The Tamal Factory

the best tamales I've found within quite a distance. really really good tamales. super fresh all the time.

These tamales are the best! Super moist stuffed with a good amount of meat and great flavor and not spicy. They serve spicy Chile on the side that is so flavorful you can't stop eating it even though your lips are burning👌👌👏👏 We drive from Soledad just to stop and pick up a few dozen at least once a month! Small little hole in the wall spot with the best tamales ever!

The BEST Tamales!!! Excellent meaty portions wrapped in a wonderful tasting masa. Can't wait to go back and get more. Will purchase at least a dozen to freeze for later. If you are in Watsonville, Ca treat yourself to the Tamale Factory.

These tamales are consistently amazing...cheese and jalapeno are my favorite but the chicken in green sauce is really yummy. If you prefer a burrito these are also delicious and generous in size. Chili rellenos are dads favorite. Place is small but cozy...enjoy!

Delicious tamales! The masa is so good you could eat it plain. The filing is amazing too. We got pork, chicken, and cheese and all were delicious. I've yet to try anything but the tamales, but the tortas and tacos look really good too.

Always enjoy this little food shop. They have really good tamales! I prefer green chile so that's what I purchase. Have also tried the cheese & jalapeno tamales, they are not stingy with the cheese. My grandma love the menudo, but go early because they run out. I have also tried the champurado and it is very good, not too sweet.

My husband and I think these are the Best tamales in Watsonville. Small place, but the tamales are deliciosos. I ordered half a dozen of chicken and 1 dozen of pork. Took them home for dinner, froze the rest and I'm still having them for breakfast. 😋

Delicious tamales, hot and fresh! The pollo con salsa verde was my favorite, but the puerco, pollo, and rajas (cheese and jalapeño) ones were good too. Definitely hitting them up again the next time I need to get my tamale fix.

Too many choices! All look so awesome. Not just limited to tames, either and if I hadn't been so focused on tamales I probably could repot on something from that yummy looking menu. I purchased 3 kinds of tamales: jalapeno and cheese, sweet, and corn - can you say corn tamales with chocolate! No need for more words, especially if I want this to be the best kept secret in Watsonville!

Best tamales! Masa was just right, flavorful and moist. I bought chicken and pork tamales. Both were super tasty and juicy, not dry whatsoever. Plenty filling with the right amount of spices.

We tried every flavor and can't wait to go back! 🫔

I love authentic Tamales and this is The Best place I've found North of the boarder! I ordered 5 and could only finish 3 the the mesa and fillings were so thick and generous! Order a couple dozen and take them home or to your friends - they'll all be asking where you found them!

Excellent tamales and burritos! Great price. I love little kitchens and this one is tiny!

We went here and got pork tamales and a pollo super quesadilla. Both were off the chart delicious.

Very good food. Authentic Mexican, with some of the best tamales in America!! Highly recommended if your in the area.

The best tamales in town. All food is great. I always splurge on tamales for the family. I recommend this place for sure.

Heather

We tried every flavor and can't wait to go back! 🫔

TJ Ravnsborg

I love authentic Tamales and this is The Best place I've found North of the boarder! I ordered 5 and could only finish 3 the the mesa and fillings were so thick and generous! Order a couple dozen and take them home or to your friends - they'll all be asking where you found them!

Omen H

Excellent tamales and burritos! Great price. I love little kitchens and this one is tiny!

Micah Arnold

We went here and got pork tamales and a pollo super quesadilla. Both were off the chart delicious.

Carter Kaub

Very good food. Authentic Mexican, with some of the best tamales in America!! Highly recommended if your in the area.

Lori DeGrace

The best tamales in town. All food is great. I always splurge on tamales for the family. I recommend this place for sure.

Such good tamales with a variety of flavors.

5 stars all the way. My family loves them. Great food lots of parking and welcoming staff. The tamales are fantastic. Several kinds to choose from. Each tamale is 1/2 a pound of delicious and authentic Mexican food.

This place never disappoints. The service, food, ambiance, flavor, customer service are always on point. Num num num! Chicken, Pork & Sweet Tamales, rice, atole.... yyyyyuuuummmm!!!!

This is mostly togo with limited seating. The tamales are fresh, delicious, and moist. Highly recommend.

I go here for the best tamales I've ever had. They are reliable, moist and flavorful!

