I just had their green tamales this morning. OMG these are the best green tamales you will have around O.C. they can rival homemade tamales (i know not ur grammas) cause these are homemade. You can literally see them cooking in the pot once you enter the store! Wrapped in banana leaves so give a diff taste compared to corn wrapped ones. they will melt in your mouth, a sure sign of a slow cooked to perfection style. $2 bucks a pop but you really only need 1, although they are so good you might want another. I will try the red ones next. Not on the menu but just say tamales: Green or Red. How many u want. and for here or to go! You won't regret it!! if you do then you don't like tamales.. read more

Been going here since elementary school (I'm almost 30yo) and the donuts tastes the same! I used to get donut holes for school in the morning and I still eat only the donut holes! Always soft, fresh, and affordable! :D read more

donut shop for tamales? why not? we walked in around 9pm, they had a few donut selections. we we're mainly there for the banana leaf el pollo verde tamales. tamales we're fresh & delicious. good masa to meat ratio. full of flavor. it's a bit spicy so make sure you get a drink to go with it. I believe it was $2. workers we're friendly & helpful. it's also open 24 hours!! read more

Sak Donuts - el pollo verde tamale - Donuts Near Me - Garden Grove, California

What's up with being Asian on yelp.com and you have to attempt to write a travel log about a greasy spoon that has zero class, and or zero appealing atmosphere, let alone half of the time digestible tamales and how in the heck does every asiatic have to write a play by plan about the ambiance as if it was a long drawn out descriptive passage from Weather Heights mixed with dialog that reads like their most fortunate antiquing adventure on a Sunday in Hamptons? I mean seriously...you come to read a tamale review and you walk into a overtly long drawn out description of 400 things except actually getting to he nitty gritty. Instead you get reviews predominately by people that believe there future employers will google these write-ups and be amazing by there distinct adjectives over what is a fair to ok Tamale by what obviously has to be a world class connoisseur of ethnographic gastronomy. I think not. The tamales are fair. Not to die for. Being drunk slightly will help. And for a real Tamale experience you have to be in Yucatan with a gun in your waistband and Los Tigres Del Norte playing on juke and the hands of virgins rolling out maze in a cleaned out sink. See did we really need to read all that to find out the Tamales are A-ok to fair? read more

Came here solely for the talked about tamales. My friend hear about a donut place in Garden Grove that sold some BOMB tamales and I just had to check it out with her. Got in and ordered one to share. We were asked if we wanted spicy or not: of course we went for the spicy. Upon opening it up it was already unique and not your average looking tamale. Taking the first bite the chicken had a good spicy flavor and I was a fan. It's definitely a hybrid where the shell has some Asian influence. Spoke with the lady up front in Cambodian and yup she told me about her famous tamale. I would come here just for the tamale and you should try it too! If she had salsa it'd be perfect! read more

I read about this donut shop in an OC magazine yesterday. It was listed as one if the best places in OC for tamales. Tamales in a donut shop? Well, I would have never thought you'd find donuts and tamales in the same place, but okay. It sounded interesting. I will try the next time I am in GG. Well, life brought me to GG this morning. I finished my business and headed over. I ordered three specialty donuts and four tamales. When I saw the size of the tamales, I quickly adjusted my order to two tamales. They are HUGE! When I got them, they were each wrapped in foil and then put in a white bag and labeled by type. When I got them home and peeled off the foil, I found a sheet if wax paper surrounding a green banana leaf. Definitely not used to that as the tamales I am used to eating are wrapped in corn husks. I chose to have the red chile chicken tamal and leave the chili and cheese for my hubby. There was lots of masa but there was lots if meat, too. The masa was smooth, not grainy or crumbly or dry. The meat was spicy and delicious. Well worth $2. The tamal I had was good but I will not be ordering from this place for holiday parties cuz I don't think my family will get past the banana leaves. Coffee and donuts were average and the shop itself was not dirty, but looked messy and cluttered. read more

i bought mochinuts & regular donut yesterday. it smelled like cleaning agent & gave me heartburn. i thought at first it was their sanitizer that i used but confirmed it with another friend & my daughter when they tried them. i ended up throwing them away. i informed the owner just to be cautious before selling the same batch of donuts (for customer safety) but became defensive ab it . read more

