Tamales Ancira

So I called to order a dozen tamales and this is how the conversation goes:
Me «Hi can I place an order for some tamales?‘
Dude «No, we arent accepting any orders no more»
Me «Oooook»
Dude «You can come by everyday and see if we have what you want, but probably not»
Me «How are you still in business if you dont have any tamales?‘
Dead silence.

I love their tamales, but their customer service is so sketchy.
Don’t get me wrong. Their tamales and the different flavor options are amazing. But, don’t be surprise if you get the occassional smart response for ordering a dozen tamales, without letting them know ahead of time, or if they can’t fill it because they don’t have enough tamales of your choice available.
I drove my mom to PB to check out some shops and I happened to wander over to Tamales Anciras. I decided to order a dozen of their mouthwatering tamales to take home for dinner. The cashier had the nerve to lecture me with a «You should have told me ahead of time.»
Uhm…I’m sorry for being spontaneous? Tamales excitement buzzkilled.
The next time I swung by, it was close to lunch time — another spontaneous craving for tamales. I waited while the cashier chatted it up with the customers ahead of me. When it was my turn, she upped and disappeared for 5 minutes, without saying a word. When she came back, again, I went to order a dozen beef tamales, per mom’s request. And, I wasn’t going to be surprised if they didn’t have a dozen available. But, she just gave me a blank look and walked away. Uhm??? She eventually came back and I was told they didn’t have a dozen beef tamales available, but they did have pork. Since my mom was okay with it, I ordered half a dozen pork and half a dozen beef ones to go.
Maybe it’s me, but I find it hard to believe you don’t have a dozen beef tamales available, when you’re a tamale shop. And not just any tamale shop… Tamales Anciras. It wasn’t even peak lunch period. And what’s up with the ‘tude and/​or the up and disappearing without telling/​indicating/​signalling to me to hold on for a minute?
I’m going to have to stick to the Chula Vista one. They always have what I want available whenever I swing by, without giving me a hard time. Well, at least, when I order just a dozen. If you’re doing the quick lunch for one or two, Tamales Anciras on Garnet will work for you. But, for a spontaneous dozen… you better call in your order, before you show up or you will be disappointed and be given a lecture.

Two tamale combo with rice, beans and drink for $ 6.44
Sweet Corn Tamale with cheddar and chili very good but bit cold
Picadillo good flavor but cold and a bit tough
Average beans and rice
Good sized portions, good value
Would give 3.5 rating but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully next time food will be a bit warmer

First of all, the tamales are alright. They’re nothing special. I’ve only been here a couple times, but if they were better, I’d probably come back more often.
Second of all, THEY’RE THE SMALLEST TAMALES EVER!
I’m pretty sure last time I was here they were regular size. I went today and they were like mini tamales. They’re not worth the $ 1.69 they charge.

I LOVE the tamales here (yum!) but the staff could use an attitude adjustment and a course on how to appropriately run a business.
I have frequented this establishment a number of times, and each time have run into issues. Now, I am not a picky, let me bitch about everything type of costumer… I do like my food spit-​free :) But this place has the worst costumer service I’ve seen in a while.
First time I came here… with my then boyfriend. He ordered, we waited a short time, received our food, and I was hooked at first bite! The lady behind the counter was super friendly to my boyfriend who handled the ordering process. I went up to ask for more salsa halfway through our meal… ignored for a good 5 minutes… finally she gives me salsa but charges me for it… okay, not a problem I understand people do that. It was a small container and I used it fast and this time my boyfriend went to get me more salsa. He promptly returns and what do you know he gets a few containers and for FREE. Now I felt biased against since I am white but let it go as the food was delicious.
Next visit (a year from the initial visit)… My friend Shan and I were in the mood for tamales and decided this would be the perfect place. We ordered and were informed they were out of most of the tamales on their menu… not a problem as we really wanted sweet corn tamales and those were still in stock! I ordered and paid then my friend did the same. We waited. waited some more. A group of people came in and ordered. We waited even more for our food to be ready. We looked up to the window and there was my friend’s food just laying there, did the lady announce that an order was ready? No, of course not, that would require too much effort. I continued to wait and nothing. The group who came in after us eventually received their order. I waited some more and decided to ask the lady behind the counter what the deal was. Her reply? «we are out of tamales». Umm, excuse me? But I ordered before that group did and they got theirs. No apology from the lady, no would you like to order anything else, no nothing! I was irate but I sat down so my friend could eat her meal. Lucky for me, the group that came in after us but received their order shared a tamale with me so I at least satisfied my tamale craving. Such nice people which make up for the rudeness of those like the tamale shop staff.
Few days later, same friend and I wanted tamales again (they really are THAT good). No tamales available… umm okay then why are you still open when you have nothing to serve?! So my friend was told to pre-​order them a couple hours ahead to make sure we can get tamales we want and however many we want. We try this the next day and are told you need to order a certain amount to be able to do so; where was this useful information the day before?! As well as the fact that I was told the day before they are «out of chompurrado FOR THE NIGHT» and on my final trip to this tamale shop I am told they will not be making it at all again until Fall. Thanks for the consistent information.
So, Tamales= excellent and Staff= horrible. Therefore I will not be back. Yes, you suck that much.

