Los Carambas

This place is yummy and the workers are very friendly. I always come for their shrimp ceviche. The sauce is thicker with more tomatoes. The bad thing about this place is, there’s no AC. Just ceiling fans, so it get really stuffy in there.

I have come here for lunch a handful of times now and tried different items. I have been very happy and will continue to enjoy this place for lunch! Tortas, Tacos, Chiles Rellenos, and Enchilasas all very good. The food taste like my own Madre made it!

This place is OK. I went for the promise of tamales… and they don’t make them anymore!
So I settled for an al pastor burrito and an order of taquitos. The al pastor was a little dry and the burrito came w/​o salsa (which is generally all right, since they have a salsa bar in front). The salsa was running low, though, so I only got about ½ a container. I had to ration it for the burrito, which was fairly large, b/​c I didn’t feel like bugging the manager, who already seemed like he was having a bad day. Love and light he was not.
The taquitos were better than the usual ones restaurants try peddling (you know the ones: they seem taken from a box of frozen stuff, the meat’s tasteless, and the «avocado sauce» is definitely NOT guac). These are very slim, with a crunchy corn outside. The inside was a slight improvement over the average. I think I liked this better than the burrito.
Oh well, the search for tamales goes on…

A long, long time ago when I was a student at UCSD, there was a lady who used to loiter by the parking lot outside of Peterson Hall peddling homemade green chile chicken tamales. I felt bad for her so I bought a couple. After that initial transaction, day after day I would track her down like a fiend jonesing for a quick fix. I’d buy 20 at every interval just to tide me over to the next chance encounter.
It’s pretty safe to say, I’m a tamale fanatic.
Los Carambas is my preferred destination for the chicken ones. I like the meat to be stringy and thoroughly shredded, well coated with zesty sauce. I hate coarsely cut, large chunks of meat buried under the masa, I find it to be too hearty as a small mid-​day snack. The petite, skimpy variety are my favorite, and $ 12 here will buy a dozen.
The prices are cheap, most items linger between the $ 1 — $ 5 range, seldom breaking the $ 6 point. Ceviche is $ 2.50 a tostada, while Shrimp Cocktail is $ 7.50 for the large. Fish tacos a mere $ 1.35!
They serve breakfast too!