Recommend: Yes if you don't like dry tamales! Food: Yum. Sometimes it's hard to find tamales that aren't dry and rely on salsa. Service: Sweet, kind Ambiance: clean, authentic Mexican restaurant vibe I finally found my favorite tamale place. I got the beef and the pork. Both were great and had great flavor. I heard from a friend that their chicken was the best. But they were out when I went. So I'm definitely coming back here soon. This is the perfect time of the year to get tamales too! read more

Old El Paso Tamales - 11/29/25 - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

No beans or rice available for the combos or burritos? At least they had the tamales I wanted.

Went to Old El Paso due to a positive Facebook reel on delicious BIG tamales. The experience was opposite. Thin, dry, & SMALL $5 /each tamales. 1/2 dozen is $24 and dozen is $40. These prices are not reasonable AT ALL. I got a chile verde burrito for $9. The menu did not describe what meat it came with. Made sense why no meat description as soon as the first bite. It was ground beef with lots of very spicy chiles. Honestly, it did not taste like a slow cooked chile verde sauce. It was disappointing that it was not made of pork or at least shredded beef. It was about an hour before closing time and they had a lot of tamales left over on the counter, I'm sure they will be reheating them right up for sale the next day. Please just go to Rancho Market for tamales. I've also bought delicious tamales from outside vendors for $30/dozen which comes out to $2.50 per tamale. REASONABLE. Unfortunately, I do not recommend this place to my fellow yelp foodies, friends and family. read more

Hidden gem! Thank you yelp ! We will definitely be regulars here. We had sweet corn,chicken,beef and green chilie/cheese.

Small little spot with good tamales. I bought this year instead of making at home & they're the best I've found that are ready made for purchase. Paid $40/doz and waited in a VERY long line because they do not take preorders. The Hatch green chile ones can get very spicy but the red beef are not spicy at all but still have good flavor. Decent portion of meat, not like other places where it's really thick masa. Not homemade but pretty close! read more

I love tamales from here because there are just fresh out from the pot I can choose which ones I want I love the corn ones and the ones have cheese and jalapeños also the beef ones and also the pork ones and chicken ones strongly recommended it try and you will be delight read more

Fresh hot tamales!! Menudo on weekends. Good food but never open on time. Ambiance is fine. read more

Old El Paso Tamales - Painted on the wall, if you see this you're in the right place. - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

If you are looking for some really good tamales then look no further and come here! I have tried the chicken ones, beef ones, and corn and they have all been really good. At times they will sell out so all selections might not be available if you arrive later in the day. The plaza its located in might seem a bit sketch at certain times of the day but nothing bad has ever happened to me. They have tables inside and you can order to go. I have only dealt with the gentleman that works there and he has always been friendly. I definitely recommend! read more

We absolutely love the tamales here, delicious, stuffed, fresh. Everyone is nice, clean environment

Great tamales!!! Fast friendly service! I'll be back again! I tried the beef this time and they are so good!!

No need to wait for Christmas, they have tamales all year! Anytime I'm craving Tamales, this is where I go to! The tamales are my favorite! They are so moist, fresh and really filling! You can get half a dozen for $18 or they are $3.50 each. Today we ordered 6 chicken and 6 beef. The beef is my favorite because of the flavor and juiciness of the meat. The masa is made to perfection as well. If you ask they also have a mouthwatering green salsa which is so tasty! The restaurant is hidden in mesa, but there is a ton of parking. The restaurant has tables inside and has movies on which is kinda cute! its a nice atmosphere, it feels like you're eating tamales at home with family. The staff is always so friendly and helpful! We ended up getting a half dozen today and the beef was so tasty we ordered another 2! read more

Old El Paso Tamales - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

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Almost every Christmas we try to get some tamales and I would say Old El Paso tamales are the best in the East Valley. This restaurant is located in a corner of a plaza close to a laundromat and another store. This past weekend we visited and the place looks really nice and clean. The walls have been painted with colorful and eye catching paintings. My favorite is the corn and cheese tamales but they were out. Keep in mind we showed up at about 9am and they open at 8 am so this tells you how BUSY this place gets so come early. Sometimes the lines are out the door in the holidays. The service is pretty quick in my opinion and they have always upheld the quality of tamales despite the slight price increase I feel is reasonable at that point. read more

