La Loma Tamales

I wouldn't say this is a "great" taco place or anything, but for a kiosk on a thoroughfare of working folks during lunch hour, its not bad. Good portions, decent quality, average prices...decent stop for a workday lunch.

I keep wanting to branch out on their menu, but I can't resist the tamales. My favorites are the sweet corn and the green Oaxaca. Half price on the last Tuesday of the month--best deal in downtown.

Overall, this La Loma is really good! I come here at least 3 days out of the work week for vegan tacos and tamales. Both the pinto and black beans are flavorful, but can be too salty sometimes. The heavier set woman with thinly drawn eyebrows and a natural mean mug facial expression WILL cheat you out of your serving portions. The other two soft spoken women are really sweet and will do a great job putting your food together. They make your items pleasing to the eye and not just thrown together. The vegan tamales have a mixture of corn, tomatoes (could be red peppers, unsure), onions and some kind of green veggie, like zucchini or maybe cactus. Either way, they are yummy! The mild sauce is good. The medium verde salsa is really good, my fave, and has flavor and a kick. The hot sauce is just plain hot. The one time I had a bad experience, the mean heavier set woman literally gave me a condiment cup of pinto bean "juice." When I asked for the full serving spoon scoop as usual, she told me that I would be charged for two tacos. She then gave me a very small sprinkle of lettuce and when I asked for more, was again told that I would be charged for two tacos. She attempted to argue with me and had an attitude. I left without my taco because no one wants to eat food prepared by someone with an attitude. I immediately called their main office and they remedied the situation in a good way. Since this time, I still see the woman, but she does not prepare my food. Their food is clearly too good for me to let one bad apple bother me!

It is hard to get a 5 star rating from me but I like this food so much I even get them frozen in the store to eat at home. Yep. It is that good. Staff is friendly at this location. To note, this is a little whole on the wall place and lines can be down the hall. Should tell you that they are doing something right.

My only complaint is that this place can be a little bit difficult to find. It is in the lower level of the Northstar building. I would recommend getting to this place before 12:30, because they do run out of certain kinds of tamales (you'll be left with vegetable only).