Let me start by saying that I gave this place multiple trials before writing a review on here.
I happened upon this tamale shop after I got a massage at the place next door one night. I had never had a tamale before and thought I’d give it a try. Well, I fell in love with them! They were delicious!!! (I had the sweet corn tamales).
I went back a few weeks later with a friend. We both ordered sweet corn tamales and paid. We sat down to wait. We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, my order came up. I grabbed it and sat down, not wanting to start eating until my friend’s order was ready. Well, she kept waiting… and waiting… and waiting. In the meantime, a large group of four people who ordered AFTER her got their order before she got hers!!!
My friend went up to the window to see what the hold-​up was. Well, the lady just looked at her and was like «Sorry, no more sweetcorn…» At that point I made a loud statement that I sure hoped that the people who ordered after her didn’t get sweetcorn… because if so, one of them should’ve been for my friend. The nice people heard what was going on and offered one of their sweetcorn tamales to my friend.
That was strike one.
Strike two. I planned a Tamale Tuesday night for a group of 9 of my friends. We show up there and guess what? The lady says that they were all out of tamales! SERIOUSLY!!! What’s the point in having a tamale shop that runs out of tamales?! It was only like 6:00 and they close at 9:00. I asked if she was going to be making anymore or cooking up any of the frozen ones she had. The answer was NO! She told me that next time I can call ahead to order to assure that I get tamales and especially to be sure I get the kind I want. She said to just call in about 30 minutes before I wanted the tamales and they would be ready.
Fine.
STRIKE THREE… The very next day I called in to order on my way home from work. I told her that I wanted to order 6 sweetcorn tamales. She told me that I had to order at least a dozen. Seriously?! That detail was not mentioned to me the previous night. So then I went out on a limb and asked if she had any tamales ready for people who just walk-​in to order. She said no… they were all out of tamales AGAIN… and this time it wasn’t even 5:00pm!!!
Don’t get me wrong, the tamales are a-mazing…IF you can actually get your hands on any!!! It also makes me laugh that they are so proud of their high Unilocal standing… they have their letter posted at the register stating that they have such a high rating on here. Well, I sure hope that more people come on and complain about the place running out of tamales so that they never get a complimentary letter from Unilocal again!!!

If you’re looking for good tamales this is the place to go. I tried the pork and the sweet corn, and both were great.
The place is a super small joint with no real atmosphere, but it’s cheap, and has the best tamales in town.
Will definitely be making regular stops here.