I give their tamales 5 stars. Menudo on The Weekends are good as well. I've been here a handful of times. Only for take outs. The last time I was there with my 3 littles kids on New Year's Eve. They were super busy. I had ordered 2 dozens of tamales. Waited for almost an hour for them. Because there was such a long wait, she offered the customers free fountain drinks. That was nice. But once we got home I was missing 3 tamales. I called to notify them, she said she would let the boss know. But I didn't get a call back. I came in a couple weeks later and she basically said nothing they could do. Oh wells. Note I leave 20 mins away, and my 2 dozen tamales was almost $90. I wasn't happy about this. She didn't even try to go back to ask the higher authorities. If you do order for take out, make sure you stay to check your order is correct. read more

Best tamales in town. We have gone here for tamales for years now and have always been happy with our food. Owner is very nice and interacts with customers. read more

OK let's start off like this the tamales are good but every time I eat them, they're not all the way cooked. Another thing is my mom came in there and one of the workers were being really disrespectful. and they need to be more clear on their store hours because I came in there today November 3 and their store hours say they're open Monday through Friday, but I went in there today and on the door it showed that they're open Tuesday through Friday so they need to fix our website showing that they're They're not open Monday, but they're open Tuesday through Friday. read more

Tamales are good but at what point do these prices make sense? 39.99 for a dozen of tamales I can get a lesser quality from another place but still be satisfied for a fraction of the cost. Mind you it is tamales, it doesn't cost to make, I do understand some creativity in the seasoning may come into play but yo $40 for 12???? read more

to continue my review, I realized now that I was charged $36.89 for one dozen pork tamales! Menu says $1.75 each for pork tamales. See attached photo of the menu. Should've been around $22-$24 for its tax So now I was over charged and received poor service from the young female with glasses!! read more

Old El Paso Tamales - Menu - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

Amazing food and amazing service front the time I placed my order to when I got home the tamales was fresh and delicious

Someone at work brought these tamales in to share. These tamales are legit! The masa was soft and fluffy, and there was plenty of tender meat inside. We had the shredded red chile beef and it made for a tasty lunch. I'd definitely go here to order tamales from here if I had a craving. read more

This little place is amazing and cranks out hundreds of delicious fresh tamales! I was amazed!

The best restaurant tamales ever. Not Nana-level, but very big and tasty for non-Nana tamales. We tried them all and liked the green chili corn ones and the red pork. We will be back. read more

Found them on TikTok and I would recommend everyone to stop by and try their pork and chicken tamales 10/10 in my book !!

I really like their tamales! I ordered their red chile pork and green chile and cheese tamales. The flavor of the red chile was good and if you get it while it's hot- the masa is soft. It will harden the more its kept in the fridge. The green chile cheese was good also, I do wish it had a little more filling but the taste was good. It can be challenging to find good tamales but this place has a great selection. I do have to warn, the prices can be pretty steep. Tamales go for practically $3 each. The store looked like it sold other items but when I went in, they said they no longer are selling their food plates and now it's mostly just tamales. I have heard this place does sell out and there is a big demand. Overall the tamales were really good and I didn't mind buying a dozen as that lasted me a while. read more

The best tamales ever. My favorite is the chicken . During the holidays you have to get there before they open or you won't get any.

This was my first time here and I will definitely be back. I normally don't buy tamales from restaurants, but really had been craving some. I've passed this restaurant many times and glad I finally decided to try it out. The young lady at the register was very nice and helpful. I ordered the pork tamales and the green chile and cheese tamales. The tamales are a good size, they don't skimp on the filling, and the masa is very moist. Based on the tamales I'm thinking the rest of the food they serve is just as good because the restaurant was packed. I'm glad I found this place and definitely recommend it. If you're in Mesa and craving tamales you need to try this place out. read more

Old El Paso Tamales - a plate of food - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

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I don't care how good your food is, you also pay for an experience when your exchanging your money for food. I will not go back here again, they mess up my order every-time i go here and they don't speak english and they don't want to fix it when you call them out because they don't understand english. It is a chore for tamales that are borderline good. Save your money and go to carolina's, garcia's or even ponchos in south phoenix. Don't wast your time here. Also the gal taking your order is rude. read more

You can tell that everyday they make a fresh batch of Chicken, Beef, and Pork tamales. All of their tamales are packed with so much flavor and spice, making you want you order an extra dozen to go. If you make it in before the lunch rush, you'll find the staff is incredibly hospitable and personable. Highly recommend if you want an authentic, home style tamale taste. read more

Old El Paso Tamales - Beef Tamales - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

Great food! I liked the variety of tamales. Service was good. Small, modest dining room but worth the money.