3.5 stars. Who knew that a donut shop in a shopping center would serve Tamales? From the outside you would never know, but when you walk in there are some signs. The lady inside was nice and said we were lucky that they didn't sell out because it was nighttime. I told her we found out about her on Yelp, but she looked at me like I was an idiot because she had no idea what that was. The tamales were $2 and there was a spicy pollo verde and beef/chicken red sauce mild one, and the green one tasted better. The tamales themselves were big in size wrapped in banana leaves. The taste was decent, but it was mostly cornmeal, so it was filling, but not that great. I'm glad I tried it, but I think I'll pass for next time. read more

This place has some of the best tamales I've ever eaten! Moist masa and large amount of flavorful chicken! 2$ for giant tamale can't beat it! read more

Sak Donuts - Huge for 2$ half eaten in picture :) - Donuts Near Me - Garden Grove, California

I read some reviews. And all I see is people saying how the tamales are so good! I'm ThinkIng like Um tamales? At a doughnut shop? So I decided to try some today. Since yesterday they sold out! Idk why people were over exaggerating on the tamales they sell here. It's not your usual traditional tamales. There dough suck here. It is really moist but the dough I don't like that's just my opinion . I must say they are HUGE though. The filling is yummy . So I have an extra star for that. But I won't be ever buying tamales here again. read more

Sak Donuts - $2 huge tamales . 1/5 stars for me . - Donuts Near Me - Garden Grove, California

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Beautiful donuts and donut holes. Glazed and jelly donuts are my favorite! They actually tasted like donuts and not sponge cakes. Pretty cheap too! The lady at the counter was also SUPER nice, I asked for 10 donut holes and she gave up 12 for the same price!!! Did not know they had tamales until now (I thought picked the wrong donut shop to review) Will try it next time :D ------ Tried the tamale. It tasted like Vietnamese bánh dày!!! It was 2 dollars, wrapped in banana leaves, and kept hot in a rice cooker. It wasn't as big as I thought it was from all the reviews. I got spicy chicken and it tasted pretty good! I just wish it was bigger. read more

Average mom and pop kind of donut place. I don't know where these people have been eating tamales because they aren't as good as raved. Soggy, overcooked, and weird tasting. The tamale is made out of MASA brand corn flour and not made with the traditional tamale corn flour. The sauce isn't seasoned well and even though it's wrapped in banana leaf, it still managed to be dry including the chicken meat. I believe the owners put a twist to a classic tamale but it's defiantly not a tasty one. Donuts are a different story. Defiantly go if you're down to a dozen or two donuts. Fluffy and always beats my hangover. Try not to go passed noon, as the oil tends to seep through the donut and make it taste funny. Overall, good donuts horrible tamales. read more

Second time coming here. They greeted mw really well for both times. I have an appt at the grove medical hospital so ive been stopping here for breakfast read more

Sak Donuts - Donuts Near Me - Garden Grove, California

I woke up hungry, so I grabbed my phone and started Yelping away! TAMALES? AT A DONUT SHOP? How WEIRD.... I MUST HAVE IT!!!!!!!! I sent the boyfriend out to grab some while I got ready for our lunch date! He came back with the spicy chicken and green tamale! They looked and tasted so simliar except one was less spicy and more soggy. I liked both, but I enjoyed the Green Tamale more!! Good portion of meat and the tamale had good texture with a slight kick. In the middle of eating, the boyfriend whispered sweet nothings in my ear! He said, "There are donut holes too." It's like he knows me... Donut holes were awesome and the perfect way to end my tamale indulgence! :) read more

I'm definitely a fan. The mom and pop who own this place are behind the counter every morning. They are super nice and tolerate waffling with a smile. The donuts are fresh and soft, if not a little on the sweet side. The price, even in the donut world, is cheap cheap cheap and extra donuts find their way in your box of a dozen every time. I tried this place once and was hooked. Thank you, SAK Donuts, for encouraging me to buy jeans a size up. read more

Support small businesses ! The green tamales were delicious and tasty. I recommend the blueberry and chocolate twist ...Thank you !

THESE TAMALES ARE THE BOMB. If you dine in, you can ask them for some tapatio!