I LOVE TAMALES~~
With that being announced. my friend bought home the family style tamales (pork, beef, and sweet corn w/​cheese), beans, and spanish rice ($ 26).
The food smelled really good; however, the tamales was just okay. Looking at all the reviews, I tried to see what I was missing and why I thought it was only just okay … I came up with this conclusion:
Growing up I have always loved tamales and ate it whenever I could. I tried many different kinds and I was spoiled with eating primarily home-​made tamales or tamales straight from mexico. With this being said. compared to my past food adventures with tamales. it’s not comparable. Also another down fall was the fact that in all the tamales from Tamales Ancira, there weren’t anything really inside! It was basically like eating just the corn or flour masa… I kept asking where the beef, pork, or cheese was to my friend…
One star does go out to the bean! The bean is addicting. I normally hate beans, but wow it seriously seems like they put in gravy or a lot of butter! I kept eating it. and eating it. until I saw the end of the bowl.
The rice is whatevers. nothing really special either. I’ve ate and made spanish rice better than here.
Overall… the food, especially the beans were good. but I don’t know if i’ll order the tamales here. or maybe i’ll give it another try.
Oh, if you order the sweet corn, eat it last. It’s like a dessert tamale. I also like the beef better than the pork

I’m not a giant fan of tamales. In fact, I will almost always choose an enchilada over a tamale. Some might say it’s because I just don’t like tamales that much and am biased, others may say that it’s because a really fine tamale is hard to find. I’d go with the latter since I liked these plenty (for the most part).
Since it was my first time here, I treated it like my first time at many places to eat. I over-​ordered and gorged on as many varieties as I could reasonably consume. I estimated that to be about 5 tamales and, turns out, I was right. 4 and I would probably think that I could fit one more; 6 and they’d probably have to knock down my wall and bring in the forklift.
All in all, I tried (in order of my favorite to my least favorite) the: chicharron, beef, sweet corn, picadillo and cheese w/​jalapino. While all of them were pretty tasty, I don’t think I’d venture much further down the list than the sweet corn. The chicharron was amazing, but I may be biased as it’s basically pork skin and hell, if you put some freshly cut grass on pork skin, I’d probably call it delicious. The beef was tasty too, the meat nice and tender and quite flavorful. The sweet corn was unique and, well, sweet. I’d order that since to me, it’s basically a dessert tamale. The last two, while quite good, were rather short of extraordinary in my book.
I’d definitely go back… if I weren’t 150 miles away now.

This place definitely deserves the high marks it gets here, well worth enduring all that is PB (the people, traffic, and lack of parking).
At first glance, it looks like your standard lower-​end small taco shop: Small, a bit funky, with a handful of tables inside and some seating outside. The only obvious difference at first glance is the contents of the menu…
The building definitely betrays the food: The tamales are wonderful and the prices are very reasonable. For seven bucks I got two tamales of my choice, rice, beans, and a drink. In addition to delicious tamales, the beans are possibly the best I’ve ever had, and even the rice is pretty good. Unilocalers definitely didn’t steer me wrong on this one.
The first time I tried to go here, Unilocal and the door said it was open, but it wasn’t, so beware if you plan to drop by any time that is within about an hour or two of closing…

Home-​made comfort Mexican. Best of all, if you just want a bite, grab a tamale for $ 2 and you don’t have to overeat. I had the chicharron and the sweet corn tamale. Both were heaven. Satisfying, not too heavy or greasy — so unlike other Mexican places.
Definitely a good place to grab a casual bite if you’re in PB.

Went back to San Diego last week and stopped by Tamales Ancira again. I love this place for its tasty, tasty tamales, good selection of vegetarian options, and friendly staff. I don’t need anything fancy, I just need a yummy tamale, you know?
This place is popular with the take out crowd, so you may find some favorite tamales out of stock later in the day (why can’t I ever get my hands on the raisin and nut tamale???). I’m still a big fan of the pineapple tamale, and their cheese tamale.
This place has the best deal on food in San Diego… Now, if they’d only franchise up the West Coast, they’d be perfect. :)