This place is the real deal and again, thank you google reviewers for the tip. We were coming from San Jose airport on way to Marina north of Monterrey, we were hungry and didn’t see much. We found this and we had the best tacos and tamales (I mean the best) and the service was so good. Even the customers were friendly!!!

Ramona Turner

This place never disappoints. The service, food, ambiance, flavor, customer service are always on point. Num num num! Chicken, Pork & Sweet Tamales, rice, atole.... yyyyyuuuummmm!!!!

Helen Chiang

This is mostly togo with limited seating. The tamales are fresh, delicious, and moist. Highly recommend.

Amy Terra

Such good tamales with a variety of flavors.

Kaitlyn Pedersen

I go here for the best tamales I've ever had. They are reliable, moist and flavorful!

Dorothy Valine

Not an eat in place Tamals are the best I have ever had. If in Watsonville u need to stop by Taco also delicious

brittany kingston

I will be stopping here every time I drive to the coast. The only other tamales I LOVE are my sister-in-laws.

Mary Anne Wihbey-Davis

This place is the real deal and again, thank you google reviewers for the tip. We were coming from San Jose airport on way to Marina north of Monterrey, we were hungry and didn’t see much. We found this and we had the best tacos and tamales (I mean the best) and the service was so good. Even the customers were friendly!!!

Jimi Doss

5 stars all the way. My family loves them. Great food lots of parking and welcoming staff. The tamales are fantastic. Several kinds to choose from. Each tamale is 1/2 a pound of delicious and authentic Mexican food.

First time here. Service was friendly. Red pork tamale i had was mostly masa and about 1tbsp of pork. Thru out most of it away. I Will not go back. But my hubby enjoyed it, he would return.

It is a simple, clean, tiny little place with a tons of Tamales to sell. Very clean outside and inside, but only sits 6 people. The ladies dont speak english, but great customer service. If you eat at site they provide you with sour cream and salsa, and the tamales are delicious.

Great tasting food. You should get a better price if you buy a dozen tamales. But all the tamales taste great

We don’t live close, so we get a variety of tamales to take home and freeze. They steam up great the next time. We love all the different types.

It isn’t a sit down and be served restaurant. You go in and wait in line, tell the lady what kind of tamales you want and how many. They get them, pack them up, and you go.

Great shop to get some tamales. It's a tiny place with just a table and two chairs if you wanted to eat there but it's more of a take-away place. They are quick to assist and it doesn't take much time at all for them to get your order bagged up. Love the jalapeno and cheese tamales! Its $3 per tamale, 1-3 will fill you up. We like to stop by and get them before going to the beach or other outdoor activities. Salsa is extra, don't remember how much, but you get like a 5oz container of it. Always have had friendly service as well, even as a white guy with 0 Spanish 😁.

Dan B

Great shop to get some tamales. It's a tiny place with just a table and two chairs if you wanted to eat there but it's more of a take-away place. They are quick to assist and it doesn't take much time at all for them to get your order bagged up. Love the jalapeno and cheese tamales! Its $3 per tamale, 1-3 will fill you up. We like to stop by and get them before going to the beach or other outdoor activities. Salsa is extra, don't remember how much, but you get like a 5oz container of it. Always have had friendly service as well, even as a white guy with 0 Spanish 😁.

Anyone giving this place 5 stars have never had good tamales. It’s basically your average skimpy, thick masa, crumbly average tamales ppl sell to make a quick buck. Good tamales are hard to make, it’s why it’s rare to find.

Tamales were more expensive then last time and they were smaller. Also they did not offer salsa. I also bought a champurrado which was not hot. It was lukewarm. They did not give me any salsa with my tamales n I find out later that salsa cost extra. WHAT that's like buying tacos with no salsa. Definitely not going back

Albert Hernandez

Anyone giving this place 5 stars have never had good tamales. It’s basically your average skimpy, thick masa, crumbly average tamales ppl sell to make a quick buck. Good tamales are hard to make, it’s why it’s rare to find.

Juan Sandoval

Tamales were more expensive then last time and they were smaller. Also they did not offer salsa. I also bought a champurrado which was not hot. It was lukewarm. They did not give me any salsa with my tamales n I find out later that salsa cost extra. WHAT that's like buying tacos with no salsa. Definitely not going back

Tamales are good, though not the same as pre pandemic, but service has really gone down. Lady a front counter was really rude and racist toward my wife. She assumed my wife spoke Spanish and was rude when she didn't understand. My wife is Apache not Mexican.

