I've only eaten here once. One of my co-workers highly recommended. At the hotel, the front desk highly recommended against eating there. So we decided to opt for the co-worker's opinion and gave it a chance.
I didn't have the tamales and all of the other reviews seem to emphasize how good these are. So maybe these are what gives Tamales a 4-5 star opinion.
I can say on my observation that:
1) the salsa tasted like spicy pizza sauce...very unimpressed.
2) the food was nothing I haven't seen outside of any run-of-the-mill "Mexican restaurant" in the DC area.
3) the place seemed to be very popular with the locals since the place was pretty full and everyone seemed like locals. Our server was very nice.
There really wasn't anything outstanding about this place. I'd skip on it if you have any other options. It's not terrible at all, you'll get a pretty good meal.