Tamale Shops are few and far between, even in San Diego. Fortunately I happen to live close to one of the best outside of Old Town. High quality preparation at a reasonable price goes a long way and Tamales Ancira is a great example of that. Offering about 6 – 8 different sweet and savory tamales with beans and rice as its staples with some other assorted party platter items all done fresh or frozen, they really know what they are doing.
The Masa for all of the tamales is perfect and not too gritty or too much as to overpower the filler. The meat in the Beef Tamale is seasoned perfectly and the Pork Tamale just falls apart when your cutting it open. The Sweet Corn Tamale is alot like a sweet corn cake which goes really well with the salty beans and salsa. The Jalapeño and Cheddar cheese is not bad but doesn’t really blend with the masa well. I haven’t tried the Chicheron Tamale, but the guy behind the counter says its his favorite.
My only real complaint about the place is closes too early and they tend to run out of product by the end of business. Obviously it’s great that its that fresh, but still annoying when you have a hankering for a tamale.
If a burrito won’t hit the spot and Mexican is the craving, check out Tamales Ancira and you won’t be disappointed.

It’s TAMALE TUESDAY, like Taco Tuesday only better.
I generally have low expectations for anything other than a homemade tamale, but they managed to impress. We had them cater our safety lunch today (yay for a lot of days in a row without someone cutting a finger off!) and as the server, I tend to get the bottom of the barrel. The tamales still tasted fresh and were very warm thanks to the containers they were delivered in.
Our assortment was Pineapple, Pork, Chicken, Beef and Jalepeno Cheese. I sampled the Jalepeno Cheese which was tasty but not spicy enough. I heard wonderful things from co-​workers about the pork, beef and chicken. No complaints about the pineapple, though I did not hear a single comment on it.
The rice was typical rice, nothing to be surprise or astounded by, but the beans. EWWWW. I guess if you like pork in your beans they were good, but I couldn’t handle the smell, or scooping them out person to person. Why they put the girl who hates beans in charge of the beans I’ll never know, but it seems like a nasty trick.
Overall, I’ll give them a try when I’m out and about in the neighborhood because if they can pull off food for 300 without much to complain about, they’re pretty decent in my world. At least decent enough to try out when the only mouths to feed are mine and potentially a couple of other customers.

Well last night when I was eating tamales from here I decided I really must be a San Diegan when Mexican food is comfort food to me. I love tamales… the ones from Trader Joes, the ones from Quatro MIlpas, the lard-​free ones from the Hillcrest farmers market, the ones from Tony’s Jacal in Solana Beach… I know my way around a tamale.
I showed up just before they closed and they only had beef or pork left. I was exctied for a chicarrones one or a salsa verde one. The rice and beans were delicious but the pork/​beef tamales had way too much masa on them. Each bite should have a meat and masa in it, not be stuck with a lump of steamed masa at the end.
I’d like to update the review when I try the more popular tamales.

I have to make these damn things every Christmas per Mexican tradition.
But this year, I’m going to try and convince the family to buy in bulk from this spot! The tamales here are delicious. The beans and rice are also super good and if the rice and beans are good, more than likely everything else will be as well. I’m officially addicted to this spot.

Being as my recent tamale pimp has become unavailable, I’ve been on the hunt for another supplier, so I was thrilled to discover TA on Unilocal.I headed over as soon as my cravings would allow. My husband and I came to the conclusion that although slightly better than the average restaurant tamale, TA will not keep us from continuing out search for the best tamale in San Diego, but I did buy a dozen to stash in the freezer to hold me over. I’ve had my fair share of tamales. Frozen from Costco, fresh from a cart in front of ethnic markets, across the border, in countless restaurants, and my favorite: homemade. Is it fair for me to review Tamales Ancira’s tamales and compare it with ones I’ve had homemade? Well, they’re making them fresh and from scratch, right? So to answer your question, yes, I think I’m being fair.
Although overall, the tamales were tasty, they were a bit lacking in meat filling. Their website boasts «These are not small tamales!» Okay, they’re not small, but they’re not any bigger than any other ones I’ve tried anywhere else. I tried beef, chicken, pork, and sweet corn and cheese. Chicken was my favorite, but I also took a couple of the sweet corn and cheese ones home.
Should you try TA? Absolutely! Their prices are much more reasonable than many taco shops/​Mexican restaurants I’ve encountered, the beans and rice are tasty, and the salsa that accompanies the tamales is excellent, but if you’re lucky enough to receive these precious bundles every Christmas or you’ve got a reliable tamale pimp of your own, don’t expect TA to match them.
Attn: Tamale Pimps, please contact me via PM if you know of any supplier who lovingly stuffs each chicken tamale with a lone pimento-​stuffed green olive. *drools*

