​so for me. Perhaps it was just a random experience, but I found the rice dry and the tamales underwhelming with little meat in the middle! On a side note, when you check-​in on Unilocal,you can get a free churro. I saved mine for later, so… I’ll probably give this another whirl.

Had the tamale lunch special ($ 7.00) and my husband had tacos ($ 6.00). None of the food seemed to have much flavor. I was so hopeful because they do have a veggie tamale. The tamales were heavy on the masa, and had very little filling, and the tacos were no better. Came with a small spoonful of lackluster dried out rice and a side of beans, and a plastic baggie filled with ordinary tortilla chips.
We should have known better, as while we were browsing in the market my husband, who is from Mexico, asked many of the vendors for a recommendation for lunch. None, I repeat, none of them recommended La Popular! They all indicated the Pecan Lodge Barbeque was the way to go.
Wish we had followed their advice.

I love tamales and I love the Farmer’s Market so I was excited when I saw that the East Dallas La Popular Tamale House had opened a second location at Shed 2 of the Farmer’s Market.
Shed 2 at the Farmer’s Market includes several local restaurants that are excellent. La Popular has a nice stand and eating area. Make sure you check out their mural on their stand… I thought it was quite cool. Shed 2 is all indoors, air conditioned and clean.
The menu contains specials and combos and the tamales include chicken, pork, beef and veggie tamales. The menu notes that the tamales are made without lard and with vegetable oil. There are several side items too and with my half dozen tamales I ordered beans and rice. All was excellent.
La Popular Tamale House is worth the trip and it’s a great option to combine a visit with a trip to the Farmer’s Market.

La Popular was my second choice since I did not order ahead from the Dallas Tortilla & Tamale Factory. The place looked promising and had good reviews. This location is at the Dallas Farmers Market — so a nice little location where you can pick up some produce and grab a quick bite to eat. I ordered a dozen chicken tamales and a dozen pork tamales for a friends party. My almost 3yr old daughter and I sat down to taste the Mexican deliciousness.
We were both somewhat disappointed. When my daughter had tamales from the DT&TF should gobbled them up like a little tamale monster. These — not so much. One or two bites and she was done. I did not fair better. They were not bad — there was just a lack of flavor. They tasted like mushy corn and overcooked meat — no flavor. The salsa verde was good and spiced things up a bit, but the overall experience was blah. La Popular will serve as my third back up to the DT&T Factory in case I am in a bind again — but they would not be my first choice.

I ran into the place while casually strolling through the Farmers Market in Dallas. What a great family and what great food! They have every kind you can think of and even do veggie!!! FACT: one of the best tamales (next to my grandma’s) in Texas!

Meh.
This place looked legit so I guess I was expecting great Mexican Food. I really wanted a Carne Asada Burrito but La Popular didn’t have Carne Asada. What Mexican place doesn’t have Carne Asada? That’s like a fundamental meat in Mexican Food. I resorted to my second choice… Crispy Chicken Tacos. But then they told me they don’t do CRISPY. What? I then sadly settled with a chicken burrito but it wasn’t good. It also was really small and had skimpy amounts of rice, chicken and cheese in it. So sad. And if they’re known for their tamales then I can’t agree with that either because I had a sample of their tamales and I thought it was boring.
Service was great however, but the food sucked. I hate to be harsh but you can’t blame a Unilocaler when she has had amazing Mexican Food elsewhere.

Damn good. A friend of mine from Mexico makes homemade tamales, so I’ve have something to compare them to. A half dozen 4-​inch delectable meat-​filled pockets of goodness for only $ 7. Holla. I ate these as snacks in between meals because I couldn’t just stop at one… or share. I hope everyone gets to experience these when they stop by the farmer’s market.

I was craving veggie-​friendly tamales – rare to come by. It was my first visit to the Farmer’s Market on a weekday afternoon, so it was a little quieter than normal. When I was perusing Shed 2, I saw this place and knew it was a sign! The lady at the counter was very friendly, and recommended the vegetarian tamales over the bean & jalapeño. I only wanted a half dozen, so it was too bad she couldn’t do 3 of each.
SO flavorful, and the salsa given with it definitely has a kick. Delicious. I can’t speak for the rest of the menu, but I’m pretty confident the other options are on par with the veggie, if not better (probably more traditional).

Some days I’m pretty sure I AM a tamale… let’s see, soft corny outside and warm meaty inside, often spicy.
And that’s why I love them so much. And I love them at the Farmer’s Market in Shed 2 at the new location of La Popular Tamale House. I loved them at the original location too, but now I can get my corn from the corn vendor out side, my tamales from La Popular inside and my bundt cake around the corner – making the perfect meal… almost.
The tamales are prepackaged in half dozens, so if you’re thinking of getting half jalapeño pork and half bean – think again. They have a lunch plate with three tamales, beans and rice, but I’d rather just get six tamales for the same price. The nice man behind the counter brought us out a couple of churros on the house. I had no idea they had goo in them. I’d have been getting these all along if I’d known about the creamy filling. Do they all have that.
Either way, all the magazines that voted La Popular the BEST IN DALLAS for tamales, nailed it. And what a great new atmosphere for them. I love the Farmer’s Market. Now I can munch on my favorite tamales while I’m there.