Olympia Cafe — Restaurant in Albuquerque

New Owners and this restuarant is completely down the tubes. We haven't been here since before Covid and we moved away in 2022. It used to be decent Greek food. Now we're in town for an extended work stay and decided to try it again. (The better place, Zorba's, is apparently a Covid Casuality and is now permanently closed.). The first red flag was simply upon entering Olympia now — it looked dirty, run down, and decrepit inside. The second red flag was these were obviously not Greeks or people of Greek heritage running the cafe. The thick Middle Eastern accents, the TV prominently placed in the decrepit dining area blasting Al Jazeera — in ARABIC!!!!, not English, imposing that on customers, and the Hijab on the wife of the owner were the giveaways. But, what the heck. They must have bought the recipes, right? It was getting late, we were hungry, so we took the plunge and ordered. I ordered Pastichio, which for those who don't know, is a baked pasta dish often called a Greek Lasagna, with bechamel sauce. Husband ordered simply Souvlaki on a stick. Both platters. I normally like Pastichio. When the food came, as we sat there being inundated with Arabic TV, I took one look at this literal pile of MUSH on my plate and feared the worst. That concern was quicly confirmed — this pile of mush was absolutely inedible. I see now from other reviews that I'm not the first to experience this culinary disaster on dish. There was no resemblance to baked Pastichio. Very little pasta, and it, too, was mush. The top layer over the ground beef was a pile of an indeterminate something that looked like watery mashed potatoes, but tasted like uncooked watery dough. Absolutely inedible and absolutely disgusting. I nibbled on the salad that came with the platter, and threw the meal out. My husband was able to stomach the chicken on a stick, as it would be immensely hard to mess that up. It was so bad and here I was, with no food. No dinner. Not about to order something else in this disaster of a restaurant. We felt like we were sitting in the middle of room that hadn't been cleaned since Covid years. The anterior room had furniture piled up in like a storage room, and the owners sat there watching Arabic Al Jazeera and oozing imagined cultural superiority in the midst of this mess. How offensive can you be in America? Even in Albuquerque, with nearby college students who will eat just about anything, I cannot imagine how this place will stay in business, and hope it does not as it's an offense agasint Greek food and Greek culture. Appalling. Just appalling. Check the dates on the good reviews you see, as most of those appear to be more than two years old.

Because I was hungry and it was getting late as mentioned and I was tired, we got up and went next door to McDonald's so I could at least get a burger and have something edible. And I was very upset about this whole culinary disaster.

I would urge all to stay away. DON'T waste you money, your time, and your appetite. These people don't respect YOU, the customer, it's as if they're laughing at customers coming in and expecting Greek food. They don't respect the community, and they don't respect America.

If you want Greek food, there's only one place left in Albuquerque. It's not casual like this used to be, or like Zorba's, but it's good. That's Mykonos, more of a white table cloth restaurant experience but worth it if you are hankering for...

The most recent night visit on 11/13/22 was super disappointing and worrisome! Hadn't been there in a few years. The entire starry-eyed University experience has been upset by a bad Covid economy and supply issues, as well as new owners. It simply wasn't the Greek family-owned place it once was. Rice was greasy and overcooked, salad simply didn't compare. The atmosphere was dirty, dingy, and simply questionable. Why did I stay, you ask? When my very leary wife walked up to the entrance, surveyed the lack of customers, turned around and said, "Looks sketchy, let's go!" Answer: I was that starry-eyed college student wanting to reenact our first date 20 years ago, and it was our first Sunday night out in...since middle age, haha! I replied, "It's fine!" As I pulled open the door and walked up to order my chicken souvlaki. My wife didn't eat her $13 vegetarian combo and wiped off the cleanest silverware she was able to pick out. I proceeded to eat my vinegar-laden salad and hers, and my souvlaki, and badly or nonspiced tatziki sauce/plain yogurt. No cucumbers anywhere. I...

Ordered my gyro without onions or tomatoes. It got made with them anyways, which isn't a big deal. I took it back to the counter, the cashier was friendly and said they'd fix it. Less than a minute later, the cook calls me back and hands me back my plate. Get back to the table to check it because that was suspiciously fast. Yep. He pulled the tomatoes and onions off then handed me back the same sandwich. There were chunks of tomatoes and onions in the meat still. I am ALLERGIC to tomatoes, hence trying to get a sandwich without it. Go back up to get it fixed again. Guy gives my dad attitude about how "well if you have an allergy" -- no. No, no, no. Make the sandwich right and don't try to blame the customer for YOUR mistake. Also: hey, handing me back the same sandwich seems a bit against health code. By a lot. So. Thanks for having an attitude about it and trying to pull a fast one on me and give me a full body rash because you couldn't be bothered to make me a fresh sandwich until I caught...