La señora que me atendió traía una jetota horrible desde que me empezó a ayudar, y luego ya llegando a casa me di cuenta que me dio los tamales mal, que no pedi. Muy mal experiencia y tamales ni tan siquiera buenos para su precio If you want mid, overpriced tamales and horrible customer service this is the place to go! read more

la verdad llevaba años comprando tamales en este local,pero ya han bajado de calidad y aparte ya subieron mucho de precio,no importa el precio pero la calidad?el pollo bien reseco y ya ni salsa verde traen,me han decepcionado,estaban muy ricos antes y yo los recomendaba mucho. read more

Old El Paso Tamales - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

The customer service is not good. Theyre prices are too high for the quality of the food. Tamales are 7/10 at best not worth the price.

Price went up quality went down. Falls apart, doesn't even look like real beef or taste like beef. read more

Old El Paso Tamales - Beef tamales - Mexican Near Me - Mesa, Arizona

best tamales in the phoenix area hands down. they're green chili chicken tamales are amazing.

I highly recommend Old El Paso. Tamales! These are the best tamales I've eaten since I left California! Anyone who loves tamales I highly recommend you get over there right away before we eat all of them.!! read more

Great service, awesome staff, and delicious tamales!! I love a good tamale, these are most definitely my favorite in the valley. Only thing I wish could magically be available anytime of day and not sold out by the afternoon is the sweet corn tamales. read more

They're ok tasting but too small and expensive and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What a difference a year makes. Hence why most of the positive reviews were from a year ago or longer. How do you charge 37$ for a dozen and not have salsa ‍ read more

The tamales are the best, been getting tamales from here since 2014! Best tamales in Mesa, Arizona

Excellent service at the counter. I thought they only had beef, pork and sweet corn but she gave me a sample chicken to try. Everything was wonderful; will definitely be back. Also the car wash in the same business center is excellent :) read more

Disappointed I might not have been born and raised in the southwest however I love tamales. I am always searching for new tamale shops to add to my list of favorites. Today, was my first visit to Old El Paso Tamales. The restraunt is small, located in a small strip mall near Brown and Horne. The staff at Old El Paso Tamales are friendly and accomdating, and thats why I feel terriberible having to say the tamales just weren't very good. On this visit we ordered 6 red beef and 6 pork tamales and I was disappointed with both flavor of tamales. I think the most disappointing part of the tamales was the lack of meat. These tamales were almost all maza with a very scarce amount of meat and the meat was somewhat dry and overcooked and the maza lacked flavor. I was hoping for so much better after reading all the amazing reviews. Maybe, I caught Old El Paso on an off day. The pricing is very wallet friendly at a mere $20 a dozen. However, the tamales in my opinion just weren't good. I think I will stick to my old time favorite Tamale Shops in the future. read more

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Adding backstory..found this place a couple of years ago and me and my family love their tamales, both beef and chicken. Continued for a couple of years until they would not let me just go in there in early December and just purchase 3 dozen tamales(tamale place, 3 doz not a lot) said I needed to get on their wait list. Got some tamales from guy at work that year. Went back two years ago and noticed that price had gone up ($24.00 a dozen) which I thought was high back then so again went to Trader Joes and found some. So this year thought I would try again but decided to try and do it their way and order ahead. Tried online ordering (it does not work). Called and the lady I talked to confirmed online does not work but that they would be putting out a Christmas ordering list on 11/28 or 11/29 or so. SO went over there this morning it was approx. 9:25AM and they were closed due to not having tamales ready to sell even though they open at 9:00AM. There were a couple of men outside waiting as well. The door was open, so I went in and asked if I could just place an order for the 3 dozen I needed and could pick them up next week. Lady working register told me they don't take orders only pick up. ??What?? So I asked if I could just order the 3 dozen I needed and get them today, she said yes. So, I sat down but looked over at the counter and there was a sign posting a pricing change. Basically after October 1st- One dozen tamales will cost you $39.99. Basically when I saw that I just walked out and told my wife that I will try and make them myself from some youtube videos I can find. For 3 dozen I would have spent $120.00 before tax. I don't care how good their tamales are, they are not worth $40 a dozen. I won't be back...sorry. read more