The food was excellent. Jessica, the younger of the two women working there, was one of the rudest customer service employees I have ever encountered. First she got upset with me as I was trying to figure out what to get (it was my first time there!) and told the lady behind me to go ahead. After waiting an additional 5-10 minutes she took my order. I asked for a super burrito primarily because it was listed to have avocado in it and I really like avocado. It was 8 dollars but I felt it would be worth every penny because it would have a lot of yummy ingrediants. Two men who were BEHIND ME IN LINE GOT THEIR FOOD before me. When she finally made my burrito she skipped the avocado, my favorite part! I asked her why and she said, "we don't have any because they are too expensive". I asked her why she didn't alert me to this before she took my order for the super burrito and she shrugged and said a VERY insincere "sorry". Like I said, the food was good, the other lady was nice but Jessica was dishonest and rude.

The pork meat with red sauce had good spice to it but the masa was a bit bland. Also the tamales are so hot that when they put them in a bag it melted the plastic and most of the tamales ended up absorbing the plastic flavor and made them inedible. I’m future, I would ask them not to put them in a bag (or better solution - don’t keep the tamales so burning hot)

The man wrote down my order, so I thought he was paying attention to me. But when I got home, I saw the tamales were not the ones I had ordered. And since it doesn't show on the receipt how can I go back Also the flavor was off, not the same this time.

D Chavez

The man wrote down my order, so I thought he was paying attention to me. But when I got home, I saw the tamales were not the ones I had ordered. And since it doesn't show on the receipt how can I go back Also the flavor was off, not the same this time.

Th cashiered wanted to charge me $2 dollars for the sample size sour cream and hot sauce that comes with the tamales just because the restaurant was out of disposable plates for 3 days but then again the trash can that’s next to the paying line was full of disposable plates from previous customer. So, I ask why if they are out of plates the trash can is full of dirt disposable plates. The cashier said, “We had an emergency so we had to buy plates.” I guess I wasn’t part of the so called emergency because I had to pay for the free condiments for them not having plates.

Well let's start with this, I'm a huge fan of Tamales .... can eat them all year long. The Tamales at the Tamal Factory leave a lot to be desired. They are pretty bland and not very big either. Prices are modest but you can get a better tasting Tamal at De La Colmena Market on West Lake Boulevard in Watsonville. Honestly I've been to the Tamal Factory once and I don't plan on ever going back. I don't recommend buying anything there. By the way ... La Colmena also has tasty Chile Verde Burritos too, as long as you ask for Chile Verde ONLY in your Burritos, no rice, beans, or pico de gallo. Eat one with a jalapeno that they have at the counter where you order the Burrito at, you'll love it.

I ordered a pork tamale that is exactly what it says on my receipt Tamale de puerco, and I got a sweet corn tamale instead. Ugh Asked if I could have milk because they had two gallons sitting in a refrigerator window right behind me and they said no. I'm in there before and asked for a chile relleno and they always say no they're out of them. With that kind of service who knows what's the truth. I wanted a tamale and I got an attitude.Not going back! 🤬

A long time ago, I came to this place. I remember it was a great place to eat tamales. I don't know what happened, but flavor, it's horrible, and customer service is even worse. This morning, I went to get a champurrado and some tamales . Champurrado was cold, and the lady who helped me gave me a bad attitude 😒 Like I said, I don't know what happened!!

The hype is too exaggerated. The tamales from here have changed so much they aren't the same. Pork tamale was overcooked and the dough from the tamale was too thick and dry.

Ive been coming here for a long time. I usually get the burritos. Food is pretty good. Customer service is terrible from one of the people working there. Other workers were nice to me. She just had a really bad attitude and gave me much less food. The prices change everyday. They like to charge you more and give less food depending on how they feel. I will not go back here. Burritos down to street are half the price.

Jay

Ive been coming here for a long time. I usually get the burritos. Food is pretty good. Customer service is terrible from one of the people working there. Other workers were nice to me. She just had a really bad attitude and gave me much less food. The prices change everyday. They like to charge you more and give less food depending on how they feel. I will not go back here. Burritos down to street are half the price.

Sadie Sullivan

I ordered a pork tamale that is exactly what it says on my receipt Tamale de puerco, and I got a sweet corn tamale instead. Ugh Asked if I could have milk because they had two gallons sitting in a refrigerator window right behind me and they said no. I'm in there before and asked for a chile relleno and they always say no they're out of them. With that kind of service who knows what's the truth. I wanted a tamale and I got an attitude.Not going back! 🤬