Friendly service, but pretty average donuts. Haven't tried the "AMAZING" tamales but will def check them out when I'm in the area again, but I'm Mexican so it will be tough to impress me after years of eating my mom's... read more

The tamales were really good. We came by around noon on a cloudy Saturday and they only had one red chicken and one jalapeno w/cheese left! I liked the red chicken a lot. The taste was very different compared to a traditional tamale. The banana leaf seems to give the tamale a lot of moisture. The jalapeno w/cheese was good too I just wish the one we got was spicier. Although my BF and I only had one tamale each they were fairly large. I could have eaten two or three but one was good enough for lunch. I will definitely come back to try the green chicken tamale. read more

Looked in VAIN for a tamale place on yelp and found this place. Had to bring tamale's to my family who live up north so big bonus that this place is 24 hours, and I got to pick up the tamales at like 4:30 am on my drive up (I know crazy right?) Mom and Pop store so the owners met me there in the morning to pack it all up for me and even gave me 2 bonus ones since I picked up like 40. SUPER NICE Okay so they have 2 kinds, and they are wrapped in banana leaves. Definitely get the Red sauce one, the green sauce is okay but the red one has kick. Masa is fine and the meat ratio inside was great. The meat was flavorful and tender. Found this place before I found El Bravo in Santa Ana but if i was in the area for sure I'd go here and get a $2 tamale, so worth it. YUM! MUST TRY? - Red sauce tamale .. oh and their ham and cheese croissant aint bad either! read more

I feel almost blasphemous for what I'm about to write but here goes... The tamales are good but when I went they were wet still ... not a very fun experience and the sad part about this is that the masa (the outside part) is my favorite part... the masa bits that i got that weren't soggy but were a little remnant of the banana leaves... I'm not used to the taste but it was kinda interesting overall taste = good texture = disappointing read more

Bf and I took a spontaneous trip to grab some tamales from here. The guy was a little rude when we ordered some tamales but I guess we just caught him off guard. We only got one green tamale because I wasn't in the mood for any food. The smell reminded me of my momma's cooking, probably because of the banana leaves. I had a taste, liked the kick, but tamales aren't my specialty so I can't judge much. Bf, however, loves tamales and said that he hasn't had ones that good since San Francisco. I assume that's a good thing because we always get them from the mexican ladies selling them in the carts around the neighborhood. Shoot, I thought THAT was authentic. Anyway, based on his judgement, the tamales are delicious and worth the 2 bucks. Btw, they DO have a sign to the left of the donut display case (against the wall opposite from the entrance) that they sell tamales. The sign is a bit worn so I'm assuming they've been doing this for a long ass time. read more

Sak Donuts gets a big fat meh. After hearing about their awesome tamales, the boyfriend and I took a trip to try them out. We also grabbed a ham and cheese croissant and a glazed twist donut. All of it was mediocre. I feel like the tamales might have had so much hype that I just wasn't that impressed when I tried it. I would recommend the chicken over the cheese (we got both) and they're both pretty spicy. My boyfriend says the ones over at Northgate are better- I wouldn't know because I haven't had those ones. Oh well. Won't be coming back. read more

the donuts are not made to order, not even the simple glazed ones. As such, I did not get the awesome melty gooey warm burst of sweetness that I was expecting from my late night donut fix. However, the mere fact that I was able to get a chicken tamale from a donut shop at 2 AM was kinda fabulous. The tamale was reheated in the microwave when ordered and it tasted fine with some chili at home. read more

Sak Donuts - add a lil sriracha and the tamale disappears! - Donuts Near Me - Garden Grove, California

it's moist, it's tasty, i would come back here when i crave tamales :) That's right you read correctly. TAMALES. They should change their name to Sak Tamales because it's a deliciously moist hidden gem all packed in a fragrant banana leaf! We came here for some donuts, stayed for the tamales :3 read more

TAMALES!! TAMALES!! TAMALES!! They are unlike any tamales I've ever tasted, but I crave them all the time!! The green ones were my favorite. They were just so moist and filling and so tasty! Sometimes we'd make the trek out here just for them and they'd be sold out, but we would stock up on another flavor and were not disappointed!! read more

So I came In last week after a long night of partying with a few buddy's. After a long night of drinking and getting wasted what better way to end the party then with doughnuts, right?! So we ordered a dozen. After ordering the last doughnut we noticed 2 roaches crawling along, inside of the glass and along the pans. I didn't notice until after we had paid. After requesting for our money back, and for them to take the doughnuts back, they stated that the doughnuts were still good. We tossed the dozen Into the trash and headed over to Lees Sandwiches on brookhurst. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this place. read more