I wanted to review this place a while back, but it wasn’t listed and I was too lazy to look up where it was located… but thank you to whoever listed it.
Anyway, I have been having tamales from Tamales Ancira since I can remember, not from this location though… from its original location in Chula Vista. My mom got to know the owner because we just loved their tamales… and not to mention their amazing beans and rice.
As a Mexican, for a place to be truly a good Mexican place… the beans have to be good. Its like the test of a Mexican place… like having a Mediterranean place with crappy Hummus. It cannot be.
However, Tamales Ancira far surpasses this test. They are so yummy!
If I were to have a last meal, Tamales Ancira would be right up there on the list of what I would get.

THE BEST tamales in San Diego. The PB location is just a few blocks from Ingraham, so getting to Ancira’s through PB traffic via Ingraham is a viable option to the Grand/​Garnet crush.
Tamale cooking starts at 3 a.m. in their Chula Vista kitchen; Tamales are made fresh every day. We always get our order «to go.»
The earlier in the day you visit, the more choices you’ll have. When they open, you’ve got your choice of a dozen different kinds of tamales, including sweet tamales such as pineapple, or nut & raisin. They carry both spicey and bland tamales (for the feint of stomach). If you visit late in the day, your choice may be pork or pork.
For parties, call in advance to order their 100 tamale special.
Every order includes spicey green sauce, but my wife and I never use the sauce. The tamales are mouth-​watering delicious right out of the corn husk wrap.
As an alternative to PB, sometimes we visit Ancira’s main kitchen in Chula Vista, 1 block off Interstate 5 (at Main Street exit), pick up a dozen tamales «to go,» then drive through Imperial Beach and up the Silver Strand to sit on the beach at Coronado and enjoy our fresh tamales. We take our leftover tamales home and refrigerate or freeze them. My wife and I always keep a watchful eye on our refrigerator to make sure that neither she nor I eat more than her or my «fair share.»
Ancira’s Escondido location is indeed «hidden» in Escondido, many traffic lights away from from Interstate 15.
I never decide in advance what tamales I want. I make my decision as I’m staring at the posted menu. Usually I order a dozen (a price break point) and plan my order by making a list on a piece of paper as I negotiate with my wife over which flavors we’re getting, then I hand the list to the nice lady behind the counter.
If you don’t speak Spanish, don’t be frightened by Spanish bantered between the store employees and other customers. The store employees are bilingual and as soon as they see your (or my) white face, they switch into English.
A few years ago, Ancira’s PB location moved a few blocks closer to the beach, so if you’re looking at an old advertisement, you might see an out-​of-​date address.
I discovered Ancira’s when I polled my clients and asked them for the name of their favorite tamale shop. The name Ancira’s was mentioned repeatedly, and now (years later) I agree wholeheartedly with their recommendation.

Wow! That was a yummy tamale! And in the heart of PB, this is a special treat.
As an establishment, Tamales Ancira is nothing new — with long-​standing locations in Chula Vista, Escondido and Tijuana going back as far as 1989. But the PB location is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood — both for those who are planning events and for others just looking for a quick lunch.
My tamale ($ 1.69) was absolutely wonderful — fluffy, tasty, and covered with just the right amount of real Mexican cheese and salsa.
But the real potential for this place, I think, comes in what it can do for those planning an event. At $ 1.45 per tamale (for orders of 100 or more), this is a great place to consider if what you have in mind is feeding the masses. They actually have a complete ‘Party Pack’, which comes with 100 tamales, 50 portions of rice, 50 portions of beans and 2 pints of salsa for $ 209. Trust me, it’s hard to feed 50 people with cattle-​feed for anything less. But with Tamales Ancira, the fact that the food is fresh, flavorful and delicious is a bonus!
If Jesus did his work in PB, he would have left the bread and fish for the Zealots and fed the masses with a Tamales Ancira Party Pack. Trust me.