I've seen this truck parked on Cesar Chavez Drive (S. 16th St.) off Mineral many times, and I was in the mood for a burrito, so I took a drive on Chavez to look for the usual trucks. Then I saw Berta's and decided to try their tamales, since I've never ordered from this truck before. The menu is small, which is a good thing because you can't do much on a truck.
Tamales were $1.50 each, burritos were $5.50, and tacos were $1.75 to $1.95, the flour tortilla cost a bit more than the corn tortilla tacos. I also saw quesadillas and tortas on the menu.
I rarely order tamales because most places will use too much masa (the corn "shell" under the husk - you don't eat the husk) so the filling to masa ratio is way off and favoring the masa, or the masa is too dry. I like a tamale to have enough filling and a thin enough layer of masa that the filling is the star and provides the dominant flavor.
I ordered one pork and one chicken. The tamales were very easy to unwrap (you don't eat the husk it's wrapped in), so bonus points there. Often the husk gets embedded into the masa when it's rolled, and I'll have to surgically remove corn husk from my tamale without breaking the tamale apart. That gets messy.
The pork tamale (or tamal, if you prefer) was pretty good. The pork seemed to be stewed, so the broth added flavor to the masa. The pork was tender and had a good flavor.
The chicken tamale was an example of what I don't like about tamales. The masa to filling ratio was off, and even though the masa wasn't as dry as I expected, it was still a bit too bland. The chicken had a decent marinade, may have been salsa verde, but not enough to tell.
So, I liked one but not the other. However, the one that I liked was good enough to make me go back and try other menu items, like their tacos or burrito, or maybe a torta. read more