So for a midnight snack the boyfriend and I figured we will check this location out for the tamales that everyone on yelp is raving about. I felt weird going to a donut shop asking for tamales so i made the boyfriend ask the man if he had any left. After a little language barrier we finally got our tamales and headed home. When the man handed it over to me it was cold...i guess that's why he asked if we were going to eat here or take it home. Just decided to take it home and microwave it...no biggie. They would've done the same thing if we were to eat there. So onto my review on the tamales....the banana leaf does make it seem a bit more moist but i didn't like the texture of the outside of the tamale. I prefer the authentic tamales. So i'll stick with getting my fresh tamales at El Gallo Grio...fresh and authentic tamales even at midnight. YUMM! read more

Come here for late night donuts, and this place is close to home. The donuts don't look or taste fresh, but deserves some credit for being a local donut shop. I always get the apple fritter, and its not as bad. Kinda of stale but still good for midnight food. read more

Yep. Just okay. The service wasn't good at all, I get that it was late , but it says open 24/7. They had no tamales, the donuts were beyond sweet, and the croissant was just okay. Would I come back? Probably not... read more

I've been goin here for years and the staff is always so friendly! The donuts taste amazing not greasy like other places and fresh! Reasonable p read more

Sak Donuts - Donuts Near Me - Garden Grove, California

Came here on a recent trip. Got donuts and was happy with them. Especially the apple fritter, would eat again. I see other people go for the tamles. I did not try those at all. read more

By far some of the best Tamales we've ever had!! So good I bought 6 one day and the next day drive back 25 minutes to buy two dozen more!! Wrapped in banana leafs, the green chicken are amazing. The staff so friendly and the donuts looked fresh too! read more

Disappointed. Was expecting more based from all these wonderful reviews. Tamales are wrapped in banana leaves so it makes the masa taste different. It's more dense. The filling is good but I prefer real Mexican tamales. Donuts were average. However the cream cheese filled croissant was NOT to my liking. The croissant was soggy and the filling had a sour/tart taste to it. Did not like it at all. read more

Needed a quick treat while coming home from the beach. Found this place on yelp - and glad we did. Super friendly owner, but most important is the donuts were amazeballs! The buttermilk donuts were my fave, and the glazed were a close second. read more

My wife in a panic calls and says we needed 24 tamales on Christmas Eve. I was at work and searched tamales in Yelp and this came up. Donuts and tamales? Really? Nothing really shocks me very much anymore so my assumption was that it can only be true. I called and they told me thay have chicken and cheese and jalapeno. I requested two dozen and she said that she would have to make them and they would be ready in about 3 hours. This is a small donut shop on the southeast corner of Harbor and Garden Grove Blvd. There is absolutely no signage indicating that this is anything other than a dumpy donut shop. Everyone at the Christmas party we hosted were mesmerized by the outstanding texture and flavor of Sak's tamales. The chicken are wrapped in banana leaf and the cheese & jalapeno are in the traditional corn husk. They are moist, meaty and extremely flavorful. After calling around, these are pricey($24/dozen) compared to other places but the quality is second to none. Sak's was full of hispanic clientele all having tamales. I'm not sure if that adds to the credibility but they weren't having their donuts. What a wonderful find. I predict big Yelp ratings in the future for this little treasure. -Cash Only- -Schools First ATM right behind- -Southeast Corner- -Call Ahead for Larger Orders- -No Beef or Pork- read more

Worst experience ever! The service is absolutely trash! Rude to customers and a very cheap owner. No public restrooms btw

This donut shop is across the parking lot of my dialysis center, so when I forget my snacks I stop there for a bagel, which is disappointing that supposedly they run out of them, but to me it seems that they really don't want to take the time to prepare it. The tamales suck, the dough has a funny taste to it, and the spicy ones are not spicy at all, and they don't put enough meat. I guess if you're not Hispanic any kind of tamales will do. read more

These are definitely the best tamales I've ever had! I know some people like to get their tamales from the people selling them discreetly in front of the Santa Ana Walmart, but that is because they have probably never been to Sak Donuts. I know it seems suspicious to get your tamales from a donut shop, but these aren't your ordinary tamales. The taste is amazing - maybe it is the banana leaf - I don't know - but they sure are addicting. One of my favorite things about these tamales is that they are never exceedingly dry probably because of the banana leaf. Besides the tamales, Sak Donuts is just okay. Their blended ice drinks are good, but not the best blended ice drinks you can get from a donut shop. I've had mixed experiences concerning their donuts: sometimes they are quite good and other times they are disappointing. read more

Usually I'd eat 4 or 5 tamales, but 2 here made me full! Great value and very tastey!